Co-inventor of Trivial Pursuit dies at 55

Wasn't me who got confused. Cincinnati was one of my favorite stops on the road. I knew what its nickname was.
I had only been to Cleveland once for about 17 hours (1981 All-Star Game). Didn't care about it, didn't learn about it. If the question had been about Cleveland's nickname, I would have said, "I have no idea."

 

I used to play a lot. One error I always remember is the question "What player once said to his teammates while departing a plane 'OK, you guys, now act horny.'" The answer on the card was Jim Bouton, which they put there because he quoted it in "Ball Four." However, it was actually Jim Pagliaroni who said it.

 

It should surprise no one around here that I consider TP the greatest board game ever invented.

It came out when I was in high school. We used to have all-nighters, where I would revel in beating the crap out of everyone, with the most amusing part not being nailing the requisite final question, but the quibbling and second-guessing among my friends, trying to decide the category I was most likely to miss.

Lisa: "He sucks at Literature. Give him that one."
Glen: "The last time we did, it was 'Who wrote 'Of Mice and Men?' " (and I did my 11th-grade English paper on Steinbeck.)
Richard: "He'll choke on Geography."
Lisa: "Really? Mr. I-Know-Where-The-Gobi-Desert-Is will miss a Geography question? Get real."
Jerrick: "I'm with Lisa. Give him Literature. Or Entertainment."
Lisa: "Entertainment... That could work. That's his other weak category."
Me (in full trivia trash talk mode): "I don't HAVE a weak category. That's why I'm about to win -- again."
Glen: "OK, it's Entertainment... OH SHIT... (reading the question) 'What did Jim Henson create?' "
Me: "The Muppets (as F-bombs are being dropped across the room). Shuffle the cards..."

Good times. And yes, there were some mistakes. We got in an epic fight one day when I gave the right answer to a question -- much like SoCalDude -- and the card had it wrong. I was getting no sympathy, nor slack here, despite the fact I was right and the game was wrong.

RIP Chris. You and your partner done very, very good.

 

Sirs, Madames,

Classic story: Aislin, the Gazette cartoonist, was asked to illustrate the original box that TP came in. Offered $1,000 or one share in the biz. Took the grand. Ended up out millions.

As young denizens at the Toronto press club a buddy and I were approached about writing questions for $15 a pop. It didn't go anywhere much to my later regret. Thankfully no offer of shares was turned down.

o-<

 

I've often meant to ask Abbott what the first-ever TP question was.

I believe they wrote the first edition, sports and silver screen.

 

Spent many Saturday nights at the lake playing team games of TP. As the wine and beer bottles piled up, the games got more boisterous.

They sold 30 million copies of the game in 1984.

I can't remember the last time I played TP

 

I have a copy of it in my closet ... I will sell it to you if you would like

 

Do you know the title of this documentary? Would like to see if I can find it anywhere.

 

I love Trivial Pursuit, too.
Loved the geography (Carolina blue) and history (yellow) questions along with sports (red).
On a related note, about a year ago, I found (and have yet to take plastic off of) a similarly packaged game called ESPN All-Sports Trivia Challenge game.
It was in a Goodwill store for $5

 

Every question is Duke/NC hoops and Yankees/Sox baseball.

 

I'm pretty sure I stumbled on an original game a while back, and even though I was pretty good back in the day I would have sucked at it now -- too many 80s-specific stuff that has faded away.