Commodore User


Monster Trivia

Publisher: Cosmi
Machine: Commodore 64

 
Published in Commodore User #23

Monster Trivia

This - as the title hints - is an unlicensed version of the current fad board game Trivial Pursuit. The basic plot is that you enter a Professor's mansion and are taken down to his cellar, where the Trivia Monster awaits. If you know lots of incredibly useless facts about nothing of importance, then you might escape the monster's clutches. Prove dump and he has you for dinner.

So far, so good. What we have is an excuse to test our your general and specific knowledge - something everybody likes to do, that's why quiz shows are popular. But I'm not that easily satisfied.

First of all you have a choice of fifteen different sets of questions, which you select by loading the tape at a certain point on the tape counter. It took me several loads to get it right and proved pretty irritating. Never mind, I thought, Cosmi did the same thing on Super Huey, it doesn't really mar the game, plough on regardless.

There you are, sitting down in the cellar, sitting next to your partner (It's a game for 2-4 players) being fed questions before being fed to a monster. You have a choice of several options such as sports, showbiz, the arts and history and you have to type your answer into the machine. Now let me ask you a little question before we go any further. What do all US Gold games have in common? Easy one, they're all American, you reply. Correct, well done. Do you know what that means in respect to this game? No, don't bother, I'll tell you. The questions are for Americans. This doesn't really matter too much for the arts because they don't have much to speak of, but when it comes to sport, you're likely to find yourself struggling over baseball and American football questions. History dwells on wars of independence, battles with injuns and obscure treaties between States.

This is all inexcusable. US Gold have snapped up the game and bashed it out without bothering to reprogram some anglicised questions in place of all the Yankee trivia. Money for old ropes in other words. Save your dosh and do a crossword or, if you must, buy the board game.