Thirty years ago in 1986, Greg Owens and I appeared on The Today Show and we were interviewed by Jane Pauley to talk about a game we created called, Trivial Trivia—Idiot Edition, that was a satire of Trivial Pursuit, which was all the rage at the time. Here’s that interview (and even though the video says, 1985, that's a typo, it was actually January 16th, 1986):
After that things went kind of crazy for a few months and eventually we sold over 130,000 of those goofy and fun trivia games that seemed to strike a chord in a lot of people, humor-wise.
And then after a couple of whirlwind months of the game going crazy, Greg and I doing interviews on what seemed like every morning and afternoon radio show and being written up in papers all over the country (some of these still live on in the internet today, check it out here and here) things kind of settled down, we did a few joke books together, I published a magazine for a few years and then both of us moved on with our lives. I moved to New York to write and Greg started his own graphics and design business in Chillicothe.
Years went by, lunches were had, a few beers got drank and pants were put on, one leg at a time. Left one first, of course and time, as always, flew by. Before I knew it it was 19 years later, I was back in Peoria, Greg’s over in Chillicothe and that game we did over thirty years ago seems to be rearing it’s kooky head again!
Yeah, we’re putting out a 30th anniversary edition of the game and we’re going to start rolling it out this week. It’s kind of happening fast, but here’s some photos of it in production below! And talk about coming full circle, the game is being produced at Greg’s Company, Owens Design Group and I’ve written 50 new questions for this game. Here’s a sneak peek at what’s going on in the world of Trivial Trivia—Idiot Edition—Version 2016:
The game is being produced right here at ODG in Chillicothe. You can read all about them on their recently updated state-of-the-art website! And check them out on facecrack!
Here's the game being produced...
And here's Greg and I with the 30th Anniversary Edition of Trivial Trivia—Idiot Edition! The graphics have been updated, but still stay true to the 1986 look and style and there's 50 new questions added to the game!
Right now, even as I write this, we’re working on a website, a facecrack page, a Twitter page and getting them into local retail stores so you can run out and purchase one or a dozen very soon. And don’t worry, I’ll still be updating the MBIP blog daily with new stories and adventures...I don’t know how, but I will, I always do!
So, stay tuned for all of this, I have to go try and meet about ten different deadlines now, there will be more updates on the 30th Anniversary of Trivial Trivia—Idiot Edition this week and we’ll see you all tomorrow!
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