Tabletop Game / Trivial Pursuit

Trivial Pursuit is a board game created by Chris Haney and Scott Abbott in 1979. It is used in television to indicate, first, a test of skills among characters to see which one is the smartest, and second, an excuse for hilarious bickering as players argue over whether someone is winning because he's actually smarter or because he's getting ludicrously easy questions. In shorthand, while many board games are treated as luck-based missions for which the winner is of little ultimate consequence, Trivial Pursuit will be a matter of Serious Business. The irony will not be lost on those who realize that the game's title is a pun on the old expression "trivial pursuits"; i.e, pointless adventures that never accomplish anything.

The rules to this game are almost always irrelevant in terms of its use on television, but for what it's worth, the object is to collect six different colored wedges, each color corresponding to a different general interest category, and put them into the player's game piece, a wheel. Because of their shape, the wedges are often referred to as 'pieces of cheese' or 'pie pieces'. After collecting all six colors, the player must journey to the center of the board for a final question in a category chosen by the opponents. A correct answer wins the game; otherwise, rinse and repeat.

The popularity (and nature) of this game is also such that it shows up semi-regularly as a Game Show. To date, different versions have appeared in the United States (one version from Jay Wolpert in 1987 didn't make it to series; the others were a series on The Family Channel, produced and hosted by Wink Martindale from 1993-94 with call-in components^note which was also a part of Wink's Interactive block, along with three other shows: an adaptation of the board game Boggle, the list-oriented Shuffle and the newspaper word-based Jumble, a very short-lived ESPN version in 2004, and Trivial Pursuit: America Plays, a series hosted by Christopher Knight from 2008 that utilized people and webcams to record questions), the United Kingdom (a carbon copy of the Martindale series, also produced by him and aired on their Family Channel equivalent, now Challenge TV), and Spain. A new iteration, produced by Hasbro and Entertainment One and hosted by LeVar Burton, was announced in 2021. There is also a 1980s arcade game by Bally Sente.

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This board game includes examples of the following tropes:

• Animated Adaptation: In the late 2000s, there was a short-lived version of the game titled Trivial Pursuit: DVD for Kids, which was a Flash-animated DVD version of game that was targeted at kids. The game had 12 "episodes", all of which were essentially 11-minute cartoons with some questions interspersed throughout.^note Interestingly, there was the option to turn off the questions and just watch the cartoons, which ended up making the cartoons an In Name Only adaptation of the game.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The game's six categories, which themselves depend on the card set used. These usually if not always come with guide cards listing said categories and their corresponding colors.
• Expansion Pack: Plenty to choose from, featuring categories of different themes, official and not-so-much.
• Extra Turn: The grey "Roll Again" spaces.
• Gotta Catch 'Em All: The "pie" pieces, earned from correct answers on the "pie" spaces located at the end of each outward track.
• Junior Variant: Trivial Pursuit for Kids features more kid-friendly topics that are more suitable for this demographic.
• Literal Wild Card: Trivia questions come in six categories (Geography, History, Entertainment, Literature, Science & Nature, and Sports & Leisure). Most spaces on the board are labeled with one of these categories, and what space you land on determines the sort of question you'll get. The exception is the center space, which lets the player choose which category their question will come from... unless answering the question would win them the game, in which case it's their opponents who choose the category for them.
• Roll-and-Move: You roll a die to determine how many spaces you'll move on the wheel-shaped board, though you get to choose the direction. The space you land on usually serves to determine the category of the question you'll be asked.

The various game show adaptations used the following game show tropes:

