Trivial Pursuit (1993)

''OPENING PILOT SPEIL: It's time to test your Trivia IQ, as we play the World's most popular trivia game, Trivial Pursuit. And here's your host, Wink Martindale!''

''OPENING SPIEL #1 (Interactive Game): Today, these nine/twelve players, and you at home will test your Trivia IQ, as we play Trivial Pursuit: The Interactive Game. And here's the star of our show, Wink Martindale!''

''OPENING SPIEL #2 (Classic Game): It's time to test your Trivia IQ, as we play/on the World's most popular trivia game, Trivial Pursuit. And here's the star of our show, the man who (insert funny fact), Wink Martindale!''

''REST OF SPIEL (Classic Game): Thank you, Randy West. Hello, everybody, and welcome to the television version of Trivial Pursuit.''

Trivial Pursuit was an American game show loosely based on the board game of the same name.

Format
The show was played in two halves. The first half was an interactive game show while the other half was a traditional game show.

The Interactive Game
Nine players (originally twelve) competed for three spots in the second half of the show.

Round One
Five questions with four multiple-choice answers were asked by the host. The players had 10 seconds to answer by pressing a number from 1-4 on a keypad in front of them. They scored points based on how fast they answered the question correctly, with a maximum of 1,000 points available. After five questions, the six players with the highest scores played round two and the other players were eliminated.

Round Two
This round was played in the same way as round one, except the three highest scoring players won a special prize and a chance to play Trivial Pursuit in the next half hour show.

The Classic Game
As in the board game, three contestants raced to complete their game pie first by answering questions from categories that match the colored wedge. Unlike the board game, however, it took two questions to complete a wedge, and no board or die was used. And although most of the colors were the same, one was different and that color is red replacing the brown-colored wedge.

In the first three rounds, each player received two turns consisting of a category choice followed by a question posed by host Martindale. A correct answer lit up a wedge but an incorrect answer gave the two opponents a chance to steal the wedge.

Round One
In the first round, the six traditional Trivial Pursuit categories were used.

Round Two
This round used either the categories from the Movie Edition or Television Edition.

In the 2nd half of Round 2 (or usually Round 3), a new set of categories were played. (In early episodes, the questions related to a certain year in history.) The category sets used were different each show, and were borrowed from multiple versions of the board game.

Round 2 also included three special questions known as "Bonus Questions" hidden behind three of the categories--one in one half of the round, and two in the other. When chosen, the player who answered the question correctly had an opportunity to answer a follow-up question which awarded the player a $100 bonus and another half-wedge in the color of their choice.

Round Three (Usually Round Four)
Round three (or usually Round four) again used the traditional basic categories as in Round 1, but the round was played in a different manner. The round started with a toss-up question, and the first player to buzz-in and answer correctly controlled the round. The player in control kept choosing categories and answering questions until he/she either filled his or her pie (thereby winning the game), or missed a question, at which point the other two players could steal control and the wedge. If nobody answered the question another toss-up was played. The first player to completely light up the entire pie (or the player with the most lit wedges when time ran out) won the game, $500, an additional prize, and played the bonus round.

The Trivial Pursuit Challenge Round
The winning player had 45 seconds to answer six questions (again from the six basic categories) in order to fill up a pie shown on a monitor. Each correct answer lit a color in the pie. A wrong answer or a pass automatically moved to the next category. After the first six questions the player went back to questions from the categories missed as time permitted (later episodes observed that the categories continued in sequence even if a question was already answered in that category). The winning player received $100 for each wedge lit and if they lit up all six wedges before the 45 seconds expired, he/she won $1,000 and a trip.

Audience Game
If there was extra time at the end of the show, an audience member was called on stage and given the opportunity to answer five multiple-choice questions (much like the "Interactive" portion of the show) at $20 apiece, for a maximum payoff of $100.

Pilot Rules
In the pilot made in 1994 for the syndication market, the contestants played for money in addition to lighting up wedges in their pies. Correct answers added money to his/her score plus a lit wedge in his/her pie, while incorrect answers subtracted money from his/her score. Also completing the game pie earned the right to double the money, by answering a special bonus question. There were three rounds of gameplay and each of them end at the sound of the buzzer meaning time is up. The Trivia Challenge (referred to as "The Ultimate Trivia Challenge") was played for a trip only (in this case it was a 2 week European cruise worth more than $10,000). Not only that, the bonus pie was superimposed rather than on a monitor.

