What’s Needed

• Deck of trivia cards with six categories (e.g. Trivial Pursuit cards)
• 1 die
• (Optional?) 1 or more decks of traditional playing cards (1 deck for every 4 players, additional decks for “Question Selection” Variation [see below])
• Pen and paper for scoring (or better yet a scoring app)

Preparation

Optional:

• Distribute playing cards so every player has a stack of ten cards: 1 ace, and cards 2 through 10.

Game Play

• Figure out who’s going first (use the die or something).
• The person whose turn it is (the “guesser”) rolls the die to determine which category they will be asked. All the non-guessing players in a turn are the “bettors.”
• The player to the left of the guesser takes a trivia card from the deck, reads the question silently, and without reading the answer, then passes it to their left. Each player does the same until until all the bettors have read the question. The last bettor to read it holds on to the card.
• Each bettor now makes a bet from one to ten against the guesser based on their confidence the guesser will know the answer. (E.g., if they’re certain they guesser will get it wrong, they might bet ten. If they’re sure the guesser will know the answer, they might bet one.) Bets are placed by selecting a card from their deck (ace = one), and placing it face down in front of them. They must not discuss their bet with other players.
• Once everyone has placed their bets, the betting cards are all turned face up at the same time.
• The player holding the trivia card now reads the question aloud.
• The guesser has two options: guess or challenge:
  • Guess: If the guesser gets the correct answer, the guesser gets the sum of all the bets added to their score. If the guesser gets the answer wrong, each bettor gets their bet added to their own score.
  • Challenge: Instead of guessing, the guesser may challenge the highest-betting bettor to answer the question. If there is a tie for the high bet, the guesser may pick which of the high bettors to challenge. The challenged player then must answer the question. If they get it right, every bettor gets their bet added to their own score, and the original guesser gets the challenged player’s bet subtracted from their score. If the challenged player gets the answer wrong, their bet is subtracted from their score, and no other players’ scores are affected.

Winning

Play to a certain score, based on number of players? Not sure yet what that score should be.

Variations

No Playing Cards

If playing cards aren’t available, on the count of three, all bettors show their bet by holding up fingers.

Scoring Variation

If the guesser gets a question correct, instead of adding the sum of the bets to their score, each better subtracts their bet from their score. This would probably require not playing to a high score, as scores may not steadily increase. Perhaps play a set number of rounds, and the high scorer wins? This could be enforced by taking the appropriate amount of trivia cards out of the deck (number of players X number of rounds to be played).

Question Selection

Instead of rolling a die, bettors vote on which category the guesser will be asked, using cards 1-6 (in the same manner as bets are placed). There should be some case where the bettor gets to pick their own category, e.g.:

• There is a tie
• The voters are not unanimous, or do not reach some “supermajority”

Also, perhaps the bettors/voters may not vote on the same category for a given player two rounds in a row. This might require some token (e.g., a playing card kept face down, which would require additional playing card decks [different color backing?]) to track each player’s last category. The players may not discuss their vote, or remind each other what category they selected for the guesser in the last round. Saying any category or number out loud results in the player selecting their own category.