Trivial Pursuit Junior -- More Challenging Than You Think!
Written: Jul 08 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Is educational while still being fun and challenging
Cons: Kids at bottom of age range can be frustrated
The Bottom Line: This game mixed education with fun and is more challenging than it appears. A child under 8 or so will be frustrated, though, so stick to the age guidelines.
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| iowamommy's Full Review: Trivial Pursuit Jr. |
With the recent popularity of trivia game shows on television, my boys (8 and 10) were excited to receive Trivial Pursuit Junior for Christmas. Being a long-time fan of Trivial Pursuit myself, I was anxious to try it out with them, but was prepared to be bored by too many easy questions. I was wrong!
What is this game about?
Many of you have heard of Trivial Pursuit, but for those of you who haven't, it is a trivia card game. The junior edition is for ages 8 and up and can be played by 2-4 players.
The goal is to be the first player to score a "wedge" in all six categories and answer a game-winning question after that.
Description
This game, by Parker Brothers, comes with the game board, four tokens, a die, 24 scoring wedges, and the trivia cards, which have questions on one side and the answers on the other. All of these pieces fit nicely in their compartments for storage.
The game board, itself, has colored squares that form the shape of a wheel with spokes. Each color (six total) in this wheel represents a category that a question will be read from.
Categories:
- Fun
- Nature
- Every Day
- Science
- Stories & Songs
- Games
As you roll the die, you look around the different paths on the wheel you can move to, and try to find the one that will let you land on the color square you like best or feel like you have the best chance of answering. For example, I tend to favor the science category, so I try to maneuver my token to the orange squares when possible. If you get the answer right, you keep taking turns, your goal being to get to a special square in each category. Get that question right and you get a wedge (which we always call pie pieces instead).
You are trying to get the special question right in each of the six colors to complete your quest to get six scoring wedges. You put your wedges in a scoring area in the corner of the game board to keep track of them. When this has been accomplished, you have one more task, and that is to get to the center of this wheel for one last question. The center has no particular category, and the other players choose the category for you (more than likely something you don't enjoy). It may take several tries to get this right, and by that time, you may have other players catching up to you, trying for the winning question.
My thoughts on this game
I think this game is a good one to have on hand. I was surprised that the game wasn't as "babyish" as I thought it would be, just because it is labeled as Junior. Many of the questions are ones I don't even know off the top of my head, so don't worry about the kids knowing too many and not being challenged.
Here are some examples - What's the lowest prime number? What was the orbiting telescope that needed "corrective lenses"? What do trees have that shrubs don't? What's the most common last name in the world? What's the largest internal organ in the human body?
As you can see, they can be challenging. Some are much easier, of course.
I like that many of these questions lead us to a discussion about the subject as we learn something new. At times, I am surprised that my kids knew a particular fact, especially when it is one that I have never heard of before.
The game is easy to set up and quick to put away again. I like the fact that there is no paper money involved. (For some reason, I dislike those games with money. Seems like I'm always stuck being the banker!) The rules aren't complicated, so you don't spend a lot of time trying to learn the game.
There are two reasons I am giving this game four stars instead of the five it could have had. I think it is a bit on the hard side for the recommended ages of 8 and up. This leads to frustration for that age group, when their older siblings and parents do quite well and they are struggling to get their scoring wedges. It seems like a lot of these questions are on subjects that they never would have discussed in school or have been exposed to in other means by this age. I'd say age 10 and up would be more appropriate, but that is just my opinion.
The other thing that bugs me is the scoring wedges! They are just cardboard triangles, not even plastic anymore. If any of you have the original Trivial Pursuit, don't expect those plastic pie wedges and plastic holder. The game has been cheapened up a bit since then. I imagine these pieces will be bent, torn and lost before too long. Since they are placed on the corner of the game board, they are easily bumped and slide out of place, too. I know this isn't a huge flaw, but it was disappointing to me after being used to the original equipment in the Genus Edition. As a funny side note, I thought for years that I was playing the genius edition instead of the genus edition. I read it wrong the first time I played, and never took time to realize that I had the wrong word. I was feeling pretty good about winning those genius-level games, too, until I figured out my mistake!
Pick this game up and try it out. You'll be guaranteed to learn at least a few new facts and have some fun with your kids at the same time.
This review is apart of the Family Game Night Write-Off hosted by Wanbli_Gleska. The purpose of this write-off is to encourage families to spend more time together. Argonut has been so gracious in setting up a web page that makes it easy to access the reviews. Please take the time to check out great Family Game Night games reviewed by the following participants.
http://mynook.com/writeoff/index.asp?WID=3
Check out the following writers:
bmcnichol, bleuchance, Crazy3237, char.mike, eplovejoy, jo.com, KateTPZ, klywood, manky, Mrs.NormanMaine, sloving, straight_up, tekki, Wanbli_Gleska
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): gift
Type of Toy: Board Game
Age Range of Child: 9 Years or Older
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Epinions.com ID:
iowamommy
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Location: Iowa
Reviews written: 144
Trusted by: 97 members
About Me:
Mother of four product testers!
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