Mobile · Play · Dead-time
Quiet hours — trivia is the only live thing
2pm on a weekday. No live NBA, no bar events, no Bingo — just trivia's perpetual 5-minute drumbeat. Live Stack shrinks to one pill. Hero becomes compact (countdown side-by-side with CTA). The freed space fills with meaningful content: daily challenge, tonight's schedule, expanded friend activity. User never opens the app to emptiness.
Design Mechanics · Dead-time Play
Shell unchanged — same header chips, Live Stack pill, ticker, bar strip (hidden here since no live bar event nearby), nav. User perceives the same app, just quieter.
Live Stack shrinks to 1 pill — just trivia, still counting down. "· quiet hours" label next to it explains why the row is sparse (no shame in an empty row).
Hero compresses to a row — instead of the big countdown dominating, the mini-ring (72×72) sits left, "Join Trivia →" CTA sits right. Saves ~120px of vertical space for other content.
Daily Challenge card — "Today's bonus: Hit 3 trivia rounds in a row for +300 IQ · 1 / 3". Gives users a reason to come back multiple times today. Progress counter creates completion pressure. This is the Duolingo-style engagement fuel for dead periods.
Tonight's Games schedule — two upcoming NBA games with real ESPN team logos, tip-off time, "Predictor opens 15 min early" signal. Remind pill on each row creates a future hook (push notification). Converts a currently-dead state into an anticipated future one.
Friend activity expanded — 3 rows instead of 2, more varied content ("passed you", "started a streak") to sustain interest when other content is sparse.
Scroll inside the content zone — scroll-body is vertically scrollable (scrollbar hidden). Lets us stack as many cards as we want for dead-time without compressing. Hero + stack stay pinned top; nav stays pinned bottom.
Bar strip omitted — when user isn't near a bar with a live event, don't nag. Returns when geofence triggers.
