Board games have made a triumphant come back of late.
Quirky board game cafés and large-scale conventions have sprung up around the world and many new games have joined the market.
But sometimes it’s the good old games that are the best. Do you remember the countless family arguments and ‘bang your head against the wall’ moments caused by Trivial Pursuit?
For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, players have to answer questions while moving around the board, collecting coloured wedges as they go along.
A sign of its enduring popularity, Trivial Pursuit was created 40 years ago and in that time over 100 million copies have been sold in 26 countries. Keeping the format fresh, lots of different themed versions of Trivial Pursuit have hit shop shelves including Disney, Harry Potter and Friends.
Now the makers of Trivial Pursuit, Hasbro, has teamed up with a luxury hotel in Russia to offer a truly unique tourism experience where the quality of your stay depended not on the thickness of your wallet but the information in your brain.
To book into Trivial Pursuit Hotel guests had to prove their brainpower and answer a general knowledge or pop culture question on the dedicated website, then post about the stay on social media.
The fun and interactive activation started with guests asked a simple question to unlock the front door on arrival. The questions varied in difficulty, offering a once-in-a-lifetime hotel experience to those with the most obscure knowledge. The greatest luxuries included a sauna, fireplace and barbecue area and dozens of outdoor activities.
Amenities such as the bed, TV and dinner could also all be unlocked with correct answers. Good general knowledge would win guests the top of the range luxury in the two-story country house, including three bedrooms.
But not every guest enjoyed their stay. Correct answers made the difference between a king-sized bed and a camp-bed, a lobster dinner and instant noodles, and a modern home cinema system and a black and white TV from the 50s.
Located about 45km outside of Moscow in the middle of a beautiful forest, the branded hotel had signs, menus and even bath robes adorned with the iconic logo, and of course a copy of the game for guests to practice their general knowledge.
Good experience or bad, it was certainly memorable and generated lots of excitement and enthusiasm for the game.
In the past we’ve seen brands use gamified experiences to create intrigue and boost consumer engagement. T.J.Maxx launched gamified pop-up installations, while Nando’s gamified experience asked guests to collect super-sized vouchers from billboards.