The ultimate growth formula of the app captured in a simple format: Incentive to win money + bragging rights >>> Try to acquire lives to increase chances of winning >>> Refer, refer, refer

In a really detailed analysis on HQ Trivia Niv Dror wrote on Product Hunt’s blog about how they went about community building and leveraged word-of-mouth to gain cult status. A very good read if you’d have the time.

I’m borrowing the Nir Eyal Hook-model that he annotated to explain the why the game is such an addiction.

Recent Additions to Loco

While scaling the product has been a tremendous task, they’ve found time to make the experience better and stay relevant.

Onboarding

I re-downloaded the app in order to write this piece and was pleasantly surprised to see a very nicely done onboarding process in which Gaurav Kapur runs you through how the game works while getting you to actually take on two questions to get the hang of it.

The only thing I thought was missing was the stress on the viral loop part of it. There was no mention of using ‘lives’ and the process of referring friends to get more of them.

Loco Cricket League

Well done team, well done! Nothing like capitalizing on the IPL craze. Since I don’t play Loco, I’m not too sure what this looks like but it’s likely a format of the usual game.

My Suggestions

Haven’t given this too deep a thought but here goes anyways.

T-shirts and merch

The thumb rule is, when something hits cult-status it needs its own merch. Think Elon Musk’s Boring Company hats and flamethrowers. This is not about making money. It’s about getting Loco out there an into people’s hands. People will happily become walking billboards for the game.

Loco-as-a-service

I’m doing a piece, due 3 weeks ago (procrastination, you see), on Hotstar and had put down a Loco-like quiz format that they could embed as part of their feature set. Perhaps Loco could offer this as a service to other apps who don’t want to build it as a feature and, maybe, ride on the popularity of Loco who’ll send pushes to get people onto the participating app?

Loco meets TV

Picture this — a live show where the top 10 Loco players of the week compete on television to win 1 crore (approx $150k) exclusively while another 1 crore is up for grabs for the rest of the folks playing live on the app. Yeah, I love being wild with my ideas.

What next for live trivia?

Is it a fad or is it here to stay? Often, apps/games appear on the scene, grab massive attention, users and funding only to fizzle out once the excitement dies down. I’m not saying that this will happen, but there’s a possibility of the novelty fading.

Loco has done really well by staying with the times, launching the Loco Cricket League. Stay relevant will extend the shelf-life and keep the product fresh. Official partnerships and tie-ups will give it steam.

New game types and ever growing prize money will see more players get onto the scene. A tie-up with a TV channel to turn this into a real spectacle could propel it to further heights.

My guess is Loco is here to stay and embed itself into popular culture while becoming a household name as it penetrates rural India. But they’ll need to play their cards right. It helps that they were acquired by a company aptly named Pocket Aces.

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