Trivial Pursuit (American game show)

Trivial Pursuit is a game show loosely based on the board game of the same name. It aired from May 31, 1993 to September 29, 1995, hosted by Wink Martindale. A syndicated version of the show entitled Trivial Pursuit: America Plays is under development for a planned launch in fall of 2008.

US Version

The show is played in two halves. The first half is an interactive game show while the other is a traditional game show.

The Interactive Game

Nine players compete for three spots in the classic version. (In the earliest episodes there were 12 players.)

Round One

Five questions with four multiple-choice answers are asked by the host and the players have 10 seconds to answer each by pressing a number from 1-4 on a keypad in front of them. They score points based on how fast they answer the question correctly with a maximum of 1,000 points. After five questions, the six players with the highest scores play round two and the other players are eliminated.

Round Two

This round is played in the same way as round one, except with the six winners from round one and the three highest scoring players win a special prize & a chance to play Trivial Pursuit in the next half hour show.

The Classic Game

The Main Game

As in the boardgame, three contestants race to see who fill up their game pie first (five of the colored wedges are the same but one was different). They do this by answering questions from categories that match up the colored wedge, but unlike the board game, it takes two questions to complete a color, and there is no board or dice used. The colors are:

Blue

Pink

Yellow

Red (replacing brown)

Green

Orange

In the first three rounds, each player gets two turns which means that they can choose two categories and answer two questions. A correct answer lights up a wedge but an incorrect answer gives the two opponents a chance to steal the wedge.

Round One

In the first round, the six standard & traditional Trivial Pursuit categories are in play. (Since the release of the Millennium Edition, the categories in the boardgame have changed.) The categories are:

Geography - blue

Entertainment - pink

History - yellow

Art & Literature - red

Science & Nature - green

Sports & Leisure - orange

Round Two

This round uses either the categories from the Movie Edition or TV Edition.

For movies, the categories are:

Settings - blue

Titles - pink

Off Screen - yellow

On Screen - red

Production - green

Portrayals - orange

For TV, they are:

Classics - blue

Sitcoms - pink

Drama - yellow

Kids & Games - red

Stars - green

Wild Card - orange

Afterwards, 6 new subjects from a different topic are used.

In round 2, there are three special questions known as "Bonus Questions". When chosen the player who answers the question correctly has an opportunity to answer a follow-up question. A correct answer awarded the player $100 and another half-wedge of their choice.

Round Three

This round once again uses the traditional basic categories used in Round 1 but played in a different manner. The round starts off with a toss-up question, and the first player to buzz-in & answer correctly controls the round. The player in control can keep on picking categories & answering questions until he/she either fills up his/her pie (thereby winning the game) or misses one at which point the other two players can steal control & the wedge that player was going for. If nobody answers the question, another toss-up is played. The first player to completely light up the whole pie or the player with the most lighted half wedges when time runs out wins the game, $500, an additional prize, and the right to play for $1,000 & a grand prize.

The Trivial Pursuit Challenge Round

The winning player has 45 seconds to answer six questions (again from the six basic categories) in order to fill up his/her pie which is now on a monitor. Each correct answer lights up a color in the pie, and moves on to the next question. A wrong answer automatically jumps to the next question, and after the first 6, the player goes back to questions from the categories missed, if any were wrong. Along the way he/she can pass and can come back to that wedge if time permits. The winning player gets $100 for each color lit up, if he/she can light up all six colors before the 45 seconds expires, that player will win $1,000 & a grand prize (usually a trip).

Trivia

• The show premiered a series of "interactive" games called playbreaks, all produced by Martindale and his associates. Originally, 10 "Trivial Pursuit" playbreaks were interspersed throughout FAM's game show block (three of them were during Trivial Pursuit: Interactive Game.) A question would be shown on the screen, along with four choices, and the answer would be revealed 10 seconds later.
• There were no playbreaks in the original version of Trivial Pursuit, possibly because Martindale didn't want viewers to be distracted from the game. Home viewers were given an opportunity to call a special 1-900 # ($4.95 per call) and play a "TP: Interactive Game" typed, using a slightly modified scoring system, and players answer by usuing their touch-tone telephone. The winner of each "playbreak" wins a prize and compete later that day in a playoff game against the other winners for a vacation. The ad would last about 100 seconds, as seen by an on-screen clock (even though the clock read ":99" as it faded in).
• Other interactives games premiered on the network, one was another board game adaptation Boggle, another was the list-oriented Shuffle, and one more was Jumble, a newspaper game adaptation. The Trivial Pursuit interactive version was cancelled to make way for Boggle & Shuffle, only to return months later.
• Later on, the Interactive segment was dropped.
• Trivial Pursuit: America Plays will debut in syndication on September 22, 2008.
• The show spawned a board game of the show itself like Scrabble did; with some questions from the show. The box cover features Wink and a shot from the aforementioned unsold syndicated version's pilot.
• If there was extra time at the end of the show (much like Make the Grade), an audience member would be called onstage and given the opportunity to answer five multiple-choice questions (much like the "Interactive" portion of the show) at $20 apiece, for a maximum payoff of $100.
• The Family Channel has never had ratings as spectacularly high as it did while Trivial Pursuit aired.

UK Version

The UK Version of Trivial Pursuit was first broadcasted on BBC1 and aired from 4 September, 1990 to 18 December, 1990 hosted by Rory McGrath and then on The Family Channel from 1993 to 1994 hosted by Tony Slattery. It was played exactly the same as the U.S. version, but there was never any interactive game.

See also

• Trivial Pursuit
• Board game
• Game show

External links

• The Trivial Pursuit Rules Page
• Trivial Pursuit (UK) at UKgameshows.com