The world of technology is full of mystery. From my previous tale about the legendary arcade unit Polybius, to the dark web. And none of us want to know the secrets behind the dark web. Let’s all just pretend we don’t know it exists and crack on with our innocent and mindless scrolling of Amazon and YouTube.
But here’s a modern mystery that disappeared as quickly as it arrived: the free mobile gameshow. Back in 2018, I got an unusual notification on my phone informing me that online sensation Arron Crascall was about to ‘Go Live’ on Facebook. I follow Arron (he’s hilarious – if you’ve never seen his videos then check him out), so a notification to do with him wasn’t that odd. But the video he was promoting was. It was something called ‘Confetti UK’, and I’d never heard of it.
Naturally curiosity got the better of me, so I clicked the link within my Facebook app and went to the video – which displayed very differently on my phone to a normal Facebook video. This window seemed to replicate the screen of the quiz machine at my local pub – you know, the ones that lure you in with easy questions until you start winning money and it gets ridiculously difficult? Well maybe that’s where Confetti UK got its inspiration from – because that’s exactly what this video was about. It wasn’t a video – it was a live, interactive gameshow hosted on this occasion by my lovely Arron Crascall. Completely free to enter. And you could win real money. So what was the catch? Well that’s where the mystery came in: there wasn’t one.
Sure enough, I’d just inadvertently joined a live gameshow and was in with a chance of winning, potentially, thousands of pounds. The aim of the game was to answer just ten general knowledge questions correctly – whoever did just that would share the prize pot. So if the prize pot was £5000 and there were 25 winners, everyone would get £200 each.
A live chat ran in the background where other players could talk to each other – and the host – and our Arron kept us updated after each question as to how many people had dropped out or put the wrong answer. By question five I was still going strong – because I proudly knew that the name of the tiger in Crash Bandicoot was in fact called Tiny. I then cockily started broadcasting to my colleagues that I was about to win a load of cash – and proceeded to get the next one wrong. My money-making dreams were over.
But it was too late – I was hooked. And now, so were my colleagues. And then my friends. And everyone else I knew. Before long we were scheduling our lunchbreaks to coincide with the 1.30pm live game of Confetti – and a few weeks later I was getting everyone in the pub to take part after they moved the show to a later time of 10pm.
Not long after they came to our attention, Confetti UK and similar apps such as HQ Trivia and even MTV’s equivalent: STAX, closed down. Very suddenly, mysteriously, and without explanation. Despite playing every day without fail, and being a relatively smart person, I never won. Several times I got to the final question, and then blew it. Krystal on the other hand won over £100. So we knew at that point that people really did win real money, for nothing.
So seriously, what was the catch? Maybe heavy advertising or pop-ups paid for this low-key money-making game? Nope, because there wasn’t an advert in sight. No ad breaks, no banners, no product placements. Celebrity guests (which won’t have been cheap to hire) hosted the shows regularly, including regular host Samira Mighty from Love Island, and thousands of pounds were given away every day. Obviously we all know that if it sounds too good to be true then it is – so what were they gaining? We didn’t pay to play and we weren’t completing surveys or market research. Did they close down suddenly because they ran out of money? Or was it something more sinister?
One of the words on the street was that the switch to a late night slot lost participants and therefore caused the closure of Confetti UK. But that doesn’t explain the subsequent closure of HQ Trivia, which was an app that ran more frequent live quizzes with smaller prize pots – and some with themes such as sports or words.
Matthew Henick, Global Head of Content Planning and Strategy at Facebook, said to Television Business International that Confetti was a “really important test for us to figure out how to build interactive environments for video”. So was it just a test? What about the other apps?
The other mystery surrounding the free mobile gameshow is: what was in it for them? Why were they doing this? If they weren’t getting any money out of us, which it seemed like they weren’t, then what was the point?
My theory? Data harvesting. It sounds scary, but it could explain the sudden closures from all platforms around the world – and where they were making their money. Did any of the players read the full terms and conditions when they signed up? I certainly didn’t. Even though South Park has shown me that you really must.
So, will the free mobile gameshow make a comeback? Will we have to pay for it? Will it be made to be more prestigious? And will we ever find out exactly why it stopped? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Were you a mobile gameshow participant? Did you ever win any money? What are your thoughts on its disappearance? Let me know in the comments, or drop me an email at claire.pulpher@yourlocallink.co.uk.
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