Trivia Trap

Here comes the fascinating world of trivia, where even a right answer can catch you in a trap - on Trivia Trap!

A short-lived show where two teams, one with people under the age of 30 as Juniors and another above the age of 30 being the Seniors have to find the right answer in a group of four possible answers to a question by removing all wrong answers.

Main Game
Two teams of three players played. One team was the Juniors, who wore the blue sweaters , and all the players were under 30 years of age; the other team was the Seniors , who wore the red sweaters , and who were over the age 30. These two teams each played games of trivia (whose formats changed as the run went on) to reach a goal of $1,000.

First Format
Teams were shown two rows of monitors, with four answers in each row. The team in control chose one of the two rows, and then a question was asked pertaining to those answers. The team members took turns selecting an answer that they thought was wrong. Upon choosing an answer, a question mark appeared to let the viewers know. When a wrong answer was picked, a bullseye appeared; but when the correct answer was chosen, a jaws/teeth/earthquake-like graphic appeared to indicate that the player who picked it ran into the “Trivia Trap”. Play continued until all three wrong answers were eliminated, or the correct answer was chosen. The team received $50 for each wrong answer, doubling their total for eliminating all three, for a possible total of $300. After one team played their question, a new row replaced the one used, and the second team chose which row to play. Each team played two questions for a possible total of $600.

Round One (Fact or Fiction?)
Effective December 17, 1984, the front game was changed. The first round was called Fact or Fiction?. The champions were given the choice of two colored envelopes (Red or Black). Then Eubanks would ask a True/False question to each player, each worth $25. The other team would then play the other envelope. For the second part, the challengers had the choice of envelopes. Each team played two envelopes.

Round Two (The Trivia Trap Round)
In the second round, the team in the lead (or the champions, in case of a tie) played first and had a choice of two categories. After the category was chosen, four answers were shown. One player would answer, then the other two had a choice to agree with that answer or disagree with that answer. Whether the players agreed or disagreed determined the value of a correct answer. If all of them agreed and the answer was right, they would win $200. If one agreed and it was correct, they won win $100. If everybody disagreed it would be worth $50. But if they disagreed correctly, they would then be able to choose the correct answer, in the same way explained above. Like before, the other player could disagree to try to save the team. After the question, the other team played the other category. Again each team played two questions.

This second format retained the original Trivia Race format in round two, played after the Trivia Trap round.

$1,000 Trivia Race
In the final round, known as the $1,000 Trivia Race, control began with the team in the lead; in case of a tie, control began with the champions or the winners of a coin-toss. Three categories were shown, and the team in control of the board chose which category they wanted. After a category was used once, a new one replaced it. Bob would read the question, and one at a time, the players would answer. If one of them answered correctly, the team kept control and chose another category. $100 was awarded for each correct answer; starting in the show's second week, $200 was awarded for each correct answer after the 10th question (15th question from February 4 - February 6, 1985). If none of the players answered correctly, the other team would get control. The first team to reach the goal of $1,000 won the game and went on to play for a possible $10,000.

Bonus Round - "$10,000 Pot of Gold Trivia Ladder"
Both formats of the show used the same bonus round, called the $10,000 Trivia Ladder. This time, the players on the winning team played for themselves. The three players played in order by their success in the Trivia Race. A row of monitors rose to the first level of the Trivia Ladder. Four answers were shown to the best player. That player could then play that question or pass it to the next player, who, in turn, could either play that question or pass it to the last player. If a player answered correctly, he or she won $1,000. If the player answered incorrectly, that player was eliminated, but did return to play the next day.

After the first question was asked, the row of monitors rose to the next level of the ladder, and four new answers were shown to the better-ranked player of those remaining. As before, that player could either answer or pass to the last player. For the third question, the remaining player had to answer.

Any player who answered a question correctly on a lower rung of the ladder played for $10,000. Four answers were shown as before, and a question was asked. The players locked in the answer they believed was correct on a hidden panel in their podium. (If only one player was playing for the $10,000, that player simply said which answer he or she believed was correct.) Any player who correctly answered the question won $10,000. If more than one player gave the correct answer on the final question, those players shared the $10,000. Any team that played The Trivia Ladder five times would retire undefeated.

Pilot
The pilot had basically the same format as the first one in the series, but with several differences in game play. The most obvious differences were that the set was different, and that nobody wore sweaters whatsoever. Also, the Seniors played green instead of red, the Juniors' team color remained the same.

Trivia Trap Round
The team in control still cut out wrong answers, but they did that optionally (this was classified as "playing it safe"). The generic purpose for the team was to simply choose the right answer (classified as "going for it"). In the event that the first two players played it safe and sucessfully found the wrong answers, the third player was forced to go for it and find the right answer. Choosing incorrect answers was still worth $50, and finding the correct answer was worth double or $100, for a grand total of $200 each turn. But if at anytime any player on the controlling team made a mistake, the money depending on the criteria went to the opposing team. Each team had three turns, so like in the series first round each team can earn up to $600.

Trivia Ladder
The Trivia Ladder round was played mostly the same, except for these following differences:


 * The contestants on the winning team were not positioned according to how successful they were in the Trivia Race, they were position by random draw.
 * There was no option to play or pass any question. Everybody had to play the answers they were on.
 * The premise for the first three rungs was the same as the series first Trivia Trap round, for each contestant had to eliminate all wrong answers on each level. The first incorrect answer was worth $100, the second was worth $500, and all three gave the contestant $1,000 plus the right to play for $10,000 at the top.
 * Though the rules for the top was the same, the answers appeared in a red background (generally, the answers appeared on a green background).

Music
Main by Edd Kalehoff

The last few bars of Family Feud's main theme "The Feud" by Robert Israel were used as a win fanfare.

Inventor
Mark Goodson

This is the last Goodson show that was an original idea and not a revival of a previous format.

Trivia
During the first format after the first round, host Bob used the unused question with the unused row of answers as a home viewer question. The answer to that question was revealed after the show returned from a commercial break.

The sound used when a wrong answer is eliminated & when the correct home viewer answer was revealed was later recycled into Classic Concentration when a panel flipped. It is also used in numerous Saturday Night Live game show skits as a ring in sound.

The "trap" sound was recycled into Illinois Instant Riches and Illinois' Luckiest when someone wipes out, as well as The Price is Right for stepping to a wrong number in the Pathfinder game.

Links
Screengrabs of Trivia Trap Rules for Trivia Trap @ the Game Show Temple