Posted in Reviews of other products
Triviathon
By the creators of the #1 SuperBowl Commercial of 2009 “Free Doritos!” Website: http://www.triviathon.com/
About the Game The trivia game where you can compete and win without ever knowing the answer to a question! Triviathon will have players singing, dancing, arm wrestling, cheering, cheating, and more as they compete in a game that puts each player's unique cognitive, physical, and social skills to the test, all while trying to win a race moving at speeds of 0, 1, 2, or 3 spaces based on trivia questions they don't even have to know the answers to - Just answer A,B,C, or D!
Who are the creators of the #1 SuperBowl Commercial of 2009 “Free Doritos!”? Joe and Dave Herbert - The Herbert Brothers made headlines in 2009 when their Super Bowl commercial for Doritos took the #1 spot on the USA Today Ad Meter - just two weeks before the public launch of Triviathon at the Toy Fair in New York City. It was the first time Budweiser did not take the top spot in 10 years, and the feat earned the Herbert Brothers $1,000,0000. Watch the FREE DORITOS! Super Bowl Ad
Our Thoughts Usually, this section is called My Thoughts but since I’ve played the game with my husband I decided to renamed this Our Thoughts for my Triviathon review. First, let me tell you that I have never heard of Triviathon until I joined the group about Cranium on Facebook. Someone has posted that even though they loved Cranium they thought that Triviathon was the best game ever. My curiosity was picked.
What was Triviathon? I had never heard of it and mind you never saw the box anywhere. Honestly, I don’t hang out in stores often and this specific game had not come in any advertisement in my city so far. Could it be because I live in Canada? Maybe. So I decided to contact VP of Sales at Jeezle Pete’s to see if I could review the game. They agreed to do so and also tell me that the game was not specific to Canada at this point. They are so popular that they have been approached by a manufacturer for distribution in my country. L
ast night, I was able to convince my husband to play a game with me. He is not into trivia much because he finds it hard to remember tons of information about specific things. He is definitively NOT a trivia game kind of person (except for the Disney ones…). So Trivia Pursuit is not played often in this household… So when I asked him to play with me so I can review Triviathon, there was a tiny bit of hesitation then he said sure . So we set up the game, made some popcorn, choose our characters and started the game. We had fun. We laughed. I even had to go outside to well “Triviathon is the best game ever!” – yes I did, laughing and all… Fortunately it’s November and not a lot of people are outside in their backyard! ROTFL I wish that one of us would have had to call a friend for help but we didn’t end up on that spot. Maybe next time.
We had a blast and my husband REALLY enjoyed it. He comments are “For once I enjoy a trivia game because I really don’t need to know the answer. The best part is that I am learning at the same time when I learned the results of my choice.” *grin* I’m so glad that he love this game. I give the two-thumbs up to Triviathon just because of that!
To play it is quite easy. Once you have set up the board and choose your special character, you have to start the game. Even the instructions coming with the game are hilarious. The creators are very creative. Your job as a player is to answer the questions (or pick the options that will permit you to advance fast on the board) so that you can win. You can either pick the number of spaces to advance or pick the color on which you want to go. Then you have a series of options A-B-C-D and there is questions on them, you pick one of the options and you will learn how many spaces to advance or which color to go to.
Here’s an example.
To what colored space do you want to move?
A. The color of the dress Peebles Flintstone usually wore.
B. The color celebrated by Protestants in Northern Ireland on July 12th.
C. The color of the lowest valued balls in a game of snooker.
D. The color of the star that appears on the Vietnam flag.
When you have picked your choice, you learn to which color you go. It’s that easy. And it is fun… To add to the pleasure of playing this game, your character has a special task to do during the game. My husband had taken the blue character which was the bully and anytime during the game he could challenge the other players to an arm wrestling match. Did you think I had a chance? None whatsoever, so I lost my turn and he add an extra space to his next move.
Oh and another bonus for you – you can create new characters definition on their website. You can even try to game yourself on the website before buying it. Try it out! You will be amazed by how easy it is to play this game. The game has already multiple awards under its belt since the release in February 2009 - Game of the Year! From Creative Child Magazine, PTPA Winner, iParenting Winner, TNPC Seal of Approval, Nappa Honors from National Parenting Publications, 100 Best Children’s Products! By Dr. Toy, Top 100 Games! by Games Magazine. And I have the feeling that it’s not over - more awards will be coming for this game.
My only concern would be the fact that there is no cover on the box of questions to protect the cards if you bring the game somewhere else. It would be something to consider. My suggestions to the creators are these:
1) Created more questions and offer them as add-on boxes
2) Develop a Canadian version of the game in a near future. *grin*
