Games

See also Chess, Toys, Video Games.

English writer: published a pamphlet entitled A Short Treatise on the Game of Whist (1742), which was regarded as the authority on the rules of that game until at least 1864; went on to write similarly about backgammon, piquet, chess, brag, and other games; his name became a byword for playing games according to the rules, and is often used to this day for books of rules for various games, most of which have no connection with him

Edmond Hoyle

Backgammon

Number of stones each player has at the start of a game		15
Number of 'points' on the board, on which stones (counters) can be placed		24
Highest number on the doubling die		64
Name given to the biggest possible win		Backgammon
Single counter on a row		Blot
Central division of the board		Bar

Bridge

Bridge is believed to have originated among the Russian community in Istanbul, as a development of whist, towards the end of the 19th century. The name comes from biritch, which is a Russian or Slavic word for the herald of a prince or nobleman.

The form of bridge that's almost universally played today is known as contract bridge. It was invented in the 1920s by the US railroad executive Harold Vanderbilt (great–grandson of the shipping and railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt), who developed a scoring system for what had previously become known as auction bridge. The main innovation that Vanderbilt introduced is that in contract bridge, only the tricks that you bid for count towards your match score.

According to the English Bridge Union, there are two kinds of bridge: "rubber which is normally played at home for leisure, and duplicate bridge which is used for competitions". These are in essence two different ways of playing contract bridge.

Number of games in a rubber		3
Number of tricks to make a contract, in addition to the number bid		6
Thus, for example, number of tricks required to make a contract of 1 No Trump		7
Tricks in a little slam		12
Tricks in a grand slam		13
Hand containing no trumps (also in whist)		Chicane
Player who reveals his or her hand and sits out the game		Dummy
The only card in a suit (a term also used in mathematics for a set with only one member)		Singleton
Hand containing nothing higher than a 9		Yarborough

Order of the suits (lowest first):

Clubs

Diamonds

Hearts

Spades

The lowest bid		One club
Next lowest bid, after one spade		One no trump
Next lowest bid, after one no trump		Two clubs
Lowest (undoubled) game hand		Three no trump

Chancellor of the Exchequer 1970, helped to invent the ACOL bidding system

Iain Macleod

Card Games

See also Bridge, Poker, Solo Whist, and Which Game?.

King shown in profile (traditionally) – thus having 'only one eye'			Diamonds
King with no moustache			Hearts
One–eyed Jacks			Spades, Hearts
Two–eyed Jacks			Diamonds, Clubs
Each Queen holds a			Flower
'The Black Lady'			Queen of Spades
'The curse of Scotland'			9 of Diamonds
'The devil's bedpost'			4 of Clubs
Diamonds in a pack			87
Baccarat: best possible score			9
Canasta: number of cards used (two packs, including Jokers)			108
Canasta: wild cards – Jokers and			Twos
Cribbage: number of points to 'peg out' (i.e. win – in a full game)			121
Cribbage: the best possible score			29
Cribbage: the only score below 24 that it's impossible to get			19
Gin rummy: number of cards dealt to each player			10
Term used in games of the rummy family (including canasta), and also in Mah Jong, to denote a completed set of cards or tiles			Meld
Hearts: term used (by Microsoft) to describe when a player wins all the penalty cards in a hand – thus scoring no points (a good thing), and inflicting a penalty on every other player (26 in the Microsoft version)			Shooting the Moon

Cluedo

Number of suspects – also the number of possible murder weapons

6

The six original suspects were:

	Reverend Green		Colonel Mustard		Mrs. Peacock
	Professor Plum		Miss Scarlett		Mrs. White

Mrs. White was replaced in 2016 by

Dr. Orchid

The six potential murder weapons are:

Candlestick

Dagger

Lead pipe

Revolver

Rope

Spanner

Number of rooms in which the murder can take place		9
Total number of cards (suspects plus murder weapons plus rooms)		21 (6 + 6 + 9)
Number of possible solutions to the murder (number of suspects, times number of murder weapons, times number of rooms)		324 (6 * 6 * 9)
Original name of the house		Tudor Close
Owner of Tudor Close and victim of the murder, in the (original) UK version		Dr. Black
Victim of the murder in the North American version		Mr. Boddy

There are two secret passages – each leading from the room in one corner of the board to the room that's diagonally opposite:

	Kitchen	is linked to the		Study
	Lounge	is linked to the		Conservatory

Dominoes

Dominoes in a set		28
Spots on a set of (double six) dominoes		168

Draughts

Squares on the board		64
Pieces at the start of a game		24
Possible opening moves for the first player (white)		7
Dominated draughts from 1955 until his death in 1995		Marion Tinsley

Mahjong

The first thing to say about Mahjong is that there are lots of different ways of spelling it. Is it Mah Jong, Mah Jongg, or Mahjong? Wikipedia currently prefers Mahjong, so I'm going along with that.

