With this being the last session of the year, I decided to try something a bit different from our usual fare – a trivia game. Wits & Wagers isn’t available in the UK but I’d read enough about it to see that there were some interesting elements to it and put together a mock-up using questions from an old game called Spreadbet.

The game is pretty simple. A question is read out and everyone writes down an answer they think comes close to the real answer without going over. Everyone’s answers are revealed and sorted into numerical order and then players get the chance to bet up to $10 on which is the winning answer. Answers in the middle of the range of those suggested offer lower odds than those at the extremes. The true answer is then read out and the player who gave the winning answer is rewarded with $10 and winning bets paid off. The game continues over a number of rounds and then a final round is played where players can place an unlimited bet. (“Look out, Nige is going all in!!!) Whoever then has the most money wins.

I liked this game a lot. I’m not really a trivia game fan but W&W isn’t dependent on knowing the facts; it’s more about judgement and playing the odds. That said, it is still a trivia game and I don’t think it really suited some of the group. Inevitably, the last round saw those who were well behind betting their entire stack of chips. I did so but stupidly didn’t have the confidence to bet on my own answer. Yes, you guessed it, mine was the winner and I ended up with just that $10 reward. Phil, however, had played a few good rounds previously and didn’t need to bet everything and he emerged victorious.