Trivial Pursuit

One of the first games made under the new "Leisure Genius" label after Virgin took over Mastertronic to form the "Virgin Mastertronic" division, Trivial Pursuit continues Mastertronic's line of famous boardgames translations…. Including their notorious lack of quality.

Although fans of the board game will be overjoyed at a chance to play the game if no friends are in sight, their hopes of a faithful conversion will be cruelly dashed when they find that there is no way to type in answer to the questions. That's right-- the whole ingenious point of the game, the one highlight that distinguishes true scholars from trivia junkies, has been reduced to a ridiculously simple concept of answering either "yes" or "no" to the answer the computer provides ("is your answer correct?", it nonchalantly asks). Although every other aspect of the game (down to the colorful wheel) is meticulously modelled, and you can play against up to 3 other human players, the challenge is basically nonexistent.

Of interest only as a historical curiosity, or a tutorial for beginners only. Pulling out your mouldy-oldie board game and assemble a real group of friends is a much better idea than playing this poor version. If you like the board game, you would be better off with Domark's superior Deluxe Trivial Pursuit (also on this site), or Hasbro's 1999 CD-ROM update.

Review By HOTUD