The next thing is the total number of tiles in a set:

Number of tiles in a mahjong set (standard westernised version – including winds, dragons, flowers and seasons)

144

It is possible to play Mahjong with 136 tiles; it depends whether or not you use the bonus tiles (see below). If asking quiz questions about the number of tiles in Mahjong, the safest policy is to specify that the bonus tiles are included.

I'm now going to attempt to categorise them.

Suits

108 of the tiles are suit tiles. There are three suits, nine tiles in each suit, and there are four of each tile. 3 x 9 x 4 = 108.

The three suits go under various names:

	Circles (a.k.a. wheels, stones or dots)
	Bamboos (a.k.a. bams or sticks)
	Characters (a.k.a. numbers, thousands, coins, characks, myriads, cracks or wan)

Honours

There are two sets of honours tiles: winds and dragons. There are four winds and three dragons. There are four tiles of each honour; that's 16 winds and 12 dragons, altogether.

No prizes for guessing what the four winds are (but they are traditionally listed in a different order from the one we're familiar with in the West):

East

South

West

North

You'll notice that they're listed clockwise from 3 o'clock.

The three dragons are:

Green

Red

White

There are several national flags that you might use to remember the colours of the dragons. You might think of the Italian flag, or the Mexican one; but best of all may be the Welsh flag, which has the right colours and has a dragon on it.

I'm not aware that it's in any way significant, but for what it's worth, the dragons are invariably listed in alphabetical order.

Bonus tiles

There are two sets of bonus tiles: flowers and seasons. There are four flowers and four seasons. Each flower, and each season, is associated with one of the winds:

	Wind		Flower		Season
	East		Plum		Spring
	South		Orchid		Summer
	West		Chrysanthemum		Autumn
	North		Bamboo		Winter

Notice that the seasons are in the order that they actually come round, starting with Spring. This might explain why the East wind is always listed first: because it's associated with Spring, which is in so many ways the first season of the year.

Summary

Suits	Circles		36 (9 x 4)
	Bamboos		36 (9 x 4)
	Characters		36 (9 x 4)
Honours	Winds		16 (4 x 4)
	Dragons		12 (3 x 4)
Bonus	Flowers		4
	Seasons		4
Total			144

Monopoly

Except where otherwise stated, this section is about the standard British edition of Monopoly.

It's a sure sign that the question setter is running short on inspiration, but sooner or later you're going to get asked about the squares on the Monopoly board. For example: "What's the third property in the pale blue set, after The Angel Islington and Euston Road?" If he or she is really desperate, you might even get asked about the costs of the properties. The following table should help:

Brown		£60		Old Kent Road		Whitechapel Road
Pale blue		£100		The Angel Islington		Euston Road		Pentonville Road
Pink		£140		Pall Mall		Whitehall		Northumberland Avenue
Orange		£180		Bow Street		Marlborough Street		Vine Street
Red		£220		Strand		Fleet Street		Trafalgar Square
Yellow		£260		Leicester Square		Coventry Street		Piccadilly
Green		£300		Regent Street		Oxford Street		Bond Street
Dark blue		£350		Park Lane		Mayfair

In order to save space, I've only given one price per set. This is the cost of the first property in the set. Notice that it goes up by £40 in each set (except for the last, most expensive set). The second property in the set is always the same price as the first – except in the last (dark blue) set, where Mayfair costs £400 (£50 more than Park Lane). In the three–property sets, the cost of the last property is always £20 more than the cost of the other two.

The mortgage value of each property – including the utilities and the railway stations (see below) – is half its cost.

The cost of houses is £50 on the first side of the board (the brown and pale blue sets), £100 on the second side (pink and orange), £150 on the third side (red and yellow) and £200 on the fourth side. The cost of a hotel is, in each case, the cost of a house plus four houses. For example: on Old Kent Road a hotel costs £50 plus four houses; on Mayfair, a hotel costs £200 plus four houses.

