When in 1981, 1100 copies of ‘Trivial Pursuit‘ were released to try their luck in an still evolving board game market, Chris Haney and Scott Abbott could hardly imagine that we would still be playing it over forty years later, and that their title would adapt to the technological innovations of an ever-growing market. The latest has been to mix ‘Trivial Pursuit’ with Wordle and artificial intelligence. Because of course AI had to be involved.
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This new version is called ‘Trivial Pursuit Infinite’ and can be played on the official website of the board game right now. As always, it is divided into the usual six categories: Geography, Entertainment, History, Art and Literature, Science and Nature, Sports and Leisure, and there are a few new questions every day. But in this case, they will have to be answered within a time limit to prevent you from searching on Google. So far so good.
The problem is that in the middle, without anyone calling it, Artificial Intelligence has gotten involved. Throughout its history, Trivial has been a game in which you had to show your knowledge through six topics that you may not have fully mastered, but now you can introduce your favorite topic and the AI will ask you questions that can “capture your curiosity”, according to Hasbro. In other words, personalized Trivial so that you always get the right answers.
Luckily, it’s just a game mode and no one is forced to play with AI. They even hope that after trying the online version, you will buy the board game as it was originally conceived (that is, with a lot of intelligence, but little artificial). Every day, Trivial Pursuit Infinite releases new questions, with the idea of becoming a morning pastime in the style of Wordle, but expecting people to remember to answer the questions every morning is too much even for Hasbro.
Will ‘Trivial Pursuit Infinite’ relaunch the sales of a game that is already a staple in every respectable household? Will it become a new Wordle to play while you have your coffee? Many questions, few answers (for now). And it’s a shame, being the Trivial Pursuit.
