Premiere ep of Trivial Pursuit came down this morning. Here's the gameplay rundown:
Starts off with three players. Six categories, obviously, which (in this ep at least) roughly correspond to the actual TVP categories. Computer randomly picks a category and value (seemed to be about $300-$600 in increments of $50) for each question. Correct answers by the studio contestants put the value into the studio bank; triple-stumpers put it in America's bank. First two players to fill three of their wedges advance, lagger leaves. First question is an all-play; the player who gets it right gets the all next questions all to himself, until they either miss or get their third wedge; if they miss, the other two can buzz-in on the same question. If you answer a question in a category you already have a wedge for, nothing special happens, just like the board game. The first player to get to three wedges sits out until the second person makes it.
Second round is entirely all-play, all questions worth $1,000. No categories here, so correct answers just fill up a wedge. First to get to six advances.
Final round is exactly six questions. First question is worth $500, second is $1000, then $2000, $3k, $4k, and $5k. The categories are shown at the outset, and the order that they are asked in is shuffled. Right answers put money in the studio bank, wrong answers or no-answers put it in America's bank. Whoever's bank is bigger at the end wins their bank; for America, it means it's divided evenly among all the people who had their questions asked that day, plus America's Captain, who shows up live on webcam and asks several questions throughout.
Christopher is a tiny bit stiff, but given that it's his first game show episode ever, he wasn't that bad. No Patrick Wayne or Jim Caldwell for sure. Set is good, game is good, material is good, pacing is good. Echelons better than Temptation or Crosswords. I'm psyched.
