AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
Finally, in Tech today, an app to keep you guessing.
(SOUNDBITE OF THEME MUSIC, JEOPARDY)
CORNISH: Or if you're former "Jeopardy!" champ Ken Jennings, a trivia app called QuizUp to keep you answering confidently.
KEN JENNINGS: I was surprised to find that I was very good at Disney. I patted myself on the back for that.
CORNISH: But even Ken Jennings has a few trivia blind spots.
JENNINGS: If you ever play "Name the Artist" and you're against some novice with a vaguely "Jeopardy!" themed name, that might be me as you're kicking my butt.
CORNISH: The QuizUp app is a game you play with other users, from strangers in another country to friends just a few feet away. The topics range from important moments in history to literature.
JENNINGS: Crime fiction - "Fifty Shades of Grey," "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."
CORNISH: To music.
JENNINGS: There's a Britney Spears category, there's a Bowie category, Justin Bieber - oh, I got to do that one.
CORNISH: Well, we asked Ken Jennings to play a round of QuizUp in real-time, using a category he knew little about. Here's a hint.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE)
CORNISH: Jennings wasn't. And he sent us this app review.
JENNINGS: So I'm going to choose "Twilight."
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
JENNINGS: I'm playing someone named Terry at Twilight Trivia. And the questions come fast: The only female wolf in the Quileute pack? I guessed Leah and I guessed right. Oh, and Terry got it wrong.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
JENNINGS: Terry, why are you playing Twilight Trivia if you don't know those kind of stuff? What is Edwards and middle name - you got to be kidding me. I'm going to go - Edward. Edward James. Oh, I got it wrong. It's Anthony. And Terry knew it. I'm wasting my life.
What is Edward's condition for changing Bella into a vampire? Five years of waiting, maybe? Oh, I hope that book was all about the sex waiting. Marriage, apparently - even better, marriage. The other option was attending Dartmouth. That would be a good book.
The first human with whom Bella interacts outside her family? Ugh, I don't know any of these people. I said Max. Oh, and I got it right. But guess what? Terry was a little faster than me and wins by two points.
That was intense. I mean, my heart rate is a little too high for Public Radio right now.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
JENNINGS: QuizUp is a very strong app. I played a lot of trivia games and it avoids all the bugaboos. The questions are smart and clever, and so far I haven't seen one that's wrong. There's hundreds of categories, hundreds of thousands of questions, so you don't see a lot of duplicates. You go up against some very smart people in whatever kind of quiz you like. I would recommend QuizUp wholeheartedly and I'm actually playing right now.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
JENNINGS: I'm 0-and-1 on "Twilight." I'm going to run this back. I'm going to get a rematch against Terry.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
CORNISH: That's former "Jeopardy!" champ Ken Jennings with today's app review of QuizUp. He's also the author of the children's book series "Junior Genius Guides."
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:
You can follow All Tech Considered on Twitter @npralltech. And you can find us there, as well. I am @melissablock, @nprmelissablock.
CORNISH: And I'm Audie Cornish @npraudie. Our colleague Robert is @rsiegel47. And the Twitter feed for the whole program is @npratc. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
