Trivial Pursuit Creator Dies

By Mark Lorenz on June 1st, 2010

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Today, the world will mourn the loss of a man who gave us an insane amount of conflict – the founder of Trivial Pursuit.

In my house, playing Trivial Pursuit would always lead to blows. Or almost blows, or tears of inadequacy. Or frustration, shots of wild turkey, and more blows. But the game, invented by a former journalist, Chris Haney, was one of the most popular ones ever created. He teamed up with Scott Abbott, another fellow journalist, and created the game in the 1970’s. Whilst playing Scrabble. They decided that they’d be able make up a better board-game than Scrabble, and by the end of the night, they had. They later sold the rights to Hasbro for 80 million dollars in 2008.

They recruited a photographer from their own newspaper bureau to help fund the project. Haney followed up the board game with building golf courses, and generally leading a quiet life with his wife and their three grown children.

I have nothing but respect for people who have good ideas, develop them, and don’t spend the rest of their time trying to flash that to the rest of the world. Rest in peace, Haney. You’ve spurred on the best kind of conflicts.

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