The Trivial Pursuit Trivia Edition | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

welcome to stuff you should know a. production of iHeart. [Music]. Radio hey and welcome to the podcast I'm. Josh Clark and there's Charles W Chuck. Bryant and Jerry's here too we're just. rolling the dice and moving the. pies I call them pies too yeah because I. mean it was like a a pie piece yeah I. can't think of anything else you would. call them I think some people call them.

wedges but they're clearly sickos yeah. oh I think they're officially. wedges well I've seen the guys who. invented the game so yeah did you watch. that video yeah oh boy we should. probably tell everybody what we're. talking about first this is stuff you. should know second we're talking about. Trivial Pursuit uh arguably one of the. greatest board games ever created and. we're not just saying that cuz stuff you. should know has its own Trivial Pursuit. Edition it's because it legitimately is. such a great game yeah uh I played this.

game a lot when I was a kid uh it was a. family favorite my mom really really. loved it uh we were often a team. together my mom and I so it's kind of. one of my good childhood memories with. her I'll bet yeah looking at the um. board and all like pictures of the board. and some of the question cards and all. that like I was just overwhelmed with. Nostalgia because it was a huge thing in. my family too playing Trivial Pursuit. Boomer City baby I love that game yeah. for sure as it turns out.

for sure and what's funny is it. indoctrinated us into everything that. Boomers like like it was a really like. huge cultural transfer from one. generation to the other in that way yeah. I mean I was a 12-year-old who learned. about gunm smoke and Richard Nixon. through playing Trivial Pursuit y yeah. and speo agu from Mad Magazine oh yeah. um so we should probably start at the. start and that actually goes long before. um Trivial Pursuit was created.

um but not as far back as you would. think like in the United States we did a. live episode on game shows that was. really cool and we talked about this. some but back as far back to the 30s on. the radio and then later on TV quiz. shows were like all the rage and. America's had like um Fascinations with. trivia and then got bored with it and. then came and found it again and then. got bored with it and um back in the 30s. that was a one of the Peaks where. everybody was super into it yeah yeah um.

quiz shows were for sure big uh I think. you know Livia helped us with this and I. always kind of wondered about the word. trivial because I thought that was a. pretty genius and we'll get to the name. change because initially this was called. trivia Pursuit and a lot of people. called it trivia Pursuit but the the. change to. trivial uh I don't know that was just. something that made it a little cheeky. maybe yeah because you're not just. talking about trivia you're also poking. fun at your own game like like you're.

putting all this effort into something. that doesn't really matter in the end. yeah I guess so but I thought it. mattered I when I was a kid I was now. that I'm adult I'm like trivia Pursuits. kind of a fun name when I was a kid I. was like this is not trivia these are. facts and figures right was weird oh I. took it seriously too for sure I love. Trivial Pursuit too but it was. definitely in the vein of the people who. invented this thing to kind of poke fun. at themselves and even at you the player. for playing it yeah for sure uh so Pub. quizzes were uh big in England before.

they were a big deal in the United. States where we call it just B Trivia I. guess uh but they kind of hit it big. earlier on so the world of trivia was. gaining steam through the. 1960s uh I think there was a Columbia. student named Edwin goodold who I think. he wrote a book. right he and another guy named Dan. carlinsky wrote a book simply called. trivia but he's credited as one of like. the early.

people to spread the whole concept of. being quizzed about inconsequential. usually pop culture questions to just. show like how much you knew about your. childhood and that Edwin goodold think. two things about him he went on to. become the manager of shaana Na really. yeah oh wow uh and he wrote in Columbia. University's um I guess their newspaper. he was one of their writers he wrote. that this is um that these trivia games. that are like the hot new thing on.

campus are played by young adults who on. the one hand realize they have misspent. their youth yet on the other hand do not. want to let go of it and that was the. whole idea it was about all the stuff. that you learned in your childhood from. Reading Superman comic books and. listening to like gangster um or seeing. like gangster TV shows um just from. being a kid that's what the whole thing. was based on and that kind of became a. tradition too that it was largely stuff. in the past a lot of it was popcorn. culture yeah exactly and that was the.

mid-60s uh the mid '70s is when the pub. quizzes really took off in England that. didn't start in the US till really after. Trivial Pursuit uh there was a time even. where the TV show Jeopardy was not on. the air because like you said there was. just a a waxing and waning on interest. in trivia but Jeopardy came back in '. 84 uh and all of a sudden you know. trivia started to be important in the. United States again yeah and I didn't. see it anywhere but I would put some.

serious money on the idea that Trivial. Pursuit success revived Jeopardy yeah I. bet it did cuz it was a huge huge deal. as we'll see yeah for sure but the the. whole thing starts all the way back in. 1979 in December of 1979 appropriately. because um Trivial Pursuit and Christmas. for its first few years of being out. were synonymous with one another. essentially maybe synonymous isn't the. right word but they were it was a big. deal around Christmas time when it first. came out about that yeah and this is our.

pick uh we kind of had a hard time. deciding this year but or actually not. really it was a tossup but uh we always. do like a Christmas you know legendary. Christmas gifts in pop culture history. kind of episode and uh this year we went. with tribo Pursuit because it was a big. you know they as you'll see you know. rolling out a board game in October and. November is a pretty smart move for sure. um and these two guys they were two. Canadians I I read an article about them. that was contemporary to them uh in the.

