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NOSTALGIA TRIVIA GAMES
By Timothy Dickey
That which is old is new again, and that which is ‘80s is becoming
gold. Two newer games are appealing to those who were around in the “Me
Decade”, both centering on the trivia theme that became popular with the
‘80s hit, Trivial Pursuit(R).
Flashback™ and The 80’s Game™ have play features that
separate them from the Granddaddy of trivia games. Indeed, Flashback™
was specifically designed to appeal to those who don’t typically care
for trivia formats.
Flashback™ - The Sitcom Edition
allows players to pick not only the category of play, but the level of
difficulty for each question. Categories range from Bookworm (easiest) to
Couch Potato (hardest). The trivia has been compiled from 70s, 80s and 90s
shows from “The Brady Bunch” to “M*A*S*H”, and “The Fresh Prince
of Bel Air” to “Seinfeld”.
"I'm always amazed at what a big part of people's lives these
shows are," said Brett Jenkins, developer and owner of Flashback
Games. "We all grew up on these shows, and playing the game brings
back a lot of fun memories."
Jenkins was insistent on creating a game that appealed to players at
all levels. “Easy” questions like (from GoodTimes) “What was JJ’s
favorite saying?” are very accessible.
A Couch Potato question from Gilligan’s Island goes like this, “What
was the name of the ‘Beatles-like’ rock and roll band that visited the
island?” These carry a higher reward but also higher penalty if answered
incorrectly, which seems to level the playing field.
Instead of using dice, Flashback™ awards spaces and takes them away
for correct or incorrect answers. Players may also opt to send others
backwards instead of advancing themselves.
Introduced last fall, Flashback™ -- The Sitcom Edition is now sold in
several hundred stores nationwide, and placement is expected to triple by
the holidays. A travel version of the game started shipping in May,
wherein players keep track of point scores on a notepad, not on a board.
The 80’s Game™ is not your father’s trivia game. The
object isn’t to collect “pie pieces”, but move through years of the
decade by answering questions in Science, TV, Movie, Music and Sport
categories. Particular to The 80’s Game™ is an unusual pair of dice;
one die is numbered and the other has game categories on it.
 Category spaces are landed on randomly by roll of the numbered dice. A
question is posed: “Johann Holzel, whose stage name ‘Falco’ comes
from that of an East German ski jumper, hits the #1 spot on the U.S. Pop
Chart with this song.” If the player gets the question wrong, his play
stops until the next round.
Thankfully, it is not necessary to complete questions in each category
to advance. Players must eventually land on a Jump square, roll the
category dice and answer the question correctly to advance to the next
year of the decade.
Clay Siegert describes the game’s inception: “I was driving from
Boston to New York City around midnight in 2000. As I was driving through
Hartford, a radio station was playing 80s music and asking trivia
questions before the commercial break. The callers were really getting
into it, and it dawned on me that 1980s music and pop culture was making a
comeback.” Siegert siblings Anne and Evan jumped on board and began
developing the game that September, under the company name
Intellinitiative, Inc.
Because The 80’s Game’s questions range from “gimmes” to fairly
obscure, especially in the sports category, it might best be played with
teams who have diverse areas of knowledge. Still, the game offers lively
action that advances players pretty fairly. The nostalgic aspect will
likely evoke laughter and discussions, and endear it to players around 30
and older, especially. A ‘70s version will be released later this year,
and CD-ROMs for both are being developed for release in 2003.
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