Lockout Device Recommendations and Other Questions

[calliaume]

Thinking about bringing some of my Trivial Pursuit decks to my office next week for our holiday party (some people there are going to be playing Jenga, but not all) to either play a straight version of that game or try to do a Big Showdown-type version, as has been recommended here before.

My questions are:
1) if you’ve tried this at a party, how does explaining the format to a long-gone game show go? Too complicated?
2) Similarly, all my Trivial Pursuit decks were made in the 1980s, and most of my coworkers are millennials or Gen Zs. Are those questions okay for that age group?
3) Finally, the only working “lockout” device I have is from Electric Jeopardy; my Quizzard from the $otC home game has been broken for years. Are there good options either online (where, say, each of the three players has a dedicated button on a single keyboard) or a phone app?

[TLEberle]

Curt:

Buzzin.live is your friend, always and forever. Each player can use a phone or tablet to signal. You can use the free version or pay for a key that opens the door to more geegaws and widgets.

Just my own but my problem with the TP decks is that they're very straight ahead you know it or don't, and might be good for people my age or older.  Whenever I see the Trivial Pursuit: 25th anniversary game I buy it and strip the cards out to sell on ebay. The graduated difficulty might work out if Big Showdown doesn't fall down.

I don't see why it would be tricky--you can't go beyond your payoff point isn't that much different than twenty-one, or heck, The Price is Right.

[BrandonFG]

FWIW, you can get Trivial Pursuit expansion mini-packs that include decades and Friends, which GenZ seems to be obsessed with.

[JasonA1]

We recently used a bunch of my Trivial Pursuit decks to play the Wink version. It turned out OK! I used the standard deck for the first round and last round, and some of the specialty decks for the middle two. And if you have the Trivial Pursuit pieces already, and you're happy with one of the lockout solutions you find, then you have the entire thing.

-Jason

[TimK2003]

Back in the days of homemade Game Show Conventions (the original GSC'S) we did a Big Showdown day using a TP trivia card knockoff called Forte.  Their categories were similar, but one was Soap Operas, which was pretty much the 6-pointer.

Another more difficult stack of questions can be derived from The Big Bang Theory game, as they were episode-detailed questions that you either know or you dont.

[jage]

Curt:

Buzzin.live is your friend, always and forever. Each player can use a phone or tablet to signal. You can use the free version or pay for a key that opens the door to more geegaws and widgets.

Cool never heard of this before.

Also, I see this note.

Update 8/4/2024
• Began discontinuation of BuzzIn.Live's premium system. In July 2025, premium will be fully discontinued and premium features will be available to the free tier

[Jeremy Nelson]

To BFG's point, I bought the TP: Decades mini-packs and those work really well if you're leaning towards pop culture. Buzzin.Live or Buzzman for lockout- both are solid options.

A couple of the things I've learned about doing The Big Showdown with regular people:
-There are people in this group who would still run towards a lectern if it were in the eye of a hurricane. More casual fans have different motivations. If you're going to play TBS, have small prizes for payoff points. Also, regular people hate losing these games cause they feel stupid. Let everyone play in the first to 7 round.

That said, lots of other options on the table- playing Martindale TP is also a great idea. I'll throw out another one. Play Pyramid. No, hear me out.

In every room I've been in, game show fans or not, people on the periphery get invested in Pyramid. I have programmed a bunch of games that easily load into the software Travis has built (not a plug, but it is good software). I'm more than willing to hand over the game material I've written if you choose to go that route. I think at least a couple people here would vouch that I'm not a terrible writer.

[TLEberle]

Just to poach on Jeremy a teeny tiny bit--the front game is almost always riproaring fun. Nobody will care about getting to 21, it will be how fast to communicate the ideas--a win at 17-16 is better than 21-15.

I've found the end game tough. Give only a list, don't describe can be tough for the muggles to wrap their heads around and you may have to give players a bit more leeway at least until they understand why thus and so would get zapped in 1987.

I remember getting TP:TGS for a Christmas gift ("So the questions are all about game shows?" asked one uncle) but without the pageantry and prizes of a game show it might be a tough sell similar to Big Showdown. With my family over Thanksgiving people just wanted to play something as a thing to do so you might be ok in that sense.

[JasonA1]

My vote against Big Showdown is that non-game show people tend to hate games where they're forced to sit out, even briefly.

-Jason