de@moscom.UUCP (Dave Esan) (10/09/84)
R Interesting that you brought up trivial pursuit and its errors. I played the game a few times and besides finding certain questions not within my definition of trivia, and certainly not in the definition of the category, I found at least three errors that I could document. Yours makes a fifth (I discovered a fourth in an ad in Time magazine). The ones I've found are: 1.A baseball game is not over until? (I will not discuss the use of English in this question.) Do they want the real answer, the Yogi Berra answer, or the Casey Stengel answer? They chose "until the last out." This is not true since obviously a game can end when the home team scores the winning run in the bottom of the ninth or later, in a forfeit, or in a rain shortened game. 2. What planet did Mariner explore? Answer: Venus. Correct answer: Venus and Mars. 3. Which was the first country to legalize abortion? Answer: Iceland, 1933. Correct answer: USSR in 1917 (okay don't hit me, it was Russia at the time, and not the USSR until later). 4. And in Time, in an ad for the game they asked: D'Artangan (sp?) was the leader of which group? Answer: The Three Musketeers. Correct answer: If these guys had read the book they would know that Athos was the leader and that D'Artangan was a person attempting to join the group. In answer to your query, I do not believe that JFK had any last words, and that My God I've been shot, were said by John Connally in the same car. I can't prove this, and may be wrong. I would interested in other people could post to net.trivia any additional errors they find in trivial pursuit, or any of the dozens of look alikes that have surfaced. David Esan
mac@eisx.UUCP (James McParland) (10/11/84)
<bug buster> The authors of Trivial Pursuit have admitted to at least 15 errors in the original "Genus" edition of the game. Maybe that can become a trivia question in a new edition... Jim McParland ATT-IS (is that what we're called this week?) kitc!mac
wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin ) (10/12/84)
Would not the solution to these time-dependent trivia questions (where the answer has changed since the game was printed or devised, like who did the most "x" in baseball, or what bridge is longest) be to have the questions specify the date of writing? Thus, they become, "As of January, 1983, the longest suspension bridge in the world is:", and so on. Using this format can also add an element of difficult, if you desire: "As of January, 1937, the tallest building West of the Mississippi River is:" (hmmm... I just made that up off the top of my head. Would the correct answer be "The Empire State Building"? After all, if you go West far enough, you come 'round again. And that was built by then, I think...) Anyway, now all you have to do is get the Trivial Pursuit people to recall all their games on grounds of errancy, and reissue cards printed with all the caveats necessary. Class-action suit, anyone? Will
smann@ihu1g.UUCP (Sherry Mann) (10/15/84)
Trivial Pursuit errors:
Q. How many Pope John's have there been?
A. ~20 (not sure of their answer, but I know it was less
than 23 because I know that in the late 50's, early
sixties there was a Pope John XXIII - I named a puppy
after him (I was living in a rectory apartment at the
time and thought PJ-23 a clever name).fishkin@ucbvax.ARPA (Ken Fishkin) (10/15/84)
In article <5239@brl-tgr.ARPA> wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin ) writes: > >Using this format can also add an element of difficult, if you desire: >"As of January, 1937, the tallest building West of the Mississippi River is:" >(hmmm... I just made that up off the top of my head. Would the correct >answer be "The Empire State Building"? After all, if you go West far enough, >you come 'round again. And that was built by then, I think...) > >Will When I was in Minneapolis this summer, I was told that some building there (the IDS building?) was the tallest building west of the Miss. until recently. What is it now? The TransAmerica pyramid? -- Ken Fishkin Berkeley Computer Graphics Lab ucbvax!fishkin fishkin@berkeley
wetcw@pyuxa.UUCP (T C Wheeler) (10/16/84)
If you said the Empire State Building, you would still be wrong Ever hear of the 'Twin Towers' of the Trade Center?
wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin ) (10/19/84)
> If you said the Empire State Building, you would still be > wrong Ever hear of the 'Twin Towers' of the Trade Center? This is most strange. Did you READ the item? It was explicitly and repeatedly referring to citing conditions AS OF A CERTAIN DATE. The example given clearly began "As of January, 1937...". Read that again. "1937", see? I have no idea of the actual construction dates of the World Trade Center, but I thought it was in the 60's or thereabouts. The only purpose of the whole thing was to discuss the "As of [date]" concept. I would add more, but every phrase that comes to mind is pure "ad hominem" attack and would move this to net.flame... Good Grief!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!