Interactive Component

 * The show premiered a series of "interactive" games called playbreaks, all produced by Martindale and his associates. Originally, 10 "Trivial Pursuit" playbreaks were interspersed throughout FAM's game show block (three of them were during Trivial Pursuit: Interactive Game.) A question would be shown on the screen, along with four choices, and the answer would be revealed 10 seconds later.
 * There were no playbreaks in the original version of Trivial Pursuit, possibly because Martindale didn't want viewers to be distracted from the game. Home viewers were given an opportunity to call a special 1-900 # ($4.98 per call) and play a "TP: Interactive Game" typed, using a slightly modified scoring system, and players answer by using their touch-tone telephone. The winner of each "playbreak" wins a prize and compete on Friday in a playoff game against the other winners for a vacation. The ad would last about 100 seconds, as seen by an on-screen clock (even though the clock read ":99" as it faded in).
 * Other interactive games premiered on the network, one was another board game adaptation Boggle, another was the list-oriented Shuffle, and one more was Jumble, a newspaper game adaptation. The Trivial Pursuit interactive version was cancelled to make way for Boggle and Shuffle, only to return months later.

Merchandise
A board game called Trivial Pursuit: Game Show was released by Parker Brothers in 1993, featuring host Wink Martindale on the cover. and just like TV Scrabble it was originally a board game itself.

Trivia

 * The idea for a game show version of Trivial Pursuit was planned long before this version occurred. In 1987, two pilots for an earlier version were made. They were produced by Jay Wolpert Productions and distributed by Worldvision Enterprises (which owned Hanna-Barbera cartoons at the time). The hosts for the pilots were Steve Morris & Linda Marr. It had contestants race to the hub (the center of the Trivial Pursuit board) by answering questions, lighting wedges in the "game pies" on their consoles, which could be spun to try and land on a lit wedge to automatically win the game. The winner went on to zap out his/her opponents' wedges to win $10,000 in cash & prizes.
 * The show spawned a board game of the show itself like Scrabble did, with some questions from the show. The box cover featured Wink and a shot from the aforementioned unsold syndicated version's pilot, but featured gameplay similar to the aired version.

Catchphrases
"This show is very unique, because not only the players in the studio compete, but several times during the course of the show, you folks at home will have a chance to win prizes by playing the game that's very similar to the one playing here in the studio. All you need is a touch-tone phone, and at the end of the day, one home player will win this fabulous vacation to where, Randy? (Randy announcing vacation to the home winner on Friday). So stick around for that." - Wink Martindale about Trivial Pursuit: Interactive Game

"Those nine/twelve players will be competing today to become one of the three contestants on Trivial Pursuit (The Classic Game), following this Interactive Game. And we wanna wish you all good luck." - Wink Martindale

"We're about to start Round 1. I'm gonna be asking 5 multiple-choice questions, we always start a question by showing you the four possible choices. For example: (insert four choices followed by a question). Once I start asking you the question, you'll have 10 seconds to punch in your answer by pressing a number on your keypad which corresponds to the answer. For example: (insert correct answer). All you have to do is push this number on your keypad. Each question is worth up to 1,000 points. And the faster you punched in with a correct answer, the more points you scored. After I asked 5 questions, the six players with a highest scores will move on to Round 2." - Wink Martindale explaining how Trivial Pursuit: The Interactive Game is played.

"There's one question left, and remember, you must have one of the top six scores to move on to Round 2." - Wink Martindale on the final question in Round 1 of Trivial Pursuit: Interactive Game.

"Here's the final/last question of the contest. This will determine the three winners, who will go on and play Trivial Pursuit (The Classic Game)." - Wink Martindale on the final question in Round 2 of Trivial Pursuit: Interactive Game.

