Time Troopers by BEqual, “Smart Games For Family Fun,” is a DVD based trivia game, along the lines of Trivial Pursuit DVD, but without the pies, and about history, as it is published in cooperation with the History Channel. The classic spoke wheel is replaced by a spiral galaxy-like spinning wheel. John Cleese hosts the show as Agent Wormold of IM6, an obvious play on MI-6, the British Intelligence Agency. The subjects include geography, politics, history, names, places, and people.
Bequal is trying to make a product that inspires the whole family to spend time together, and learn together. Let’s see if they accomplish their mission.
You can play an Individual game, which is competition, or for our politically correct, “no one is a loser” crowd, everyone can be on the same team. Up to 4 players can play in three possible ranks:
Cadet: Ages 6-9
Captain: Ages 10-13
Commander: Adults
Options include:
Dynamic Leveler: Increase or decrease level based on player performance.
Time limit: 10, 20, 30 minutes, or no time limit.
The Tips does a good job of teaching about the specifics of game play.
Not all questions are videos, but the videos used are of high quality. Some are reenactments, some are paintings in Ken Burns style, but most are real videos. Sometimes two questions will use the same graphic or video, and you think you’re getting a repeat, but it turns out that the game is just taking a different angle on something. This might be that the videos are generic enough to use for multiple questions, possibly a space limitation for the DVD format.
The game play varies with different types of questions. Some are word puzzles. Some are open trivia questions, which you answer by saying out loud the answer then telling the game whether you were right or wrong. I guess honesty is important. “Side Scrollers” are multiple choice on a timer. “Wormholes” are binary choices on a timer. You get 3 questions in a row, and you get to move 1 space if you get 2 of 3 correct, 2 spaces if 3 of 3 correct. Double or Nothing allows you to move forward two spaces, with a harder question. You can select whether or not to accept the challenge.
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