Trivial Pursuit
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| Trivial Pursuit | |
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| Players | 2–36 |
| Age range | 15 + |
| Setup time | 5 minutes |
| Playing time | 90 minutes |
| Random chance | Medium |
| Skills required | General knowledge, Popular culture |
Trivial Pursuit is a board game where progress is determined by a player's ability to answer general knowledge or popular culture questions. The game was conceived in 1979 by Scott Abbott, a sports editor for the Canadian Press and Chris Haney, photo editor for the Montreal Gazette, after finding pieces of their Scrabble game missing they decided to create their own game [1]. With the help of John Haney and Ed Werner, they completed development of the game, and it was released in 1981.
In North America the game's popularity peaked in 1984, the year over 20 million games were sold. The rights to the game were licensed to Parker Brothers (now part of Hasbro) in 1988, after initially being turned down by Richard Branson's Virgin Group. As of 2004, nearly 88 million games had been sold, in 26 countries and 17 languages. Northern Plastics of Elroy, Wisconsin produced 30,000,000 games from 1983-1985.
Dozens of question sets have been released for the game. The question cards are organized into themes - for instance, in the standard "Genus" question set, questions in green are about "science and nature". Some question sets have been designed for younger players, others on a specific time period or as promotional tie-ins for pop culture (such as Star Wars, Saturday Night Live, and The Lord of the Rings movies). Most recently ODVD, the makers of "Shout About Movies", also created the "Trivial Pursuit: Totally On-Sreen" DVD game, which puts the game board on-screen for a faster-paced game with more head-to-head competition, video clips, and music.
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[edit] Rules
The object of the game is to move along the circular track and the spokes by correctly answering questions, and try to collect colored wedges (also known informally as a "cheese" or "pie" due to their shape) for correctly answering questions in each of the six category "headquarters" located at the base of each spoke. To win, a player (or team) returns to the hexagonal hub and correctly answer the game-winning question in a category chosen by the other players.
Before the game begins, each player selects one token and six colored scoring wedges, one of each of the six category colors. Each player rolls the die to see who will go first. All players start at the hexagonal hub at the center of the board and move down one of the spokes and out onto the circular track. Play moves in either direction along the track, clockwise or counterclockwise.
On a player's first turn, the player rolls the die and selects which color/category they want to land on and which of the six spokes they'll move down. If a six is rolled, they will immediately land on a category headquarters and try for a scoring wedge of that color.
Whichever color is landed on, another player will ask a question in that category: The first card is drawn from either one of the card boxes and the question is read next to the appropriate colored dot. Answers are on the opposite side of each card. When done with the question, the card is placed in the back of its box, behind the other cards.
If the player answers his or her first question correctly, their turn continues by rolling the die again and moving that number of spaces.
On each roll of the die, the player may select which direction they want to move along the track as they attempt to move towards category headquarters to try for scoring wedges in each of the six colors. A player may not move both forward and backward along the track or on a spoke in the same move. The player must always move the number of spaces shown on the die. If the player answers a question incorrectly, the play passes to the player on their left.
On subsequent turns, when the player answers a category headquarters question correctly, he or she puts that colored wedge into their token. But if they answer incorrectly, on their next turn they must move out of that category headquarters for a turn before reentering and trying again for that color piece. The player does not have to try that same category immediately; they may move elsewhere on the board and return to it later.
There are twelve "roll again" spaces on the track. If the player lands on one, they continue their turn by rolling the die and moving again.
Any number of tokens may occupy the same space at the same time.
A player may cut across the board by moving their token up the spokes to the center hub and out again, moving either straight across the hub, or by "turning" and going down another spoke. If they land in the hub by exact count, but can't try to win the game because they do not have color wedges in all six colors, it is considered a "wild card" and the player may choose any category they want for their question.
Once a player has collected one scoring wedge in each color, they make their way toward the hexagonal hub and try to answer the game-winning question. They must land in the hub by exact count. If they overshoot the hub, they pick the spoke they want to move down and answer the question in the category they land on; then, on their next move, they attempt to hit the hub by exact count.
Once a player does hit the hub, the other players select the category of the game-winning question from the next card in the appropriate box. The players must select the category first and then draw the next card and read the question for the category. There has been some confusion about this rule where players think they should read all the questions on the card first and then picked the category they feel has the most challenging question for the other player to answer. This is mostly the result of some vague instructions in later versions of Trivial Pursuit. However, the instructions for the first Genus version clearly state that the players must pick the category first before drawing the card and reading the question.
