The Big Bang Theory - Fact or Fiction Trivia Game

Though I've had this game since Christmas, I've sadly only been able to play it twice. But if I had more people around who were interested, I would definitely be playing more often!

The game is for a group of 2 - 8 players - you can play as Leonard, Sheldon, Howard, Raj, Penny, Bernadette, Amy, or the out-of-order elevator. Your goal is to move around the game board and collect Character Cards by correctly answering trivia questions. The first person to collect all five Character Cards wins!

There are four different types of spaces on the board - Fact; Fiction; Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock; and what I'll call Miscellaneous.

When you land on a Fact or Fiction space, you draw a card from the corresponding deck, and try to answer the question. Fact cards will ask you about science, math, or trivia about The Big Bang Theory. Fiction cards ask questions about the guys' various interests, such as comic books and video games (though a general knowledge of these topics won't be much help - the questions are still closely tied to scenes from the TV show). On occasion the question may require you to draw something, which you can do on the included pad of paper.

If you answer correctly, you draw a Character Card. Each card features one of the four guys or Penny, and as a nice touch also includes a random fact about the character.

By landing on a Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock space, you challenge another player to a round of the game. Whoever wins gets to take one of the loser's character cards. Additionally, if there is ever a dispute with a Fact or Fiction card over whether or not a player's answer is correct, the rules also call for a round of RPSLS to settle the argument.

Finally, the Miscellaneous spots might tell you to roll again, move extra spaces, or even lose a turn (such as "You received extra funding, ROLL AGAIN!").

You can move in any direction on the board, so my sisters and I found it pretty easy to avoid any undesirable spaces. Likewise, if you find yourself preferring Fact to Fiction, or vice versa, chances are you'll be able to land on the space of your choice. On the whole I found the questions pretty easy to answer, but my sisters (who have seen just about all the episodes, but haven't rewatched as often) had more difficulty.

Our first game ended rather quickly when I collected my five Character Cards in only six turns. The second lasted a little longer, when I ended up with more duplicates. So if you're playing with a small group, I might suggest modifying the rules to make it a little harder to win - perhaps by collecting two of each character card - to keep the game going longer.

With a list price of just $19.99 (and currently $15.19 on Amazon), I fully recommend picking this up if you have the chance!