♪ this is "nightline." >> tonight, neck in neck. in the pennsylvania special congressional election the democrat conor lamb declaring victory over republican rick saccone after ending in a virtual tie. >> we did it. >> but his opponent not ready to concede. will there be a recount and in this red district is this a reduke of president trump. plus pop quiz, which hot new app is making people do this. it's headquarters trivia a live game show on your phone. we're behind the scenes with the now famous quiz daddy asking the toughest questions yet. for how can a free app turn away money turn a big profit.

>> and "the theory of everything" world renown physicist stephen hawking has died at 76. a look back at his storied career. number one in just

♪ ♪ there are two types of people in the world. those who fear the future... and those who embrace it. the future is for the unafraid. ♪ ♪ ♪ good evening. thanks for joining us. a scramble at the ballot box today ending in a cliff hanger,

the pennsylvania special congressional election largely seen as a barometer for the 2018 midterms is closer than anyone expected in the 18 district. this after white house shake ups and uncertainty. here's our series 18 for '18. >> today another surprise exit from the trump administration. >> my commission as secretary of state will terminate midnight march 31st. >> secretary of state rex tillerson fired by the president this morning in a tweet. president posting -- tillerson becomes one of several dozen who have left the cabinet only adding to the perception of a white house in chaos. >> are you sure about your answers on those? >> and critics pointing to this interview with secretary of education betsy devos on 60 minutes. >> i've not intentionally

visited schools that are under performing. >> maybe you should. >> maybe i should, yes. >> with the president on shaky ground tonight more chaos as a congressional race in a deep red pennsylvania district is too close to project. >> the outcome is in doubt but what is clear is democratic has conor lamb has consistently and strongly outperformed hillary clinton in traditionally red district that trump won by 20 points. >> for now rick saccone trail blazersing by a margin >> it's a fight we will fight to the end. >> but democrat conor lamb already declaring victory. >> it took longer than we thought but we did it. [ cheers and applause ] >> it was a special election but stakes couldn't be higher in a race g.o.p. had a clear advantage. >> you saw the democrats getting closer than it should be.

that says there's people who change their minds, democratic in the past stayed home and maybe trump voters thought it wasn't worth their time. >> what happens now? a recount? >> under state law the losing candidate can request a recount. we are well within that. standard is half percentage and we're well within that to a couple hundred votes so the expectation is to finish up that may not last, pending the result of a recount and provisional ballots to be counted. >> this special election triggered after republican congressman tim murphy resigned in the wake of a sex scandal. the party brought out several big names to hold a seat that murphy had held for 15 years. saturday put rick on ntsz. >> i hate to put this pressure on you. they are all watching because i won this district by 22 points, that's a lot. that's why i am here. look at all those red hats rick. >> the president was also here in january. >> a real friend and spectacular man, rick saccone.

>> ivanka trump and don jr. showed up for rick saccone. >> we need people in there like rick saccone. >> as did vice president mike pence. >> would you give another round of applause for the next congressman from the commonwealth of pennsylvania, rick saccone. >> rick saccone told dan harris last month that all those big g.o.p. names wasn't a sign of desperation. >> he could come here every wikileaks and filet stadium. >> white house backing couldn't over power dissatisfaction with the president. >> i hate trump. anyway we can get back at him i'm for it. >> for you it's a referendum for on the president? >> absolutely. try to bailing out for the big mistake they made. >> where rick saccone went out of his way to align himself with trump. >> we got to get behind him and support him. that's right we got to drain that swamp.