• Audience Participation: In the Martindale version, if there was still time left after the bonus round, an audience member would be chosen to answer up to five Interactive-style (multiple-choice) questions for $20 each.
• Bonus Round:
  • Wolpert pilots: The champion would face off against the other contestants, in hopes of answering questions correctly and knocking out lit wedges on their front-game wheels (akin to Wolpert's earlier Hit Man). If the champion succeeded in knocking everyone else out, they won $10,000 in cash and prizes.
  • Martindale version: The champion was given 45 seconds to answer questions in all six categories to fill their pie; passing or answering incorrectly moved onto the next category. Completely filling their pie awarded $1,000 and a trip.
  • ESPN version: Similar to above, but the second team member was put into a Sound Proof Booth while the first member tried to answer the questions. If they failed to get all six, the second member would have an additional 45 seconds to finish what was left. Multiple answers could be given to a single question until the player either got it right or passed. The grand prize was $2,500, and a team could risk it to play on the next show to double their money.
  • America Plays: In the Head-to-Head Round, the in-studio champion faced off against "America's Team" over six new questions with shuffling categories; the captain of America's Team would stop the shuffle. Increasing amounts of money were awarded for each correct question ($500 to start, then $1,000 through $5,000); as in the main game, if the in-studio contestant answered wrongly, the money would go into "America's Bank". Whoever had the larger bank amount at the end of the round won; if "America's Team" won, the money would be evenly split among the at-home contestants whose questions were asked that day.
• Bonus Space: Bonus questions were hidden behind normal ones during Round 2 in the Family Channel version; these used visual or auditory clues and would award $100 and a half-wedge of the player's choice if answered correctly.
  • The Wolpert pilots had prizes hidden somewhere among the paths to the hub the players hadn't gone through yet; the third round added a car.
• Consolation Prize:
  • Anyone who lost in the Martindale version would receive some merchandise.
  • In America Plays, if the in-studio champion lost, they would go home with a Trivial Pursuit board game.
• Golden Snitch: The Wolpert pilots used a setup wherein all four contestants would "buy" questions from each other and right answers would get them closer to the "hub" of the gameboard. They also had little spinnable wheels in front of their podiums; the wedges would light up with each correct question, and in round 3, they could opt to either keep going or spin; if their wheel landed on a lit wedge, they won the game automatically.
• Home Participation Sweepstakes: The Martindale version was heavily based around call-in portions, including the Interactive Game portion (which had more in-studio contestants competing for the right to appear in the Classic Game half of the show) and the Playbreaks interspersed throughout the other game shows aired by the Family Channel at the time.
  • America Plays is a unique version, as "America's Team" were people playing along at home via webcam, submitting questions and playing against the in-studio contestants for a growing bank of cash.
• Non-Standard Game Over: In America Plays, if neither the contestant or "America's Team" could grow their banks to overtake one another in the Bonus Round, the round was over then and there. If the in-studio contestant's bank was bigger, they'd have the option to play the next question for double or nothing; if "America's Bank" was bigger, the game ended there. If the banks were tied, a Sudden Death question was asked, and the side that answered correctly won their bank.
  • Let's Just See What WOULD Have Happened: ...if a winning player with an unused question decided not to risk their money for it.
• Opening Narration:
  • Interactive Game: "Today, these players and you at home will test your trivia IQ as we play... Trivial Pursuit—the Interactive Game! And here's the star of the show, Wink Martindale!"
    • Playbreak: "Take a Trivial Pursuit Playbreak with Wink Martindale!"
  • Classic Game: "It's time to test your trivia IQ as we play the world's most popular trivia game, Trivial Pursuit! And here's the star of the show, the man who knows (insert bizzare trivia question), Wink Martindale!"
  • America Plays: It's time to play... Trivial Pursuit! And all across America, viewers are taping their trivia questions, to get in the game... (insert footage) You could play, star and win on Trivial Pursuit—America Plays!"
• Personnel:
  • The Announcer: Randy West for the Martindale version.
  • Game Show Host: Steve Morris and Linda Marr (also something of a Lovely Assistant) for the Wolpert pilots, Wink Martindale for the Family Channel version, Roger Lodge for the ESPN version, and Christopher Knight for America Plays (Mark L. Walberg hosted the pilot, but wasn't able to host the series due to his contract for FOX's The Moment of Truth).
• Progressive Jackpot: In America Plays, each team (studio and America) had their own "Bank", which would grow throughout the episode.
  • The "Studio's Bank" gained money for every first right answer from an in-studio contestant. (If the player in control, or the first to signal in an All Play question, answered wrong, then no money would be given to this Bank for the question.)
  • The "America's Bank" gained money any time an in-studio contestant failed to correctly answer a question. (If multiple studio players answered one question wrong, this Bank would be credited with the question value that many times.)
• Speed Round: Round 3 of the Martindale version's Classic Game acted as this, with a toss-up question asked for control; once control was gained, the contestant would attempt to answer questions in hopes of filling their pies and winning the game, but wrong answers could lead to control being stolen by the other two contestants. (The rules here became the basis of the main game in America Plays.)
  • The Interactive Game was basically a series of this, with each question allotting 10 seconds for the players, and points were scored based on how fast they locked in with the right answer (1 point for every 1/100 second saved on their clock, for a maximum of 1,000 points per question).
  • "Hot Pursuit" in America Plays; like the 90s version, the goal was to answer randomized questions to fill all three wedges that hadn't been filled in the first round.
• Think Music: The 10-second cue for each question in the Interactive Game. A different version of the cue was used for the other three shows in Wink's 1994 Interactive block, although some Shuffle episodes used this show's cue.
• Who Wants to Be "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?": America Plays had the usual dark late-00s style set, while the "America's Team" idea was something akin to the mob from 1 vs. 100.

This board game has been a plot point in the following shows:

Live-Action TV

• Cobra Kai: In season 2 episode 9, Demetri thinks that bringing Trivial Pursuit to Moon's party will be an ingenious idea, not getting the memo that most of the high school kids there will be drinking.
• The Seinfeld episode "The Bubble Boy" has George playing a game of this with the titular boy. The Bubble Boy being an obnoxious know-it-all, George seizes upon a famous typo (one answer card incorrectly states that the "Moops" conquered Spain) to refuse the Bubble Boy access to the history spoke. This goes downhill until George accidentally destroys the Bubble Boy's bubble.
• Mystery Science Theater 3000:
  • During the making of Hercules and the Captive Women, one blooper showed Joel rolling the die and announcing the scripted result, ignoring the roll. He's told to just take the roll. His next roll? He announces '9'. This can be seen in Poopie!.
  • In Gorgo, Mike tries to play the William Sylvester version of Trivial Pursuit, but the bots don't care for it.
• In the Wings episode "Sports and Leisure," the airport gang plays a game of Trivial Pursuit. Roy ends up teamed with Lowell, who insists on answering "Ann-Margret" to every single question.
• Cheers: In "Strange Bedfellows, Part 2", none other than Senator Gary Hart is revealed to be Sam's Trivial Pursuit partner. Sam helped Hart on the sports trivia, and Hart helped Sam on "everything else".

Western Animation

• The Family Guy episode "Petarded" starts off with resident idiot Peter Griffin winning a game of this (because Lois used questions from the preschool edition, and even then he still struggled with them), and naturally takes it as evidence that he's a genius. Annoyed by this, Brian ends up showing Peter that, rather than being a genius, he's actually legally mentally retarded. This stops Peter's bragging, but his behavior doesn't exactly improve.

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