Toronto Star it said that they come off. like the two original hosers yeah like. even bigger hosers than Bob and Doug. McKenzie is what they were saying yeah. they were a couple of hockey dudes Just. Hockey beer drinking Canadian good. oldfashioned Canadian hockey playing or. at least hockey watching I bet they. played too they all played yeah I think. they definitely did they certainly. covered it one of them Scott Abbott was. a sports reporter for the Canadian press. who I think his Focus was on hockey the. other guy was Chris Haney he was a photo.

editor at the Montreal Gazette so these. are a couple of late 70s early 80s. journalist dudes who wear mustaches and. drink beer during their their interviews. on the news smoke like yeah and smoke. during them too like this was these were. the guys who invented Trivial Pursuit. yeah Haney was a high school dropout uh. Abbott did have a master's degree in. journalism from uh University of. Tennessee uh and he was living with. Haney and his wife Sarah uh in their.

apartment in Montreal at the time and as. the legend goes they're hanging out one. day it was kind of rainy they were like. hey let's play some Scrabble they. realized they didn't have some Scrabble. uh and then I saw a couple of different. versions kind of ins inconsequential. like whether or not he just dropped. everything and went out and bought a. Scrabble or whether just on his next. shopping trip he did but Haney would buy. a Scrabble game bring it back to play. and was like you know what I bought like. six of these things over the years cuz I. just keep losing him or leav him behind.

or loaning him out or something and like. what a racket like we should get into. the gaming business yeah that's how it. was born they just realized how how many. times he bought a Scrabble game and and. they were like we we could do that we. should say yeah these guys that was the. kind of thing that they would talk about. doing is making a game because they. realize that you could that other people. have made money off of it yeah um up to. this point their big claim to fame in. their Circle was having uh carried out a.

um pyramid scheme with a chain letter. that was actually successful in that. they made money off of it and they never. got caught for it either so up to this. so these were that was these this kind. of these kind of guys right and this. particular idea though kind of started. to take shape really really quickly um I. think it was Chris abber Scott Abbott. who was like well how about something. with trivia and remember at the time. like trivia was not a hot item and also.

as we'll see board games were not a hot. item so the these were like two bad. ideas that these guys decided to put. together and accidentally became a. success or not accidentally it ended up. becoming a success but it was like they. figured it out really quickly didn't. they some might say suspiciously quickly. uh and we'll get to that later but uh as. their Story Goes uh in about 45 minutes. time and they're really specific about. that I never saw anywhere an hour they. always said 45 minutes uhhuh uh they got. you know the game together they got some.

construction paper they started. sketching things out um they based the. the design of the circular board on a. ship's wheel with six spokes uh that. corresponded to categories of geography. Entertainment Sports and Leisure science. and nature arts and literature and. history and you would roll the die you. would move in any direction you wanted. it as long as it's only one direction MH. you get you get this little circular uh. pie crust.

with six available pie slots right not. wedges uh not wedges and the idea is you. go around and you answer questions in. the corresponding categories and when. you uh answer them on the center of each. spoke or I guess the landing point of. each spoke you would get to put in a pie. piece once you have all those pie pieces. in you roll your way to the center must. have an exact roll and then the other. teams decide which category of question. they want to randomly ask you. uh and if you miss if you make it you.

win the game if you miss it you got to. roll back out and then answer questions. eventually roll back in yes well put um. I am not one for boasting typically but. I will say that I once confirmed one a. game doing all the things you just said. in 20. minutes wow by yourself no no no not by. myself I was playing a dude at work at. the the liquor store I was I mean were. you on a team by yourself no no oh no.

just me okay that's what I was asking. not not literally playing. byself boy Josh I need oh never mind I. mean I guess if you were really honest. you could play by yourself you know yeah. you could sit around and read cards I. did that for a little while that's not. honest I'm saying you could roll you. could move you could ask yourself. questions answer them and if you got it. wrong yeah just could in different. voices no good try Chuck right great you. kind of ruined my 20-minute anecdote. frankly. uh no I want to dwell back on that.

because 20 minutes I mean I played a lot. of Trivial Pursuit and I don't feel like. we ever got through a game in less than. that standard 45 minutes it took to. invent it yeah yeah it took a it took a. it could take a while especially if like. had a lot of people who yeah didn't. didn't know trivia but yeah it would. usually take yeah 45 minutes an hour. depending on how fast every everybody. was moving usually it took longer. because the whole point was almost every.

question and answer would like generate. a a quick conversation or usually short. conversation longer yeah exactly most of. the times it was Boomer parents like. waxing philosophic about how great their. stuff was right exactly to that too but. that was the point and that's one of the. reasons it became so popular is like it. was really easy to have a party centered. on Trivial Pursuit yeah so uh I don't. think we mentioned you could you could. have teams I did sort of allude to that. but you could have. uh I mean you could probably have as.

