For our annual pre-Holiday-Special-holiday-episode-about-a-holiday-toy we are jumping into one of the greatest games of all time, Trivial Pursuit (and we’re not just saying that because there’s an SYSK edition).
AI Summary
# Trivial Pursuit
This episode dives into the fascinating origin story of one of history's greatest board games, Trivial Pursuit. Josh and Chuck trace the game's humble beginnings in Montreal with two Canadian journalists who dreamed up the concept in just 45 minutes, all the way through its explosion into a cultural phenomenon in the 1980s that had everyone from Ronald Reagan to Queen Elizabeth II hooked on trivia. The guys explore how this expensive, elegant board game defied all industry expectations, faced some interesting legal challenges along the way, and managed to completely revive interest in both board games and trivia culture in America.
"It was a question on Columbo, the TV show, with Peter Falk. — A trick trivia question about Columbo's first name appeared in the show, used as evidence in a lawsuit."
— Chuck
"The second brand tie-in that Trivial Pursuit released a game around was Fame, the TV show and movie. — Fame was one of the early branded editions of Trivial Pursuit released in 1993."
— Chuck
First Blood
1982
1h 33m
★ 7.5
"When he needed Rambo questions, he watched all the Rambo movies two times to come up with the best questions. — A Trivial Pursuit question writer watched Rambo films multiple times to create accurate questions."
— Chuck
"I was a 12 year old who learned about Gunsmoke and Richard Nixon through playing Trivial Pursuit. — Josh mentioned learning about the TV show Gunsmoke as a child through Trivial Pursuit questions."
— Josh
In Retrospect
2021
7m
★ 9.5
"He went on to become the manager of Sha Na Na. — Edwin Goodgold, an early trivia concept pioneer, became manager of the musical group Sha Na Na."
— Josh
"Jeopardy came back in 84 and all of a sudden, trivia started to be important in the United States again. — Jeopardy's revival in 1984 coincided with the Trivial Pursuit boom."
— Josh
Saturday Night Live
1975
★ 7.0
"There was a great Saturday Night Live skit about it. — Josh mentioned an SNL sketch parodying a plot point from The Big Chill."
— Josh
Strange Brew
1983
1h 30m
★ 6.0
"The two original hosers. Yeah. Like even bigger hosers than Bob and Doug McKenzie is what they were saying. — The Trivial Pursuit inventors were compared to the SCTV characters Bob and Doug McKenzie."
— Chuck
The Big Chill
1983
R
1h 45m
★ 6.8
"The cast of the big chill, the most boomer movie of all boomers, movies of all time, were unwinding between scenes enjoying trivial pursuit. — The Big Chill was cited as an example of boomer culture that promoted Trivial Pursuit during its marketing."
— Chuck
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