>> lamb seemed to avoid bashing the president instead the former district attorney and marine corps captain is a conservative democratic that supports the second amendment and family values. taking his grandmother to vote this morning and talked with us afterwards. >> do you think this is because people really like you or are upset with the president. >> hopefully they like me and believe what i told them which is that i will work really hard for every single one of them no matter what party they are or who they voted for last time. >> saccone also relied on republican groups and g.o.p. packs that poured more than $10 million into this race. conor lamb raised three times more money than he did. >> saccone has ran a very conventional race not able to raise big national money, a big knock from republicans. they felt he was perfectly serviceable candidate but not particularly special. >> lamb seemed to have enough voters to nearly surpass the advantage saccone had in in race. he was bouyied in part by the

pink wave. >> hey beth my name is valerie here with the conor lamb campaign. how you are you. >> a network of women made up a large part of the ground "game >> i been part of the grass roots organization based in south hills area for a year and half now. we are called 412 resistance and have 900 members. we've been gearing up for the 2018 midterm since january 2017. >> big part of the ground game was motivated by the women's march. >> you think it is fed out of the energy of me too. and time's up >> i'm totally new to this. i never done this before in my lifex i always voted. i never worked for a campaign. i never protested. never imagined i would be protesting on the streets. but i consider it important work for the future of my grandchildren. >> so in many ways donald trump made you a political activist. >> yes. >> lamb picked up support in

from some union workers in this blue union district. >> i vote for conor lamb because he stands for voter's rights, for medicare and for and social security and long as i work for a living that's who i will vote for. >> having met connor and spoke with him multiple times i believe he's for the working class people. >> there's so much attention put on this race in district 18 for good reason but may not matter the pennsylvania court has redrawn the congressional district maps for the state. >> because the term ends for the 18 seat both saccone and lamb would need to run again in november. this time lamb in the 17th and saccone in the new 14th. >> both men have a week to decide where they will run. it's very possible they will be both be members of congress representing pennsylvania this time next year. >> no doubt, conor lamb

consistently out performed hillary clinton. for "nightline" in southwestern pennsylvania. >> and you can find continuing coverage of our mid-term elections on abcnews.com or on the abc news app. up next the live trivia contest that just gave away a $25,000 to a single winner for answering this question. ross perot once provided $3 million credit line to help establish which chain? game stop, mills fleet participate or longhorn steakhouse. the answer when we come back. ♪ . next chapter ♪

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gamestop was the answer that earned a young teacher $25,000. he says from the comfort of his home toilet. thanks to the new smart phone game show allowing anyone to compete for cash prizes from anywhere. my "nightline" coanchor dan harris takes us behind the scene. >> oh, my god! >> looks these people won the lottery or a new car? >> i won! >> nope, they just won headquarters trivia. new app exploding on a smartphone near you. it is a live game show attracting more than a million players twice a day competing for real money. players must answer 12 to 15 questions correctly or face elimination. winners split a jackpot usually about $2,000. depending how many winders the take helm to could be thousands or just pennies. 28 cents for many players the money doesn't seem to matter.

>> ah! >> laura may won a whopping $11 as you can see it made her year. >> i was so excited i couldn't believe it. it wasn't until much later i found out i only won $11. >> we went behind the scenes to see where the popular host quiz scott rogowsky, aka quiz daddy, a small team of writers and and software developers make the magic happen. >> today was especially fun with great questions related to 90s pop culture my for thee. >> which secretary general of united nations once appeared on ali g show. >> he does the show live every day at 3:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. eastern. scott rogowsky coming to you fast and furious. >> from the company's small studio in downtown new york city. >> what do you think it is people are honing in on that is making it so successful. >> first the allure of trivia which has been around since the early radio days. the allure of winning money is always popular.

>> before hq launched last august. >> there's no liquor cabinet in high school. >> scott rogowsky was a stanford up comedian perhaps best dmokno for his fake book cover videos filmed in the new york city subway. >> what was your life like in july of last year? >> i was living in westchester. where i grew up. with two elderly roommates who look a lot like me. >> now he is hobnobbing with celebrities at the super bowl and has become a magnificent -- a magnet for selfies. >> there you go. is that going in your story? >> this has completely rearranged your life. >> yes because i was really set on moving to l.a. but i took that job and stuck around. >> 24,564. getting it right. >> i thought the concept was brilliant. i couldn't fathom the global

