Next Thursday, September 8, 2016, Star Trek turns 50. As you gear up for your own Star Trek parties, you still have time to pick up what we think is one of the best anniversary releases this year–and it’s been a big marketing year for Star Trek. Classic Trivial Pursuit meets up with your favorite sci-fi franchise in Trivial Pursuit: The Star Trek 50th Anniversary Edition.
We’ve been playing this one over the course of the summer. CBS Studios, Paramount and Hasbro have done a fine job putting together a game that any Trek fan will enjoy. Housed in a model of everyone’s favorite shuttlecraft, you can leave this on the shelf and have a pick-up game anytime.
Trivial Pursuit is, of course, all about the questions and the questions in this edition are loyal to all Star Trek television series and movies–except the J.J. Abrams universe, the newly-designated “Kelvin timeline” films. For some reason the gamers chose to include questions from Star Trek’s original series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Star Trek Voyager, and Enterprise and the first ten Star Trek movies, but no alternate timeline questions. Perhaps they didn’t want to confuse players with possible contradictory answers from these separate story paths? No matter, if you like one flavor of Star Trek you probably like more than one series. Ultimately, the more players you have, the more you can spread out the knowledge and share in the fun.
That goes for players of all ages. Some questions are very easy, but others may trip up even the savviest Trek fan, especially if you’re not an expert in all of the Trek incarnations. Or if you don’t shout out the series or film the question is referencing, as designated on the edge of each card. The variety on each card is random enough that you might have an easy question followed by a tough question, as was common with the classic Trivial Pursuit game. Questions are both in-universe, like “What article of interstellar law were Kirk and McCoy arrested under by General Chang?” and real-world, like “Who was the only actor to be in both Star Trek pilot episodes?”
So what all do you get?
Presumably to keep costs down, this edition does not include or require the classic “pie” game board. The game includes the shuttle house with hinged lid, the Trivial Pursuit six-sided die, and 1200 questions on 200 cards. Half the deck covers the original series and six films dedicated to the original Enterprise crew. So that’s 52 cards and 312 questions devoted to the original series–focusing the most attention on the series having its 50th anniversary– with 8 cards and 48 questions each from Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. The deck includes 34 cards and 204 questions from Star Trek: The Next Generation, 5 cards and 30 questions from Star Trek Generations, 5 cards and 30 questions each from Star Trek First Contact, Star Trek Insurrection, and Star Trek Nemesis, 20 cards and 180 questions from Deep Space Nine, 16 cards and 96 questions from Star Trek Voyager, and 10 cards and 60 questions from Enterprise.
It’s also an inexpensive game. Many websites and specialty game shops are offering Trivial Pursuit: The Star Trek 50th Anniversary Edition for nearly $60, but you can pick up a copy for only about $25 now here at Amazon, at its regular discount off list price rate. Once you run through all the cards, if you haven’t exhausted your need for trivia, check out the classic Scene It interactive DVD trivia game for Star Trek here, also at Amazon.
C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com
