What Makes a Good Trivia Game?
Trivia games can be divisive. Some people love them, some people hate them. When we exhibit at board game conventions with Strong Point I often describe them as the annoying younger sibling of 'proper' games; you'll play with them for a short time and then get fed up of humouring them and move on. For those who play a lot of board games, trivia games are often tolerated rather than enjoyed. But for non board gamers, trivia games can be a real gateway into games. So why can trivia games often be so divisive?
I think the number one reason a lot of people don't like them is the fear of getting things wrong! Let's face it, nobody likes to feel stupid and embarrass themselves by demonstrating a lack of knowledge. And in trivia games that is the constant threat! On your turn you are under the spotlight. It can feel intimidating when you have to answer questions and you don't know the answers. All the other players are thinking (or often saying out loud) "How did you not know that?!"
However, I think it would be both insulting and overly simplistic to say that it is only those people who feel like they don't have a good general knowledge who don't like trivia games. There are, I'm sure, a lot of very knowledgable and clever folk who also don't like them. So what other factors contribute?
I think another key, and it is linked to my first point, is that generally when you sit down to play a trivia game and look at who is playing, you often know who is going to win. Because, let's face it, it is usually the same player who wins. It is almost certainly the player who has the best general knowledge, the person who is the 'trivia buff'. And this can be disheartening for everyone else playing, because although winning at games isn't the important part of playing them, feeling like you have a chance to win can absolutely be important for a lot of people.
My final reason for people not enjoying them (I'm sure others can think of more reasons), is that often when it isn't your turn to answer, the game can drag. Especially if one or two players are answering lots of questions correctly and continuing their turn, it can feel like a long time between your turns to answer a question. And if you get that question wrong? You'll be sitting waiting a long time to get another chance. So for a large proportion of the game you may be sitting doing nothing but listen to other players answering questions. Which soon becomes 'not fun'.
So why are there so many trivia games, and why are some of them incredibly popular?
Firstly, I think trivia games remain popular because they are so accessible. They are quick to learn, easy to set up, and everyone can join in regardless of their board gaming experience. You don't have to think about lots of in depth strategies or plan moves in advance. They are the ideal games to play with friends and family who are not regular games players, and they come into their own at times like Christmas, family occasions, or dinner nights with a group of friends.
I think another important element is the popularity of quiz shows on TV. From Who Wants to be a Millionaire, to Pointless, to The Chase, quiz shows are a staple of daytime and early evening TV. And who hasn't watched a TV quiz show and thought 'I could do better than that'? Trivia games give you the chance to prove it without the pressure of appearing in front of millions of people on television!
So what makes a good trivia game? The easy answer is to say any game that eliminates all of the issues that were discussed at the start of this blog. So, don't make people feel stupid, give non-trivia experts an opportunity to win (or at least feel competitive), and keep everyone playing engaged. Easy as that! End of blog...
Well, no.
The way some games achieve this is by making the trivia so random that nobody can really know the answer. Take Shot in the Dark for example. The fun lies in trying to be the closest to the right answer. 'How many post boxes are there in the UK?' How do you know the answer to that question? Well, you don't, you simply have to have the closest guess (or shot in the dark).
Or take the approach adopted in Herd Mentality by Big Potato Games. In this game everyone answers the same question, and the aim is try to write the same answer as the majority. Write an answer that no-one else has written and you are penalised. Write the majority answer and you earn cow tokens!
Both of these are fun, easy to play and easy to learn trivia games that solve the trivia game problems in different ways. For us, with Strong Point the solution was different while taking a similar philosophy. We wanted players engaged and we wanted non-trivia experts to have a way of potentially winning. We also firmly believe that everyone has something they know a lot about, a knowledge 'strong point'.
So our solution was to have a lot of quite specific subject categories (400 so far across the collection), with subjects tailored to a whole range of different knowledge bases. Players answer 5 questions on a particular category, with the engagement coming from every other player secretly predicting how many they think the player answering will get correct on that subject. Could it be their Strong Point? Players get points for each correct answer, but everyone else collects a bonus point if their prediction is correct. So trivia knowledge is important, but knowing what the other players know is an alternative route to scoring points and winning the game! And no 'downtime'. Every player is involved on every turn.
Trivia games remain popular and are here to stay. There are many good ones available, not just the ones mentioned here. However, if Strong Point sounds like a game you'd enjoy, you can read more about it on the link earlier in this blog and you can buy a copy of the game here.
Thanks for reading, keep quizing!
Si
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