Recently they released Trivial Pursuit on the mareketplace for Xbox.
Trivial PursuitThe game runs $40 and has 3 add-on, trivia packs, The movie pack is a free download and the sports and Tv Packs are 400 pts each.
Below is a brief summary of the games available and how the games are played (This summary assumes you know how Trivial Pursuit is played on a board game) If you just want my review of the game see Below under REVIEW
GAME PLAY
Well its trivial pursuit, but this isn't your board game. There are 3 main types of games you can play with a maximum of 4 people (I should say 4 game peices, if you play teams you could have more on each team).
Classic (Game could take over an hour to play)- This is just like the board game in every respect except for the questions (I will get into the question style later)
Clear The Board (Game playtime varies, could be long)- This is a single player version of the game. The board is setup as a trivial pursuit board normally s and you go through answering questions as you land on the spaces. Each time you answer a questions correctly you get a multiplier, answer incorrectly and you don't increase the multiplier. There are 3 types of spaces to land on, Normal space (200 pts, least amount of points gained), Wedge HQ space (500 pts gained), Center spot on board (1000 pts gained x multiplier).
The basis for this game is to accumulate as many points as possible by answering as many questions correctly consecutively.
Facts and Friends (Typically done in under 30 minutes)- This is IMO the best of the 3 modes. Imagine a normal game of Trivial Pursuit, there are no Roll Again spaces though, those have been replaced with Bonus spaces (get to that in a second). There is only a single playing peice which all players share. Once someone achieves a wedge that spot is filled in the playing peice and no one else can get that wedge. When that happens all the spaces on the board that had that type of catagory disappear shrinking the size of the board (this is a great time saver and keeps the game moving). Once all of the wedges have been won the game goes into a sort of sudden death quiz thing. Depeneding on the number of wedge's you were able to get they are now transformed into hearts or lives. Everyone will be able to answer every questions, if you get it right nothing happens if you get it wrong you lose a life. If you gained no wedges you still play but you have no lives, so if you miss a question you are out. Once a player is out that is the end of the game for them they just sit and watch the rest. The last one standing wins the game.
ALSO, during the Facts and Friends gameplay, you don't just gain a wedge, you gain pieces of a wedge. Each wedge is broken into 1/4's (4 parts). If you are on a normal space or the center spot and you answer a question correctly you get 2 parts of a wedge, so if you were to land on the normal space of the same catatgory twice and answer both questions correctly you would get a full wedge and all the spots with that catagory would fall away for the rest of the game. If you land on a Wedge HQ (Each catagory has a main hub for that catagory, just like a normal board) and answer the question 100% correctly you get a full wedge (I'll explain the 100% correctly part in a moment, there are types of questinos where if you get close you still get it right but not the full amount of pts).
ALSO, when it is not your turn the other people playing can make bets on the outcome of you turn. This is only applicable when you are on a normal spot (Not a Wedge HQ). Once the question has been shown, the people who's turn it isn't get a chance decide whether they think you know it or not, or if they think you don't know and they know it. As a bystandard to the question (not the one/team being asked the question) you can pick from 3 choices, Doesn't know it, Does know it, or I know it. If you bet Doesn't or Does know and you are correct and the person answering the question either doesn't or does know it (Depending on which one you chose) then you get 1/4 of a wedge, while they would get 1/2 of a wedge, if you were wrong then you get nothing and they still get 1/2 of the wedge. If you chose "I know it", and the person answering the question gets it wrong then you have the ability to answer the question, if you get it correct you get the two pts, if you get it wrong nothing happens.
Now during play and gathering parts of wedge's there may come a time when 2 people end up with a full wedge (there are two types of gameplay under Facts and Friends, one type allows wedge off's the other does not), if two people get a full wedge at the same time there is a Wedge Off to see who gets the wedge. The Wedge Off is a series of True and False Questions based on the catagory in dispute. Each person is asked in turn a Ture or false question. If the person answers the question correctly and the second person doesn't the second person loses or vice versa, if both answer the question incorrectly then it goes onto the next question. This could go on a while.
Bonus spaces under this style of game play add an interesting twist. When you land on a bonus space a wheel spins and you randomly stop it to get a bonus; The bonus' available are as follows:
Teleport - you chose where you want to go on the board
Steal - You enter into a wedge off with the person that has the wedge you want, winner takes the wedge loser gets nothing
Double pts - for the next turn you get double the pts when answering questions.
Double pts on Bets - You get double the pts on bets only
Bomb - Everyone plays in turn, the time you have to answer the questin is reduced, answer the question correctly and the bomb passes onto the next player, they get a different question in the same catagory, this continues until someone answers a question incorrectly when that happens they lose all there pts in that catagory
All or Nothing - You chose a catagory not already closed, if you get the question right you get a wedge if your wrong you lose all your wedge parts in that catagory starting over.
That concludes a description of the game play
TYPES of QUESTION;
The questions asked in this game are different than the board game.
Sometimes there are pictures to chose from, questions involving locations typically show a map and youb have to pick from 4 pinned location on the map, some questions are multiple choice. Then there are the ranged questions. There are 2 types ranged questions, one involving maps (Stick a pin on or close to where you think the answer is) and the other involving a sliding scale (Put the indicator on or near the area of the scale you think is correct). If you get it spot on, 100% correct, on the ranged questions you get 100% of the pts, if you are close, depending on how close you will either get 1/4 wedge, 1/2 wedge, or 3/4 wedge.
REVIEW
By far the best type of game to play is the FACTS and FRIENDS. We had tons of family over and we played this portion at least a couple dozen times. Its fun its fast, it keeps the other players involved even if its not their turn. I especially like that the board shrinks when a full wedge has been won. Even if you don't get the most wedge's in the game (Maybe really unlucky) then you still have a chance with the end game section. I really enjoy the ranged questions and the use of pictures and maps into the game. You not only have to know the answer is Houston Texas, you also have to know where it is on the map.
The Bad - We have encountered 1 map questions and 1 ranged question where they weren't quite accurate with their timeline or location (answers were verified, as our family is very competitive when it comes to these kind of games), however as it is a computer game if it thinks your wrong then you are wrong, and it continues on playing the game. But there were a couple of questions we found in some of the Board Trivial Pursuit games that were questionable as well.
Also for the movie pack expansion (Its free so not a big deal), there seems to be many questions involvig Japanese and Indian movies and trivia, at least 60% of the questions we get seem to be from those areas. I find this odd and annoying, while the wife and I have watched many Japanese movies and Bollywood movies, many others have not, and we have found that we don't know as much as we might have though on those subjects either. Not sure why they did this but it makes an otherwise fun genre not so fun.
Suggestion -
If your family and friends enjoy playing these types of games, this is a must have, its the best trivia game on the console that we have come across. I am happy we bought this and know we will be playing it many many more times.
Hope this was helpful