many people as you want on a team but I. think they suggested Max of four uh. meaning a Max of 24 players and anything. more than that would get all unwieldy. but I feel like we were in my family. wasn't big it was usually we were in. pairs yeah that was typically how it was. done so you could argue and be mad at. one another when the other one insisted. on the wrong answer yeah and as a kid I. do also remember um all of my family. trying to NAB me cuz I was the only one. who really knew much about.

sports yeah that was always my weak one. too and that was always the one that. would get picked for me if I ever made. it to the middle what was your category. like if you could pick your own final. category what would it be uh it was. usually history or entertainment yeah. like I would say his I would say sports. and Leisure entertainment for me yeah. definitely not geography still G yeah my. worst was definitely Sports and Leisure. and I would yeah geography was probably. second that's because they didn't have. maths. right only in the British version so I.

mentioned the name change that was. Sarah um who was uh Haney's wife Chris. Haney's wife Sarah is the one that said. no change it to trivial instead of. trivia I think it was a pretty great. switch and I think that's a pretty good. intro oh okay well if that's the end of. the intro then Chuck I think we have to. put an ad break in here yeah let's move. along to act two right after this.

[Music]. so Haney and Abbott like they were like. we're going to do this and They Came. Upon a great idea that they would visit.

a um a toy industry convention like the. big one in Canada I think it was the. Canadian toy manufacturers trade show. can't remember it's called I looked it. up I couldn't find anything on it but. they went remember they were um. journalists so they went as reporters as. if they were on an assignment to do a. story on the toy industry specifically. the board game industry so they use that. cover to pick the brains of a bunch of. people who were in the board game.

industry and one of the well they found. out a couple of things very quickly they. found out that the board game industry. was in a slump they also found out that. is a very very closed industry where if. you're a newcomer with an idea just hit. the bricks like they're not going to. listen to you that's not how the board. game industry works and they figured. this out so they decided that from going. to this conference they were going to. have to do this themselves if they. wanted to get this this game out there. they were going to have to they couldn't. just sell the idea they had to make the.

game first and that's what they said. about doing yeah they were like we're we. did a pyramid scheme we're good at. selling things that don't exist so right. uh they enlisted a little bit of help. they got Chris's brother John Haney on. the team and then a guy named ed Warner. who was a friend uh who's a corporate. attorney and they formed the horn Abbott. company uh Haney's nickname was the horn. and Abbott in this case with one te was. just a variation on Abbott's twoed name. and they started selling Equity to raise. a little money through friends and.

family so they they sold 40 shares at. $1,000 each uh to 32 friends and family. members and boy you want to talk about. an investment that paid off for sure wow. can you imagine it be like one of the. early like Apple stock or Google stock. right people you know very similar to. that not quite as lucrative but still. pretty pretty well the people who bought. several shares each were set for life. basically after the game hit oh yeah but.

at the time um Chris Haney told his mom. she shouldn't invest yeah and this is. his idea his business venture that's how. much he believed in it I guess but um. there's a guy named Michael worin and so. this iconic really elegant um design for. the package the board itself cards all. that stuff it was Michael wand's work he. was 18 at the time that's just amazing. and he didn't get a dime up front for it.

he he did this work for five shares of. stock in the company of equity and yeah. it was very smart as we'll see yeah so. they managed to raise 40 Grand uh they. got a $75,000 line of credit from a bank. and that was enough dough to start. getting this game together in Earnest uh. the one thing they didn't have they had. design they had it kind of all ready to. go they needed 6,000 questions uh and so. I assume with some of that um uh what is.

that like close to 120 Grand MH um they. went to Spain in 1981 and they said. we're going to go drink beer on the. beach and write questions we're going to. pack a bunch of you know dictionaries. and uh and encyclopedias and and. reference uh books and newspapers and. we're going to go out there we're going. to write it for the American audience uh. some of this stuff's going to be pretty. obscure stuff some is going to be you. know some are were going to be a little. easier they wanted to kind of give it a.

little bit of variety mhm and finally in. November 81 uh registered Trivial. Pursuit as a trademark and then launched. the genus not Genius Edition mhm uh that. same month is when that came out yeah we. should explain because I've never. understood it until I started. researching this it's called genus. because genus um you know like in. taxonomy genus is above species so. there's a bunch of different um. variations of this thing another another.

way to interpret another definition of. it it's General it's not specific and so. the questions in here were not they were. very general yeah you didn't have to be. like a specialist in anything to play. Trivial Pursuit and if you were you're. kind of handicapped because there was a. bunch of other questions that had. nothing to do with your specialist or. special yeah. specialist specialism what is the word. I'm looking. specialty there you go. I piure someone behind you with a giant.