If the player answers correctly, the game is won. Otherwise, they must wait for their next turn, stay in the hub and answer the next question. A player will continue to do this until they answer correctly and win the game.
Since a player continues their turn until they miss a question, it is possible for one player to collect all six scoring wedges, then move into the hub and win the game all in one turn. If this happens, any player who has not yet had a turn is permitted a chance to duplicate the feat and create a tie.
All Master Games may be played with cards from other master games and from replacement and enhancement card sets, or special packs. The colored dots on the question-and-answer cards are always arranged in the same order to facilitate interchangeable play.
[edit] Different editions
Over the years, numerous editions of Trivial Pursuit have been produced, usually specializing in various fields. The original version is known as the "Genus" edition (or "Genus I"). Several other general knowledge editions have followed ("Genus II", etc.). Among the different version that have been available over the years are:
- Silver Screen Edition (with questions on movies)
- All Star Sports Edition(with questions on sports)
- The Vintage Years (with questions on several decade of the early 20th century, generally 20s, 30s, and 40s)
- Baby Boomer Edition (with questions primarily covering the 50s, 60s, and 70s)
- Star Wars Edition
- Lord of the Rings Edition
- 1980's Edition
- 1990's Edition
- Millennium Edition
- Disney- The Animated Picture Edition
- 20th Anniversary Edition
- Junior for Kids Edition
[edit] Controversies
[edit] Fred Worth lawsuit
In October 1984, Fred L. Worth, author of The Trivia Encyclopedia, Super Trivia, and Super Trivia II, filed a $300 million lawsuit against the distributors of Trivial Pursuit. He claimed that more than a quarter of the questions in the game's Genus Edition had been taken from his books, even to the point of reproducing typographical errors and deliberately placed misinformation. One of the questions in Trivial Pursuit was "What was Columbo's first name?" with the answer "Philip." That information had been fabricated by Worth and placed in his book to catch anyone who might try to violate his copyright.
The inventors of Trivial Pursuit acknowledged that Worth's books were among their sources, but argued that this was not improper and that facts are not protected by copyright. The district court judge agreed, ruling in favour of Trivial Pursuit. The decision was appealed, and in September 1987 the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in California upheld the ruling. The issue was taken to the Supreme Court of the United States, which rejected Worth's arguments in March 1988.
[edit] David Wall lawsuit
In 1994, David Wall of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia launched a lawsuit against the game's creators. He claimed that in the fall of 1979, he and a friend were hitchiking near Sydney, Nova Scotia when they were picked up by Chris Haney. Wall claimed that he told Haney about his idea for the game in detail, including the shape of the markers.
Wall's mother testified she found drawings of his that looked like plans for a Trivial Pursuit like game, but the drawings had since been destroyed. Wall's friend that was allegedly hitchiking with him that day never testified. Haney said he never met Wall.
Over the years, there was much legal wrangling, notably around whether the suit should be decided by a judge or jury. It ended up being heard by a judge of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court. Final testimony was heard during the first week of 2007 and a decision is expected to come within a few months.
[edit] Dumbing down accusations
In the United Kingdom, Trivial Pursuit players have complained that recent versions of the game are dumbed down in comparison to previous editions, with easier questions and more focus on celebrities and showbusiness. [2]
[edit] Television
A version of Trivial Pursuit hosted by Wink Martindale aired on The Family Channel in the USA. BBC Television produced a Trivial Pursuit quiz show based on the game in the UK. It was hosted by Rory McGrath. Another British version (albeit with slightly different rules) was hosted on The Family Channel (now Challenge) by Tony Slattery. Birgit Lechtermann hosted a version for VOX in Germany from 1993-1994.
In 1998, a made-for-television movie entitled "Breaking all the Rules: The Creation of Trivial Pursuit" was aired. Treated largely as a comedy, the movie featured the music of Jimmy Buffett and portrayed the creators of the game as three beer loving Canadians.
In September 2004, Stuart Scott hosted a very short lived version of the show on ESPN based on Sports Trivia.
In the Fall of 2007, Mike O'Malley from the CBS sitcom Yes, Dear will host a primetime version of the show. This show will air on CBS Primetime, and a contestant could win up to $1 Million.
