In Pursuit of Trivia

 

 

In the early 80's a game came out that changed our family get togethers forever.  That game, in case you hadn't guessed, was Trivial Pursuit.  That famous trivia game, invented in Canada, set the stage for epic battles for years to come.  While this is true of my family, I am sure it is no different for many other families out there.  Who wouldn't want to prove that they are smarter than their family members, friends, or anyone else hanging around.

I love the game, and have a decent enough memory to be mildly successful.  I am not great at all categories--geography (the blue wedge) often eludes me.  Of course, calling this category Geography vexes my sister to no end (when one's major is geography, and nothing they studied ever appears on the cards, they have a credible point).  I guess we all have our favourite categories.  I prefer arts and lit. (the brown wedge)

There probably is an important strategy question.  Should one go after their easiest wedge first, or should you tackle your most difficult one?  I usually opt for my favourite first, hoping to get a lucky geography question.

My family has several (and by several I mean more than seven) versions of the game--and no, we do not have the Twilight Version--we do have the Friends version of SceneIt, but that's another, often loud, story.  I am better at the Baby Boomer and 80's versions of the game.  My father can't stand either of them, so they don't get played very often.  This is obvious when you need to pull out the dust rag every time you want to play them.

The game is about answering trivia questions, rolling the dice, moving between "roll again" spaces endlessly until you have to answer questions that really matter.  Of course the game is also filled with asides, inside jokes, family needling, and incredible digressions.  Basically, it is a lot of fun.