Trivial Pursuit Invented

Cheese? Wedge? Wedge? Cheese? Where do you stand in the great Trivial Pursuit ‘what do you call those little bits of plastic you stick in the round thing’ debate? Two people who may be able to shed some light onto the whole thing are Chris Haney and Scott Abbott who created the game on this day in 1979. They came up with the whole idea while playing Scrabble and decided that they could do a bit better themselves.

Unfortunately their first versions of the game cost $75 to manufacture, which was a bit of a problem as they sold them for $15. Eventually they reduced their costs and went on a public relations blitz, which appeared to work as by 1984 they had sold a record 20 million games in the United States. Now, Trivial Pursuit is a household staple, being translated into 17 languages and sold all over the world, where it is the leading source of bitter, pointless arguments with family members.