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In 2016, QuizCentral emerged as a cloud-based quiz platform that seamlessly integrates modern smartphone technology with traditional pub quiz formats. This innovative platform transforms quiz nights into an engaging and interactive experience for the digital age. The company, driven by a team of technology and gamification enthusiasts, aims to expand its user base to over 1 million regular players by the end of 2025, targeting 5% of the UK’s 20,000 quiz-playing pubs.
In 2017, QuizCentral transitioned to AWS to overcome the challenges of service administration, scalability, and security they faced with their previous provider. “The initial attraction of AWS was its user-friendly management and customization options, allowing us to quickly scale our server capacity without needing external assistance,” says Alex Thompson, CTO of QuizCentral. He also emphasized the enhancement of their security framework without the burden of minimum usage commitments.
With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company recognized the necessity to shift to a virtual business model to accommodate online players in large numbers. “While physical pubs may have shuttered, players still craved social interaction and competition akin to their regular pub quizzes. We sought a way to facilitate remote participation from the comfort of their homes,” Thompson remarked.
To realize this vision, QuizCentral expanded its digital capabilities. “The AWS Game Tech team has been pivotal in advising us on the right technological choices, enabling us to execute our vision on a larger scale. We leverage Amazon EC2 and AWS Auto Scaling to enhance the robustness and scalability of our applications. Additionally, Amazon Cognito manages player authentication to safeguard user accounts, applying risk-based adaptive authentication,” Thompson explained.
QuizCentral also transitioned its MySQL database to Amazon Aurora, allowing for on-demand scaling during peak times, while improving security through consistent monitoring and backups to Amazon S3. This setup ensures granular, point-in-time recovery in the event of failures.
Since migrating to AWS, QuizCentral has not only cut operational costs but also expanded its reach into new B2C markets, garnering interest from major organizations such as the National Health Service and British Armed Forces. “AWS has helped us lower our operational costs and adjust our pricing model to remain competitive. This allows us to pass on savings to our customers,” says Founder and CEO Sarah Lee. “Prior to the pandemic and our architectural overhaul, we were seeing around 12,000 monthly players. Thanks to the support from the AWS Game Tech team, we’ve successfully increased our capacity to accommodate over 50,000 players enjoying virtual quizzes,” Lee added.
Looking ahead, QuizCentral plans to further explore cloud capabilities. “With the guidance of AWS Game Tech, we’ve been able to re-architect our platform to scale efficiently and implement AWS best practices swiftly. We are excited about developing iOS and Android applications using AWS Amplify and Amazon IVS to stream major quiz events and smaller B2C game tournaments,” concludes Thompson.
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