Trivia

Related terms:	Pub Quiz
See also:	Trivial Pursuit-Ship!, Trivial Pursuit,
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Trivia is a fannish activity that focuses on canon details.

a fan's Trivial Pursuit homage to a game card at her fiction site, Yahtzee Genre Edition

Many fans enjoy trivia (both creating it and answering it) as a way to display their knowledge of a show, book, or film. Arguing about the results or answers can also be a popular past time.

Fans both created and participated in trivia tests and quizzes in print zines, online on websites, and as a convention activity. Solicitation of trivia was a way to get fans engaged. From a zine editor in 1977: "Are you a trivia freak? Think up the hardest questions you can and send them to us." Including the answers in a future issue of a zine could also be a way to drum up interest and sales. From a fan in 1980: "The trivia quizzes were challenging... I liked, too, having the answers close at hand, not in some future issue."

Creating and reading fanworks such as compendiums, credit lists, and other fannish resources.

The quizzes in print zines generally did not award prizes and were mostly done for fun. Sometimes nominal prizes such as a free zine or used fannish items were awarded.

Trivia contests at conventions were a very common event, and sometimes the outcomes could become quite heated.

Trivia as Fanac

Some fans specialize in knowing trivia and focus on it as a fan activity.

From a 2000 description of a fan's website:

This site just keeps getting better, as Bill adds more and more of the fascinating trivia for which he is famous--or at least notorious--on the U.N.C.L.E. listservs.

A Tiny Sample of Trivia Events at Cons

• ShadowCon (1977-98)
• some Zebracons, including one in 1987
• My Hero Convention (My Hero Academia) (2023)

Fan Comments

1980

STARDATE #3 also contained, among other things, pages and pages of trivia. Almost too much since a number of questions were asked about original scripts that not too many people have had the chance to see. But I will admit that these may be good for those interested in wanting to know everything about the episodes.

1981

Trivia is, to most people, a word that implies a dull and uninteresting subject which is, by dictionary definition, of little consequence. For others, however, the study of trivia holds a strange, almost compelling fascination. They seem to be driven to search out and record facts which no one else has yet seemed to have discovered or written down — no matter how "trivial" those facts may, at first appear! Why?

Why climb that "unclimbable" peak? Why explore the trackless jungle, across the arid desert, or dive to depths never challenged before? Or why must men leave the safety of the Earth and go forward into space? Why pursue that unique fact no matter how important it might be — or might not be?

The challenge! The chance to be different from everyone else! The chance at a brief moment of glory! For those of us who will never climb anything tougher than a hill, explore any jungleless trackless than our own unmown lawns, or dive any lower than the bottom of our bathtubs, the pursuit of unique facts, even if it's confined to the local library or our own collection of books, provides an outlet for the desire to be unique ourselves.

Especially Popular in Blake's 7 Fandom

Fans played a lot of the official board game, Trivial Pursuit, at Blake's 7 conventions. This was due to Paul Darrow's frequent participation with fans.

A Blake's 7 fan game is Trivial Pursuit-Ship!.

Especially Popular in Star Trek Fandom

• Cheree Cargill - "Library Computer DC General" of the STW where she was in charge of Star Trek trivia and general questions for the newsletter.
• Fleet - various feedback responses mentioning the trivia page.

Print Zine Examples

• 
  from Stardate #2, an example of a very short trivia quiz (1979)
• 
  from Blond Blintz Bulletin (Starsky & Hutch) (1979)
• 
  from Blond Blintz Bulletin (Starsky & Hutch) (1979)
• 
  from EASTA #3 (1985)
• 
  from Trivial Pursuit-Ship! (1988)
• 
  from The Spiral Staircase #2 (Beauty and the Beast (TV) (1990)

Online Examples

• AOL Star Wars Trivia (1995)
• Trivia Tuesday , an activity hosted by ao3commentoftheday
• Potatoverse: Small Potatoes Series Trivia Quiz and Chicagofic Trivia Quiz
• Red Dwarf Trivia Quiz Championship Edition (video)
• Red Dwarf Trivia Quiz
• Brit Trivia
• Varda the Message's "A Daily Dose of Velvet Goldmine Trivia"
• The DS9 Encyclopedia & Lexicon - maintained by Tracy Hemenover

Convention Activity Examples

• 
  page 1 of the Star Trek trivia quiz for Shore Leave (1981)
• 
  page 2 of the Star Trek trivia quiz for Shore Leave (1981)
• 
  page 3 of the Star Trek trivia quiz for Shore Leave (1981)
• 
  page 4 of the Star Trek trivia quiz for Shore Leave (1981)

Fanwork Examples

• The Trekkie Book of Fun (1974-1975)
• The All New Star Trek Book of Trivia (1975)
• Star Trek Trivia Game Book (1976)
• The Edge of Forever Book of Trivia (1977)
• Trivial Pursuit-Ship! (1988)
• Dark Shadows Trivia Calendar (1989)
• The Dark Shadows Book of Questions and Answers (1990-95)
• Professional Insight (1990)
• The Ultimate Star Trek Trivia Game Book (1991)
• The Forever Knight Trivia Book (1990s)

Meta

• Trivia and the Star Trek Fan by Sheila Griffin (1981)