A couple of weekends ago we got together with some friends for game night. Kristen is part of a program that sends us free products to try out, one of them being Trivial Pursuit: Bet You Know It. Typically we play in groups for these types of games, but after reading the directions it was decided that it would probably be more fun to play as individuals.
The game rules are similar to regular Trivial Pursuit, however with some minor changes. Lets start off with the game board:
Game Board
The game board differs from the traditional game in that, there are no spokes or center hub, just a circle. Instead of starting at the center hub each player starts on the color of their pie. Every space is also a wedge space with the exception of some “Buy or Roll” spaces which will be explained later. There are also two sets of circles, each set of circles contains one circle for each color pie (or one for each player/team).
Questions
There are still six categories (geography, entertainment, history, science, literature, sports). The catch for this game is that each card also has kind of a topic or super category. For example the topic might be Star Wars in which the geography question might be “In what country did the filming of the planet Tatooine take place?” Answer:”Tunisa”. At any time 4 of these cards are in play. When it is your turn, you choose your card from the 4 in play and then you get the question from the category that is indicated by the space you are on.
Chips
Each player is given 15 chips at the beginning of the game. The chips look like poker chips. These chips can be used for a couple different things. First if you land on a buy or roll space, you can buy a wedge for 15 chips. This allows for an easier way to get that tough category out of the way. Chips can also be used to make the final question to win the game easier. It cost 15 to choose the category and 15 to choose the card it comes of off. Given that each card has a theme, this allows you to narrow your question considerably.
To earn chips you can choose to collect 5 chips from answering a question in lieu of a wedge. You may also earn chips by betting.
Betting
Each time a player is to answer a question, all of the other players must bet on whether the player will get the question right or wrong. You can bet from 1 to 10 chips. Once you have decided you place your chips on your color circle in the middle of the game board on either the wrong side or the right side. If the player answers the question right, all of those who bet that he or she would get it right receives their chips back plus an equal amount from the “bank”. The person who answered the question right gets the chips of all those who bet against him or her. If the player gets the question wrong, all chips that were bet on getting it right are forfeited to the bank and those who bet on the player getting the question wrong get double their chips back.
Strategy can come into play in the fact that you could throw a question in order to cause people to lose chips. This addition really adds a lot of fun to the game.
Winning the Game
Once you have all of your wedges, the other players decide which card and category for your final question. You may buy the right to choose either of these for 15 chips, or 30 to choose both. Once you answer the final question correctly, you win!
Thoughts
Overall I really enjoyed the game. Trivial Pursuit is a great game to play if you are super smart and playing with a lot of super smart people, otherwise the game can drag on as some of the questions are tough. With Bet You Know It, the betting allows all players to be a part of every turn and adds a new dimension to the game. The ability to choose the topic of your question and buy wedges helps to speed up the game and make it accessible to everyone. I would definitly recommed this for family game night if you have older children, or for a party with your adult friends.
