Sunday 31 July 2011

Quiz Board Games

" I bet nobody ever wants to play you at Trivial Pursuit !"
Be honest, many of you are bound to have been told this before, at one time or another. It's been a few years now, but only last week, at the Ton Pentre quiz this one was unleashed once again. I brought it upon myself by winning the quiz playing as a singleton. Cards on the table, winning as a singleton is not a thing which I would advise anybody to make a habit of doing, but once in a while it can be quite fun. Still, it does draw attention to yourself. If there's two of you, then you can pass all the credit onto your team mate while he's at the bar, or in the gents. On your own, though, you can only pass so much off as being lucky guesses.

Well, as I say, the comment was made , to which the correct reply is , " Ha, ha, well, I'd never thought of that. But you're right, nobody does ever want to play me at Trivial Pursuit. " Which did actually lead to a train of thought, along the lines of, well, nobody I know actually plays Trivial Pursuit anyway, me included. Come to think of it, does anybody still play Trivial Pursuit at all ?

I always had mixed feelings about the game. I loved the fact that actually knowing a lot of quiz stuff gave me a distinct advantage, but I hated the fact that a lot of the questions were boring, unguessable, and in some cases just plain wrong. Yet I was always a lot more interested in the questions than collecting the cakes, or cheeses, or whatever they were.

Once upon a time, though, Trivial Pursuit did give birth to a bewilderingly wide range of board based quiz games, or quiz based board games. Hardly any of which I have ever played. My kids did buy me the University Challenge game from a car boot sale, which doesn't have a board, but does have buzzers, which is a huge plus. Questions are not that difficult, but its quite fun, albeit that the only times I have been allowed to play have been as question master.

Did anyone ever play any of these other games ? I'm thinking specifically of the Trivial Pursuit - inspired quiz based games, many of which were spin offs from TV - A Question of Sport in particular comes to mind. If so, were any of them actually any good ? I have my doubts, but I am very willing to be convinced otherwise.

8 comments:

LisaH said...

We used to play the Question of Sport one a lot. As I remember, it was good fun although we weren't very good.
Has anyone tried "Pointless the Board Game"? Would there be any way of adapting it so a 5-year-old could join in, or at least feel she's joining in? For some reason my daughter is obsessed with Pointless at present and insists on watching it as soon as she gets in every evening.

Londinius said...

Hi Lisa,

I don't know about board game, but Pointless the DVD / CD ROM game has to be just around the corner.

I feel an idea coming on !

Dave

Skiffle.cat said...

Some friends had a Guinness (as in world records) quiz game. We played that a couple of times and it was quite good, I remember.

I had a Trivial Pursuit cheapo game sitting in my games cupboard for years, that never came out of the shrinkwrap. That kind of game isn't that popular now.

DanielFullard said...

In terms of Trivial Pursuit I have many version and for the past 12-13 years I have been playing it. Nowadays it is tough to find someone to play though, but a few times year we always have a game. I actually picked up a cheap version in a discount store called Guys vs Girls.....this is ideal for me and my girlfriend as she doesnt tend to know quiz answers very often but she enjoys this as the questions are all on culture and entertainment and fashion etc in here set. A fun night in!

I did also have two Trivial Pursuit video games. The first was on the PC which was very basic. They gave you a question, and then an answer...if you got it right you clicked yes and if not no. So not very interactive. The worse on was on the Xbox 360 which had multiple choices which ruined it a bit.

When I was younger I did have the Question of Sport one but all I remember is pegs going around a board and learning all the picture cards. I must have played it so much I knew most of the answers!

We also had the Weakest Link game when I was 14-15 and we played that with a large gathering of family once or twice on special occasions. I tended to get voted off first but it was a good little game!

LisaH.....The pointless board game that is out now is ok. We got it not so long since but the only problem is with limited questions it doesnt last more than one playthrough of the full set. Not sure how you would adapt it to a five year old as some rounds are tough.

bj said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
bj said...

I must admit I bought the Eggheads board game before going on the tv show. I played it a dozen times or so and we never ever lost to the Eggheads, which seemed to defeat the whole point of the thing. I am surprised Kevin and co didn't sue for libel and damage to their reputations.
At the other end of the scale was a wonderful game called Ubi. Not only did you have to know the answer to the question, you then had to place your answer on a large map of the world, which had no names on it. In other words you had to know the answer, say for instance Alice Springs, and then pinpoint it on the map. You could opt to pinpoint it within one of the hexagons on the map - hexagonal precision, or pinpoint it exactly - one of the triangles within the hexagon. And, as I remember it, you pretty much had to do that to score. Oh and the map of Britain was huge, so knowing something was in Perthshire for instance would get you nowhere.
I really liked this game, which also included a whole lot of Latin... "Ubi something or other..." But after an hour or so the score would be something along the lines of 1-0. The only quiz I ever came across where goalless draws were possible. No one ever wanted to play it with me.

cwj said...

Very interesting comments about Ubi. We (good, keen quizzers) played it once, and gave up on it as hopelessly difficult. But then on a subsequent holiday got really into it. It is an excellent game, and would recommedt it very highly.

You have to be in the right frame of mind to play it and it certainly takes some getting used to. And it will not be suitable for a family game. You need to be play it with solid quizzers.

Londinius said...

Hi Everyone, and thanks for your comments

I must admit I remember seeing Ubi, but I never played it. bj and cwj, you've sold me with your comments, and so I've just bought one off eBay. I'll let you know my opinion in a future post.

Thanks

Dave