It's always fun to play some board games after Sunday roast dinner. Tonight it was the turn of Trivial Pursuit. I was given this game for a birthday or Christmas present almost 30 years ago. It must be almost a first edition.
This adds an extra twist to the questions, many of which concern TV personalities who haven't been heard of since 1983, sporting 'firsts' which now seem like the exploits of dinosaurs or the flags of countries which ceased to exist so long ago the boys have never heard of them.
The game itself nearly came to an untimely end itself sometime in the early 80s when I was traveling home for christmas from college with all my worldly possessions in tow. I had to change trains very quickly and threw my bags and cases out of the window onto the platform. To my horror, the scruffy carrier bag containing my Trivial Pursuit set fell down between the train and the edge of the platform onto the tracks. Before I could stop him, a guard sprinted over, grabbed hold of the train door and lowered himself under the train, hooking the bag up off the rails with his feet and leaping back onto the platform just in time before the train began to rattle away. He must have thought the bag contained some treasured family heirloom. How could I tell him he'd just risked his lower extremities for something as trivial as a board game? I think of that heroic gesture every time the battered and frayed old board creaks open!
Board games have had a resurgence here - I guess we're all trying to get away from tv's, video games and computers. It's a fun way for families to reconnect. We still have the original Trivial Pursuit and often play it with friends - team style.
This game took 90 mins - mostly due to extended discussion on every Q&A - think we even hit a relativity discussion after a question about a Swiss patent clerk...