cultural phenomenon it has become. we have millions tuning in. we have catered lunch now. every day bigger and bigger improvement. >> i'm impressed. you're a smart guy do you think you could win one of these quizzes. >> i've tried but failed every time. >> tell me about the daily launch. >> we didn't know what would happen. >> the cofounder has a history in internet start ups, creating the popular video company vine with cofounder collin crawl and then working at twitter. >> why do you think it is such a massive hit. >> i think it's the view,you have to be there at 3:00 p.m. or 9:00 p.m. to play. on netflix you can watch anything whatever wherever you want. we believe the time slot is very important and that people do schedule their lives around things that they love. >> americans have always been obsessed with trivia. >> the toughest game ever devised. >> i even had my own somewhat failed attempt at hosting a trivia game show two years ago

with abc's "500 questions". but hq is so popular players are whipping out their phones just about everywhere when it's headquarters time. >> we have people sending pictures from weddings, top of mountains when they are skiing, they are out and become, headquarters hits, boom. >> the game has become a kind of office bonding tool. this woman won an exciting 28 cents while playing at her job. >> i just kept going and didn't realize i was going to keep going and got to question 12 and i was freaking out. >> she and her colleagues say hq trivia is the perfect escape. but alas today was not their day to win. >> so exactly how is giving away thousands of dollars every day sustainable for a free app that has no ads? >> we are a venture-backed firm and all of the prizes are funded by our company. >> so you haven't figured out how it will make money.

>> we're playing with some ideas to integrate brands and sponsors to make the game play better for people. >> veteran marking executive donnie doich said there's big business potential for hq. >> how many things can you do to where you can get millennials to spend 15 minutes paying attention not being distracted? one right now hq. there in lies the value. it's really a marketer's dream. >> he says the hq team needs to come up with creative ways to slip in advertising to generate revenue. >> i think if they do it smart advertising will not get in the way. >> we have more than 1.8 million of you in the game. >> the game has faced scrutiny. >> you have had glitches what's the status. >> we're going through growing pains but our engineers are focused on improving the service and making it more reliable. >> and players are frustrated it is not safe guarded from cheater who's use alexa or google to get quick answers.

>> i don't consider googling cheating. it's incredibly difficult to come up with the right key words to search and parse the result and find the answer within ten seconds. >> they dished out $50,000 jackpot to six winners. who split the cash and just days ago had their first winner take all game. >> could only be one. >> one lucky trivia whiz won a record $25,000. the game's sole survivor after 18 questions. >> can we giveaway a prize of $1 million some day, i think so. >> have you seen videos of people freaking out after they win. >> yeah it's incredible they play for not just the money but the glory of winning. it's so hard to win. you're in rarified air to be a hq champion. >> for hq champ like laura may with her $11 jackpot or alina or lisa's 28 cent victory it was a moment of true glory. for "nightline" this is dan harris in downtown new york city.

>> ahh! >> our thanks to dan. up next remembering physicist stephen hawking. >> announcer: abc news "nightline" brought to you by macy's. poallergies?reather. stuffy nose? can't sleep? take that. a breathe right nasal strip instantly opens your nose up to 38% more than allergy medicine alone. shut your mouth and say goodnight, mouthbreathers. breathe right. ♪

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>> i've had als for practically all my adult life yet it has not prevented me from having a very attractive family and being successful in my work. >> hawking has been compared to albert einstein and isaac newton. his book "brief history in time tackles black hole and string theory. in 2004 conceded a mistake on black holes insteds of destroying everything that falls into them conceded that black holes insteds of destroying what falls into them he found they do allow critical information to get out. >> so we can be sure of the past and we can predict the future. >> hawking was born in 1942. early on displayed a love of science and at 20 a physicist phenome at a cambridge university was first diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis also known as lou gehrig's disease but hawking

said physicists can take what is beyond physical limitations. he certainly took science beyond the classroom into popular culture even appearing on television shows such as the "the simpsons." >> if you are looking for trouble you found it. >> his spirit of adventure let him accept an offer to experience weightlessness. >> it was amazing >> asked many times if his disability held him back, hawking simply said it gave him more time to think. for the world of science it wasn't time enough. gloria riviera abc news. >> a true testament to the power of the mind and the human spirit. thanks for watching. and as always we are online on our "nightline" facebook page. good night america.

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