I was once asked what the rent was on Old Kent Road (site only). I don't think I've ever been asked about the rent on any other property, and I hope I never will be.  But for the record, I've given the rents for Old Kent Road and Mayfair – site only and with a hotel, in each case – in the table below. For the ones in between (and for the rents with 1, 2, 3 or 4 houses) there is no recognisable system – and hopefully no one would expect you to carry all 132 figures (six for each of 22 properties) around in your head.

And apropos of nothing, the biggest percentage jump in rent is when you add a third house – ranging from 200% on Old Kent Road (£30 to £90), and indeed on any of the first seven properties (£150 to £450 on Pall Mall and Whitehall) down to 133% on Mayfair (£600 to £1,400).

Each player starts with		£1,500
The bank note with the highest value		£500
Cost of a house on Old Kent Road		£50
Cost of a house on Mayfair		£200
Cost of the stations (each)		£200
Cost of the utilities (Water and Electric companies – each)		£150
The number of properties that you can build houses on		22
The number of properties that you can buy		28

There are six sets of three properties and two sets of two, plus four stations and two utilities.

The first property, alphabetically (ignoring the definite article)		The Angel, Islington
Named after the inn where the compilers of the British version of the game had lunch while researching locations in London
The first property, alphabetically – if the definite article (see above) is ignored		Bond Street
Diagonally opposite to Go		Free Parking
The first property you can land on, and the only one you can build houses on that's south of the Thames		Old Kent Road
The last property, alphabetically		Whitehall

Jail is between		Pentonville Road and Pall Mall
Free Parking is between		Vine Street and Strand
"Go to Jail" is between		Piccadilly and Regent Street

Income Tax (between Whitechapel Road and Kings Cross Station)		£200
Super Tax (between Park Lane and Mayfair)		£100
Rent on Old Kent Roat (site only)		£2
Rent on Old Kent Road (with a hotel)		£250
Rent on Mayfair (site only)		£50
Rent on Mayfair (with a hotel)		£2,000

Rent on a utility – if the landlord only owns one		4 times amount shown on dice
Rent on a utility – if the landlord owns both		10 times amount shown on dice

The four stations, in order around the board (starting from Go) are:

King's Cross

Marylebone

Fenchurch St.

Liverpool St.

The rent on a station is £25 if the landlord only owns one station, doubling up with every additional station to £200 if he or she owns all four (£50 if two are owned, £100 if three).

The following tables show the penalties or rewards detailed on the Chance and Community Chest cards, respectively – from the most expensive to the most rewarding, in each case:

Chance

If elected Chairman of the Board, you must pay each player		£50
Cost of repairs to a hotel		£100
Cost of repairs to a house		£25
Poor tax		£15
Bank dividend		£50
If your building loan matures, you receive		£150

Community Chest

School fees		£150
Cost of repairs to a hotel		£115
Hospital fees		£100
Doctor's fee		£50
Insurance premium		£50
Cost of repairs to a house		£40
Prize for coming second in a beauty contest		£10
Income tax refund		£20
Amount you might receive "for services"		£25
Proceeds from sale of stock		£50
The amount you might inherit		£100
If your Christmas fund matures, you receive		£100
If there's a bank error in your favour, you receive		£200
Amount you collect from each player for the opening night of your opera		£50

Playing Pieces

As with Cluedo, questions about the playing pieces (or 'tokens') do come up occasionally – especially when they change, as they often do.

The original six tokens were a cannon, a thimble, a top hat, an iron, a battleship, and a boot. Soon afterwards a seven–piece set was made available by the addition of a racing car, then an eight–piece set which included a purse (which may or may not be what we in Great Britain would call a wallet). There was then a ten–piece set, which included a lantern and a rocking horse; these are said to be especially hard to find nowadays.

The current standard Monopoly set includes the following eight tokens, in the order of their first introduction (as far as I can make out):

	Top hat		Battleship		Racing car		Thimble
	Scottie dog		Cat		Penguin		Rubber duck

The cannon was replaced by the howitzer in 1946; the car with driver, aeroplane, lantern, rocking horse and purse (or wallet) were all retired in the 1950s. The horse and rider, howitzer, and sack of money were retired in 2007.