y like dancing up and down I think. there's somebody behind me with a hammer. oh no no no no uh so Toy Fair people. were not too interested uh at first at. least um they got passed on from The. Bigs uh Parker Brothers and Milton. Bradley at the time saying this is a. really expensive game to produce and uh. I mean that's something we learned a lot. about and doing the stuff you should. know version is like cost of production. is obviously a big deal I just never we. were like you know what if those pieces.

were like copper or something and they. were like uh no they're going to be. Punch Out cardboard but you guys you. guys are sweet yeah we were like well. what about plastic they're like keep. guessing yeah you know Monopoly has all. those solid lead PE figurines they're. like no no no no no they give you brain. damage if you play too much uh not to. knock our our our the team we worked. with because they were great and the. game turned out great it's just it's. just how you make a game to make money. yeah we've said it before and we'll say. it again like they were the greatest.

bunch of people that I've ever worked. with as a group like as a group they. were as good as it comes it was amazing. yeah it was pro top to bottom enthusiasm. just a sheer pleasure yeah all right so. enough of that kissing up um they got uh. about 1100 games made uh sold them to. Local retailers Regional Canadian. retailers basically oh yeah uh right. before Christmas and then this uh. distrib comp of games uh cheaped in.

products very smartly were like hey. we'll put this thing together my. daughter uh supposedly the vice. president's daughter really really loved. the game when she went away for a. weekend and played it a lot and he's and. it ended up being a great decision for. them as well yeah hugely consequential. and this was Christmas 1981 so this is. the first Christmas that that Trivial. Pursuit comes out and makes a big splash. because they sold out of those 1100. games so quickly that um by the time the.

end of the by the time the next. Christmas rolled around they'd already. sold 100,000 copies in Canada and that's. a lot uh and it turns out it's even more. than you think it is because at the time. a board game to be a bestseller sold. about 10,000 copies so this little this. little independent yeah a very. independent game created by a couple of. Outsiders sold 10 times more than you. would expect it to to sell as a. bestseller in this first year yeah it.

was incredible they were making. everything in Canada uh Canada at the. time except for the dice um 3500 games a. day but they still couldn't keep up with. the pace um in 1983 finally a US company. called uh celo and RoR I guess or Ryder. Ryder yeah Ryder um they licensed that. game they had real marketing money. finally um they sold 1 .3 million games. in.

1983 uh with that company and one thing. we haven't mentioned is this game was. about double the cost of what a board. game was at the time uh 25 to 40 bucks. depending on where you went that's up to. $90 today and oh I saw 125 today oh. really yeah I put $40 in for 1983 in. West Egg and it said 125 it told me 90. oh God all of our. calculations are now in question oh God.

must this the worst thing that's ever. happened us our beloved West Egg well. either way let's settle at 110 okay. great perfect but either way that was uh. about double the cost of a board game so. it was no small thing to plunk down that. kind of money on this big heavy Vol. voluminous voluminous game voluptuous. too so you said heavy each game package. weighed six pounds because they they. really pulled out the stops and their. the materials and like yeah it was.

cardboard and yeah it was plastic but it. was really really well-made well. manufactured well-designed cardboard and. plastic put together and again the the. just the look of it had such an elegant. look it just didn't it did not look like. other board games at the time was like. sorry or trouble or something like that. you know where it's like whacky and. there was like a cartoon explosion or. something like that bunch of kids. rolling dice on there and that was a big. deal too there was no kid no person.

anywhere on the box the only person who. showed up was um the the poet the. English poet Alexander Pope who uh whose. quote what Mighty contests ared from. trivial things was on the box so this. whole thing is so highbrow that um it. just doesn't even make sense and yet. that made people want it all the more it. was a brand new thing it was a Revival. of board games is what Trivial Pursuit. was when it came out yeah and it was uh.

I mean it said for adults on the box. which um turned out to be a stroke of. Genius because I even remember I read an. article in slate that kind of drove this. home but um I even remember uh kind of. agreeing with what slate was saying. which was like as a kid in the 80s um. especially. for kids in the 80s who had like. narcissistic parents who didn't show. them much attention it it was if you. could play Trivial Pursuit and hang it. was a chance of at the at the adult. table for a minute yeah and to like.

interact with your parents for an hour a. day yeah and maybe make some extra. allowance in the bargain yeah hey you. throw a little money on it you never. know. exactly so um this was Christmas 1983. that it blew up in the United States um. and like when it blew up in the US it. like it it really just changed. everything like you said that first year. they sold 1.3 million games they sold 20. million the next year in.

