For those still not ready to give up trivia, but who have memorized all the answers to Trivial Pursuit, comes a new board game called U.S.A. Trivia.
This one uses a map of the United States as a game board and features 6,000 questions on historical events, politics, famous people and items of common knowledge about our country. Players make their way across the board from Maine to Hawaii as they answer questions.The game, distributed by Boynton Games, sells for approximately $34.
How well would you do? Here's a sample:
1. Which presidential candidates first debated on television?
2. Which president first used the donkey as the symbol of the Democratic Party after his opponents called him a "jackass"?
3. The entire Spanish-American War was fought during which year?
4. What kind of stone covers the exterior of the Washington Monument?
5. The president's airplane is named Air Force One. What is the name of the president's helicopter?
6. During World War II, Japan launched 9,000 balloons to ride the jet stream across the Pacific Ocean to the United States. What were the balloons carrying?
7. Name the extinct volcano that can be seen from Waikiki Beach and Honolulu?
8. Which state receives the highest average rainfall per year?
9. What was the original name of the Colorado Territory from 1859 to 1861? Two hints: It was named after an early president, and the name was not used later for a state.
10. Which city is the easternmost state capital in the United States?
11. Name the author of "Call of the Wild."
12. What is pictured on the reverse side of a $50 bill?
13. Which president weighed 320 pounds and was so large he became stuck in the White House bathtub?
14. Approximately how many dogs live in the United States?
15. Who was president when the federal government was free of debt for the first and only time in U.S. history?
ANSWERS:
1. Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy, in 1960; 2. Andrew Jackson; 3. 1898; 4. marble; 5. Marine One (it is a Marine Corps helicopter); 6. incendiary bombs to start forest fires; 7. Diamond Head; 8. Hawaii (70 inches); 9. Jefferson Territory; 10. Augusta (Maine); 11. Jack London; 12. the Capitol Building; 13. William Taft; 14. 50 million. 15. Andrew Jackson.