Trivia Games for Family Nights and Grown-Up Tables

What makes a game a trivia game

A trivia game asks questions with right answers. That's the whole definition, and it covers more ground than you'd think. Some trivia games use a board and dice. Some are a deck of cards and a timer. Some ask you to put events in order instead of naming them. A few ask you to bet on someone else's answer, or to lie about one.

For this page, the rule is: party games the listing or publisher describes as trivia games. The table above shows the 42 we track on Amazon US, sorted with the biggest stated player count first. Here's the spread, from the listings:

• Players: from 1 up to 10
• Age: from 6+ to 17+
• Play time: listed on only a few, from 15 to 60 minutes
• Question count: from about 360 cards to 2,950 questions
• Electronic: three listings, and one needs a device

What to look at before you buy a trivia game

Player count, the minimum first

My one opinion for this page: buy for the group you usually have, not the biggest number on the box. With trivia, the minimum is where people get caught.

Several games here need 4 to start. Sounds Fishy lists 4 to 10 players. Beat the Parents Board Game lists 4 to 8. Wits & Wagers Deluxe and SolidRoots Mind The Gap both list 4 and up. Family Feud lists 3 and up. For a couple playing on a weeknight, none of those will work as printed.

Two notes on numbers that differ between sources. North Star Games' own page for Wits & Wagers Deluxe says 3 to 7 players, while the listing says 4 and up. Big Potato's page for Sounds Fishy says 4 to 10, matching the listing. When the maker and the listing disagree, plan for the stricter number. Here that's 4.

Age on the listing

Trivia games are where age labels matter most, because the questions are written for a reader of that age. A 9-year-old can win a dice game against adults. A question about a 1990s sitcom is a different story.

From the listings, low to high:

• 6+: Beat the Parents Board Game, Beat The Parents Classic
• 7+: Science Trivia Challenge, NOVA Fantastic Trivia Face Off, Disney World of Disney Pictopia
• 8+: Sounds Fishy, Timeline Twist (both editions), Trivial Pursuit Family Edition, Family Feud, Mind The Gap
• 10+: Wits & Wagers Deluxe, What Came First, Jeopardy Family Edition
• 12+ and 13+: the Smart Ass games and Gilmore Girls Quick Play at 12+; Trivial Pursuit 2026 and Drop Trivia at 13+
• 14+: Chronology and the three HISTORY Channel games
• 16+ and 17+: Trivial Pursuit Master Edition, Decades and Mini Packs at 16+; both horror editions at 17+

One mismatch to know about: the Sounds Fishy listing says 8+, but Big Potato's own page lists 10+. I'd go with the higher number for a younger table.

The kind of trivia

This is the field that decides whether your group has a good night. A table of fast talkers likes something different from a table of quiet thinkers. The kinds are below, under "Kinds of trivia games".

Question count

More questions means more nights before you hear a repeat. From the listings:

• Trivial Pursuit Master Edition: 2,950 questions
• Trivial Pursuit 90's Edition: more than 2,400
• Mind The Gap: 2,000
• Trivial Pursuit Decades 2010 to 2020 and the larger Trivial Pursuit horror edition: 1,800 each
• Seinfeld: The Party Game About Nothing: over 1,400 questions, quotes and charades
• Chronology: 800 events
• Smart Ass Trivia Board Game: 411 question cards

Smaller decks aren't worse. A 600-question themed edition is plenty for a group that plays it twice a year. Just know which kind of household you are.

Electronic or device needed

Three listings are marked electronic or device-dependent. Trivial Pursuit Master Edition and Drop Trivia are listed as electronic. Hasbro's page for Drop Trivia lists a tower, 6 pucks and 60 double-sided cards. Trivial Pursuit SNL DVD Edition says a device is required to play. Make sure you own something that plays a DVD before that one goes under the tree.

Play time

Few listings give one. Drop Trivia says 15 minutes. Timeline Twist says 20. Trivial Pursuit 2026 says 45. The Trivial Pursuit Horror Movie Edition says 60. North Star's page puts Wits & Wagers Deluxe at about 25 minutes. For the rest, the length depends on how many questions your group decides to play, and on how long the arguments run.

Kinds of trivia games

Roll and move

The classic setup: a board, a die and a card for each space you land on. Trivial Pursuit is the family here, and most of its editions are in this table. Hasbro's Family Edition rule sheet has players race to fill a mover with six category wedges, then answer one last question in the center. Our Trivial Pursuit page walks through every edition.

