'HQ Trivia' players are furious following a contested $25,000 game that no one won

"HQ Trivia" players were angry after a rare $25,000 game was won by no one.
As the mobile game was wrapping up, the last few players were kicked from the game.
A representative of "HQ Trivia" tells Business Insider that the game ended with no winner, "Because 'HQ Trivia' is strict when it comes to players trying to gain advantage over others or game the system."

On Sunday night, as a $25,000 game of "HQ Trivia" came to a close, the winner-to-be was kicked from the game. There was no winner — no happy story of a young teacher suddenly flush with cash.

There was just a relatively bland statement on the "HQ Trivia" Twitter feed soon afterward. "HQ moderators kick players that violate HQ's Terms of Service and Contest Rules. For more information, please refer to our Terms of Service here: https://hqtrivia.com/legal/," the game's account tweeted.

Some fans were angry, and a bigger drama in the "HQ Trivia' community is unfolding as a result.

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Players on Twitter suggested the winner-to-be was using a "jailbroken" iPhone. Such a device could contain software designed to correctly guess answers. A report from The Daily Beast on Monday afternoon suggests that the last few players were using a Discord chat room to game the system.

Either way, it's clear that the last few players were violating the games terms of service.

"The integrity of the game is paramount to the team and we take our TOS very seriously," an 'HQ Trivia' rep told Business Insider in an email on Monday. "There was no winner last night because ['HQ Trivia' is strict when it comes to players trying to gain advantage over others or game the system."

"HQ Trivia" is a live multiple-choice trivia game that awards players real money. It is usually held twice a day on weekdays and once a night on weekends. Players usually split the prize after 12 questions, but Sunday night's game was different — players were to keep playing until only one person remained, with that person winning the entire prize.

Because nobody won, the prize pool will double to $50,000 next week. "Tonight we did not find The 1," the "HQ Trivia" Twitter account said. "The $25k prize rolls over to next Sunday. That means the winner will get $50,000!"

In a bizarre twist, "HQ Trivia" disappeared from Apple's App Store on Monday morning. (It remained available on Google Play.) Reps for "HQ Trivia" told Mashable that it was removed because of a technical error — it's back on the store.