Popular Music: From Tin Pan Alley to Michael Jackson

William Andrews was a librarian at Runnymede Public Library, Toronto.

The fad continues: here are four more trivia games. These four paperbacks are called Ultimate Trivia and one hopes that they are! Put out by Penguin, these four books seem a good buy if you like this sort of thing. The games are played substantially like the board game but all you need is a book, a pencil, and dice. The dice are rolled and the resulting number combination designates the page number and the set of questions to be answered; the player then selects his subject of preference, much as in the board game. The winning player is the one who reaches a total score of thirteen by answering a sufficient number of questions graded in value. The answers to the questions are conveniently found on the back of the page with the questions.

The authors have compiled more than two thousand questions in each of the books on four general areas of entertainment or social interest. The reviewer found the questions in the Television book to be quite difficult. Although the paperback is easy to use and the game is convenient to play while, say, travelling on the subway or a streetcar, one questions whether the paperbacks will stand up to much usage. The authors, however, have thought of this, for they give a means by which the paperbacks can be cut up into sections and used in conjunction with the board game. The books do cover areas not covered by other trivia games: one book devoted to questions on topics of interest to women (For Women’s Eyes Only), and another kids will find interesting (Kids’ Stuff). On the whole, a good buy for the money.