We’ve seen some good variants on classic board games introduced over the years by Hasbro and USAopoly, especially in their Trivial Pursuit line. We’ve still enjoying last year’s Stranger Things Back to the 80s Trivial Pursuit, full of great trivia and a unique board that fits the theme of the Netflix television series. For the toymakers’ next tie-in, they are going dark. Ready for your Halloween party-at-home, theHorror Ultimate Edition Trivial Pursuit Game expands on an earlier 600-question card deck add-on (the Trivial Pursuit: Horror Movies Edition) with a creepy playing board, even creepier playing pieces, and 1,800 gore-filled and disturbing trivia question cards. And lots of blood spatter everywhere.
Our borgBest of 2019 list continues today with the Best Books of 2019. If you missed them, check out our review of the Best Movies of 2019 here, the Kick-Ass Heroines of 2019here, the Best in Television 2019here, and the Best Comics of 2019here.
We reviewed more than 100 books that we recommended to our readers this year, and some even made it onto our favorites shelf. We don’t print reviews of books that we read and don’t recommend, so this shortlist reflects only this year’s cream of the crop.
So let’s get going. Here are our selections for this year:
Best Read, Best Fantasy Read, Best New Edition of Previous Published Work, Best Translated Work – A Hero Born: Legends of the Condor Heroes 1by Jin Yong, translated by Anna Holmwood (St. Martin’s Press). The first book in one of the most read books of all time finally makes its way to the U.S. after its premiere in Great Britain. Readers will learn why George Lucas pulled its concepts for his Skywalker saga, and why generations of Chinese fans of fantasy of flocked to its heroes and villains. Honorable mention for Best Fantasy Read: A Labyrinth of Scions and Sorcery by Curtis Craddock (Tor Books), The Dark Lord Clementine by Sarah Jean Horwitz (Algonquin Young Readers).
Best New Novel, Best Horror Novel, Best Historical Novel, Best Mystery Novel – The Cthulhu Casebooks: Sherlock Holmes and the Sussex Sea-Devils by James Lovegrove (Titan Books). A truly literary work combining a smart Holmesian adventure and the dark mind of H.P. Lovecraft. Readers will love Lovegrove’s approach, Holmes and Watson’s journey, and all the creepy surprises.
Best Sci-Fi Novel, Best Thriller – The Andromeda Evolutionby Daniel H. Wilson (HarperCollins). Wilson successfully conjured the spirit of Michael Crichton for this smart, creepy, and oddly current sci-fi sequel to The Andromeda Strain. A cast of characters just like Crichton would have put together, and a must-read.
Best Franchise Tie-In Novel – Firefly: Magnificent Nine by James Lovegrove (Titan Books). One of the best authors around crafts a worthy story to expand the Firefly canon and give fans their own new movie of sorts for the franchise. Runner-up: Alien: Prototype by Tim Waggoner (Titan Books). Honorable Mention: Death of the Planet of the Apes by Andrew E.C. Gaska (Titan Books).
Best Retro Read – Mike Hammer: Murder, My Love, by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins (Titan Books). Collins continues to bring Spillane’s characters to life with thrilling prose and all the best pieces of noir drama and action. Honorable mention: Brothers Keepers by Donald E. Westlake (Hard Case Crime).
Best Genre Non-Fiction – Industrial Light & Magic Presents: Making of Solo: A Star Wars Storyby Rob Bredow (Harry N. Abrams). Bredow’s unique access to the production made for a rare opportunity in any production to see details of the filmmaking process. Every movie should have such a great deep dive behind the scenes. Honorable mention: The Making of Alien by J.W. Rinzler (Titan Books).
There’s much more of our selections for 2019’s Best in Print to go…
If there is a bigger Trivial Pursuitfan I don’t know who it is. Whether it was the classic 1981 Genus Edition, the 1983 Silver Screen edition, the 1984 Genus II edition, the 1989 1980s edition, the 1992 10th Anniversary Edition, the 1994 Genus III, the 1996 Genus IV, or 1998 Millennium Edition, or the dozens of tie-ins and card deck supplements since, you can pretty much count me in anytime. But the latest may be the most fun yet. Adding to the Stranger Things season three Hasbro Gaming tie-ins Dungeons & Dragons, Monopoly, Ouija board, Screen Test, and an Eggo card game is an all-new throwback 1980s version of Trivial Pursuit. I thought I was a Trivial Pursuit purist, but the new Stranger Things Back to the ’80s Trivial Pursuit convinced me that the classic game had some problems and they’ve now been fixed.
The questions come from movies, TV, music, people, events, technology, fashion, sports, and more, and that classic orange sports/wild card category is now questions about your knowledge of the Stranger Thingsuniverse. Don’t worry, that last category will be easy to dodge for anyone at the game table not familiar with the series, but new rules and gameplay also make it possible to give anyone a leg up toward an ultimate win. “Roll again” spaces are gone, meaning there’s more time answering questions and less time rolling multiple times per turn. You still need six wedges to win, but you no longer need a pie wedge from each category, so the game time is shorter. If you aren’t a pro in any given category, you’re also no longer hamstringed into riding out a losing game because of the new “walkie talkie a friend” feature. As with the Who Wants to be a Millionaire gameshow concept, so long as you’re not playing in Upside Down mode, you can enlist a helper, and if you win, share the spoils with a pie wedge for both players.
The Upside Down is an easy, clever board add-on that allows the entire board to be switched from real world mode to the dark Upside Down the series is famous for. When you’re in the Upside Down you can lose pie wedges by answering incorrectly, and you can’t ask a friend for help. It fits the Stranger Things story, and it further helps level the playing field among a diverse group of players.
Hasbro has big plans for New York Toy Fair 2019 this weekend, and already has released marketing information for two new Stranger Thingstie-in games with a retro theme. Trivial Pursuit fans who’ve been waiting for some new trivia questions will get their wish and more in an updated version of the popular 1980s board game. And the in-universe Dungeons & Dragons references from the kids in Stranger Things will spill into the real world with a tie-in edition to reel in new roleplay gamers. Both of these are now available for pre-order for the first time at online pop culture collectible store Entertainment Earth.
Up first is the Stranger Things Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Starter Set from Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast. New as well as seasoned D&D players can experience the D&D adventure Stranger Things character Mike Wheeler created for his friends in the series. Will you be Will the Wise or Dustin the Dwarf? The set includes a Stranger Things Adventure book, Rulebook, five Stranger Things character sheets, six dice, a painted Demogorgon figure, and a paintable Demogorgon figure (and take a look at the nicely distressed box design). Find out more and pre-order the game for only $24.99 now here at Entertainment Earth.
It doesn’t matter how many editions you already own of Trivial Pursuit (the original, the 1980s, the 1990s, the Millennium edition, etc.), this new version is unlike any other edition of the game. The Stranger Things Back to the 80s Trivial Pursuit Game features 1,500 trivia questions from six categories: Movies, TV, Music, Famous People and Events, Trends, Tech and Fun, and a new one: Stranger Things. The familiar board game also includes Portal Spaces–land on one of these and you have to flip a section of the board over and send all players to the Upside Down, where wedges can be lost. As always, the first player to collect six wedges wins. At a pre-order price of $19.99here at Entertainment Earth, this game is hard to beat.
Here are several images of the games, courtesy of the first distributor marketing the games, Entertainment Earth:
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?”
