The questions and answers for Trivial Pursuit come on cards.
Trivial Pursuit Questions, and Answers
The question and answer cards are the real focus of Trivial Pursuit. The original edition of the game came with 6,000 Trivial Pursuit questions on 1,000 Trivial Pursuit cards. Different editions have different numbers of questions.
Trivial Pursuit Genus I Cards
This is the first edition of Trivial Pursuit. It is considered the second-toughest edition of Trivial Pursuit. The cards for this edition set the standard for all future editions of the game--vaguely rectangular in shape with a dark blue border. The answer side had the word "Genus" in script on the left side of the card with answers on the right, next to the color code and symbol for each category. The front had just the thin blue border and the six color and category code markers along with the questions on the right side.
Trivial Pursuit Genus II Cards
Not the easiest and not the hardest edition of the basic Trivial Pursuit game, Genus II also came with 6,000 questions on 1,000 Trivial Pursuit cards. The biggest difference with this edition's Trivial Pursuit cards is the look of the card. These cards had a yellow or cornsilk border instead of dark blue, though all the original categories and colors were intact. Genus II has the distinction of having the hardest "Entertainment" category of all editions of the game, probably thanks to a wider scope of Entertainment questions from earlier in the last few centuries.
Trivial Pursuit Genus III Cards
It took Parker Brothers, who then owned the Trivial Pursuit license, a decade to come up with a new set of Genus questions. Appearing in 1994, Genus III is considered the easiest Trivial Pursuit Genus Edition of all. This led to a big debate about whether or not Trivial Pursuit was getting "dumbed down" or not.
One strange feature of the third Genus Edition is that the Science & Nature questions got a lot tougher while all other categories eased up. More "hard science" questions were added, in areas like physics and genetics, and fewer generic "who invented ___" type questions. Genus III cards have a trademark black border. Genus II also shortened the number of questions to just 4,800 questions on 800 Trivial Pursuit question cards.
Trivial Pursuit Genus IV Cards
Genus IV is not considered quite as easy a set of questions as Genus III, but it's still the second-easiest Trivial Pursuit edition. Appearing just two years after the Genus III Edition, Genus IV was a response to the accusations that Trivial Pursuit is being "dumbed down."
Genus IV question and answer cards have a red and black border, further fueling the notion that Genus IV is really a correction of the poorly-reviewed Genus III.
Trivial Pursuit Genus V Cards
The most difficult Trivial Pursuit Genus Edition, Genus V is a tough set of 4,800 questions on 800 Trivial Pursuit cards. The toughest category in this set is Sports & Leisure, thanks to the inclusion of even more sports statistics questions. These cards have a light blue border. This version of the game appeared in 2001 and has yet to be topped in terms of overall difficulty.
Trivial Pursuit Genus VI Cards
Released in 2003 as Volume VI, (or Trivial Pursuit 6) this edition appears to be somewhere in the middle of the road in terms of difficulty. This set of 4,800 questions on 800 question and answer cards is about as difficult as Genus II, good for trivia buffs of all skill sets. This is the first set of Trivial Pursuit cards in which the History category is by far the toughest one, probably because it includes a ton of very contemporary history as well as older historical trivia.
The cards themselves look a lot different from previous Genus Editions, without the characteristic look of other typical Trivial Pursuit cards. Instead of a border, there's a "splash" of orange on the left side of the card, and the card itself is basically flat white.
Trivial Pursuit Silver Screen Edition Cards
Trivial Pursuit fanatics agree that this version is the most difficult. Trivia about movies is tough, because there's so much history and so many personalities to cover. The Silver Screen refers to the fact that most of these questions are about movies made before 1960, though a few titles and actors from the 80s make their way into the questions and answers.
There are 6,000 questions in this game, a nice change from Trivial Pursuit's habit of shortening the question and answer list with each new edition.
Archaic Questions - Trivial Pursuit Answers
Since the first edition of Trivial Pursuit in 1981, several of the original card's questions and answers have become obsolete or have changed. There's thirty years of history and changes in the culture and world events that affect the answers to lots of Trivial Pursuit's original Genus I questions. Here are some of our favorite archaic Trivia Pursuit questions along with their new answers.
Trivial Pursuits: Trivial Questions, Trivial Answers
"What four countries boast half the world's population?"
Original answer: China, India, the Soviet Union and U.S.
New answer: Just about half the world's population is in China
"Who's the NHL's all-time leading goal-scorer?"
Original answer: Gordie Howe
New answer: Wayne Gretsky
"What's the capital of Yugoslavia?"
Original answer: Belgrade
New answer: Yugoslavia doesn't exist anymore, but the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina is Sarajevo. Four other countries make up the area that was once called Yugoslavia.
More Online Trivial Pursuit Questions and Answers
"What country has the world's highest golf course?"
Original answer: Peru
New answer: Bolivia. The course in Peru that was once the world's highest has closed down since the Genus I Edition.
"What country forms all of Hungary's northern boarder?"
Original answer: Czechoslovakia
New answer: Slovakia
"Who was Bob Woodward's secret Watergate contact?"
Original answer: Deep Throat
New answer: William Mark Felt, Sr.
"What Russian city boasts the Hermitage Museum?"
Original answer: Leningrad
New answer: St. Petersburg
More Trivial Pursuit Questions Online--and Their Answers
"What is the largest airline in the world?"
Original answer: Aeroflot
New answer: American Airlines
"What are you if your IQ is below 25?"
Original answer: An idiot.
New answer: Severely mentally retarded.
What baseball player was walked the most times?
Original answer: Babe Ruth (2,042)
New answer: Barry Bonds (2,426)
Rumors of a new Trivial Pursuit Genus Edition, which would be Genus VII (or Volume VII, depending on which direction they go) are all over the fan pages and around the Trivial Pursuit games these days. The British edition of Trivial Pursuit is constantly banging out new Genus Editions, and they've even reverted back to the original 1981 category set. It's possible that Genus VII in America will follow suit, but for now, Hasbro isn't saying anything about new editions.