The iron was replaced by the cat in 2013. The thimble, wheelbarrow and boot were replaced in 2017 by the penguin, the t–rex and the rubber duck. But the iron made a return in 2022, replacing the t–rex – making the latter the shortest–lived piece in the game's history.

This subsection on the Monopoly playing pieces summarises a page on the Monopoly Wiki. If you want to know more, or see pictures, please click here.

Other

Resort city in New Jersey (known for its casinos, boardwalk and beach) in which the American version of Monopoly is set		Atlantic City
The square that's known as Super Tax in the UK version is known in the standard US version as		Luxury Tax

Properties that are the same in the British and American versions		Utilities (Electric Co., Water Works)
The only property whose name includes all of the letters in the word Monopoly		Electric Company

Poker

Ranking of Hands

1.	A, K, Q, J and 10, all in the same suit		Royal flush
2.	Five consecutive cards, all in the same suit		Straight (or running) flush
3.	All four cards of the same rank		Four of a kind
4.	Three cards of one rank and two of another (three of a kind and a pair)		Full house
5.	Any five cards of the same suit, but not in a sequence		Flush
6.	Five cards in a sequence, but not of the same suit		Straight
7.	Three cards of the same rank		Three of a kind
8.	Two different pairs		Two pair
9.	Two cards of the same rank		Pair
10.	None of the above (highest card plays)		High card

Other

Initial stake in each hand		Ante
Stud poker: number of cards dealt face down (to each player)		4
2 black Aces, 2 black 8s, Queen of Hearts (as held by Wild Bill Hickok when shot)		Dead man's hand
Lowest 'combination' hand		Pair of 2s
Nicknames, in Texas Hold 'Em (where each player gets two cards face down, and five 'community cards' are dealt face up), include: Big Slick, Space Cowboy, Walking Back to Houston, Big Ugly, Santa Barabara, Ass Kicker, Machine Gun, and Big Slick in a Suit (if suited)		Ace and King
Presented as a trophy to the winner of a World Series of Poker tournament		Bracelet

Roulette

Highest number on the wheel		36
Numbers on a European wheel (including French and British)		37
Numbers on an American wheel		38
Total of all the numbers on a roulette wheel (1–36)		666
Numbers 1–18		Manque
Numbers 19–36		Passe
(Background) colour of the zero on the wheel – and the double zero on an American wheel (others are red or black)		Green
Number to the left of the zero (anti–clockwise), on a single–zero European wheel		26
Number to the right of the zero (clockwise), on a single–zero European wheel		32

Scrabble

These notes refer to the English edition of Scrabble. Other editions may differ.

Manufacturer (in the UK)		Spear's
Squares on a Scrabble board		225 (15 x 15)
Number of Triple Word squares		8
Number of Double Word squares (including the centre square)		17
Number of Triple Letter squares		12
Number of Double Letter squares		24
Colour of the Triple Word squares		Red
Colour of the Double Word squares		Pink
Colour of the Triple Letter squares		Deep blue
Colour of the Double Letter squares		Pale blue
Number of tiles each player has at the start of each turn (until they start to run out)		7
Bonus points for using all seven tiles		50
The two letters that score 10		Q, Z
The two letters that score 8		J, X
The only letter that scores 5		K
The five letters that score 4		F, H, V, W, Y
The four letters that score 3		B, C, M, P
The two letters that score 2		D, G
The five consonants that score 1		L, N, R, S, T
Number of tiles (including the two blanks)		100

Letter distribution:

E	A	I	O	N	R	T	D	L	S	U	G	B	C	F	H	M	P	V	W	Y	J	K	Q	X	Z
12	9	9	8	6	6	6	4	4	4	4	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1

Solo Whist (a.k.a. Solo)

Number of tricks you undertake to make, if you bid solo		5
Bid where two players undertake to win 8 tricks between them		Prop and cop
Bid that undertakes to make 9 tricks, choosing trumps		Abundance
Bid that undertakes to make 9 tricks without changing trumps		Royal Abundance
Bid that undertakes to make all 13 tricks		Abundance declared
Bid that undertakes to make no tricks		Misère
Bid that undertakes to make no tricks, with the bidder's cards placed face up on the table after the first trick is complete		Misère ouverte

Trivial Pursuit

The categories in the original (Genus) edition of Trivial Pursuit – and also in the Genus II edition – were:

Blue		Geography
Pink		Entertainment
Yellow		History
Brown		Art & Literature
Green		Science & Nature
Orange		Sports & Leisure

