Overview
Trivial pursuit is a fun game for social gatherings such as a family occasion or a game night with friends. It is the most popular of the trivia board games. The game can be played by people from the age of 8 upwards. Players answer general knowledge and popular culture questions to win the game. There are 6 categories of questions to choose from.
Objective
Fill your token with wedges and find your way to the middle of the board then answer a final question correctly to win.
Trivial Pursuit Rules
Tokens can be moved in any direction. However, a play may not split a die roll to move in different directions. Each die roll must be counted in full in a single direction.
Collect a wedge when you answer a question correctly on a “Category Headquarter”.
A player/team must keep playing until they answer a question wrong. Each correct answer keeps a player/team in play and they can keep moving their token on the board.
If a player/team finds their way to the middle of the board and they are yet to fill their token with wedges, they are allowed to select the category from which they will answer a question.
A player/team must make their way to the middle of the board after collecting six wedges. When the player/team gets there, they must answer one final question from a category selected by their opponents.
Number of Players Needed
2 to 6 players. The game can also be played in teams, with up to 6 teams playing.
Equipment
- A game board
- Question cards with answers at the back
- 6 scoring tokens
- 6 card holders
- 36 scoring wedges
- 1 die
Setting Up
First, decide if you want to set special rules for the game such as time limit for players to answer questions. Also, it may be agreed that players should be specific with their answers such as with names or dates.
There are six categories of questions which are written on cards of different colours. Each category has a colour for its cards. Shuffle the cards and place the cards for each category in a card holder that matches the colour of the cards. Place the card holders around the game board close to their matching “Category Headquarter” space. Put the wedges together and place them near the board.
Next, each player/team selects a scoring token and places it in the middle of the board. The tokens are circular in shape and have slots for wedges. Some editions come with track pawns that match the tokens in colour. If available, players/teams use the pawns to move on the board and use the token to keep track of their score.
Finally, roll the die to decide which player/team starts the game. The player who rolls the highest number starts the game. If there is a tie, the players/teams who tied will roll again. After the first player/team, play passes to the left.
How to Play
The game board is shaped like a wheel with six spokes, and the game track is divided into small square spaces. Each space on the track matches the card colour of one of the six different categories of questions. At the end of each spoke, there is “Category Headquarter” space where players can earn a wedge if they answer the question correctly.
Players move around the track by answering trivia questions correctly and finding their way to a “Category Headquarter space. If a player/team correctly answer the question they are asked when on a “Category Headquarter” space, they earn a wedge for that category if they don’t have one yet.
Play begins with the first player/team rolling the die and moving their token the rolled number of spaces on the board. One of the other players will pick the top card from the category represented by the colour on the space the player landed and read out the question that matches the die roll. For example, if the die roll was 3, the player will read out the third question on the card. In total, each card has 6 questions with the answers supplied at the back of the cards. In some editions of the game, the higher the number rolled, the harder the question. Questions 1 and 2 are easy, 3 and 4 are medium, while 4 and 5 are hard questions.
If the player/team answers the question correctly, their turn continues. First, they get to move their token again before again rolling the die. If an easy question (questions 1 & 2) was answered correctly, the token is moved one space on the track before the die is rolled again. If a medium question was answered correctly (questions 3 & 4), the token moves two space while for a hard question (questions 5 & 6), the token is moved three spaces. After this, the player/team rolls the die again. Their token is moved the rolled number of spaces on the track and they answer a question. Every question answered correctly keeps the player/team in play and they keep moving around on the board and rolling the die. A wrongly answered question ends a player/teams turn and player passes to the next player. The direction of play is clockwise.
To prevent a knowledgeable player/team from running the board and winning the game on a single turn, a player/team’s turn may end after collecting a wedge. Note that players can move in any direction and are allowed to change directions. However, a player/team cannot retrace their step on the same die roll. For example, if 6 was rolled, the player/team cannot move three spaces forward, and then three spaces backwards. Every die roll must be counted fully in one direction. Also, note that players/teams can land on each other’s token in this game.
The middle of the board is the “Hub” space and it acts as a Wild. If a player lands there without having filled all six spaces in their token with a wedge, the player/team is allowed to pick any category to answer a question from.
Some versions feature roll again spaces that allow a player/team to roll the die again without answering questions. Players/teams may also use the shortcut spaces that allow them to move their token directly to the “Category Headquarter” indicated on the shortcut space.
A player/team that has filled up their token with wedges will find their way to the middle of the board and answer one final question. The question category, in this case, will be decided by the other players/teams. If the question is answered correctly, that player/team wins the game. If not, they must exit the middle of the board and wait until their next turn to answer another question.
Winning the Game
To win the game, a player/team must first fill their scoring token with six wedges, one for each category of question. After this, the player must find their way to the middle of the board where they must answer a question chosen from any category by the other players/teams. If they answer the question correctly, they win and the game ends. If they miss the question, they must exit the middle of the board and wait until their next turn to try again. The first player/team to fill their token and correctly answer one final question chosen by the other players/teams wins the game.