Trivial Wars

Where "how-you-think" is as important as "what-you-know".
Site last updated 6/29/11

6-29-11 - The rulebook has been published for the upcoming release. I've decided to keep the rulebook on-line instead of in the game package so changes can be made immdiately. You can check it out here.

Also, if there is any interested joining us for alpha testing, we will be doing so this Sunday, July 3. We currently have a potential group of 5 players but we could use more. Drop me an E-mail if you'd like to join us.

6-21-11 - A new and vastly improved version of Trivial Wars is now entering the Alpha testing stage. This new version makes ample use of automation to remove much of the tedious process of keeping track of things and adjusting stats manually. The players can now concentrate on just playing the game without having to worry about things not being updated properly. Since automation with the Vassal engine can be problematic, the game will go through a series of test games before being officially released to the public.

The alpha testing will be done to find any potential problems with the game mechanics. If all goes well, we'll be starting the beta testing soon. If you and some of your friends would like to be involved in the beta testing, drop me an E-mail and I'll put you on the list. I would also be glad to join one or your beta testing games, time permitting.

The game can be played with 3 to 10 players and each player must have at least one set of trivia cards. Beta testers will be strongly urged to send me an E-mail or post to the forum any problems, suggestions, comments, etc. so that I may release a public version that is as complete and problem free as possible.

I've always been a big fan of trivia in general. In fact, I used to host live shows in various pubs around the Santa Rosa, Ca. area as Mr. Quizzer. Most trivia games center around a player's knowledge of useless information without there being much else to it. So, I began fooling around with the concept of making a point-based, strategy game loosely based on the Trivial Pursuit format where players are far more competitive and they have to apply a certain about of thought to how they play on top of showing off what they know. Using the Vassal Engine, I've been developing this concept into an Internet based multi-player game. Here's a preliminary view of the game board in action. Note that graphics may change before the final product is released. Click the pic for a bigger shot.

In order to play Trivial Wars, players will need at least one set of trivia cards to draw questions from and is best played using a shuffled mix of cards from several card sets. The game has nearly 200 category display lists built into it including nearly every Trivial Pursuit card set ever made and a multitude of non-TP card sets, as well. The game also includes a play system for many oddball decks with cards that have 4, 5, 8 and even 16 questions per card. Chances are that whatever card set you use, there's probably a category list display ready for you within Trivial Wars. If not, new category lists can be included in future versions.

For each question, a random player will be selected as a Questioner. They'll receive a drop-down menu to select the card set they are using for the next question. In this example, a Questioner has drawn a card from the 1960's Trivial Pursuit card set. He selects the 1960's menu option and the category list is displayed on the board for all to see.

Each player uses a token that represents one of 10 different items (Car, Jet, Skull, etc). The players attempt to accumulate points and collect gems while making it as difficult as possible for other players to do the same. Winning the game requires that players collect a combination of gems & points to a set level and then answer 2 game winning questions selected from random categories. During the course of the game, players will play many different roles - Questioner (the player asking the question), Stealer (a player who is attempting to answer a question another player missed), Selector (a player who gets to choose the category for the next question). The game will keep track of each player's role at any given moment and display the appropriate messages and buttons that player will need. Players may also attack other players in an attempt to takes points and gems away from them.

The main weapons used in Trivial Wars are called Zonks. These are cards that can be played at various times to affect one player, all players or the whole game environment. Each player has a private window where they can keep their Zonks secret.

The game also creates a random event at the beginning of each round which may affect one player, all players, or the entire game environment for that round. Points, gems, turn status, and zonk status are kept track of automatically and shown in the player statistics display at the bottom of the board.

Here's a shot of a game in progress. You'll note the Anchor is the Active Player and he has hurled a zonk that allows him to move to any gem location, which he has done on the lower right. This location also has a Z with a slash through it. This means that this is a Zonk Free location and the Anchor can ignore the effects of any Zonk that's hurled while he's here. Zonk Free locations are randomly selected at the beginning of each new round.

The Anchor then selected the Gem question type from the row of buttons under his Active Player display mat. The Coin is the Questioner (upper right) and he has received a set of buttons to indicate whether the answer was guessed correctly or not.

In the bottom left corner, you'll see the player statistics for 5 players showing the gems and points they've collected and their turn and Zonk status. The Anchor and Butterfly are showing an X in the Zonk status box to show they've hurled a Zonk on this round and may not hurl another. The Zonk status box also shows the number of Zonks each player currently has in their private hand. The green turn status marker indicates that the Anchor is the current Active Player, the blue turn status marker indicates that the Butterfly has not had a turn yet on this round, and the red turn status marker shows the Coin has already been an Active Player on this round. The large S on the Butterfly icon indicates that the Butterfly wishes to attempt a steal on this question if the Anchor doesn't get it right.

This game is best played online as a group using voice communication (Ventrilo, TeamSpeak, Skype, etc.). In fact, I don't see how you can play it without voice communication ...a player typing out questions for other players to answer would get old pretty fast.

The game will run on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

You may want to drop by the forums to ask questions, report problems, read announcements, advertise scheduled games, look for games to get into, list what card sets you can bring to a game, or just chat and become an active part of the "Trivial Wars" community.

The best feature of the game is that it is free! No trial versions, no crippled software, no nag screens, no registration requirements, no anything. It is truly 100% free! Drop by the Download page for your copy.

Thanx for dropping by and I hope you like the game. You can contact me via E-mail and I'm usually on Skype when I'm online as dr_nostromo. I may also have a game room open on the Vassal server. Feel free to drop in ...I might be up for a game.