Marcia's Board Game Reviews

There’s an old Serbian saying, “He who goes round the village long enough . . .

What do you think? How would you finish the line?

. . . will get to know everyone?
. . . will find a wife?
. . . someday will get too tired?

The real answer? . . . will get either a dog bite or a dinner.

The Wise and Otherwise game works much like the popular game Balderdash (or like Dictionary or “Fictionary” we used to play with just a dictionary, pencils and paper). Each player takes a turn reading the questions. In this case, it’s the first part of an old saying. The other players each make up an answer and write it on a piece of paper, while the reader writes the real answer. Then the reader mixes up the answers and reads each one out loud. Everyone votes for which one they think is the real answer. Whoever gets it right gets a point. But you also get a point for each person who votes for your answer. And if you’re the reader and you stump everyone, you get two points.

Wise and Otherwise is a lot of fun and can lead to some interesting discussions. Oftentimes the right answer is not what you would expect. Keep that in mind when writing your answers. Also, keep in mind that these are OLD sayings. Mentioning cars or magazines in your answer is a dead giveaway that it’s made up.

This game works best for about six to fifteen people. Any less than that, and it might be obvious who said what. Any more than that and you get bogged down. It’s a great game for a family gathering or small social gathering, such as a game night.

In the 80’s we started hearing about this great new game called “Trivial Pursuit.” I’d grown up with board games. I loved the classics, like Scrabble and Clue and Monopoly. But this was different. This game went beyond quiet evenings at home with the fam.  This game was designed for a party.

The premise was simple: Answer questions about trivial things and earn points. Combine a board and dice, and you had a game for any number of people. You could play Trivial Pursuit with just two people; but it was much more fun with a group. We’d divide everyone into two teams, making sure each team had a movie buff and a sports buff and a more intellectual one. (Guess which one I was? Answer below) When the questions were asked, we’d  discuss the answers together.  Often one person in the group would know the answer. Other times we’d pool our thoughts to come up with an educated—or uneducated–guess.

Two such guesses stand out in my memory. For the question, “What cartoonist created Lil Abner?” we knew the last name was Capp, but we just couldn’t think of the first name. Finally, we guessed “Al Capp” and were counted correct, since the answer was “A. L. Capp.” That one could have been explained by our subconscious memory.  After all, we’d seen it in the funny pages. But the one I’ll never forget was “What nickname did Hazel give her boss on the TV show Hazel?”  I remember postulating that she might have called him “Mr.” and then an initial, so I guessed “Mr. B.”  Imagine my surprise when I was correct. I never really watched the show.

The first edition was called the Genus Edition, and we played it over and over again. That original version is still popular, for nostalgic reasons, if nothing else. The categories were Geography, Entertainment, History, Art & Literature, Science & Nature, and Sports & Leisure. I was a good student, so Geography and History were my favorites. (Yep, I was the intellectual one on the team.) I struggled the most with Entertainment and Sports & Leisure, but there were usually team members who could come up with the answer for those topics.

We still play the Genus Edition at home, and it’s still a blast. Some of the questions are outdated, such as “What is the capital of East Germany?” or “How many colors in the rainbow?” (I mourned when I learned indigo had been dethroned.) But most of the questions are still valid. This edition is still available for purchase at Amazon.

The next edition to come out was the Baby Boomer Edition, which had the following topics: Television, Stage & Screen, Nightly News, Publishing, Lives & Times, and R.P.M.  Since I’m not into popular culture, I found this edition more difficult, but others loved the topics.

Since then, many more editions have come out: Silver Screen Edition(definitely not for me, but with the popularity of Scene It, I’m sure many people love it), All-Star Sports Edition
(another one I would not do well at), a Family Edition, Totally 80s, a Know it all Edition, even a Beatles versionand Lord of the Rings Movie Version.

All the popular Genus editions are still available: Genus Edition, Genus II, Genus III, Genus IV, Genus 5, and Trivial Pursuit: 6th Edition. The categories evolved to include the following: People/Places, Arts/Entertainment, History, Science/Nature, Sports/Leisure and Wild Card.

The 25th Anniversary Edition features three levels of questions: Easy, Medium, and Hard. The latest version, the Master Edition, goes back to the original categories, which I like. It also gives the option of timer play for a fast-paced game. (I’ll keep the relaxed game, thank you.  I prefer a leisurely game with space for conversation and snacks.)

In summary, you can’t go wrong with Trivial Pursuit, no matter which version you choose.