Trivial Pursuit

Format

The show is played in two halves. The first half is an interactive game show, while the other half is a traditional game show.

Interactive game

Nine players (originally twelve) compete for three spots in the second half of the show.

In the first round, five questions with four multiple-choice answers are asked by the host. The players have 10 seconds to answer by pressing a number from 1–4 on a keypad in front of them. They score points based on how fast they answer the question correctly, with a maximum of 1,000 points available. After five questions, the six players with the highest scores play round two and the other players are eliminated.

In the second round, the scores are reset and the three highest-scoring players win a prize and a chance to play Trivial Pursuit in the next half-hour show.

Classic game

As in the board game, the object for each player is to fill in all of the colored wedges on a large pie-shaped game board in front of them. Each wedge is a different color and represents a different category, with the categories requiring two correct answers to fill a wedge. Red replaces the brown (now purple) wedge from the board games.

In the first three rounds, each player receives two turns consisting of a category choice followed by a question posed by host Martindale. A correct answer lights up a wedge, but an incorrect answer gives the two opponents a chance to ring-in and steal the wedge with a correct answer.

The categories that are used for the first three rounds are listed below. The first round used the categories of the original version of the Trivial Pursuit board game, while the second round used the categories from Trivial Pursuit: Movie Edition or Trivial Pursuit: Television Edition. In the third round, a new set of categories is played; these categories are borrowed from multiple versions of the board game. (In early episodes, the questions related to a certain year in history.)

Rounds 2 and 3 include three bonus questions hidden behind three of the categories—one in one half of the round and two in the other. When chosen, the player who answers an audio or video question correctly has an opportunity to answer a follow-up question, which awards the player $100 and another half-wedge in the color of their choice with a correct answer.

The final round again uses the traditional basic categories as in the first round, but the round is played in a different manner. The round starts with a toss-up question, and the first player to ring-in and answer correctly is given control of the game, keeping it as long as he/she keeps answering questions correctly.

If the player in control misses a question, the question is fielded as a toss-up for the other two players, and the one who answers correctly receives control and the half-wedge, if it has not already been filled in on their pie. If nobody answers correctly, another toss-up is played to determine control.

The final round continues in this manner until either a player completely fills in their pie, therefore becoming the day's champion, or time is called, whichever happens first (a warning tone chimes 4 times signaling one minute left in the final round if it occurs). If time is called, the player who has filled in the most wedges in their pie is declared the champion.

Interactive components

The show launched a series of "interactive" games called playbreaks, all produced by Martindale and his associates. Originally, ten "Trivial Pursuit" playbreaks were interspersed throughout FAM's game show block. Three of them were during Trivial Pursuit: The Interactive Game and one was during Trivial Pursuit: The Classic Game.

During playbreaks, a question is shown on screen with four choices, and the answer is revealed 10 seconds later. During its original run, home viewers were given an opportunity to call a special 1–900 number ($4.98 per call) and play a "TP: Interactive Game", using a slightly modified scoring system, and players answered by using their touch-tone telephone. The winner of each "playbreak" won a prize and competed on Friday in a playoff game against the other winners for a vacation. The ad would last about 100 seconds, as seen by an on-screen clock (even though the clock read ":99" as it faded in).

On New Year's Day 1994, all of the weekly playoff winners up to that point were given the opportunity to compete in a "Tournament of Champions"-style grand playoff for a 1994 Ford Explorer, which aired in between a Trivial Pursuit marathon FAM was running that day. The winner of the Ford Explorer was Alisa Standow.

Trivial Pursuit proved popular in its initial airing during the summer of 1993, as The Family Channel's ratings vastly increased during the 12:30–1:00 pm time slot. MTM Entertainment, an independent distribution company owned by the network's parent organization, International Family Entertainment, planned to syndicate a new version of the show to local stations for the 1994–1995 season. The plan was to produce 130 new episodes and air them along with the 130 episodes already taped for The Family Channel. However, efforts to interest local stations were largely unsuccessful, and the syndicated version never materialized.

Other interactive games aired on the network – a board-game adaptation of Boggle, the list-oriented Shuffle, and an adaptation of the newspaper game Jumble.

Home game

A home version of the game was released by Parker Brothers in 1993 as Trivial Pursuit Game Show. Some question material was taken directly from the show, and the box cover featured Martindale on the slightly different set of the show's 1993 pilot (which was intended for syndication; producer Jay Wolpert also produced at least one pilot in 1987 with Worldvision Enterprises that was not picked up; Martindale posted both pilots to his YouTube channel in 2014). This was the second home version that was based on a board game itself; the first was TV Scrabble by Selchow & Righter in 1987 and then Celebrity Name Game (based on the board game Identity Crisis) by PlayMonster (formerly Patch) in 2016.

2024 revival

In February 2024, it was announced that Trivial Pursuit would be revived and air on The CW, with LeVar Burton as host. The first season, which consists of twenty-six half-hour episodes presented as thirteen hour-long broadcasts, premiered on October 3, 2024.

Each game is played in three rounds, all using the standard colors and Trivial Pursuit categories as follows:

Round 1: Around the Board

One category is chosen at random to start the game, and the host asks a toss-up question for which any player may buzz in. A correct answer awards 100 points and a wedge in that category's color, and the player may choose the category for the next question. From this point on, a contestant who correctly answers a question scores the points and earns the appropriate wedge if they do not already have it. Three passes are played in this round, and each category may only be used once per pass. During the first season, contestants received 200 additional points for each wedge obtained (up to a maximum of 1200) after all eighteen questions were asked. Beginning with the second season, bonus points were no longer awarded; contestants who obtained all six wedges instead received a $1,000 prize.

The player with the lowest score at the end of the third pass is eliminated. If a tie occurs for second place at the end of the round, one final question is asked; the first player to buzz in with the correct answer advances.

Round 2: Category Paths

Each player selects five of the six categories and arranges them in any desired order. The host alternates between players, starting with the player with the lowest score (or the player who had obtained the fewest wedges in the slowest time in the event of a tie at the end of the first round), and asks one question at a time in the chosen category sequence. All questions in this round are multiple-choice, with three answer options. A player's first question is worth 200 points, and the value increases by 200 per successive question to 1,000 on the fifth. After all 10 questions have been played, or if it becomes impossible for one player to catch up, the high scorer advances to the Final Pursuit. Ties at the end of the round are broken in the same manner as in the first round.