Invented in 1979 by Scott Abbott and Chris Haney, the game Trivial Pursuit has a long history. Time Magazine even called Trivial Pursuit "the biggest phenomenon in game history." Abbott and Haney came up with the original idea for the groundbreaking game Trivial Pursuit while playing another game: Scrabble. It took them two years to develop the game, and it was finally released to the public in 1981.  Joining with Ed Werner and John Haney (Chris's brother), the four formed the company called Horn Abbott. When they first started selling Trivial Pursuit, the cost of manufacturing the game was five times the amount it was selling for. Obviously, even though initially taking a loss on sales, Horn Abbott and Trivia Pursuit eventually became hugely successful, selling 20 million copies in the United States and Canada in 1984 alone. In 1988, Parker Brothers secured the rights to the game. In 1992, Parker Brothers was acquired by Hasbro, Inc, and Trivia Pursuit has been at home there ever since. The game has enjoyed a long legacy, and in 1993, Games Magazine inducted Trivia Pursuit into the "Games Hall of Fame." 

Today, new players are being introduced to Trivial Pursuit every day, and it seems like the game will never lose its appeal. There are many different variations of Trivial Pursuit games, including Trivial Pursuit: DVD Pop Culture, which focuses the trivia questions in the game on pop culture events of the current time, including celebrity gossip, popular TV shows, movies, music, and fashions, and even uses a DVD to provide some questions and answers. There are also other themed versions of the game, like Trivial Pursuit: Lord of the Rings, which replaces all the facts in the game with questions and trivia about the recent Peter Jackson trilogy of movies based on the classic J.R.R. Tolkein novels. There are also versions that focus on the series of Star Wars movies, trivia about the long-running sketch comedy show "Saturday Night Live", and even one version designed exclusively for kids. For the more intellectual crowd, there's a version for book lovers, and of course the original version of the game, with general questions on topics ranging from science to history to sports, is still available.

The game truly was a phenomenon, as Time Magazine said. It not only went on to take on the many forms mentioned above, but it also paved the way for many other trivia-based board games, some legitimate in their own right, and others simply rip-offs of the original. One of the most popular games to be inspired by Trivial Pursuit is You Don't Know Jack, which itself has survived for many years and inspired several spin-off versions. But Trivia Pursuit can be recognized as the original game that started the craze. It continues to sell today, and as long as there is still trivia to be told, it shows no sign of slowing down. 

Hasbro has been able to keep the brand fresh and popular even 25 years after it debuted by introducing different Trivial Pursuit games that are timely and appropriate.