New Games For Old: Modern Alternatives to... Trivial Pursuit

Another yuletide season brings another opportunity to trash a family favourite. This year our attention turns to the notoriously tedious and age-unfriendly Trivial Pursuit, the classic game which test how many pointless facts have accumulated in one's brain like the filth in Bender's neck.

Picture of gold-plated pies by Martin Stever

To be fair, my dispute with Trivial Pursuit is not to do with the questions; while they do a poor job of levelling the playing field between generations of the family, they are otherwise perfectly fine. The real problem is the board itself; it provides few genuine questions, needlessly draws out the gameplay, and creates frustration when six correct answers in a row gets you nothing, and then the next team gets pie for a single lucky guess.

Here's one cost-free suggestion to improve Trivial Pursuit: throw away the board and die, and just ask each other a pre-determined number of question cards, keeping the score on a piece of paper.

If, on the other hand, you'd like to try some genuinely new games, here's a few family-friendly trivia games for which I've already taken the bullet on your behalf. You're quite welcome.

Bezzerwizzer

First out of the doors is Bezzerwizzer, a somewhat-popular game originating from Germany and available for some time from The Works in the UK. The game is to commended for its bold attempts to introduce actual player agency to a trivia game, while removing the pointless die-rolling. To determine the category in which they will answer questions, players draw four tiles from a bag containing 20; they can then arrange these four tiles according to how much a correct answer will score (from 1 to 4). Thus, players can maximise the benefit of their strongest categories, and minimise the consequences of drawing a weak category. Additionally, players can swap categories with another once per round, and try to answer a competitor's question twice per round.

Picture by Virre Linwendil

All of these innovations are clear improvements on the basic trivia game formula. However, this game has a fatal flaw - the questions are just too easy. I do not say this to brag - my co-players also rarely dropped a question, even in categories of which we profess no knowledge. While the game is to be commended for its brevity by comparison with Trivial Pursuit, it will rarely exceed two rounds; the loser can often be determined by a single dropped question.

Overall, then, a bold attempt, but not one I can wholeheartedly recommend.

Timeline

Next up, we have not one game but an entire franchise from boardgame mega-publishers Asmodee. Timeline consists of a number of inter-compatible tins, each containing around 100 small cards. These cards are two-sided; the side dealt facing the players shows some sort of event or notable work, while the reverse shows the same, with the addition of the date. The game begins with a single card placed with its date showing; the first player must guess whether their card occured before or after that single, seed card. They place the card, and turn it to discover the truth; if they are correct, the card leaves their hand (the winner being the first to empty their hand), and if not, it is replaced. The next player acts similarly; in this case, their card may be before, after, or in between the cards already placed. In this way, a long row of chronological events is laid down, and as they are, the time intervals become narrower; this is a game which starts easy but gets surprisingly difficult as it continues. This natural difficulty curve also allows for easy difficulty adjustment; to make the game harder, just deal larger hands.

This game has an even simpler ruleset than Trivial Pursuit; plays quicker; has easily adjustable difficulty

(allowing for handicapping of older players); and even has a measure of strategy, as the player may choose which order to try their luck with their cards. It rewards good guesswork over specific knowledge; this may be a positive or negative factor, depending on one's preferences. Although a bit of a one-trick pony (as it is only concerned with history, albeit within a variety of categories), it's not a bad game at all.

Wits and Wagers

And finally, we turn to the heavyweight of new trivia games, Wits and Wagers, winner of awards ranging from Mensa Mind Games to Xbox Magazine Editor's Choice. This game is about as far from Trivial Pursuit as you can get while still falling within the category of trivia games. The board has been replaced by a baize of odds; pies replaced with betting chips; and specific knowledge replaced with numerical estimation. To explain the latter; each question has a numerical answer, which is unlikely to be known specifically

Picture by Antony Hemme

(e.g. the annual weight of potato consumption per capita in the United States). Players each write down a guess; these guesses are arranged on the betting felt (with the median answer in the middle, giving the lowest odds); and players make up to two bets on the correct answer. Winners get chips according to the odds and their original bet; losers lose their chips (except for the two basic betting chips, which are never lost). The game plays easily (you can start playing without even explaining the rules in advance), and the betting mechanism effortlessly creates high tension, moments of elation, and groans of disappointment. As a party game, this one justifies its success.

As a quiz game, however, its not quite so easy to recommend. By its very nature, it rewards good (and/or lucky) guesswork; this helps level the playing field, but actual knowledge is devalued.

Conclusions

I come away from this feeling that there is not yet any good trivia board game. Combining specific knowledge and player agency are never going to be easy, but I'm sure there are better ways. Bezzerwizzer was definitely on to something, but if anything it goes too far in allowing players to play to their strengths. Perhaps a dice game, with one side per question category, a couple of rerolls, and points per question equal to the sides of that category?

My personal favourite of the games here? From a trivia angle, probably Timeline - it has scope for both specific knowledge and good estimation. In a more boisterous and convivial setting, however, Wits and Wagers is a winner.

