“Here comes the fascinating world of TRIVIA, where even a right answer can catch you in a TRAP! On…” “And, here’s the host of Trivia Trap…”
BOB EUBANKS!
ANNOUNCERS: Gene Wood, Bob Hilton, Charlie O’Donnell
AIRDATES: October 8th – April 5th, 1985
CHANNEL: ABC
PACKAGER: Mark Goodson Television Productions
TAPED AT: Studio 55, ABC Television Center, Los Angeles, CA
Trivia Trap was a trivia
game that gave in a few twists, where you can learn “a little bit about everything.”
Two teams of 3 competed (Juniors vs. Seniors). To be a “Junior,” you
have to be under the age of 30, whereas if you’ve over the age of 30, even by just one day or exactly when you turn 30, you are officially
a “Senior.” Two rows
of 4 answers were revealed on monitors. The corresponding member of a team would select one of the rows, and Bob would read a
question pertaining to the row of answers. Of course, one of the answers among the 4 was the correct answer, but as a team, you had to eliminate the WRONG answers, indicated by a Bulls-eye
target. If however you find the right answer (the “Trivia Trap”), indicated by
ZIPs, that was it and the question was immediately eliminated. Every correct answer found earned $50, but if a team eliminated all 3 incorrect answers without spotting the “Trivia Trap,” the team won
$300 for themselves. After every question, the opposing team got to try a question of their own with a new set of answers replacing the empty row. Every team played 2 questions. Before the commercial break, Bob would reveal the question pertaining to the unused row of answers to the home audience and then reveal the right
answer after the break.
NEW FORMAT:
Late in the show’s run, there was a new format. First round was called “Fact or Fiction”? Starting with the returning champions team, they would select from a red or black
set of questions, and a true or false question would be asked in turn, with each correct answer
earning $25. After one player answered a question on each team, there would be another packet choice with the “Seniors” starting it off this time. After the Fact or Fiction round, the “Trivia Trap” round was completely different. Depending on who was in the lead, Bob would give out a choice of 2 categories, and the selected category went to the teams. Bob would read a question and 4 answers would be revealed. Starting with the corresponding team member, they’d say an answer, and going down the line, the other members
of the team would agree or disagree. If they agreed on the right answer, it was $200. If at least one member disagrees, and the first answer was incorrect, the question would continue. 2 agrees would win
$100, as only one person with the right answer won $50. Of course, all landing on an incorrect
answer meant no money for the team. Two sets of these questions were played for the teams until the commercial break.
THE $1,000 TRIVIA RACE:
No matter what the format was, the Trivia
Race was what determined the winner. Starting with the team in the lead, the corresponding player would select
one of 3 categories in a box and Bob would read a question
pertaining to the category. The idea was try and guess the right answer. If they don’t have the right answer, going down the line, the other
members would try to guess the right answer and save the team. If one could guess the correct answer, they won $100. If no one
had the right answer, their total was frozen and control passed on to the other team, who then had a chance to win the game. A few shows after the series began, the question values would double to $200 after the 10th question. The first team to reach $1,000
would win the game.
THE BONUS ROUND:
Ladder. The 3 winning members
of the day would be placed in an order of how well they did in the Trivia Race. The one in the first position had the option of playing or passing to a team member, depending on how well they know the row. The person to get the row would be asked a question and would have to find the right answer to win
$1,000 and a chance at $10,000 up the Trivia Ladder. If they couldn’t find
the right answer, they were eliminated for the day, though would be back on the next show. To the player(s) who had their question right with $1,000 in their pocket, they would play for
$10,000. If at least one remained, they would have to lock in their answer with a use of a private
keypad in their podium. If there was only one, they just had
to say their answer. The only way to win the $10,000 was to guess
correctly out of 4, and doing so won
the $10,000. If there was an instance where at least 2 contestants had the right answer, they would split the $10,000 amongst themselves. Champions could return until defeated or went 5 days.
FACTS:
-This was the first of Bob Eubanks’ two works with Mark Goodson, the later and last one being the 80s revival of Card Sharks, which lasted 3 years
-Trivia Trap, according to Game Show Galaxy, was the last of any Mark Goodson works until Match Game in 1990. Richard Dawson’s era of Family Feud was still running at the time Trivia Trap was on
-Former Blockbusters contestants were on this show. Addie Contreras (sp?) appeared on the pilot of Trivia Trap, as her granddaughter(?), Elizabeth “Puff” Contreras appeared on an actual show on the “Junior” team. Garrett
Mehawk(?), a young college English teacher on the “Junior” team later appeared on Blockbusters with Bill Rafferty. Future Super Greed captain who would eventually make it to Grand Slam for being on other shows as well, Phyllis Harris
was also a contestant on Trivia Trap. Another Blockbusters competitor, a retiring champion with $62,800 from 1981, Kandi Doyle
was a contestant on Trivia Trap as a Senior competitor. She, along with her teammates retired from Blockbusters with more than $54,000, but Kandi left Trivia Trap the biggest winner with $40,072. Scott Hostetler (the man famous for "Hong Kong! ALL RIGHT!!!" on Press Your Luck was also on the Junior team in the second format, and he and his team lasted 4 days as champion.
-Some sound effects were recycled from this show. The sound effect with the row of answers being revealed later became the “reveal” on Family Feud’s Fast Money round. The reveal of the Bullseye in the first format later became the opening door sound effect on Classic Concentration. And, the buzzer of picking the right answer or finding the ZIP was recycled to be used as the buzzer on The Price is Right’s Pathfinder game. Also, the fanfare from being right in any game was part of the original music score of Family Feud.
MY THOUGHTS:
Trivia Trap was a pretty good show that had a twist of answering questions. The first format really did have a nice way of answering questions. But the second format, well…that was not the way Trivia Trap was supposed to be in my personal opinion. So once the second format came around, it sounded like the show was on its last hinges. The first format really did rock the show, and I think it deserved a bit of a longer run than it really did.
FIRST FORMAT: 4.5 stars SECOND FORMAT: 3 stars
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