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Trivial Pursuit -- The Video Game (!) [message #129974] Wed, 13 November 1985 09:47 Go to next message
slg is currently offline  slg
Messages: 3
Registered: November 1985
Karma: 0
Junior Member
Article-I.D.: ukma.2373
Posted: Wed Nov 13 09:47:44 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 14-Nov-85 07:34:55 EST
Distribution: na
Organization: U of Kentucky, Mathematical Sciences, Lexington KY
Lines: 140


     I hit the old arcade again yesterday after months of  ignor-
ing  the  poor  thing,  and what did I find?  A `Trivial Pursuit'
video game.  Being a fan of the board game, I went over to take a
look.   With just a slight glance I decided to try it. (Expanding
the mind you see...)

     So I stuck my token in.  A quick glance at the  high  scores
showed  three  people with scores of about 600,000; the rest with
scores of about 20,000.  The game is simple to play.   First  you
choose  one  of  four  characters to represent you on the playing
board... yes there is a playing board.  The board is rectangular,
with  various  catagories  marked by certain squares.  In each of
the four corners is a square that allows you to try for  a  ``Pie
piece''.   If  you  get  all  four, you ``win''.  But I'm getting
ahead of my story.

     I choose the last pictured character on the screen; a  roman
gladiator  type.   The  machine  started me in the upper lefthand
corner, and showed the two squares I could move to.  You move  by
pressing one of two buttons, depending on which way you desire to
move.  I pressed the button that allowed me  to  move  clockwise.
My  little  character moved to the left, but he himself was split
into two parts -- his back half moved first, and then his  frount
half!

     But that was ok.  Now it was time to answer the question  --
excitement  began to build.... the question was asked.... and in-
stead of the usual fill in the blank that real _Trivial  Pursuit_
has, or a multiple choice that might be expected on a video game,
the machine showed one answer and asked whether it was  right  or
wrong.   After  carefully considering all the posibilities, I de-
cided it was wrong.  I pressed the red button, and another answer
appeared.  ``Right  or  wrong  --  You  decide''  the machine de-
clares... this time it was the correct answer, so I  pressed  the
green  button.   A fanfare exudes from the machine and I smile to
myself with pride at my accomplishment.

     So I continue on in a similar fashion.  I  move  around  the
board  getting  most  of my answers correct, and I get one or two
wrong...  Then the machine askes for the Scottish  equivilent  of
the  name `John'.  Aha, says I, no question there -- *my* name is
the Scottish equivilent of John!  The first answer was  incorrect
(it wasn't `Sean'), the second answer was incorrect.... But wait!
This machine says the Scottish equilent of `John'  is  `Ian'!   I
know  that  it's  incorrect  -  but how do you argue with a video
game?

    But I continue playing, despite  the  machine's  indiscrepen-
cies.  And I begin to notice a few things.  The number of squares
that you are allowed to move never changes.  And  then  I  notice
something else.. could it be?  Surely not... but it is!!!

     The answer to *EVERY* question, is the second one given.  In
other words, at each question, you press the red button, then the
green and you have answered the question correctly.  So  I  moved
between  my two favorite catagories (sports and leisure, arts and
literature) answering all the questions correctly.   When  I  had
about  100,000  points, I got bored (and my hands started to hurt
from pressing buttons..) and I began moving around the board  and
picking  up  my pie pieces.  When I had the last one, the machine
announced I had won, gave me about 500,000 bonus points, and end-
ed the game.

     I was *thrilled*.

                                        Sean.


-- 

    Sean L. Gilley  	     Phone: (606) 272-9620 or (606) 257-4613

      {ihnp4,decvax,ucbvax}!cbosgd!ukma{!ukgs}!slg, slg@UKMA.BITNET

             Watches are a conspiracy by Swiss confidence men.
Re: Trivial Pursuit -- The Video Game (!) [message #129979 is a reply to message #129974] Mon, 18 November 1985 16:12 Go to previous message
davidl is currently offline  davidl
Messages: 66
Registered: May 2013
Karma: 0
Member
Article-I.D.: teklds.1283
Posted: Mon Nov 18 16:12:30 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 20-Nov-85 00:49:46 EST
References: <2373@ukma.UUCP>
Reply-To: davidl@teklds.UUCP (David Levine)
Distribution: na
Organization: Tektronix, Beaverton OR
Lines: 29
Summary: 

I've just got to respond to the referenced article, in which the author stated
that in the TP video game the number of spaces per move is fixed and the second
answer is always correct.  The one time I played, neither of these conditions
occurred.  I think the author must have had a game whose random number
generator was stuck, or whose difficulty was set ridiculously low.

I thought the method of selecting answers was a good compromise.  (The machine 
shows one answer and the player must pick "this answer is correct" or "this 
answer is wrong, show me another".)   Typing in answers would never have 
worked, because of the possibility of "almost-right" answers and the 
difficulty of maintaining a full alphanumeric keyboard in a video-parlor 
environment.  The method used increases the excitement of the game and reduces 
the possiblity of guessing correctly, because you never know what all the
alternatives will be.

On the other hand, I am somewhat displeased by some aspects of the game.  It's
never made clear how many answers you can get wrong before you "die", and I was
enormously disappointed when getting all four "cheeses" ended the game.  The
500,000 point bonus is gratuitous; the enjoyment of the game is in playing, not
in accumulating points.  The animation and theme songs of the player characters
also got intensely annoying.

All in all, I enjoyed the game but I'm afraid it will flop.  It won't die
because people don't play it, but because a reasonably knowledgeable player can
play for a long time on a single token, and therefore the parlor operators
won't leave it in service for long!

David D. Levine       (...decvax!tektronix!teklds!davidl)    [UUCP]
                      (teklds!davidl.tektronix@csnet-relay)  [ARPA/CSNET]
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