Life

These Trivia Games Are The Key To An Unforgettable Game Night

by Kim Quindlen

Unlike games of chance, trivia games are a great way to test your knowledge in head-to-head competition with friends and family. However, many trivia board games are notorious for difficult, outdated questions that make them hard to play — especially if you’re playing with a group that varies in age and background. On the other hand, if you buy one that’s too easy, you’ll get bored quickly. So, if you are on a quest to find the best trivia board games, the key will be to find one that plays to your group’s interests and skill level.

With a seemingly infinite amount of options out there, the main thing to consider when choosing a trivia game is the subject matter. If you and your friends or family have a wide range of interests, it's best to go for a general game like Trivial Pursuit with categories that appeal to everyone. And don’t worry if in the past you’ve found Trivia Pursuit too difficult — new editions of the game have been updated with modern questions that won’t leave you hopelessly stumped. On the other hand, if you and your friends all share the same niche interest, like history or movies, you may have more fun with a game that focuses on that specific subject.

Whether you're a movie fan or a history buff, there's plenty of options on this list to add some excitement to your next get-together. And once you've chosen your ideal trivia board game, be sure to check out the best new party games.

1

The Overall Best Trivia Board Game

Number of players: Two to six

What's great about it: Trivial Pursuit game has been a crowd favorite since the '80s but this "classic edition" comes with modern questions like "In which TV series did Ariana Grande first appear? " and "Which feisty US governor was caricatured as claiming she could see Russia from her house?" Gameplay, on the other hand, hasn't changed over the decades: As players move around the board, they have to answer tricky questions while trying to earn a colored wedge for each of the six trivia categories. The game includes 400 cards with over 2,400 questions in total, so you'll be able to play this game a lot without it ever getting repetitive.

What fans say: "Fantastic, highly recommend. Tons of fun and the questions are of a very broad range and playable by all generations."

2

The Runner-Up: A Trivia Game With Brain Teasers And Riddles, Too

Number of players: Two or more

What's great about it: With riddles, sequence tests, and brain teasers, this trivia board game takes the challenge to the next level. The game features 1,200 questions over a wide range of categories, including geography, history, pop culture, and art. To win, you need to correctly answer enough questions to make your way to the center of the board first.

What fans say: "Wit's End has a great balance of questions that allows everyone to participate, and enough luck involved to keep any one person from dominating for too long. It's just as much fun with only a couple players as it is with a room full of people in teams."

3

The Best Game For History Buffs

Number of players: Two to eight

What's great about it: Perfect for history buffs but suitable for everyone, the CHRONOLOGY trivia game tests your knowledge of both prominent events as well as more obscure ones. With questions covering everything from Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg address to the birth of Budweiser, this game is a blast no matter how much you know about history. The rules are simple: Each player must build their own timeline of cards. During your turn, another player will read an event from the deck of cards, and if you place it correctly in your existing timeline, you keep it. Whoever gets to 10 cards first wins. With 858 events in total, you're sure to get a lot of play out of this game.

What fans say: "A wonderfully simple game for novices and trivia buffs alike. There's no real strategy to this game and it doesn't require any real hardcore historical knowledge, either. Every game starts out easy because the dates between your first few cards are usually hundreds of years apart - this helps build faith, energy and confidence among anyone who hasn't played before. My girlfriend and I have played with random people and coworkers in breweries to almost universal acclaim."

4

The Best Game For TV And Movie Fans

Number of players: Two to four

What's great about it: This TV and movie trivia board game is the perfect way to see how much you know about a variety of titles from both the big and small screen. Featuring over 200 movies and shows that span several decades up to modern day, you'll be challenged to answer trivia questions and identify well-known logos. The game consists of 400 cards with 1,500 questions altogether, along with several other factors to keep the game interesting, like a "mute card" to silence an opponent or a "fast forward" card that lets you skip a question you don't know.

What fans say: "Fast, fun, easy to understand! My wife and I are big trivia fans and this game was incredibly simple to play with just two people. There is a wide variety of questions in different genres of movies and TV [so] it’s unlikely one player will have an advantage over another."

5

The Best Game For People Who Can't Get Off Their Smartphones

Number of players: Three or more

What's great about it: Compatible with any smartphone model and requiring no app downloads, this smartphone board game blends modern technology with the classic style of old-school board games. There are 1,200 trivia questions from six different categories (including movies, music, and history), so there's something here for everyone. The goal is to correctly answer questions the fastest in order to get to the center of the board, and you can rely on your own knowledge or search for the answer on your phone.

What fans say: "Love this game so much!! Great to play with teens and young adults as a whole family. Of course they beat us old folks on the questions that required speed on the phones, but we got them in the questions we knew without using our phones. Very well made and easy to play and a ton of fun!! Highly recommend it!!"

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