1984 and by January of 1984 right after. it started to come out in the United. States the New York Times reported that. people in New York were trading cocktail. parties for Trivial Pursuit parties and. I was thinking about it yeah right yeah. I don't think there's anything more. insufferable than the New York Times. reporting on what cool New Yorkers are. doing right there right this was a great. example of that the 80s version too yeah. for sure um they had uh great marketing.

early on with this new company there was. a marketing consultant they hire named. Linda Pisano who would send these games. out to celebrities who were featured in. questions in the game and she got. letters back from some of them and she. would publish those uh she got a letters. from Pat Boon Gregory peek and James. Mason so the the trio yeah the boomers. are just going nuts and then to really. drive it home there was a Time Magazine. report that the cast of The Big Chill.

the most Boomer movie of all Boomers. movies of all time were unwinding. between scenes enjoying Trivial Pursuit. and looking back at the Nostalgia of. their younger days and that's it was. that was Peak Boomer Nostalgia Trivial. Pursuit uh reporting yeah I've never. seen that movie but I do know that one. of the characters lets her. husband uh I guess impregnate serve as. like a surrogate sperm donor to her. friend yeah the only reason I know that.

is because there was a great um uh. Saturday Night Live skit about it oh. really yeah and I guess did they show. the the the wife who was like hanging. out downstairs in the movie while they. went upstairs or something like that. yeah so in the Saturday Night Live one. like she's just sitting there like. reflecting like drinking tea and like. thinking about how great and just. beautiful this. is the the sound coming from upstairs. they're like really getting into it and.

she's getting like more and more. concerned and worried I think I remember. that yeah it was like I think it was Jan. Hooks who was like the the woman. downstairs that was a great sketch oh. that's funny well that movie was very. big in my house and that soundtrack I. mean I I joke about it now but that's. literally the thing that introduced me. to mtown oh yeah as a kid yeah listening. to I was 12 years old or whatever it was. listening to artha Franklin and uh the. Four Tops and you know everyone else. Jeremiah was a bullfrog which wasn't.

mtown um but if you want to hear a more. in-depth conversation about that you can. listen to the uh movie Crush episode. featuring uh the wonderful and Charming. Janie Hadad Tomkins oh nice that was her. pick huh that was her pick nice good. movie though but now it suffers from. anti-. boomeritis okay so I should wait 10. years to see it how do you feel about. Boomers right now I'll wait 10 years to. see okay. all right so uh 1984 well I guess we.

should mention that book in 1983 a guy. named Robert Jay hel wrote a book called. how to win a Trivial Pursuit like that's. how big it got uh I think like 96 trivia. games trying to cash in on trivial. Pursuits uh success and people writing. books like how to win a Trivial Pursuit. in which Robert J heler said why don't. you just memorize all 6,000 cards that. became kind of an urban legend like your. cousin friend memorized all 6,000.

questions yeah oh that's funny yeah um. and there were some other cute or. interesting anecdotes I guess that kind. of came out um around the time one was. Ronald Reagan uh was reported on having. played the game while he was waiting for. the election results in. 1984 and um during the game he got two. questions about himself and you can. relax he got them correct both of. them well that's the only Reagan I can. do is the one word one of the um one of.

the the facts I saw bandied about in. some of the reporting that was a great. Reagan by the way thanks um was uh that. either Ronald Reagan signed Clark. Gable's discharge papers from the Army. or Clark Gable signed Ron it depends on. who you ask yes what was one of them. authorized to do so or they just like. come over here buddy sign this thing no. no like they just happened to be like. that was just happened to be the luck of. the draw as far as the Arrangement went. oh like they bore witness or something.

no I think like let's say it was clar. Gable who signed them he would have. maybe been like a higher up to Ronald. Reagan as Ronald Reagan was getting out. it happened to be Clark Gable rather. than Colonel Joe Schmo yeah I'm glad I. complicated that very clean and cool. story uh another fun little trivial. factoid and yes I'm saying factoid uh. was that uh QE2 Queen Elizabeth II. hosted. the first nerd Cruise it sounds like cuz.

she hosted an 8-day Trivial Pursuit. tournament Cruise mhm in I guess. 85 and so at each Christmas 1983 it was. like you could not find that thing yeah. um in 1984 same same deal like it was. really hard to find but this time. selchow and Ryder had like learned their. lesson and we like keeping up with. Supply a lot better than they were at. the very beginning of this whole thing. and so at the at the peak of this I.

think it really peaked in ' 84 but that. certainly continued on into 1985 oh yeah. uh in the spring of. 1985 15% of uh households in America had. a Trivial Pursuit game in their house I. saw at some point it was 20% one in five. yeah I think they I think they're at. about 80 million to date games oh I I. believe that totally that's just a. staggering amount of G I mean my mom you. talked about how well it was made my mom.

still has our the OG from whatever 40. years ago yeah I'm sure it's just a. little bit frayed in like the parts. where it folded and the rest of it's. just fine no you can still read Richard. Nixon on a third of those cards nice. there's a little like uh cocaine in the. little folds and like tequila stains on. some of the some of the spots oh not in. my family pal uh so Trivial Pursuit is. selling Gang Busters Abbott and Haney. are rich dudes and also so weirdly kind. of celebrities uh they they were not shy.

they did they loved to be on TV and to. do interviews uh they were in TV. commercials uh they were pitchmen for. other brands like AMX and Diet Coke and. they would put that Trivial Pursuit. branding on anything they thought they. could make money of uh and like you. mentioned those original investors did. really really well uh there was an. entertainment writer at the Toronto. Globe and Mail named Susan uh Susan fer. McKay who took out a bank loan to buy. shares early on and in 1984 she bought a.

