The YouTube Files – Trivial Pursuit USA.

Trivial Pursuit (The Family Channel, 1993-1994)

I do enjoy a good game of Trivial Pursuit, like many others I’m sure. There have been two attempts to bring this board game to TV in the UK, and the American version is much closer to the second UK version hosted by Tony Slattery (which was also shown on The Family Channel, which later evolved into Challenge). This version of the show was hosted by Wink Martindale.

Now I’m fairly sure that this is the first time that we have come across Mr Martindale on this blog. It seems that he has hosted many other game shows in a career that has lasted for decades, and he was the co-executive producer of this one, which meant that we knew there was going to be a decent host in charge. This was the show that was packed with trivia and interesting facts, well I thought so.

Three contestants took part, all hoping to win the star prize. They have a pie that is split into 12 parts. They have to light all the parts of their pie, meaning that they have to give two correct answers in every category. In the first round, the categories are the same as what you’d find in the traditional version of the board game, Entertainment, Arts & Literature, and so on.

Contestants pick the category, but there is only one question for every category, meaning that they all get two goes each. But get it wrong, and it goes on offer on the buzzer. In round two, again there are six categories on offer, but they are now different to the board game version. Look out for the bonus question, which may contain a picture clue, get that right and they $100 and an extra slice.

Round three once again featured different categories, along with some bonuses. The final round goes back to the traditional categories. A question is asked to gain control. Whoever gets it right chooses the category, and they keeping choosing until they get one wrong, and which point the others can buzz in. Whoever completes their pie, or has the most slices when time is up, wins $500 and advances to the final. The others take away whatever money they won and some consolation prizes.

In the final, six questions have to be answered in 45 seconds, one on each traditional category. If they get one wrong, they go back round to the categories until they get it right. If they don’t win, they get $100 for every correct answer, but if they do, they win $1,000 and the star prize of a holiday, and of course they would always be rather pleased about that.

There were also versions that were extended to an hour, that began with preliminary rounds, where nine contestants had to answer various multiple-choice questions against the clock, with the highest scorers being reduced to six, and then they were reduced to the three who progressed to the main game. There was also an interactive game where viewers would be encouraged to phone in to win prizes too. There was another game show with a similar format in America in 2008.

Game Show Memories – Trivial Pursuit.

Trivial Pursuit (The Family Channel, 1993-1994)

Over the years I’ve enjoyed playing a lot of board games, including Trivial Pursuit, seen by many as the ultimate general knowledge game to play. This meant that it seemed a fairly obvious choice to convert into a TV game show. There was one attempt on BBC1 in the early-90s, but this piece will concentrate on the second version which was another Action Time production, it was shown on The Family Channel which would evolve into Challenge TV by 1997, and it was hosted by Tony Slattery who was appearing on TV very regularly at the time. 

Three contestants took part and the idea was that they had to fill their all 12 slices of their pie by answering the questions on the six categories available, essentially getting two correct answers for every colour available. In the first round the six traditional categories from the board game were used with one question per category. Contestants picked a category, and then they were given the question, but if they got it wrong, it went on offer for the other two to steal. 

In the second round, the six categories were changed so that they were all related to entertainment in some way. There was also a bonus on offer where a news clip from the archive would be shown and the question would be based on it. If they got it right they would win the slice, and then they would be asked a second question where if they got that right they could remove an opponent’s slice. 

In third round the categories changed again. This time a contestant could play for a category, and then nominate who faces the next question. The final round was against the clock reverting to the traditional six categories. Whoever buzzed in could choose the next category and carried on until they got one wrong. If a contestant completed all 12 slices of their pie they went into the final, and the two remaining contestants played until time ran out for the runner-up prize of a glass bowl. However, if no-one had completed their pie by the end, the contestant who had the most slices when time was up was the winner, with the other two receiving consolation prizes of a The Family Channel T-shirt and a deluxe edition of the board game. 

In the final, the remaining contestant also won an extra prize of a VHS looking back at the news in the year that they were born, and they played for the star prize. They simply had to get six questions right, one in each category, in 60 seconds to win a holiday. I get the feeling that they could’ve been a little more imaginative with the rules for this final but either way there were a lot of winners. 

One curious thing about Trivial Pursuit was that it seemed to have some mistakes left in such as contestants picking categories that had already gone and Tony fluffing some questions. Also, The Family Channel must have had a very small audience in those days so it should be commended for making some original shows along with the repeats of classics, and Trivial Pursuit itself was repeated well into the Challenge years.