Put it in order

These games don't ask for the answer. They ask which came first. Timeline Twist (two editions, 2 to 6 players, 8+, 20 minutes), Chronology (800 events, 14+), What Came First (10+) and the HISTORY Channel Through The Years game all lean this way by their names and listings. Order games are kind to people who know roughly when something happened but not the exact year.

Bluff and guess

Sounds Fishy mixes trivia with bluffing. Big Potato's page says one player holds the real answer while everyone else invents fake ones, and the table tries to sort the true answer from the made-up ones. You can score without knowing a thing. That's either a feature or a confession, depending on the player.

Bet on the closest guess

In Wits & Wagers Deluxe, North Star's page says everyone writes a guess to the same question, puts it on a betting mat, and then bets on whichever guess they think is closest. Seven questions make a game. You don't need to know the answer. You need to know who at the table does.

Marisol likes this one on paper: "Every answer is a number. A number can be checked. I can live with a game like that." She'd still check the answer card herself.

Game-show boxes

Jeopardy Family Edition (10+), Family Feud (8+, 3 or more players) and TV Guide The Game bring a TV format to the table. The listings don't spell out the rules, so I won't either. If your family already watches the show, these are the shortest teach on the page.

Kids against grown-ups

Beat the Parents comes in two listings: the Board Game (4 to 8 players) and Beat The Parents Classic (2 to 6). Both list 6+. The name tells you the setup. The listings don't describe how the questions are split, so check the box.

Topic decks

MindWare's Animal Trivia Challenge and Science Trivia Challenge (7+), NOVA Fantastic Trivia Face Off (7+, over 400 questions), Ravensburger's Disney World of Disney Pictopia (7+), Seinfeld: The Party Game About Nothing, and the HISTORY Channel Stats & Facts and 2-in-1 boxes (14+). These work best when the whole table likes the topic. A science deck at a table of history fans is a long night for everyone.

The Smart Ass family

The Smart Ass family from University Games has the most listings here: the board game (2 to 6, 12+, 411 question cards), the New 360 Edition (360 cards), a card game in a tin, an Everything 80s card game, a mini travel game and a Piatnik listing with 360 cards. The listings don't spell out the rules. Read the box before game night.

Making trivia work for a mixed table

Mixed ages are the hard case for trivia. A grandparent, two parents and a 9-year-old don't share a lot of answers. Here's what helps, in order of how much it helps:

1. Pick a box with separate decks or levels. Hasbro's Trivial Pursuit Family Edition sheet splits kids' and adults' cards and lets each player choose their deck.
2. Play in teams. Put the youngest with the person most likely to know sports, or history, or whatever the youngest doesn't. Most boxes here allow teams, and the Family Edition sheet says so outright.
3. Pick a kind that doesn't punish not knowing. Order games, bluffing games and betting games all give a player a way to score without the exact answer.
4. Set the length before you start. A fixed number of questions or rounds ends the night on time.

Items 1 and 2 come from the rule sheet. Items 3 and 4 are my advice, not any publisher's.

House rule some families use: the reader may give one hint to anyone younger than the age on the box's adult cards. The hint has to be honest, and it can't be the answer with a cough in the middle. That's a house rule, so agree on it before the first card.

One more thing about answers. Decide before you start how exact an answer has to be. Is "the 1960s" good enough for 1963? Is a last name enough? Hasbro's Family Edition sheet tells families to settle that as a group, and I'd do it with every trivia box. It's a lot easier to agree on at 7 p.m. than at the final question.

Who should skip trivia games

Skip trivia if one person at your table always wins and the others have quietly stopped playing. Bluffing or betting games like Sounds Fishy and Wits & Wagers spread the wins around, because knowing the answer isn't the only way to score.

Skip the big adult boxes if your group includes kids. A 16+ or 17+ label is about the questions, and the Horror Movie Edition is marked adults only.

And skip a 4-player minimum game if you're usually two. There are plenty here that start at 2.

Check the age label on the listing. Toys with small parts are a choking hazard for children under 3, and a few of these boxes have small pieces like wedges and pucks.

Related pages

• Trivial Pursuit: the editions, the wedges and the rules
• Party games: more boxes for bigger groups
• Scattergories: categories against a timer
• Family board games: games for mixed ages
• Travel games: a couple of trivia tins that pack small

Makers on this page with their own brand pages include Hasbro, Spin Master, Ravensburger, MindWare, Milton Bradley and Funko.

Read the age first. Then read the question out loud, slowly, twice.