What are you doing this Saturday? If you love trivia, fun facts and have a penchant to remember obscure details and lesser-known facts, then we’ve got the perfect plan for you this Saturday, June 13 — if you haven’t already made Saturday night plans, that is.
‘Fund. Play. Repeat.’ is a trivia game, hosted by H-129, a quizzing group that started as a thought collective group in 2017. The group has planned a crowdfunding quiz event at 9.00 pm this June 13 to help raise funds that would benefit communities facing the brunt of the coronavirus-induced lockdown. Notably, this April PUBG MOBILE held a charity tournament for the Indian gaming and eSports community to help raise funds for those affected due to COVID-19 crisis.
Aditya Dhathathreyan, a resident of Chennai, who co-founded this group along with his friends— Aravindan Sudarsan, Krishnan Ayalur Seshadrinathan and Prasanna Sugumaran— tells TNM that the success of their weekly quizzes, conducted over the past 12 weeks on their WhatsApp group H-129 Quarantine Chaos since lockdown began, has now given them the encouragement to organise a ticketed-event to raise funds.
“This will be our very first paid event. From handling a motley crowd of 60 during the first edition of the event, we've been consistently hitting the high 200's (our largest was 283) every week. This is where we decided to use our platform to help those that have been affected by the economic repercussions of this lockdown,” Aditya says.
“We are partnering with Civic Fulcrum and Alserv, two start-ups by friends, to serve and assist the at-risk communities, especially inside the Greater Chennai Corporation area as of now. The donations will go towards creating food and sanitation kits for them,” he adds.
Civic Fulcrum, a data-based consulting services firm that came into existence post the 2015 floods in Chennai has been partnering with Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs). Over the last three-weeks, the group has worked extensively to identify at-risk communities in Chennai, helping NGOs expand their outreach during the time of this pandemic.
Alserve, another Chennai-based start-up is one of the first assisted-living services companies that simplifies independent living for the elderly by making available a range of services from supportive care to grocery delivery.
“The collections from the event will be apportioned by Civic Fulcrum who will then transfer directions on how best to serve the communities to Alserv. Food and sanitation kits will be created and delivered by Alserv. These kits are worth Rs 500 each,” Aditya explains.
H-129 team
In just a couple of days since the news of their upcoming quiz being announced, the group has managed to raise Rs 75,000 from the tickets sold. “This is just from the international crowd. We are expecting more support from folks within India. We will be able to reach more people and also increase the size of our kits,” says Aditya, sounding hopeful.
The game itself will be played on WhatsApp. Participants can register themselves as a group or as individuals who will then be sorted into groups by H-129. A WhatsApp group will be formed for every team in which the questions will be posted. Each group gets a maximum of two minutes to answer their questions. Evaluated scores will be shared by the organising team at the end of the game.
You can buy tickets to the quiz event here or even choose to contribute without participating in the event. The group has partnered with the NGO Bhumi to channel in the funds.