One of the most well-known board games from the late 20th century is Trivial Pursuit, in which players respond to trivia questions to win colored plastic wedges. Canadians Chris Haney and Scott Abbott invented the game Trivial Pursuit in 1979, and it quickly gained popularity in the 1980s. The game was so popular at cocktail parties that the article advised against throwing away the plastic strips that held the game pieces since they “made excellent swizzle sticks.”
Past Events
On December 15, 1979, in Niagara on the Lake, Ontario, Scott Abbott, a sports journalist for The Canadian Press, and Chris Haney, a photo editor for The Gazette in Montreal, devised the game. They decided to make their own game after discovering missing pieces from their Scrabble set.
They finished the game’s development with John Haney and Ed Werner’s assistance, and it was launched in 1981. While staying with family in Weymouth Library, Dorset, Chris, and John Haney did a portion of the early work and writing of the game’s questions.
After being first rejected by the Virgin Group, the game’s rights were first licensed to Selchow and Righter in 1982, then Parker Brothers (later a part of Hasbro) in 1988. Hasbro eventually purchased the entire set of rights in 2008 for US$80 million.
The board game brought nearly $600 million in sales by 1986 after 20 million units were sold. In 26 countries and 17 languages, over 100 million games had been sold as of 2014.
Thirty million games were created by Northern Plastics of Elroy, Wisconsin between 1983 and 1985. Games magazine inducted Trivial Pursuit into its “Games Hall of Fame” in December 1993. In September 2003, Trivial Pursuit was made available online.
How to Engage in Gameplay
There are two to six players (or teams of players) in Trivial Pursuit. Being the first player to gather a wedge from each of the six categories and make it to the game board’s center is the object of the game.
(Players move the circular playing piece around the board, and the wedges slot into it.) To advance around the board, which features colored spaces that correspond with the categories, players roll a die.
If a question is answered properly, you get to roll again. If a player lands on a slot designated by a colored wedge, they will receive that colored wedge for correctly answering that question. Players must search across the board in search of every wedge required to win.
Although the average game length is reported as 80–90 minutes, seasoned players are aware that these times can be greatly exceeded. One player told The New York Times in 1984, “If you play it on weeknights, just prepare yourself to stay up all night.”
This Is A Classic
It’s peculiar, you realize. being requested to write a review for a Trivial Pursuit game. This game is older than me, and I’m unfortunately getting close to 40 years old. In contrast, many of the games we write about are 21st-century creations and may not be more than a few years old.
It’s likely that you’ve played the game and formed your judgments about it even if you’re reading this! Having said that, everyone starts with a single game. If you’ve never played before, you might be unsure if it’s worth your time.
Why should you choose this Trivial Pursuit game when there are so many others available? Should you choose this one? Perhaps when other players discuss this, similar to how they discuss Monopoly or Cluedo, you’ve noticed that they act a little snobbish. Stay put and let’s see what all the excitement is about if that describes you.
Choose A Subject
You pull out the board, which is a strange multicolored wheel. You have many question cards and plastic cheese wheels with colored wedges. So far, so good. Simple play. You roll the die, answer a question that matches the square’s color, and continue if you get it right.
Answer a question properly on a wedge space to get a wedge of that color. You win the game by answering one more question in the center after collecting all the colored wedges. Simple? Absolutely.
In four lines, I gave you all the important rules, and the gameplay is no deeper. The only technique is to use die rolls to maximize your turn and use “Roll again” spaces. The true secret in any trivia game is the trivia, so if you don’t have a wide range of general knowledge or a deep grasp of one topic, you won’t have fun. Questions vary widely in difficulty and topic. Although any question is easy if you know the answer, others look more difficult.
This may be one of Trivial Pursuit’s two biggest holes. The other was addressed earlier. If you answer correctly, you play again. That may sound like a nice concept, but if one side is rolling, their opponents could wait a long time to play again, especially with talking time.
After waiting 15 minutes, getting a challenging question that instantly resets play can be annoying. Particularly if the other team gets many easy ones! While it’s not a catastrophic problem, it’s a missed opportunity in games like Linkee, where everyone tries to answer every question, and missing a few answers doesn’t send you out.
Versions – Editions
The most well-liked versions are the Master (very challenging), Genus (Original), Classic (classic gameplay), and Family editions.
There are already a ton more and there will be more made, such as Disney, Warner Bros., Junior, and other themed and popular culture editions.
There are additional multimedia, travel, and pocket versions available.
You can purchase and play subsidiary card editions for different editions. Purchase a new complete game instead. Simply renew your cards.
Final Thoughts
All versions of Trivial Pursuit are family favorites. Customers can try Trivial Pursuit or one of the numerous other trivia-style games available today.
Prolonged players and enthusiasts of video games would never purchase or engage in Trivial Pursuit. Nonetheless, it’s a possibility to think about for the typical family searching for a game that brings everyone together and poses some challenging concerns.