| Name | Trivial Pursuit: America Plays |
| Original Run | September 2008 to present |
| Host | Christopher Knight (yes, Peter Brady all grown up) |
| Length | Half hour |
| Currently On | Syndicated (weekdays at 4:00 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. on WFXT in Boston, Massachusetts) |
| IMDB | Main entry |
Description: Trivial Pursuit: America Plays brings the current trivia boom full circle, returning to the original board game for its theme. Three studio contestants compete against each other and a "team" made up of the general public, who pose short-answer trivia questions through video recordings (a live "captain" also asks a question, but otherwise has no special power). To win, a contestant needs to not only defeat the other two competitors but outscore the "America" team. Every question has its dollar value added to the Studio pot on each correct answer and to the America pot on each incorrect answer.
Opening Round: A toss-up "All Play" question from the America team is shown, with the first contestant to buzz in getting a shot at answering. A correct answer earns a pie wedge and first shot at answering the next question. If nobody responds correctly, another toss-up question is asked. The first two studio contestants to earn wedges in three different categories advance.
Hot Pursuit Round: The two surviving contestants compete to fill in the three remaining wedges in their pies, but categories are no longer important (I suppose they made that change from the original board game to speed play up). The winner advances, and the loser goes home.
Final Round: In the Head-to-Head versus America round, the questions still have category names, but there are no wedges to earn. Six categories are randomly selected to match a fixed set of dollar amounts: $500, $1000, $2000, $3000, $4000, and $5000. The remaining contestant attempts to end up with a larger pot than the America team. The game ends when there are no more questions or the contestant can no longer catch America.
Conclusion: Trivial Pursuit: America Plays is a fun game show that gives everyone a chance at winning a little bit of cash. Because the questions are asked by people around the country, the entertainment category is heavily overweighted. The difficulty levels cover a reasonable Who Wants to Be a Millionaire gamut from super-easy-$100-ish to fairly-difficult-million-dollar-ish questions, leaning toward the easy side. The prizes are small by modern game-show standards; in-studio contestants can earn around ten to twenty thousand dollars, while players on the America team can split that amount ten to twenty ways or roughly $1,000 each.
Like The Weakest Link, the contestants work together to build the Studio pot while still hoping to win the race for pie wedges. As a viewer, you may find yourself rooting for a particular contestant or against all of the studio competitors and for America, especially if one of the video questioners hails from your area.
You can try to become a contestant if you live near Los Angeles or are willing to travel there, or you can try to join the America team by submitting a video of your question.
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