Other Games

Bingo: number of numbers on a card or ticket

15

Connect Four	Number of columns		Seven
	Number of rows		Six
Go: the first computer program to beat a 9–dan professional in a five–game match (2016 – having previously become the first to beat a professional human player without handicaps on a full–sized 19 x 19 board)			AlphaGo
Hopscotch: the 'scotch' refers to the			Lines or scratches
Jenga: number of blocks at the start of the game			54
Petanque: cochonnet is the French term for the			Jack
Shove ha'penny: number of beds on the board			9
Snakes & Ladders: number of squares on a standard board			100
Table football: team formation	Defence (full–backs)		2
	Midfield (half–backs)		5
	Strikers (forwards)		3

Which Game?

US variant of backgammon, where a throw of 2 and 1 gives the player extra benefits (there is also a card game with more or less the same name)		Acey–deucey
Card game, for two or three players or two partnerships: the object is to win special scoring values for the highest trump, the lowest trump, the jack, the ace, the ten, and the face cards; a.k.a. high–low–jack, old sledge, pitch, seven–up		All fours
Chemin de Fer – a card game – is a variety of		Baccarat
Doubling cube: used in		Backgammon
Card game, derived from piquet and originating in 19th–century France: uses 64 cards (two packs, with all cards up to the 6s, not including the Aces, removed)		Bezique
Keno is a modern US version (played in casinos) of		Bingo
American name for the game of Twenty–One, or Vingt–et–un – closely related to Pontoon, and said (by Wikipedia) to be the most widely played casino banking game in the world; possibly inspired by the miners' name for sphalerite (the most common ore of zinc)		Blackjack
Introduced by Parker Brothers in 1972: involves making up words from sequences of letters displayed on sixteen dice arranged in a 4 x 4 formation		Boggle
Collective name used in France for games played with metal balls, including pétanque		Boules
Stayman, Blackwood and Jacoby transfer are 'conventions' used in		(Contract) Bridge
The Bermuda Bowl is a biennial world championship tournament in
The Howell Movement and the Mitchell Movement are used in		(Duplicate) Bridge
Card game, named after the Spanish word for a basket		Canasta
Board game, with video spin–offs, named after a fortified mediaeval city in southern France		Carcassonne
Traditional children's game involving looping string around the fingers		Cat's cradle
Ruy Lopez is a strategy used in		Chess
The Elo system is used to rate players in various games and some team sports, but it was invented for
A "patzer" is an inexperienced or poor player in
Shogi is a Japanese version of
Game for up to six players: the object is to move each of 10 marbles to the opposite point of a six–pointed star; invented in Germany in 1893 – name is of US origin		Chinese Chequers
Card game – a variety of all fours – in which the five of trumps ranks highest; name (possibly from the Spanish word for "five") also means an easy task, or a strong girth for a saddle		Cinch
Invented during World War II by Anthony Pratt, a clerk from Birmingham		Cluedo
Said (by John Aubrey, author of Brief Lives) to have been invented by Sir John Suckling, poet at Charles I's court		Cribbage
Points are scored for pairs, triples, quadruples, runs and flushes, and for combinations that add up to fifteen
A player might also score "one for his nob", in
First appeared (in its modern format) in the New York World in 1913 – compiled by Arthur Wynn, a journalist from Liverpool		Crossword puzzle
Variously known as African Dominoes or The Devil's Bones		Dice
Name said to derive from Venetian carnival masks (white with black spots), which in turn are named after the hoods worn in winter by French priests; comes ultimately from the Latin for "lord" or "master"; varieties include Blind Hughie, Honest John, Sebastopol, Into the Woods, Fives and Threes, All Fives, Block, Fortress, Concentration		Dominoes
The game of skimming stones is also known as		Ducks and Drakes
Board game devised by Pat Reid, based on his wartime experiences, and released in 1973; coincided with a BBC TV drama series on the same subject (first broadcast from 1972 to 1974), in which a character apparently based on Reid was played by Edward Hardwicke		Escape from Colditz
Outdoor recreational activity, created by Dave Ulmer of Oregon, in the year 2000: participants use GPS and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers at specified locations		Geocaching
Ancient board game of Chinese origin (also popular in Korea and Japan for around 1500 years); played on a grid of black lines (typically 19 x 19), players place stones on the intersections and attempt to surround each other's stones		Go
