Wildcard Trivia!

Traditional trivia can sometimes feel like a cultural test. Our AI-powered, multiplayer web trivia lets players create custom topics so everyone can play, connect, and feel included in real time.

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Inspiration

Trivia is an iconic social game, yet it frequently leans on a narrow, Western-centric knowledge base. Oftentimes, it can come across as “cultural dead zones” for those from diverse backgrounds, turning what should be a bridge into a barrier.

This inspired our team to look closer: if the games we play to “connect” actually reinforce isolation, how can we use AI to fix the fundamental way humans interact?

What it does

Wildcard Trivia uses Gemini 3 to transform a traditionally static game into a dynamic, inclusive experience:

  • The Intersection Engine: We prompt Gemini 3 to synthesize real-time questions at the technical and cultural intersection of every player's specific interests. This ensures no one is “out of their element” and everyone's background is treated as an asset.
  • Trivi, the AI Host: Our specialized AI persona, powered by Gemini Live API, provides real-time commentary and guidance, maintaining high energy and ensuring an interactive experience for all.
  • Connection-First Awards: At the game's conclusion, Gemini 3 analyzes performance data to generate custom awards. Instead of just crowning a winner, the model highlights unique contributions and shared achievements.

How we built it

Frontend Architecture:

  • Built with Next.js 16 and React 19, using TypeScript for type safety
  • Implemented a state machine with XState to manage complex game flow
  • Real-time synchronization via WebSocket connections for seamless multiplayer coordination
  • Mobile-first responsive design using styled-components
  • Voice commentary system with audio queue management and Redis-backed caching

Backend Infrastructure:

  • FastAPI (Python) backend with async/await for high concurrency
  • RESTful API endpoints for room creation, player joining, question generation, and game statistics
  • Redis as the only data store for rooms, players, questions, and leaderboards
  • WebSocket manager for broadcasting game state updates to all connected clients

Gemini 3 Integration:

  • Question Generation: Custom prompts to Gemini 3 (gemini-3-flash-preview) that synthesize questions at the intersection of player-submitted topics, ensuring cultural relevance and difficulty balance
  • Text-to-Speech: Gemini Live API (gemini-2.5-flash-native-audio-preview) for generating Trivi's voice commentary with Redis caching to minimize latency

Challenges we ran into

Ensuring low-latency text-to-speech (TTS) playback was a major challenge. We experimented with different Google/Gemini TTS products and landed on the Live API, which provides the fastest response. To further optimize, we pre-called and cached TTS audio for each question in parallel before gameplay began so that audio would play instantly and smoothly when needed.

Accomplishments we're proud of

We turned trivia from an exclusive experience into an inclusive one, shipped a seamless audio/visual multiplayer flow, and created a unique AI-powered experience that reliably gets laughs and sparks conversation.

What we learned

Inclusion dramatically boosts engagement, and giving players control over content entirely changes the energy in the room. We tried the game with our friends, and they all loved it!

What's next for Wildcard Trivia!

Trivia is just our starting point. Beyond just making the game more engaging and effective for community & team building, we're using it to prove a much larger thesis: that Gemini 3 can power a scalable model for human-centric AI. What begins as a game is actually a universal blueprint for empathy, designed to bridge cultural gaps and rebuild community on a global scale.

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