I was over at my friends' house a few weeks ago for a barbeque and a pair of their friends brought over a copy of this vintage board game as a gift. It's basically Trivial Pursuit with a Detroit Tigers theme, and I loved just about everything about it from the hand-drawn graphic design of the box cover to the game questions themselves. I also loved imagining the creator worrying about being sued by the Tigers organization and whoever owned the rights to Trivial Pursuit. This game was released after the Tigers won the world series in 1984, and according to Wikipedia, the popularity of Trivial Pursuit peaked that year (over 20 million games were sold) so it's a perfect relic of its time.
I love the earnestness with which it was created: from the design of that great cover, to the game board itself (designed to represent "the corner" where old Tiger stadium stood). Where did the guy who made these get those little packets of dice and "Sorry" pawns in the pre-internet era? Check out the typewritten message the creator (Kevin Burnett) included with each game sold:
Oh Mr. Burnett your big plans for a Sportstrivia, Inc. empire are adorable! Here are the game rules:
I found this copy on eBay and plan on giving it to my friend Ryan for his birthday this month, out of gratitude for his introducing me to Grandpa's Pine Tar Soap. Twenty-six bars and counting, ladies.