house and then she retired not too long. after that yeah and Worland uh the guy. the 18-year-old who did all the art he. founded a company called Worland group. all one word uh that became pretty. successful marketers in Toronto and he. used his money from his shares to start. that so it definitely paid off uh and. then yeah like you said the Haney and. and Chris Abbott or Scott Abbott were. just Mega Rich from this I mean this.

game made hundreds of millions of. dollars in the 80s like 80s money God. knows what West Egg would convert that. to but they it was there was a lot of. money made off this and you got to think. back like these were just a couple of. dudes who had an idea and and went with. it although there were people who were. like yeah that's questionable whether. you had that idea like you kind of. referred to earlier right yeah there. were two cases uh at least like two not. Able Court cases uh one was um a lawsuit.

in 1994 from a guy an Australian named. David wall who said Hey in. 1979 this Chris Haney Guy picked me and. my buddy up when we were hitchhiking MH. and we were in Nova Scotia and while we. were driving around I told him about. this idea for the game like really. specifically like my mom has uh pictures. of the the wheel that I drew and the pie. pieces and everything and the court were. like well where are those documents and.

he was like I don't have those anymore I. and they said we'll bring forward some. witnesses and he was like no one no. one's really coming forward um they. moved yeah they moved away uh Haney said. or or he said that Haney later offered. him shares like hey man we're getting. this game that you got uh told me the. idea for going and I'm going to offer to. buy you shares this is a real thing he. refused had he bought those shares he. would have ended up a rich person as. well uh but in court Haney was like I.

never met this guy never picked him up. uh they awarded him initially um well. not awarded him he got zero dollars but. uh the judge ruled in Haney's favor and. awarded them $1.2 million in court costs. this is after a 13-year legal battle but. they reduced that to 1 million because. they said uh but you know what your big. corporate attorneys came in and sued two. of his Witnesses so we're going to knock. off uh 200 Grand and just making a. million yeah I mean imagine being that.

guy you're like you owe me tens of. millions of dollars and then 10 years. later you owe them a million dollars. like yeah this is just some guy he. wasn't some like high-flying jet cter. who had a bunch of money I I don't know. what happened to him yeah I mean he had. a hard he didn't have the million bucks. I saw that so they said they were. looking to garnish his wages and I was. like oh man this just goes from bad to. worse yeah but I mean it there this is. the one guy who said that and like you. said he didn't come up with Witnesses or. any kind of supporting evidence and um.

yeah it's just not clear what the deal. was whether he was just looking for a. Payday or if he did get ripped off but. as far as the Court's concerned he. definitely did not get ripped off yeah. what I was trying to find out was they. you know they said they sued two first. the judge said there was no Witnesses. then I find out that they had sued two. of the. witnesses uh which they considered like. you know witness intimidation or. something sure so I'm wondering if one. of those Witnesses they sued was like. the friend that hitchhiked with him and. I'm just I couldn't find anything out.

it's so hard to find out stuff about Old. Court cases well if it if it was like a. David and Goliath thing where Goliath. won that would be very sad indeed yeah. what about imagine that yeah we'll move. on because this one's getting really sad. uh the other one is uh the story of a. guy named Fred LW worth and if you are. into trivia Fred worth is essentially. your Messiah he is the original trivia. dude who's been writing books on trivia. books like containing trivia for decades.

and decades now um I don't know if he's. still alive but if he is he's probably. still going strong and um he apparently. published a three volume Encyclopedia of. trivia at some point this is before. trivia Pursuit was launched and he did. something you know how we've talked. about map makers like including like a. fake town to to basically protect their. property see if somebody ripped them off. yeah he did something with with uh. trivia question he included a trick. question in his stuff he did uh and that.

that well it didn't bear fruit but it. played out uh in his favor uh it was a. question on Columbo the TV show with uh. what's his name uh Peter Faulk Peter. Faulk I almost said Robert Blake I used. to get those confused no that was. Beretta yeah he's he's the one who. murdered his wife in real life yeah yeah. anyway uh Peter Faulk did not uh murder. his wife as far as I know but he uh he. was Frank Columbo and in the question it.

was the answer was Philip Columbo like. what was Columbo's real name and you. know I don't know if anywhere else. Philip Columbo had ever been printed so. it looked like pretty good proof to me. uh he sued for 300 million bucks claimed. that close to 1,700 of the questions. were his and a judge threw it out and. said first of all this game is a lot. different than that book and at which. time worth should have said that's not. what I'm saying right and then he said. but you can't copy Right facts no case. which I officially feel bad for worth.

because it seems clear to me that they. took a lot of his questions uh yeah he. Pro I mean they said that they used his. book for for creating these things like. they didn't deny that at all um but yeah. I guess it was just their their case was. based on the idea that like a fact's a. fact like this guy didn't it's not a. creation of his own yeah she found it. right no I get it and I imagine Fred. worth probably thought that was like a. iron proof defense like I I tricked. these people into putting this question.