"We have to say goodbye to six/three of our players, but we do have some nice parting gifts and our thanks for playing Interactive Trivial Pursuit." - Wink Martindale saying goodbye to the losing contestants after Round 1 of Trivial Pursuit: Interactive Game

"Don't forget to watch our three studio winners as they get to compete for cash and prizes on Trivial Pursuit (The Classic Game) coming up a little later. I'm Wink Martindale, thanks for being with us, and we'll see you next time. Goodbye, everybody." - Wink Martindale saying goodbye to the first half of Trivial Pursuit"

"Here's how we play the game. Throughout the game, you'll be answering questions in six categories. Every time you answer a question, you'll earn money and light up a wedge in the pie in front of you. Light up all six wedges, and you'll get a chance to double your money with a Bonus Question. The player with the most money at the end of the game wins, and gets to play the Ultimate Trivia Challenge for (insert trip). In this round, correct answers are worth $200. All incorrect answers will cost you $200. The Round is over when the time's up buzzer sounds." - Wink Martindale explaining how the game of Trivial Pursuit 1994 Pilot is played

"We have lots more trivia to cover today, and to help us we have three contestants, who'll be answering questions and competing for chance to play our Bonus Game for our fabulous vacation/trip to (insert Trip). Here's how we play: Each of our players has a game pie in front of them. The object of the game is the first player to light up all six colors of their pie (just like that). They do that by answering questions from categories that match those colors, and it takes two questions to fully light up a color. Our Round 1 Questions will be General Trivia and the categories are Geography, Entertainment, History, Art & Literature, Science & Nature, and Sports & Leisure." - Wink Martindale explaining how the game of Trivial Pursuit is played.

"(Name), you're going to start us off by choosing/selecting the first category. After that, I'm gonna ask you a question. Get it right, you'll light up a wedge in your pie. Get it wrong, and your opponents/either (insert opponents) can steal that wedge with a correct answer." - Wink Martindale

"We'll be back with Round 2, where the categories change, but the trivia keeps on coming. (Don't go away/Right after this.)" - Wink Martindale (at the start of commercial break before Round 2.)

"We've come to our (third and) final Round, and once again, we'll be playing our Basic Categories, the ones from Round 1/the First Round. I'm gonna start this round by asking a question to all three of you (insert three names). The first player to answer correctly takes/gets control of the board/game. Which/That means you can keep picking/choosing/selecting categories and answering questions until you get one wrong/missed one, at which point either of your opponents can jump in and take control of the board/game away. The first player to fill his/her pie wins the game, along with $500, and a chance to play our Bonus Game for an additional $1,000 and a trip/vacation to (insert trip)." - Wink Martindale explaining how the Final Round is played.

"That sound means we have one minute to play in the game. When that minute is up, if no one has yet completely filled their pie, the player with the most lighted wedges wins. Good luck to everybody/all." - Wink Martindale whenever there's one minute left during the Final Round.

"Congratulations to you. You've won the game, $500, and this prize, Randy West?" - Wink Martindale (when a contestant wins the game of Trivial Pursuit)

"(Insert losing contestants), we have to say goodbye to you, we do have some nice parting gifts, and our thanks for playing Trivial Pursuit." - Wink Martindale saying goodbye to the losing contestants after the Final Round of Trivial Pursuit"

"I have six questions in each of the six basic categories. I'll ask the first question, get it right, you'll light up a wedge, win $100 and we'll move on to the next category. Get it wrong, we simply move on to the next category. When we've gone to the first six questions, we'll go back to the questions from the categories you've missed (even if you missed any). If you light up all six wedges in 45 seconds, you'll win $1,000 and a trip." - Wink Martindale explaining how the Trivial Pursuit Challenge Round is played.

"We hope you had fun playing Trivial Pursuit. I'm Wink Martindale, thanks for being with us, and we'll see you next time. Good-bye everybody." - Wink Martindale saying goodbye.

Spin-Offs
Trivial Pursuit (1986) - a unsold pilot from 1986

ESPN Trivial Pursuit - Sports themed version aired on ESPN in 2004

Trivial Pursuit: America Plays - Interactive version aired on MNT from 2008-2009

Inventor
Based on the board game of the same name originally by Selchow & Righter, later Parker Brothers, now Hasbro.

Links
The Trivial Pursuit Rules Page

YouTube Videos
Clips of the Pilot

Interactive Game Promo

The Games on FAM Block Intro

Trivial Pursuit Playbreak

Trivial Pursuit closing

Interactive Game
Premiere Episode with 12 Players (with Playbreak included)

A full episode with 9 Players including David Dickstein's appearance (with Playbreak included)

Part 1

Part 2

Classic Game
Mark vs. Scott vs. Ron (with Playbreak included)

Regina vs. Joe vs. Cheryl (with Playbreak included)

Phyllis vs. Annette vs. Peggy

Patty vs. Julie vs. Michael

Colleen vs. Paris Themmen vs. Steve

Fred vs. Alice vs. Pat

Mitch vs. Stan vs. Marna