New Games For Old: Modern Alternatives To... Pictionary

Last week, we considered a number of board games which I would recommend for the enjoyment of art lovers. As a sister post, this week we shall turn our attention to the other side of that coin - games for art producers. This particular market has long been dominated by one ubiquitous family game- Pictionary. Consequently I shall be proposing three games which supersede that hoary chestnut, improving on its (fairly evident) shortcomings.

1. Pictomania

Easily the most obvious problem with Pictionary is that, at any given time, only a very small number of people are having fun. Unless an "All Play" is in effect, everyone else sits around getting bored - and getting more bored the longer the playing team continues to win. Pictomania solves this problem with a simple twist - everyone is drawing and guessing, all the time.
Cards are drawn each round with related words on them; players then receive a symbol and a number,

telling them what they must draw. When play begins, everyone starts drawing their target word; but they are also keeping an eye out for what the other players are drawing, guessing the meaning of their drawings at the same time. This allows players to play to their strengths - if, like me, you excel at guessing but can't draw a straight line, you can adjust your priorities appropriately. Pressure is on to do both, as fast as possible; you get more points for finishing earlier, and also more points for guessing earlier. Lose points for bad guessing, and also for those failing to guess your own drawing. Put it all together, and you have a frantic family game, which elegantly solves Pictionary's biggest flaw in a single stroke.

2. Telestrations/Cranium Scribblish/Eat Poop You Cat

cc: daveoratox

While Pictomania unquestionably improves on the basic mechanism of Pictionary, it doesn't really venture outside the basic concept. The public domain game generally known as Eat Poop You Cat (commercialised in such games as Telestrations and Cranium Scribblish) steps outside that framework to provide a different experience.
I'm sure most people are familiar with the basics - each player writes a sentence at the top of the page. These are then passed, and players must try to draw the sentence they have received. They fold the page to conceal the original sentence, and pass again - now players must try to guess what the original sentence was from the drawing. This sentence is then represented artistically by the next player, and so on.
The concept is simple to grasp, and almost guarantees a good time - being worse at drawing can actually work in a player's favour, as hilarity ensues as guesses become increasingly bizzare and inappropriate. For a straightforward fun time, more likely to produce laughs and anecdotes than either Pictionary or Pictomania, EPYC and its commercial derivations are fine choices.

3. Identik

Then again, maybe you would prefer something that adds at least a little bit of intellectual challenge

to your artistic escapades. Identik's clever twist on the formula is to reverse the role of the guesser. In Identik, aach round's Art Director is given a picture which only they are allowed to see. They must describe it in as much detail as they can, while the other players attempt to draw it. The onus is on the director to be specific, and explain things in a way the players can understand. After the drawing phase, ten hidden criteria are revealed, and drawings scored on whether they fulfill these criteria.
Identik doesn't have the frantic, all-drawing-all-guessing fun of Pictomania, but it does capture the essence of having everyone focused on the same activity at once. EPYC is probably going to produce more laughs, but Identik has an even stronger pressure to get into players' heads and explain things such that they will understand. Identik is definitely a strong all-rounder in the Pictionary-beater competition.

New Games For Old: Modern Alternatives to... Monopoly

As the holiday season approaches, an insidious specter haunts the land, striking fear into the minds and hearts of all men and women of good cheer. I refer, of course, to the annual tradition of inflicting the game of Monopoly upon the family unit. I despair that a technology nearly a century old should be forced upon the young, thus turning another generation off the hobby of boardgaming. I fully understand why this happens - each generation of parents had Monopoly inflicted on them, and so do the same to their children, who then punish their children in the same way and so on, the curse carried unto the hundredth generation.

There are those who claim that Monopoly is a "good" game, and demand to play it at family gatherings. These people are wrong. Let's briefly look at the structure of a Monopoly session to understand why. Any game of Monopoly plays out in three overlapping phases:

1. The phase where properties are acquired. This involves a dreadfully tedious process of rolling the dice, and then perhaps landing on a space you can buy. Precisely zero strategy is to be found in this phase, and player interaction is slim to none. Theoretically, this phase could cause interesting moments if the rule is activated whereby a person who lands on a property they don't want has to auction it off. In practice, this rarely occurs, since players should always buy properties (even if they have to mortgage owned properties to do so), even if they don't want them, for the leverage they bring in the trading phase. While I'm here, I might as well provide a variant to greatly improve on this phase:

Picture by Detlef Dolling

• Remove one of each colour group from the properties cards.
• Shuffle and deal out all remaining properties evenly among the players (adding any remainder to the "removed" group).
• Players pay for these properties, exactly as if they had landed on them and bought them. Give each player 500 pounds/dollars to represent the money they would have gained/lost while circumnavigating the board. Optionally allow players to refuse properties, adding them to the "removed" pile.
• Auction off properties from the "removed" pile. Properties attracting no bids are unsold, and may be bought later during the normal course of the game.
• Start rolling dice and progressing the game as normal.

Voila, a variant which achieves exactly the same thing in a fraction of the time (and, due to auctioning off one of each colour group, is considerably more strategic and interesting).

