Game Overview
What is The Initials Game Live?
The Initials Game Live (known internally as IGL) is a fast-paced live trivia game, played by teams or individuals in a bar or taproom setting, that offers a new twist on traditional pub trivia.
Given a two-letter set of initials and a series of short but increasingly helpful clues, players use their phones to submit two-word answers that adhere to the given initials. Critically, only one answer may be submitted for each item. The sooner a correct answer is submitted, the more points that player/team receives. Incorrect answers receive 0 points.
Initials Game Live is based on The Initials Game, a weekly radio game show that has been played on the "Power Trip Morning Show" on the Twin Cities sports radio station KFAN since 2014. Trivia Mafia developed the live version of the game in 2024 in partnership with KFAN host Cory Cove, the game's inventor.
Game Overview
Every answer in an IGL round uses the same two-letter set of initials. These answers (known as "Items") can be just about anything: a person's name, the title of a movie, or simply a concept. For example, a "TM" round could include such items as "Tobey Maguire," "Thin Mints," "Total Mayhem," or "Trivia Mafia."
Players are given a series of six short clues about each item. The sooner a player identifies the correct answer, the more points they receive.
Gameplay
Initials Game Live is played on smartphones or other internet-enabled devices via the IGL web app.
Prior to the start of a round, the host reveals the initials that will be in play for that round. Once a round has begun, a series of clues will begin to appear on the player's screen. At the same time, a 1500-point timer will begin counting down at a rate of 10 points per second. The in-game audio also begins to play at this point.
Clues begin vague and obscure, and grow gradually more obvious. Once the player submits a correct answer, they are awarded the number of points shown on the timer at the time of their submission.
Crucially: Players are only allowed to submit one answer per item. If that answer is wrong, they receive zero points and are out of the game until the next item.
Game Breakdown
A round of IGL consists of five items. Each item contains six clues. A typical game is three rounds (15 items).
Clues are revealed at 25-second intervals. The total run-time of each item is 2 minutes 30 seconds, and a complete round (with scoring breaks, leaderboard updates, and host banter) takes roughly 20 minutes. With 10-minutes breaks between rounds, a full game should take approximately 90 minutes.
Prizes
All Trivia Mafia/Initials Game Live venues are required to offer prizes with a minimum combined cash value of $60.
For IGL, this typically means three $20 gift cards.
Prizes are awarded at the end of each round to the team/player with the highest score for that round. Players and hosts can track their score throughout the round on the Leaderboard tab of the web app.
The recommended prize for the winner of each round is a $20 gift card to the game's venue.
If available, additional supplemental prizes may be awarded at the host's discretion. For example, a free beer token might be awarded to the team with the highest single-item score in a given round. Or a free drink could be awarded to the team with the best name, as chosen by the host. This helps spread the wealth and keeps players engaged even if another player/team is clearly dominating the scoreboard.
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