Trivia

:For other senses, see trivia (disambiguation).

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The term trivia is widely used to refer to tidbits of unimportant (or trivial) information, but it can also refer to basic or elementary knowledge. Generally, the latter definition prevails when people "play trivia". The term comes from medieval univerisities, where trivia were the things learned in the trivium, comprising the three subjects that were studied first: grammar, logic, and rhetoric.

Related Topics:
Trivial - Trivium - Grammar - Logic - Rhetoric

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Before the trivia subculture became widespread, via radio and TV quiz shows and books, the term commonly referred to bits of information to which most adults in the culture had at one time been exposed, via standard education or via popular culture. In time the term came also to comprise more obscure and arcane bits of knowledge. In 1974, a former Sacramento air traffic controller named Fred L. Worth published The Trivia Encyclopedia, which he followed in 1977 with The Complete Unabridged Super Trivia Encyclopedia, and in 1981 with Super Trivia, vol. II. The popularity of these books (one appears as a prop in movie Almost Famous) laid the groundwork for the first edition of Trivial Pursuit in the early 1980s.

Related Topics:
TV - Almost Famous - Trivial Pursuit

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The enormous success of this game led, in the United States, to the re-launch of Jeopardy!, reviving a quiz show genre that had been dormant since the scandal of the 1950s. In the 1990s, ABC had a surprise hit with Who Wants to be a Millionaire, an import of a successful British quiz format which launched another wave of interest in trivia. In the UK, the quiz format has enjoyed continuous success since the 1950s, untouched by the scandals that dogged the American format.

Related Topics:
United States - Jeopardy! - Scandal of the 1950s - Who Wants to be a Millionaire - British - 1950s

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In addition to the mass media trivia, there have also been two entrenched trivia subcultures. One is the pub quiz phenomenon, which is especially prevalent in Great Britain and in select US cities, particularly in pubs that serve a large Irish-American community. (The US pub quiz scene is crimped by the popularity of NTN, a satellite-based game.)

Related Topics:
Pub quiz - NTN

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The other subculture is the quiz bowl format found in high schools and universities in the US; the Canadian equivalent is competition geared toward Reach for the Top, among high schools, whereas Canadian universities are beginning to participate in US quiz bowl leagues.

Related Topics:
Quiz bowl - Reach for the Top

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