Brain Food

The Book Lover’s Edition is played very similarly to the regular editions of Trivial Pursuit; the goal is to collect pieces of pie representing different categories of questions, and then to land directly on the center of the board to answer a final question in the category chosen for you by your opponents. Unlike other versions, there are only four tokens to move around the board (a coffee mug, a stack of books, a book bag and a typewriter) and therefore at most four players or teams, instead of the usual six can play.

And of course, all the questions are regarding literature in six categories:

Children’s
Authors
Non-Fiction
Classics
Book Bag
Book Club

The first four categories are easy to figure out, but even after playing, I haven’t determined what the significance of Book Bag or Book Club is. The questions from them seem to be across genres and subjects, so I haven’t figured out a common theme, and there’s nothing in the directions that helps distinguish them. I wonder why they didn’t do categories in genres like mystery or sci-fi, which, like the regular game, would give people their specialities.

My strongest category in the regular editions of Trivial Pursuit was always literature, so I thought I’d do well at this version, but it’s quite difficult in regular play. As always, I seem to get easy questions on non-pie spaces and then I whiff on tough questions when a piece of pie is at stake. I thought that I knew a lot about literature, but playing this game makes me realize how much great literature is out there that I haven’t had a chance to read yet. I expected the Children’s category to be easy, but there were some tough questions in it, and I seemed to do my best in the Classics, if only because I had studies about the books on English classes, even if I hadn’t read them. The ambiguity of two of the categories made me want to avoid landing on those spots, and is the only flaw in an otherwise exciting game.

The reason I love Trivial Pursuit is that I enjoy the game even when my girlfriend kicks my butt, because I love asking and answering (or guessing) questions — I feel like I’m learning something new and interesting whether I get it right or not. The fact that this version is about my favorite subject makes it even more enjoyable. I could never quite muster up the same enthusiasm for the sports category.

The fact that only four players or teams can play at a time helps the length of the game, which can drag on in the regular edition with six tokens on the board. Four tokens means that pie is collected faster and the game winds up in just over an hour or so.

And of course I always recommend you add in the “Rachel Allen technique” of play, wherein you disconcert your opponents by singing “Piece of pie! Piece of pie. Pie, pie, pie!” when they’re about to answer a pie question, and then shout “no pie for you!” when they miss it. Of course this works best if everyone is drinking.

I was lucky enough to pick up the game at half the regular price at one of the calendar kiosks in the mall, so the price was great. Otherwise, the regular price would have been a bit out of my desired range for a board game.

Rating:

Great Play
Price: $49.99 regular price