Trivial Pursuit Categories
Trivial Pursuit Game Questions by Category
Trivial Pursuit Question Categories
The standard version of Trivial Pursuit, released in 2003 and known as Genus VI, has six categories like all other versions of Trivial Pursuit, but is a bit different from the original version.
Unlike the first edition of the game, there is now a "Wild Card" category, first introduced in 1989. Wild Card is the "orange" category, thanks to Sports & Leisure shifting over to "green" and Science & Nature shifting to "brown." To include a Wild Card category, the makers of Trivial Pursuit combined Entertainment with Arts & Literature to create the category Arts & Entertainment, which is now the "pink" category.
Confused yet? You're not alone. When the categories changed and the colors shifted, fans of the game complained. Logically speaking, the change makes sense--condensing the very similar fields of "arts" and "entertainment" tilts the game in favor of more generalized knowledge, and adding the "wild card" category adds some suspense and excitement to a sometimes too-predictable game.
Some people still have big complaints with the category lineup of Trivial Pursuit--for example, why isn't the "Places" part of "People & Places" actually a part of the "Science & Nature" category? Couldn't there be a category just about famous people? It seems like the makers of Trivial Pursuit have some tweaking to do before their categories are perfect. Then again, you'll never please every Trivial Pursuit fan, especially when it comes to making changes to the game they love.
Here's a look at each of the categories in the standard edition of Trivial Pursuit.
Categories in Trivial Pursuit: People & Places
These days, People & Places questions in Trivial Pursuit tend to cover a combination of "current events" (history as recent as the 20th century) and historical and geographical questions. There is some overlap with the History and Science & Nature categories in Trivial Pursuit, so if you're strong in either of those, you'll do well in People & Places as well.
Example questions:
"Which Central-American country is known as "the land of lakes and volcanoes"?"
Nicaragua
"Who traded places with Eddie Murphy in the film Trading Places?"
Dan Akroyd
"The marriage between which two famous people was described as 'Egghead meats hourglass'?"
Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe
Arts & Entertainment
Don't forget that in the most recent editions of Trivial Pursuit, this category includes Literature questions as well. Arts & Entertainment is a hybrid of the Arts & Literature and Entertainment categories, and because of that combination it is a mixed bag of questions. This category covers everything from contemporary movies to the great books of World Literature with plenty of pop music and studio art questions thrown in as well. The toughest category for many players, Arts & Entertainment is in its own way a kind of Wild Card category--you never know if your question will be about art history or the 2005 Oscar award ceremony.
Example questions:
"Which member of 'The A Team' was a pilot?"
H.M. "Howling Mad" Murdoch
"According to mythology, Minerva was the goddess of ______."
Wisdom
"What famous poet was known to his close friends by the nickname 'Junkets'?"
John Keats
History
This category is pretty straightforward--all the questions have to do with historical events. The range of historical events covered by Trivial Pursuit questions is massive. Any event in human (and even prehistoric) history is up for debate in this category. Some questions from history are covered in People & Places and even Science & Nature, so this is another "crossover" category.
Example questions:
"Who was the only American to become vice president and president after resignations?"
Gerald Ford
"What was the date of the official end of the Civil War?"
April 18, 1865
"What did Canada declare illegal in 1992, saying they were degrading to women?"
Beauty contests
Science & Nature
The term "science" is so general that this can be a really intimidating category for people weak outside of categories like History or Arts & Entertainment. After all, "science" covers many different topics, from biology to medicine, from anthropology to human behavior. Throw in that word "nature" and you've got the makings of one of the tougher categories in the game.
Example questions:
"What is the scientific name for a rabbit's tail?"
Scut
"How many bones are in a baby's body?"
About 300
"What did Blaise Pascal invent in 1642 to help his dad do his taxes?"
The adding machine
Sports & Leisure
Though more people fear Science & Nature or History questions, Sports & Leisure is often the toughest category in the game. Trivia buffs in sports tend to be category-specific experts, less likely to play Trivial Pursuit than people with an education in the sciences or in history. Sports trivia is very specific, and the questions in the Sports & Leisure category are often difficult even for people with some experience in sports trivia. There's just so much to study, so many different sports and so many statistics.
But this category isn't just about sporting events. The "leisure" part in the name indicates that games and other leisure activities are included as well. Expect as many questions about children's games, board games, and hobbies as about sporting trivia and statistical details.
Example questions:
"How many squares are on a chess board?"
64
"How many players are on a volleyball team?"
6
"How many dots are there on two dice?"
42
Wild Card
Wild Card questions come from all other five categories. You may get a Science question, a History question, or any question from the other categories.
Wild Card questions are challenging to players trying to strategize their way to a win, because it's harder to prepare to answer a question if you don't know the category. If a player is strong in the History category, he may save that token for last, giving him a quick path to victory, or he may go for it first to grab as many tokens as he can as quickly as possible. With the Wild Card category, there's no way to strategize.
Example questions:
"What is the first letter on a typewriter keyboard?"
Q
"Who famously said 'I think, therefore I am.'?"
Rene Descartes
"What are the five colors of the Olympic rings?"
Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, Black