in there and it didn't work out I'm sure. he was astonished when that came along. that ruling but also just before we move. on Chuck I I just want to um tell all of. our hardcore Columbo fan listeners to. just stop your emails right now we know. for a fact that Frank is not as far as. Canon goes Columbo's first name yeah. that canonically Columbo doesn't have a. first name or else his first name is. Lieutenant so Frank Columbo just. happened to show up in a couple of. screenshots that the producers of the.

show originally never intended anybody. to be able to zoom in on boy do you. think there are any Columbo uh ped. ants oh yeah definitely that listen to. this sure okay yeah we we got all kinds. takes all kinds. Chuck uh so the 90s are now upon us and. these guys are are they said they feel. like rock stars basically uh they've got. got all kinds of money uh supposedly uh. John Haney the the brother that was.

brought in early on they were talking. about finances and he said we'll be. great as long as we don't do anything. stupid like invest in race horses uh so. that's just what they did uh Haney and. Abbott invested in race horses uh but. for Abbott it paid off he he spent 50. Grand on a yearling named Charlie Bailey. that ended up winning about $900,000 in. total purses over the years oh yeah uh. and lots of stutting out for big money. oh yeah uh and they both uh invested in. uh kind of built from the ground up.

these two golf courses in Canada and. Abbott bought he was a big hockey guy so. he bought the Bramton Battalion at the. time before moving them uh North uh and. changing their name and they are from. the Ontario hockey league and I think he. might still own them oh yeah I think so. I I mean this article I found was from. the late 201 so oh yeah probably then. yeah I don't see why he would have sold. it uh oh so they're they're now the. Bramton Battalion but they were the.

North Bay Battalion right no no no they. were Bramton and now they're North Bay. okay I was get North Bay and Bramton. confused I do too um so the livia dug up. a pretty interesting um article written. by who Chuck a guy named Ron Rodriguez. no it's Juan Rodriguez oh is it Juan. yeah okay so uh Mr Rodriguez is what. we're going to call him from now on. because his name is really hard to say. it turns out um he he was a a he wrote I.

think a daily quote of 40 Trivial. Pursuit questions a day obviously and. only about half would get picked and we. kind of went through that too because we. helped out putting questions together. for our version M and um you they asked. for hundreds and hundreds of them and. you're like okay well we're done they're. like okay well we're going to use about. a third of those so we're going to have. to do this again a couple more times and. it was like there weren't that many. facts in all of the episodes of stuff. you should know you guys but we pulled.

it out but I can feel Mr Rodriguez's. pain yeah for sure um it was a lot of. writing he uh said that he used the. dictionary of 20th century World. politics uh pop culture magazines um as. his story goes when he needed Rambo. questions he watched all the Rambo. movies two times to come up with the. best questions MH and uh you know once. you write them they did uh I think he. had a partner they had some researchers. on the team and they would fact check. and do corrections and tweaks and stuff.

like that yeah I should say we didn't we. weren't actually writing the questions. we were coming up with the source. material for the questions from the. podcast you just sitting there going oh. no yeah there's some writer at Hasbro is. like uh. um uh as far as the nitty-gritty goes uh. questions are have a maximum of 45. characters uh they prefer two lines even. though there can be three uh they just. visually thought the two online. questions look better so they they tried. to edit them down when possible yeah uh.

and then I think now uh over the years. there's been about 300 editions. published wow and um very uh early on. they stayed fairly generalist although I. mean let me take that back they went. from genus to Silver Screen Edition Baby. Boomers Edition and I think a sports. edition but compared to some of the. Editions that they've come out with now. those are still pretty generalist um.

yeah so another one was Disney Disney. was the first tie-in that they had in. 1985 um and that was still pretty. General it wasn't like um Donald Duck. facts specifically right weirdly here's. a piece of trivia for you the second. brand tie-in that Trivial Pursuit. released a game around was Fame the TV. show and movie oh wow like I'm going to. live forever had its own Trivial Pursuit. Edition back in 1993 was the first.

question uh how long did the fame people. think they were going to. live that's a great. question I couldn't have been very as. these additions weren't as big though. right there's no way no in that slate. article that you referred to um the. author makes a case they were basically. saying I think the whole premise was. Trivial Pursuit lost its way and this is. WR about 10 years ago or something and. um the premise or the the thesis this. author had was that it it went from.

being General where basically anybody. could come along and try their hand at. it to increasingly more specific to. where now you had to know everything. there is to know about Harry Potter or. everything there is to know about the. Lord of the Rings or friends or The. Nightmare Before Christmas or that kind. of thing and that it it just it made it. more and more narrow it narrowed the. pool so you have to have more and more. additions to to appeal to as many people. as POS possible whereas if you just made. more generalist versions of the game.

then you were always going to appeal to. the most people possible you know I I. it's some of those versions are. definitely not my thing but I'm not. going to say it lost its way I disagreed. with that guy and like if you want a. Harry Potter Edition and that's your jam. then like I love it in fact I I wouldn't. mind a friends Edition now that I'm. thinking of it uh I did today the. friends Edition I think would be kind of. fun for me or Seinfeld Edition cuz. I know those pretty well but um I did.

today buy the um Greatest Hits Edition. which is mainly 80s and 90s and a lot of. pop culture and supposedly that's like a. genx feast so I bought that today and. hopefully I'll be getting it very soon. that's awesome um I will be very. disappointed if the Seinfeld Edition. doesn't have a question about who. invaded Spain in the 900s and the answer. is the moops right it's got to it has. to yeah God we could probably write a.

