Trivial Pursuit Bet You Know It Game review.

I had forgotten we actually owned this game until the wife pulled it out this weekend. Trivial Pursuit Bet You Know It isn’t a game we play all that often. I’m a little on the fence about this particular game. Personally while I do enjoy trivia I find I’m not that hooked on trivia games in general. This edition of trivial pursuit does have strengths going for it but it does have some weaknesses. Overall while I'm not the biggest fan of this game I do still have fun playing it and I think it is better than most other trivia games.

The game works basically like any other Trivial Pursuit, roll a die to determine which categories you can move to, answer questions to collect wedges of all 6 colours (categories). Answer one final question for the win.

The first thing I really like about this edition is that there is a card keeper. 4 cards are placed in the keeper with only their topic showing, for example poisons, or Harry Potter, or kids in the hall etc. Players select the card they wish to answer on their turn. I find that this gives players more control of their game experience and is more interesting than the old usual trivia game mechanic of answer whatever card is next. I find with other trivia games that players can hit a rut of cards outside their scope of knowledge and that they end up falling behind. It can get frustrating. The card selection also adds a bit of strategy in that selecting the right topic for the right category can be vital to getting wedges. Also selecting cards in order to prevent other players from getting their easiest categories can be important too. This gives players more control and influence on their game experience making for a more solid game.

The flow works well because each player answers a single question then play proceeds clockwise. I’ve encountered a few trivia games where players answer until they get a question wrong. That is toxic for game night when one player or team dominates the actual play while the remainder are sidelined until an error occurs. I wish more trivia games followed the single question format.

The “Bet You Know It” aspect of the game is where I really don’t know how I feel about it. The point of it is to accrue tokens. These tokens can be spent at the end of the game to purchase the right to choose the topic and category for the last question (if you can’t afford it the other players choose for you.) But, the whole betting on your friends knowing or not knowing something seems crass. It can get demoralizing when everyone dumps huge stacks on “wrong” when your chance to answer a sports question on soccer comes up. Even more so when everyone laughs while sweeping up huge piles of winnings, jerks. Of course it can also be gratifying to get the answer right and rake in the chips like my niece did. I have to admit that the gambling aspect is great for keeping everyone involved and paying attention during every players turn. It is also a great motivator to get to know your other players knowledge base better. What you really gamble on is whether this element will introduce fun and quirky banter or if it will bring down friendships in bitter ego mutilating grudge bets. I guess it all comes down to player personalities.

Players can also spend the chips to buy wedges. This really helps move the game forward for players who really aren’t strong in a category. I find that this can bring the game towards the conclusion efficiently. Although I was surprised that people didn’t purchase wedges as often in the game. I think that it’s partially because players do want to prove themselves (even though having loads of chips proves you know the other players well) but I think it is more so people could save for the last question costs.

The game does suffer a bit from some proof reading issues. We found cards that really didn’t match up with category or topic. One example was the entertainment question: “What animal was first used in experiments on blood transfusions?” That is not an entertainment question, especially in a game with a science category.  This was too far from an isolated incident as there were a few questions that really didn’t fit either the topic or category listed in any way. It was frustrating, it hurt the flow of the game and took players out of the fun.

I would recommend Trivial Pursuit Bet You Know It for groups who are really into trivia games but who are also willing to put themselves through the harsh reality of discovering how much, or how little, faith the other players have in your knowledge. It can be fun for trivia buffs and it does work better than most trivia games I’ve encountered but it also suffers from some issues with improper categorization of questions.