Known as laylay in Iran, kith–kith in India, amarelinha in Brazil, peevers in Glasgow, potsy in New York		Hopscotch
"Game of physical skill": name is derived from a Swahili word meaning 'to build'		Jenga
Japanese name for a US–originated puzzle, played on a grid similar to a crossword, where the numbers in each set of squares must add up to a specified total – originally known as Cross Sums		Kakuro
Name is Latin for 'I play'; derived from the ancient Indian game of pachisi, known as 'the royal game of India'; a similar game called Parcheesi is marketed in the USA; see also Sorry!		Ludo
Also known as the Game of the Four Winds; its more familiar name means 'sparrows'		Mahjong
Invented by Charles Darrow in 1934		Monopoly
Its mascot was originally known as Rich Uncle Pennybags – possibly based on the influential US financier and banker J. P. Morgan (1837–1913) – officially renamed (after the game itself) in 1999
Reputedly banned by Fidel Castro in Cuba, and in the Soviet Union
Known in America as Tic Tac Toe		Noughts & Crosses
Strategy board game, first manufactured in 1973 – originally in Japan: based on Reversi, which was popular in the late 19th century; also has a lot in common with the traditional Japanese game Go; named after a Shakespeare play; uses 64 double–sided 'stones' (one side black, one white)		Othello
Precursor of croquet – popular in the 16th and 17th centuries – with two iron arches, one at either end of the playing area (alley), through which players hit a wooden ball by using a mallet. Gave its name to a famous London thoroughfare (there are various other spellings); mentioned in Pepys's diary and Johnson's dictionary		Pall mall
Card game, known in America (since some time in the 20th century) as solitaire		Patience
Miss Milligan is a type of
One of the oldest card games still being played (according to Wikipedia – mentioned by Rabelais in 1535): played with 32 cards (all cards up to the 6s, not including the Aces, are removed)		Piquet
Introduced to Britain 1876 by the US ambassador, Robert C. Schenck; stud, draw and community card are the three main varieties of		Poker
Texas Hold 'em, Omaha, Short Deck, Crazy Pineapple and Razz are variants of
World championships held at Day's Lock, on the River Thames near Oxford, annually from 1984 to 2014, and from 2015 on the Windrush near Witney (not held in 2013, 2019 or 2020)		Poohsticks
8–ball and Straight are forms of		Pool
The foot spot, the head spot and the scratch line are found on a		Pool table
Word puzzle using pictures or letters to represent words – gave its name to Ian Rankin's Edinburgh–based fictional police inspector		Rebus
Strategy board game, popular in the late 19th century: Othello (first manufactured in 1973 – originally in Japan) is a variant		Reversi
Strategy board game: introduced in 1957, and originally marketed in the UK by Waddington's; involves a political map of the world, divided into six continents and 42 territories; players attempt to take over all 42		Risk
Name is French for "little wheel"		Roulette
Invented by Alfred Butts (died 1993), who named it Criss Cross Words; he sold it to entrepreneur James Brunot, who gave it the name by which it became famous, patenting it in 1948		Scrabble
Japanese name – meaning 'generals' game' – of the Japanese variant of chess, sometimes known as Japanese chess		Shogi
Double Dutch and Dipsy Doodles are terms used in		Skipping
First published in England, in 1929, by W. H. Storey & Co.: based (like Ludo) on the traditional Indian game of pachisi		Sorry!
Name is Latin for the hobby (bird of prey)		Subbuteo
Puzzle invented in New York, 1979, as "Number Place"; published in Japan 1983, and in the UK twenty years later		Sudoku
Puzzle made by cutting a square into 5 triangles, a square and a lozenge		Tangram
Squidger is a piece of equipment, and Boondock and Squop are types of shot, in		Tiddlywinks
Games can begin with a squidge–off to see who starts
Children's card game, introduced in 1968 and relaunched in 1997: each card represents a different example of a particular type of entity (e.g. cars, aircraft, boats, dinosaurs, or characters from a popular film or television series) – typically 30 cards per pack; contestants try to win each others' cards by comparing the values of different characteristics, given on the cards		Top Trumps
Invented by Canadian journalists Scott Abbott and Chris Haney; released in 1981		Trivial Pursuit
Introduced in America in 1966: played on a plastic mat with 24 coloured circles		Twister

© Haydn Thompson 2017–24