Trivial Pursuit is a relatively modern game that has certainly become very popular very quickly, when it was first created it did not make a very large impact in the gaming market until the marketing rights were bought out by a large gaming business and once it was brought to everyone's attention it became one of our most popular games. The rules are very simple, you do require a certain amount of brain power to answer the questions, but no two games are ever the same.
It was invented by two friends over a game of Scrabble, the idea came to them to invent their own game, Chris Haney who was a photo editor for a large Canadian newspaper and his friend Scott Abbott who also worked for a newspaper as a sports journalist. It took them literally a few hours to come up with the basic idea and the game was launched in 1981, two years after their idea came to life.
Selchow and Righter bought the copyright and mass produced the game, with clever marketing it was entered into the “Games Hall of Fame” in 1993.
The object of the game is to answer a question in all of the categories by travelling around a circular board which is designed like a wheel and has spokes and a central hub.
The questions are contained on a series of cards which are placed face down and these are divided into their different categories before the game starts.
Each player selects the playing piece of his choice which are also colour coded and each playing piece has segments, when you answer a question correctly you add the segment to your playing piece until you have filled all of the segments and you are declared the winner.
There is usually a time limit set for answering each question and sometimes rather than individual players being involved there can be teams of players who confer to answer the question and they share each playing piece.
The number of squares that you move on the playing board is determined by the roll of a dice and if you land on a roll again square then you roll the dice again and move that number if squares. You can move in either direction and depending on which colour square that you land on, another player will pick up the corresponding colour card and ask the question that is printed on it. If you answer the question correctly then you can roll the dice again and have another go, your turn finishes when you give an incorrect answer.
Theoretically a player can complete all of the sections in one go, if this occurs and another player has yet to start then they are also permitted to have their turn and duplicate this feat.
In a standard Trivial Pursuit set the the question categories are as follows:-
There are many variations of this game available today, the sets of questions can be based on specific subjects with certain sets such as sports or films, there is even a junior set available for the younger players. Online versions are also available and it is even formatted to play on most games consoles.
A lot of the popularity has to be due to the simplicity of the rules but the enjoyment is just as high as with any other board game. Try this game out with your friends but remember it is just for fun and can make many a night in enjoyable!
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