Seinfield Edition you and I could. probably uh they've come up with some. other pretty cool ones too uh one's. called X it's for it's much more uh. adult edgy questions I think it's for 18. and up and um it's a stamp game where if. you get it wrong they stamp an X onto. your forehead and ink and once you get. five stamps on your forehead you you're. out interesting it is interesting and. then um the weirdest Edition I found. Chuck was the EMS Edition Emergency.

Medical Services came out in 2012 wow. and it had categories like trauma. illness Anatomy it's just minor Cuts. major Cuts right I yeah I'd like to see. some of those questions I couldn't find. them uh and you can also play free. online there's a new um version that. came out this year uh called Trivial. Pursuit infinite uses generative AI to. come up with. questions and if you are a TV Watcher. you can watch the new Trivial Pursuit.

game on the CW that's hosted by The. Lovable Lavar Burton oh we love Lavar. everyone loves Lavar who doesn't no one. yeah uh you got anything else I got. nothing else I'm looking forward to. playing you know I do have to say I. think I tried to play the original genus. sometime in the last like five or six. years it's been a minute but uh I. remember it didn't feel like it held up. that well. uh and that's that's probably due to the.

fact that it was written in the 80s and. it was geared toward Boomers gotcha but. it was still. okay can you give an example of how it. didn't hold up or a general example well. just you know questions about gunm smoke. and Richard Nixon and over and over and. over like thought G say it was like. deeply sexist or something like that no. no no no not like that it just felt a. little dated um question wise um like uh. hey hey I mean supposedly the Masters. Edition is the one I think the gamer uh. ranked in 2021 and aisal and the gamer.

said that the uh 2021 Master Edition was. the best Edition yet mhm uh but that. classic edition has sold the Lion Share. of those 80 million versions yeah pretty. impressive stuff yeah I love these. Christmas episodes the pre Christmas. special usually Christmas toy episode me. too so uh happy holidays to all of you. out there and the next time you see us.

we're going to be on that adree holiday. special it's coming soon uh do you have. a listener mail today I do oh great uh. well since Chuck answered in the. affirmative when I asked him if he had a. listener mail it's time for listener. mail hey guys L your September episode. on the history of music streaming uh. grew up in the 90s I can vividly. remember uh being at my friend Ross's. house downloading Weezer songs off of. Napster and burning pirated versions on. the. cdrs uh as the title suggests I'm an.

active musician now and I wanted to take. a quick moment and give a shout out to. the music streaming platforms that. didn't end up in the episode like band. camp and SoundCloud oh yeah uh I feel. bad we didn't mention these and we just. kind of went with the big corporate. monolith um as an independent artist. especially like how band camp allows us. to promote shows discover connect with. other musicians directly and the ability. to customize the look and copy our. releases uh look and copy on our. releases page it's made getting gigs and. connecting with other Indie bands so. much easier I also found it interesting.

how the preferred medium of the day has. informed artist choices um has informed. their choices when releasing music in. the 9s albums were so much longer he. says I'm looking at you Smashing. Pumpkins uh because a lone CD could hold. more than a vinyl LP or cassette today. there is so much music available at our. fingertips musicians are releasing. shorter albums digital mixtapes and a. steady stream of album singles all in an. attempt to stay relevant and capture uh. fleeting attention spans of listeners.

I'm curious to see what happens over the. next decade uh thanks for your time in. years of parasocial education and. entertainment uh this is from Chris in. Seattle and we actually met and hung out. with Chris when many many years ago in. Seattle uh he was a friend of our uh. booking agent at least at the time um. Josh lingren uhhuh we still our booking. agent they were friends at the time as. far as I know friends anymore cuz he. well I don't know I just didn't ask but. he uh I was I was going to text linger. and ask if he knew him but they he came.

to the Neptune show and I even rode in a. car with him with Emily to some. Afterparty we went to wow yeah so good. to be back in touch with Chris yeah yeah. thanks a lot Chris thanks for getting. back in touch I think that that's no. longer parasocial that's just. social yeah you're right well if you. want to be like Chris and remind us that. we've hung out with you before and also. share some pretty great information and. correct us for not shouting out uh. independent version of something we. talked about we love that kind of stuff.

you can send us an email to stuff. podcast at iheartradio.com. [Music]. stuff you should know is a production of. iHeart radio for more podcasts ihart. radio visit the iHeart Radio app Apple. podcasts or wherever you listen to your. favorite shows. [Music].