Trivial Pursuit
$39.99
Trivial Pursuit at a Glance
| Game Type Trivia Questions Quiz Roll & Move | Play Time 45 - 90 mins + | Skill/Complexity (2 - 5) General & Pop Culture Knowledge |
| Age 16+ | Publisher(s) Hasbro and others | Published 1981 |
| Categories Classic / Trivia / Family | Players 2 - 6 (4 Ideal) | Rules Manual 1980's Rules PDF |
| Our Rating 8/10 | Cost $23 - $39.99 + |
About – Description
Trivial Pursuit is the most popular from the trivia board games genre. It has joined many families board game collections since 1981, and continues to do so today.
In 1979 Trivial Pursuit was created by Chris Haney and two of his Canadian friends from Montreal, Canada. It then came on the market during 1981 and in 1983 a whopping 20 million copies sold.
The large toy company ‘Hasbro’ bought the full rights to Trivial Pursuit for $80 million in 2008.
There has been some controversy of copyrights etc., and two law suits against the creators was filed. Both cases was won by the creators of the game.
Trivial Pursuit can now be found on computer and video games (play station, Xbox 360, arcade games and home computers).
Trivial Pursuit most definitely made its mark in the board games industry. Whether the board game nerds and geeks like it or not, it influenced gaming in a positive way, even if that was just getting other games published that are better suited for them.
Who’s it best suited for?
A family that enjoys quiz games will get along very well with Trivial Pursuit.
If you have children between the ages of 12 – 16 then it will always be hit or miss as to whether they will enjoy playing trivia question games or not. If your young ones have no interest whatsoever in quizzes, then Trivial Pursuit might not be for them. If they love watching quizzes on TV or playing others then they could love this.
If the game drags on for over an hour (which it can and will) young people can get bored, but you can always change the rules slightly to allow it to finish quicker. The family edition is quicker to complete.
If you’re a family then the Trivial Pursuit board game or any other Trivia board game is worth trying out, and if the kids are not impressed with it, let the adults play with friends or other family members. You tried and it’s always worth a try.
Skill – Complexity
The skill involved is in answering the trivia questions. When I first observed this game I was aged 14 and it was too complicated for me (and I had no interest at all), but I am not a general knowledge quiz type of person. I noticed others answering questions with ease who are probably masters at pub quizzes today.
There’s usually one or two people that are really good at playing within a family and always win (yes, these people are annoying, especially if they’re smug with it).
It’s still a good board game for just adult friends to play, especially if they have the Genus Trivial Pursuit board game edition and they was born in the 1970′ – 1980’s as the questions are suited to that time.
There are various editions including the family, classic, genus and others, so the level of skill required varies with each edition (see editions section).
If you’re planning to play as a family do consider which edition to buy as not all are going to be multi-generational and suit all players. The family edition could be most suitable, but then again it may be too easy and quick, so you need to compare what suits the family best.
Set Up – Playing Rules & Instructions
Setting up is straight forward and takes a few minutes (board, cards, die, wedge holders, and wedges).
Having someone read the instructions and explain to others should be easy enough to enable them to grasp how to apply the rules of play within minutes.
When playing the player rolls the die and moves around the board hoping to land on a category (there are 6 categories, Geography, Entertainment, History, Art and Literature, Science and Nature, and Sports and Leisure). The category they land on will be the type of question (category) asked from the next card. If answered correctly the player gets a wedge to put inside the wedge holder – and this holder requires 6 wedges to fill it up.
I hope you follow so far…….
Whoever fills up the wedge box with 6 wedges first is the winner of the game. Well, nearly the winner. They have to make their way to the central point next to complete the win and answer another question correctly.
To shorten the game length you can eliminate the final getting to the central point or any other aspect of the game of course including only requiring 4 wedges to win the game. For some people the game can drag on otherwise.
Many players do find it annoying that you could win the game much quicker but you need to land on the last spot and rolling the die wont give you the number needed. Another player comes along and wins, or it just takes a long time to get finished.
Another annoyance for some is when they need just one colored wedge to fill the wedge box but the die will not land on it. So if you don’t like playing by rules, you may find Trivial Pursuit difficult.
Playing with teams of two is a cool way to make it more fun.
This how to play video is very useful…….
Versions – Editions
There are a number of editions with the most popular being the Master (very difficult), Genus (Original), Classic (classic game play) and Family editions.
There are many more and will continue to be more created, including junior, Disney, Warner Bros, and other themed and popular culture editions.
Multimedia, pocket and travel versions are also available.
Subsidiary card editions can be bought and played for various editions. No need to buy a new full game…just renew cards.
Final Thoughts
The Trivial Pursuit board game and its many editions is still a family favorite. There are many other trivia type games on the market today that buyers can compare and maybe find one that suits them better, or they could add trivial Pursuit to a collection of trivia games to test them out.
Long term gamers and gaming geeks wouldn’t buy or play something like Trivial Pursuit. However, for the average family looking for a game that gets people together and throws a few questions at them then it’s an option to consider.
Children really enjoy the themed games, including the likes of Star Wars and others.
