My Grandmother was a lady who wasn’t a huge gamer but she loved trivia and all things knowledgeable. She watched Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune each night, loved doing crosswords, and the few games that I remember playing with her were Yahtzee, Trivial Pursuit, and a State of Idaho themed game. I can maybe count on one hand how many times I have won against her (came close a few times when I was older).
TRIVIAL PURSUIT (1981)
Trivial Pursuit is the original trivia game that started it all.
Each player has a circular playing piece with six pie-shaped holes. The goal of the game is to collect a pie in each color. The colors correspond to different question categories.
The board consists of a circular track with spaces in seven different colors. Six of the colors correspond to question categories while the last color gives a new dice roll. Six spaces along the track are "pie spaces", and from these there are "spokes" of track leading to the middle of the board.
Players roll a die and move along the track in any direction they like. When a player stops on a color they get a question of the appropriate category. If the player answers a question correctly while on a pie space, they get a pie of that color (assuming they don't already have it). A correct answer on another square allows the player to roll again.
Once the player has one pie in each color, she can move along the spokes to the middle of the board to win the game.
—description from the designer
Weight 1.64/5
My love of the game…
Let me just make this clear to everyone… the description above is for the original game of Trivial Pursuit. There are a lot of editions (a few hundred I believe) to the game and I actually have a decent collection of them, especially the older editions.
One of the few games that my Dad would play with us growing up was Trivial Pursuit because he loves knowledge, like Grandma, and winning the game (he probably won’t admit that it is the reason). I want to credit both of them for my love of learning. I know in high school my grades didn’t reflect it, but I did love learning new things.
What I really love about the game is that it is broken up into six different categories. My Grandmother (if I recall correctly) excelled at the Entertainment category, my Dad is a History buff so that was his go-to, and my favorite is the Geography category.
Subsequent editions of the game, the booster boxes, and various themed editions had different categories to play so there are endless opportunities to expand your knowledge base.
Going on road trips as a kid (you know early-portable electronics days) we would always bring trivia cards with us and quiz one another to pass the time.
Playing the game
Now to talk about playing the game, the BGG description explained the basic rules of the game well.
What I want to add to it is that in between each “pie” space are two “roll again” spaces that help you to zoom around the board because there are seven space between each “pie” space. Which means if you roll a 2 or a 5 if your game piece is on a “pie” space you will get to roll again; and if you are on a “roll again” space, a 2 or 5 gets you onto a “pie” space or a 3 or 4 gets you to the next “roll again” location. Why I remember this, I don’t know, but I do.
To end the game, you need all six different “pies” in you game pieces and return to the middle of the board but wait… there’s more. To win the game, you will need to answer a trivia question that your opponents (without looking at the card) gets to select while in the center. If you answer incorrectly, you must move away from the middle and return to it to try again.
My Grandmother would do fine with this because I do not recall a category that she was weak in. My Dad would always have to answer an Entertainment or an Arts & Literature question (which are my weakest categories too).
For Families??
You might be asking, is this a game for families? And the answer is a huge YES.
There are editions of the game that is designed for families that have younger kids. For me, there is not a better time to instill the love of learning and knowledge than with a younger child who shows interest in learning.
My three year old knows that each week day she has 30 minutes of “school” that she needs to do each day and will approach me to get it done if she didn’t do it before getting ready for bed.
I am looking forward to the day when my daughter and my dad can sit together at the table and play Trivial Pursuit with my daughter taking the win.
Conclusion
To close out this entry, I just want to say goodbye to my Grandmother. I love you and miss you greatly. Thank you for being such a wonderful and beautiful lady all these years and for instilling in us the love of learning.
Grandma Berry (1930-2023)
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