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Trivial Pursuit Family Edition is not too dissimilar to the original board game, with a twist that allows the whole family to play along. Featuring the same elements as your classic Trivial Pursuit set, this edition of the game will also allow your kids join in on the fun, without it being too difficult for them.
This not only allows for flexibility in how you play, but also succeeds in creating a board game that brings the family together.
The Basics
Like classic Trivial Pursuit you get a single dice, although this time with numbers one through to five as well as a wild roll side, which allows you to move to anywhere you want on the board. You also get a stylish board, with the six traditional colours as the spaces, with a circular pad in the middle where the pieces start.
The box also includes the iconic, multicoloured, cheese or pie wedges that you collect in order to fill up your circular piece and win the game. Finally, the game has the addition of two sets of question cards. These are unique to this version of the game.
The yellow cards are designed for kids, whilst the blue are designed for adults. Both come with their own stand, complete with one edge being slightly taller than the other, so you can easily see the front of the stand and know which way round the cards are placed into it, helping you avoid the confusion when passing along the pack. The kids cards are slightly easier to answer than the blue cards, although there are some easier and more complex question in both packs.
Unlike the normal Trivial Pursuit however, the kids pack makes the game far more accessible to the younger members of the household. All the pieces, created by Hasbro, in the game are well designed and of great quality.
Trivial Pursuit Gameplay
Like other board versions of the game, you must roll the dice to travel around the board. In order to gain those all important wedges you have to answer the selected question correctly. As per usual, the six categories are set as six different colours. These are the categories on offer in this version of trivial pursuit:
- Blue - Geography.
- Pink - Entertainment.
- Yellow - History.
- Purple - Arts and Literature.
- Green - Science and Nature.
- Orange - Sports and Leisure.
You can choose how you interact with the different cards, in order to define your version of gameplay. You could allow kids just to use the yellow cards and adults just the blue. You could swap between the two packs as my family did, or perhaps only use the blue cards for the final winning question. It is worth noting that you get two packs of cards to swap between per colour, which results in a much larger variety of questions and therefore keeps gameplay from getting stale. You can also choose to play in teams or as individuals.
In order to win Trivial Pursuit Family Edition you must answer a question correctly from each category and collect all six cheese pieces. You must then work your way back to the centre of the board and answer a final question that the other players choose. Getting it wrong will throw you back out of the circle, where you will have to wait till your next turn to try again. This final piece of play gives the game a definitive end, whilst still maintaining a competitive nature, as everyone races to the final circle.
Final Thoughts on Trivial Pursuit Family Edition
I believe Trivial Pursuit Family Edition is a step up from its much older predecessor. Not only does it involve all of the fundamental elements of a good game of Trivial Pursuit, it also makes the game a lot more accessible to all ages, as well as giving some extra options in how you play the game. The only flaw in the differing cards is that some questions seem a little out of place on each one, with some adult questions seemingly more suitable on the kids category and vice versa. However, that might also just be the intelligence level of the people playing it...
What I love most about this game though, is the variety of questions. Whilst the six different categories certainly act as a great platform to start from, the uniqueness of all the questions means that no one is going to be at more advantage than others. Trivial pursuit is about completely random knowledge and whilst some versions of the game allows you to specialise in certain pop culture topics or sporting areas, this game means that your full range of trivial knowledge is put to the test.
The design is of course classic by now and the ease of play is much appreciated. In an era of board games that take awhile to read the instructions before playing, there is something effortless about this game, as everyone picks up the rules and gameplay style pretty quickly. There is even an element of tactical play towards the end, in how you pick the final question for people, adding an extra layer of competitiveness. You could even tactically choose between kid and adult cards throughout the game, perhaps giving the person in the lead a harder card to answer, whilst helping along those struggling in last place.
Trivial Pursuit Family Edition is therefore a much needed addition to any family’s board game collection, especially if there are a few little ones who would like to play. I’d definitely recommend that you be wary of the difficulty level of the kids cards, as there are still some questions that younger kids might struggle with; having said that, there are a lot of options for alternative questions to ask so there will absolutely be something there for everyone.
