Board game, 'Trivial Pursuit', made by Parker, England, late 1980s.

Boxed board game.

The board unfolds twice to form a playing area which consists of a colour printed paper sheet. The background is green and the playing area forms a six spoked wheel with the playing spaces marked in six different colours - blue, pink, yellow, brown, green and orange - as well as black and white. The spaces also have black ink drawings on them. The reverse of the board is black with gold lettering.

Two card boxes, each with a white base containing colour printed cards. The lid is covered with green paper and has yellow lettering. One box has a circular red sticker on the end of its base.

Clear plastic bag with two areas of yellow colour that have green lettering. The top of the bag has a plastic strip locking system. The bag contains six plastic circular containers, each divided into six triangular compartments. There are seven triangular pieces of each of the six colours - blue, pink, yellow, brown, green and orange. The bag also contains one white die with black spots.

An almost square sheet of pale orange coloured paper printed in green. One side lays out the rules, the other has Notes on Play and an illustration in black of Oliver Twist asking for more.

Sheet of paper plain white on one side and colour printed on the other showing an explanation of the categories of questions. The paper is designed to be folded.

A square card box consisting of a lid, a base and an insert. The outside of the lid is covered with green paper printed in yellow. The outside of the base is covered with white paper, printed on the underside in black with a picture of the game laid out for play and a short general text. The card insert is a black H shape deigned to hold the two boxes of cards.

The game of Trivial Pursuit was invented by two Canadian journalists, Chris Haney and Scott Abbott. The story goes that on 15 December 1979 the two friends got together for a game of Scrabble but found that some of the pieces were missing. They decided to invent their own game and the result was Trivial Pursuit. They involved a couple of other people, Chris' brother John and Ed Werner, and founded a company, Horn Abbott, to publish and promote the game. Early production and distribution proved a loss making exercise but gradually over the next three years the game became more and more popular. In 1984, 20 million games were sold in the United States.

B.61:1 to 7-2004