Don't answer in the form of a question.
September 2, 2022 12:16 PM Subscribe
My partner has asked for one thing for their birthday: Trivia! Difficulty: They're *really* good at it.
At least they are much better at trivia than we are, and we like to think we're no slouch.
They are smart, know a little about everything, and remember it all. When we play Trivia Pursuit we handicap them an entire pie and they still sometimes beat us. They won local pub trivia so often they're only allowed to be an honorary player from now on. They would be a good contestant for Only Connect if they lived in the right country and found a couple of teammates.
I'm looking for your recommendations for trivia games (physical, digital, interactive, game shows, podcasts, etc) that are difficult and/or require lateral thinking. They can be competitive or cooperative. Ideally not playing with internet strangers and ideally without a lot of time pressure.
At least they are much better at trivia than we are, and we like to think we're no slouch.
They are smart, know a little about everything, and remember it all. When we play Trivia Pursuit we handicap them an entire pie and they still sometimes beat us. They won local pub trivia so often they're only allowed to be an honorary player from now on. They would be a good contestant for Only Connect if they lived in the right country and found a couple of teammates.
I'm looking for your recommendations for trivia games (physical, digital, interactive, game shows, podcasts, etc) that are difficult and/or require lateral thinking. They can be competitive or cooperative. Ideally not playing with internet strangers and ideally without a lot of time pressure.
I do not really know how to link a podcast, but Yogesh Raut has a podcast called Recreational Thinking in which very good trivia players talk through a set of quite difficult trivia questions that your partner might enjoy.
There are a lot of Trivia substacks out there, as well. A couple that I found entertaining but quite difficult, so are probably in the vein of what they might be interested in:
Yu Oughta Know (international, current events focused)
Trivia Factorial (more general knowledge, kinda puzzle-ey)
posted by jacquilynne at 12:43 PM on September 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
There are a lot of Trivia substacks out there, as well. A couple that I found entertaining but quite difficult, so are probably in the vein of what they might be interested in:
Yu Oughta Know (international, current events focused)
Trivia Factorial (more general knowledge, kinda puzzle-ey)
posted by jacquilynne at 12:43 PM on September 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
The recent MIT Mystery Hunt puzzles? I bet some of those are trivia-y.
posted by brainwane at 12:47 PM on September 2, 2022
posted by brainwane at 12:47 PM on September 2, 2022
Jackbox Games are great for this!
Specifically, Trivia Murder Party and its sequel (which, oddly, isn't on that Jackbox page).
posted by hanov3r at 1:20 PM on September 2, 2022
Specifically, Trivia Murder Party and its sequel (which, oddly, isn't on that Jackbox page).
posted by hanov3r at 1:20 PM on September 2, 2022
LearnedLeague subscription? I’m not currently active so I don’t think I can refer, but I know it’s popular with MeFites so I bet someone can help you out. My wife refers to it as “Trivia Hell,” so it’s probably up your partner’s alley.
posted by Alterscape at 1:22 PM on September 2, 2022 [13 favorites]
posted by Alterscape at 1:22 PM on September 2, 2022 [13 favorites]
Jackbox Games, in my opinion, would be too easy for a triva expert. I'm pretty good at trivia, and play the games pretty much every week in a group. Trivia Murder Party has very few questions that are not guessed by most of my friends during play.
They are fun though, especially if you aren't a know-it-all.
posted by blob at 1:26 PM on September 2, 2022 [7 favorites]
They are fun though, especially if you aren't a know-it-all.
posted by blob at 1:26 PM on September 2, 2022 [7 favorites]
LearnedLeague is a good suggestion! It is "internet strangers" in a sense but you have to use your real name and it's invite-only so it's not quite anonymous randos, and there's no time pressure component. Here's an article about it. Send me a mefi mail if you're interested - the only caveat is that there's currently a wait list, and they only add new people four times a year, so it might not be great if you need a birthday present to be usable immediately.
posted by theodolite at 1:39 PM on September 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by theodolite at 1:39 PM on September 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
Triple Decker Trivia. It's so hard I could only do it in groups. Flying solo was impossible. The author is fiendishly good at trivia (crossword puzzle maker and Jeopardy contestant, as well as, full disclosure, a friend!)
posted by spamandkimchi at 3:32 PM on September 2, 2022
posted by spamandkimchi at 3:32 PM on September 2, 2022
There's always those crazy trivia questions from some ?university? that come out once a year? I can't search and link, but they are on the blue every time they come out. I think it's like a crossword in terms of how vague the clues can be, but open answers, not by letter count.
posted by Snowishberlin at 3:34 PM on September 2, 2022
posted by Snowishberlin at 3:34 PM on September 2, 2022
The answer to your question is The Inkling. It is a very well-designed pencil and paper trivia contest which is fun to look at and fun to do. The woman who does it does some of the design work for Learned League (which is also a good idea, and Yogesh Raut is a member). Also my favorite trivia podcast, No Such Thing As A Fish just started having a Patreon where you can support them and get bonus content. They have some fun merch. It's not hard trivia per se but it is always interesting and entertaining.
posted by jessamyn at 3:41 PM on September 2, 2022
posted by jessamyn at 3:41 PM on September 2, 2022
There's always those crazy trivia questions from some ?university? that come out once a year?
You are possibly thinking of the King William’s College General Knowledge Paper.
posted by zamboni at 8:11 PM on September 2, 2022
You are possibly thinking of the King William’s College General Knowledge Paper.
posted by zamboni at 8:11 PM on September 2, 2022
There’s a couple British game shows on TV that come to mind. They’re extra hard for us North America folk because they're full of British politics and pop culture we’re not exposed to on this side of the pond. Watch enough and you’ll learn though! The Chase and Richard Osman's House of Games are the two I can think off offhand. In general I think the British are much better at quiz shows than we are, but that might be my “dumb” Canadian brain speaking. (That said there definitely are some really dumb ones too on British Tv, they are definitely not immune!)
posted by cgg at 8:42 PM on September 2, 2022
posted by cgg at 8:42 PM on September 2, 2022
The classic British TV quizzes that are super difficult are University Challenge (v hard general knowledge), Only Connect (lateral thinking + hard general knowledge) and Mastermind (hard general knowledge + specialist subject knowledge of choice). There are quiz books for all of them. I don't have them, but the Mastermind and University Challenge quiz books have questions from the archives, and the Only Connect book is written by Jack Waley-Cohen (the OC question setter). So, I suspect the books are reflective of the difficulty of the quizzes.
House of Games, the Chase, and Pointless are other very popular British TV quizzes that can be quite difficult. I'm British and good at trivia but not at your partner's level of quizzing, I find them straightforward. House of Games in particular requires a good knowledge of British pop culture because its creator is British and loves low brow culture, if your partner is not interested in that then I wouldn't recommend.
posted by plonkee at 3:57 AM on September 3, 2022
House of Games, the Chase, and Pointless are other very popular British TV quizzes that can be quite difficult. I'm British and good at trivia but not at your partner's level of quizzing, I find them straightforward. House of Games in particular requires a good knowledge of British pop culture because its creator is British and loves low brow culture, if your partner is not interested in that then I wouldn't recommend.
posted by plonkee at 3:57 AM on September 3, 2022
University Challenge sounds perfect for them, and there are hundreds of episodes on YouTube for them to immerse themselves in. Enthusiastically recommend!
posted by CheeseLouise at 7:47 AM on September 3, 2022
posted by CheeseLouise at 7:47 AM on September 3, 2022
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by capricorn at 12:17 PM on September 2, 2022 [1 favorite]