Bite Sized Trivia - Project Details
Inspiration
We've all been there—scrolling through Reddit, looking for something fun to break up the monotony. Traditional trivia apps feel isolating, requiring downloads, accounts, and commitment. We wanted to create something different: trivia that lives where communities already gather, that you can jump into instantly, and that turns a solo activity into a shared experience.
The inspiration hit us when we realized Reddit posts could be more than static content—they could be living, breathing game sessions. What if trivia wasn't something you had to leave Reddit to play? What if it created those "just one more round" moments right in your feed? That's when Bite Sized Trivia was born.
What it does
Bite Sized Trivia transforms Reddit posts into live multiplayer trivia arenas. When someone opens a BS Trivia post, they're immediately thrown into an active game with other community members—no setup, no friction, just instant gameplay.
Here's the magic: Communities can choose from 11 specialized editions (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, NCAA, Soccer, Formula 1, Anime, Marvel, Star Wars, Video Games) or play the classic mixed format across 6 core categories (Movies, Music, Geography, Sports, Science, Tech). Players vote together on what to play next, then compete through 15 rapid-fire questions where speed and accuracy both matter. The twist? You get ONE strategic power-up per game—double points, eliminate wrong answers, or skip a tough question—and timing that boost can make or break your score.
Everything happens in real-time. You see other players voting, answering questions, and using their boosts. There's a live chat where the trash talk flows. When the game ends, a new one starts automatically. With nearly 39,000 questions across all editions, every game feels fresh. It's designed to be addictive in the best way—quick enough to play during a break, engaging enough to pull you back in.
How we built it
We built BS Trivia on Reddit's Devvit platform, which let us create interactive experiences directly within Reddit posts. The tech stack includes React 19 for the frontend, TypeScript for type safety, and Redis for managing real-time game state across multiple players.
The trickiest part was the timing system. We needed every player to see the same countdown, even if they joined at different moments or had network lag. We solved this by making the server the single source of truth—it tracks when questions start, and clients calculate their display based on elapsed time rather than running independent timers.
For the content, we built a trivia generation factory that can pump out thousands of unique, high-quality questions in minutes. Using AI-assisted curation with strict quality controls, we ensure every question has contextually relevant wrong answers—no joke options, no obvious throwaways. This system let us rapidly scale from 6,000 to nearly 39,000 questions across 17 different categories and specialized editions. Need a new edition? We can generate 2,000+ curated questions for it in under an hour.
The power-up system went through several iterations. We initially allowed one of each boost per game, but playtesters just burned through them early. Limiting it to ONE total boost per game created real strategic tension—suddenly that decision mattered, and we saw players saving their boost for the final questions or using it early to build momentum.
Challenges we ran into
Timer synchronization was our biggest nightmare. Different players would see wildly different countdowns, making the game feel broken. We tried client-side intervals, server-pushed updates, every approach we could think of. The breakthrough came when we stopped trying to sync timers and instead synced time itself—the server tells everyone when a phase started, and clients display the countdown based on how much time has actually elapsed.
Trivia Questions coming up with 30,000 Trivia Questions was no easy task and often led to moments of pulling my hair out, however by creating a literal Trivia Factory that uses rigorous validation and de-duplication, I was finally able to get a considerable amount of quality questions ranging from easy to hard in difficulty.
Mobile performance was another hurdle. Reddit's mobile app has its own quirks, and we had to optimize everything to run smoothly across devices. We ended up caching initialization data, minimizing re-renders, and being very careful about when we triggered state updates.
Balancing question difficulty sounds easy until you're doing it at scale. How do you make a "medium" geography question? When is a science question too niche? We spent hours playtesting and adjusting, making sure the distribution felt right and that players of all knowledge levels could have fun.
Chat without scrolling was a design challenge. We wanted live discussion but couldn't let it hijack the game. Our solution: display what fits naturally, let messages flow, and keep the focus on gameplay. It creates this ambient social energy without being overwhelming.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We're incredibly proud that BS Trivia feels instant. There's no tutorial, no onboarding, no "here's how to play" screens. You click a post and within seconds you're voting on categories with other people. That seamless entry was a design goal from day one, and we nailed it.
The power-up system creates genuine strategic moments. We've watched players agonize over when to use their boost, seen dramatic comebacks when someone times it perfectly, witnessed chat erupting when a final-question double-points play pays off. That emergent drama wasn't scripted—it's just what happens when you give players meaningful choices.
6,000 curated questions with relevant wrong answers. We didn't take shortcuts. Every question was reviewed to ensure the wrong answers made sense in context. It's a huge content library that keeps games fresh.
The live multiplayer feel is something we're really happy with. Seeing other players' votes appear in real-time, watching boost notifications pop up, competing on a live leaderboard—it creates this sense of shared experience that most trivia games lack.
And honestly? People play multiple games in a row. That's the metric we care about most. When playtesters say "just one more" and end up playing three rounds, we know we built something sticky.
What we learned
Real-time is hard, but worth it. Syncing state across clients with different network conditions taught us a lot about authoritative server design and client-side prediction. We learned to trust the server's timeline and let clients adapt to it.
Friction is the enemy. Every extra click, every loading screen, every moment of confusion is someone bouncing. We became obsessed with removing barriers. The category voting phase, for example, serves as a natural buffer for late arrivals while still keeping early players engaged.
Content quality matters more than quantity. We could have shipped with 100,000 mediocre questions, but 38,000+ well-crafted ones create a better experience. Players notice when wrong answers are thoughtful versus random.
Mobile-first isn't optional. Most Reddit browsing happens on phones. Designing for mobile and scaling up to desktop (rather than the reverse) led to better decisions across the board.
Community features make games stickier. The live chat, the shared voting, the visible leaderboard—these social elements transform trivia from a knowledge test into a shared experience. People stay for the competition, but they come back for the community.
What's next for Bite Sized Trivia
More categories top the list. We're hearing requests for History, Pop Culture, Gaming, and niche categories like Anime or Literature. The infrastructure is there—we just need to curate the content.
Custom category creation for moderators would be incredible. Imagine subreddits creating trivia about their own community, inside jokes, or specialized topics. That level of customization could make BS Trivia feel truly owned by each community.
Tournament modes where subreddits can run competitive events with prizes, brackets, and elimination rounds. We have the foundation for this—we just need to build the structure around it.
Question submission system so communities can contribute their own trivia. With proper moderation tools, this could grow the content library organically while giving players a sense of ownership.
Team modes where players can form squads and compete together. The chat already creates informal alliances—why not make it official?
Stats and achievements for players who want to track their trivia journey. Badges for category mastery, streaks for consecutive games, leaderboards across time periods.
Accessibility improvements including better screen reader support, colorblind-friendly UI options, and adjustable text sizes.
We built BS Trivia because we love trivia and we love Reddit communities. The fact that it brings people together for quick bursts of competitive fun feels like magic every time we see it in action. This is just the beginning.
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