Back in the Day: Trivial Pursuit

The first line in the description of Trivial Pursuit on BoardGameGeek reads: “Trivial Pursuit is the original trivia game that started it all.” It is really difficult to get your head wrapped around that line when you realize that this game originated in 1981. When a game is the original in a genre that seems as ubiquitous as trivia, being less than 50 years old does not seem right. Consider that this means that Trivial Pursuit is only 12 years older than Magic: The Gathering.

Coincidentally, both Trivial Pursuit and Magic: The Gathering are games that started their respective classification (e.g., trivia games and collectable card games) and seem to have nailed it on the initial outing. Many, many companies have tried to catch the lightning in a bottle both of these games represent and have come up short. Some have come close (e.g., Pokemon). Few seem to have the lasting power of these two. Usually, it has to do with a fundamental misunderstanding of what makes the originals work. So let’s look at Trivial Pursuit and see if we can identify what that is.

In our Back in the Day articles revisiting classic experiences, we won’t discuss how to play these games…they are old, and if you want to learn how to play, feel…

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