Put On Your Guessing Hat With ‘Half Truths: Second Chance’ – Trivia Game Live on Kickstarter
The “Best Guess” Trivia game is back with more questions and brand new ways to play—check out Half Truths: Second Chance.
Welcome in, Gamers! I’m a huge trivia fan, thanks to a cocktail of neurodivergence and being a competitive gamer from a young age. However, pulling out random tidbits of information isn’t for everyone. Sometimes, you need to give your best guess.
Thankfully, there’s a game that combines all the thrill of live trivia and the approachability of a multiple-choice game—introducing Half Truths: Second Chance, the follow-up to the fantastic Half Truth board game by Jeopardy host Ken Jennings and Richard Garfield. I got to sit down with Garfield, who our readers should recognize as the creator of Magic: the Gathering, to talk about the new game and what makes it better than the last.
Second Verse, Better Than the First
Of course, I first wanted to know what makes this game better than the last one. First, this game will feature more cards, which means more opportunities for players to find an area they’re familiar with. The biggest draw, though, is the opportunity for team play.
Players can group up into small teams as they would at a Bar Trivia night and answer the questions together. This means more players around the table, more chances to win big, and more chances to lose it all. All in all, it puts the “party” back into the party game.
What Are We Asking?
Garfield quickly explained how he and Jennings laid out the questions for the game. A trivia junkie would excel at a game like this, and they wanted to make a broader game that more people could succeed at. That led to the six-answer system, with four correct and two incorrect answers.
Players could eliminate answers they knew didn’t fit or take a risk and take a shot in the dark for big points. The more correct answers they lock in, the higher their point total goes. However, if even one answer they chose is incorrect, all the points are nullified, forfeiting the question. That puts more emphasis on guessing, so long as you’re willing to take a risk.
In addition, Garfield and Jennings wanted to ensure the game was accessible to everyone. One example question was, “Which of these are brands of Japanese soda?” While not everyone would know the answer to that question, even a trivia hound, someone who spent time in Japan or loves Japanese culture might be able to suss out at least a few answers.
Garfield told me he invited Jennings over to play, and though he won the first round, he wasn’t as successful in round two. If even a multiple-time Jeopardy champion couldn’t win every time, the game must be reasonably balanced.
Happy guessing!