gameplay: rules & info
Rules
These simple rules keep TriviaTryst fair and fun for everyone:
- No cell phones or outside sources.
- No shouting out answers.
- Maximum of 6 players per team/table.
Gameplay
The game of TriviaTryst consists of nine regular rounds plus a tenth final round, as shown on the sample scoresheet below. Questions in all rounds come from wide variety of categories including: sports, movies, television, music, business, technology, medicine, history, geography, arts, literature, science, and pop culture.
- Trivia Rounds - teams answer fill-in-the blank questions on the provided answer slips. First, the Trivia Host announces three categories that describe the subject matter of the upcoming questions. Then questions and related bonuses are read aloud and teams have one song (3 to 4 minutes) to discuss answers. Teams write answers on an answer slip and assign a bid of 3, 6, or 9 points to each question based on confidence relative to upcoming categories before bringing their slip up to the host table. Each bid can only be placed once, so after a bid of 9 points on the first question for example, only 3 or 6 points can be bid on the second question, and so on. Bonuses are always worth 2 points, except where 1 point may be awarded at the discretion of the Trivia Host.
- Tryst Rounds - similar to Trivia Rounds except teams are permitted to discuss answers with other people in the venue. The Trivia Host plays a slightly longer song, and part-way through the song players are encouraged to get up and share their thoughts with others. Competition for final prizes still takes place on a team basis, but part of each team's score in Tryst Rounds is the score of the Color-Group (the average of all teams with the same color answer sheet, doubled). Tryst Rounds always have a max score of 15 points: up to 5 points from the team's own performance on the question and up to 10 points from the Color-Group.
- Other Rounds -
- Exploding Round - Instead of asking a question in its entirety, players are read a series of clues, at a rate of about one per minute. For each clue read, the point value of the question drops, so the more quickly a team submits the correct answer, the more points they receive. The first clue is somewhat obscure, but answering correctly based on the first clue alone, teams receive 10 points. Waiting until the last clue to answer, teams receive only 2 points. Incorrect answers earn no points and only one answer can be submitted per team for the duration of the round.
- Worksheet Round - Teams complete a paper worksheet and turn it in to the Trivia Host. It is scored out of 10 possible points.
- Final Round - 2 fill-in-the blank questions similar to other rounds in the game, but with an added twist: up to 14 points (even numbers only) may be wagered on each answer. Correct answers receive all the points wagered, while incorrect answers lose half the points wagered.