Ever since the earliest days of gaming, the recreation and reinterpretation of existing
games has been a standard.
Whether it’s Bridge and Checkers on the Atari 2600, Action Video Monopoly on the NES,
or more advanced experiences like Carcassone or Settlers of Catan on XBox Live Arcade,
there’s always been a market for board games you can play by your lonesome, without having
to deal with the various fiddly bits and cleanup required.
And sometimes, you get a game that builds on a familiar experience, doing things that
wouldn’t be feasible if played in analog format.
Trivial Pursuit: Bet You Know It builds on the basic question-and-answer with a new betting
mechanic - befitting the name - and more flexibility in question choices.
However, if you’re playing with actual opponents, there’s also more room for said opponents
to screw you over.
Bet You Know It replaces the board with a Wheel-of-Fortune style spinner, with colored
spaces representing each category as well as black spaces where you can spend chips
for wedges without having to answer questions at all.
The first to collect all six wedges and answer the Final Question correctly takes the game.
That’s all well and good, but this is Trivial Pursuit we’re talking about.
The game that makes Alex Trebek wake up screaming in the middle of the night, panting and breaking
out in a cold sweat.
The questions are anything but easy.
That said, Bet You Know It makes it a touch easier on you by allowing you to choose from
four topics for each question you answer.
And if you don’t like those topics, just pay 10 chips and change one.
Be warned, though: Your opponents also have the power to change your categories, if they
feel you’re too good with useless Justin Bieber knowledge.
(Yes, he has come up as a topic.)
Once the topic is chosen, each player may bet on the chance of a correct answer, thus
earning more chips by which to continue topic-swapping, wedge-buying, and occasionally shifting the
wheel one space if necessary.
It’s a cute innovation on the old formula, but kinda pointless in single-player.
If you’re holding a party, and can’t think of anything better to do with the TV than
prove who’s more of a wiseguy, go for it.
Otherwise...
well, hit the Classic Trivial Pursuit button.
Yes, there was a Trivial Pursuit released for the Wii just two years ago, and... it’s
INCLUDED IN ITS ENTIRETY.
And I thought Capcom were the money-grubbing shovel artists!
Fortunately, this older version includes a single-player “Clear the Board” mode optimized
for speed and accuracy.
Pretty fun, if you’re the kind who goes through transcripts of Jeopardy episodes just
for a good time.
The prime detriment is a wisecracking host who flops wildly between enthusiastic praise,
consolation, and outright smacktalk.
I can’t really tell why he’s there, except that he’s not really needed.
The graphics and sound, aside from that joker, aren’t bad at all, not that Trivial Pursuit
is graphically-taxing in any way.
It’s clean, it’s colorful, and you can read the questions.
The prime issue is with the occasional response that requires you to point to a spot on a
map; often these are not marked clearly and can cause some confusion.
If you weren’t a prodigy at Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego, you may have issues.
If you were a prodigy at Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego, you may still have issues.
But there’s a chance they’re issues of National Geographic.