2. The trading phase. This is the part where players make deals among one another, attempting to complete a colour group and thus commence building. This phase isn't actually that bad, as it tends to go reasonably fast, and involves strategy and player interaction. Nonetheless, there are plenty of other games which do a better job of delivering the same thing.

3. The end phase, where players circle the board endlessly, their cash slowly bleeding away, until one winner is left. This interminable horror is the main reason why Monopoly is a bad game. Of course, most people just get bored and call the game in favour of the obvious future winner - though there are some sadistic individuals (usually young, with more years of precious life to spare) who demand the game be played to its tedious conclusion. These individuals should be sent to the workhouse at the earliest possible opportunity.

Picture by Gerald McDaniel

Ultimately, then, Monopoly is a game with far too few strategic decisions, far too much aimless
roll-and-move, and just far too much time required. Happily, a great many games have since become available which achieve similar aims to this game (bar, arguably, its moral purpose in teaching the evils of rent-based economies) in much less time. Let's take a look at three of the most family-friendly and widely available.

1. Acquire

Sid Sackson's Acquire is one of the small group of games published before the 1990s which are still considered acceptable among modern boardgame connoisseurs. Acquire contains precisely none of the mechanics of the game Monopoly. What it does offer is a game which is actually about forming monopolies.

Picture by the author

Rather than aimlessly rolling dice, players place tiles from their rack, thus expanding corporations in which the players can invest. When they come into contact, a merger takes place, the larger company swallowing the smaller - thus producing something that feels a little like "a monopoly". These corporate mergers invite key decisions - whether to convert stock from the merged company into shares in the parent (which will probably then be frozen until the end of the game), liquidate stock for immediate cash, or keep the share certificates for when (and if) the company is reformed. This last move is risky, but key to winning - majority shareholders of merged companies enjoy big bonuses, so getting the most shares in startups is what separates winners from losers.
Overall, Acquire is a much more strategic game than Monopoly, with more of a feeling of corporate intrigue, while keeping a simple and easily learned ruleset. The only downsides are a somewhat dry theme which may be a hard sell to younger players.

2. For Sale

It may not be corporate espionage that attracts you to the theme of Monopoly - perhaps it's real estate
speculation that you find more compelling. In this case, For Sale is the game for you.

Picture by Gary James

It's split into two parts: in the first, a number of properties are auctioned off. Technically, only the most valuable is up for auction - the rest are taken, in order of value, as players drop out of the auction, in which case they pay only half of their bid. This creates a quandary for the player - not only do they have to judge how much they want the big-number property, but if they instead choose to bid up the other players, they will have to pay the piper eventually. Already players are trying to read each others' minds, switching instantly between bluffing and honest bidding.
The second phase is even nastier - this plays as a series of blind auctions. A number of cash amounts are laid out, and players secretly choose which property they will bid against these amounts. Then everyone reveals simultaneously. The property with the highest number takes the biggest cash prize, the next-best property takes the second-largest, and so forth. You may wish to deliberately lowball, taking a prize that's nearly as good and save your big cards for later - but your opponent may be thinking exactly the same thing...
For Sale combines the fun of quickfire speculation with a poker-like game of bluff and blind bidding, within the same real estate theme as Monopoly. Plus, it plays in under twenty minutes. Beats Monopoly in pretty much every way.

3. Bohnanza

Then again, maybe you don't care about property speculation either. Perhaps its the wheeling and dealing of the trading phase that appeals. In which case, there are so many better trading games in the world than Monopoly. The one I would recommend would be Bohnanza.

Picture by spearjr

Bohnanza has perhaps the least appealing theme in the canon of modern gaming - players are bean farmers, attempting to grow the largest possible crops of a given bean variety for harvesting. It would be hard to come up with a less attractive theme. But don't be put off - the game itself is pure gold.
The core of the game is the middle phase of each player's turn, where they turn over three new beans and then have to somehow dispose of them. Perhaps they already have those beans in their two fields, and just add them to their existing harvest. More likely, they don't want them at all, and would much rather trade them to the other players - and the game strongly encourages trading away unwanted cards, as if you don't trade them away, you must plant them, even if it ruins their current plan. You only have two fields, so if you have to plant, one of your existing crops will have to go - probably for much less value than you would like.
On top of this, players are constantly forced to plant cards from their own hands - if those cards don't fit with their plans, then they have some powerful motivation to trade out these cards too. All this positive motivation leads to a frenzy of trades; some players will enter bidding wars when they compete for the same card. Others play it cool, trying to act like they don't even want that bean, to try to make a favourable trade. "I'll take that green bean off your hands", you say, hoping to get something for nothing - "Two blue for a soy!" cries your sister, forcing you to either bid up and reveal your plans, or let her have it when you'd much rather be making money off it. Most players' turns will involve multiple trades - and a minute later, they whirlwind will start again with the next player.
Of all the games here, Bohnanza offers the most player interaction, and is one of the most active trading-based games available on the market. Absolutely, 100% recommended for families and pubs alike.