Trivial Pursuit: Celebrity Edition

There's a simple reason that board games have continued to adorn our family tables during seasonal escapades over the years; they're simple. Well, the successful ones are, and Trivial Pursuit is certainly up there with some of the most iconic board game brands - so its transition to the mobile phone is perhaps not unexpected. However, this isn't a straight 'port', so to speak. Like Monopoly before it, Trivial Pursuit has undergone something of a makeover in an attempt to appeal to new audiences.

As you've probably already guessed, this 'Celebrity Edition' takes its subject material from the entertainment fueled world we now seem to live in, though it would be cruel to suggest that this is a challenge suitable for Heat magazine subscribers only – there are a few questions that hark right back to decades long passed, when films were in black and white and Big Brother was nothing more than a character in a George Orwell novel.

Essentially, this is just a remix of Trivial Pursuit, but instead of Geography, History, Science etc as the topic categories, they've been replaced by 'Career Changes', 'Before the Fame', '15 Minutes of Fame', 'Relationships', 'Memorable Moments' and 'Gossip Column', though it's fair to say that many of the game's questions could easily be suited in more than one category. Success comes from travelling around the board, and answering questions from each section successfully, earning you a coloured wedge for each category in the process.

Once all six categories have been answered correctly and your playing piece - shaped like a wheel, just as in the original - is full of the coloured wedges, your aim is to head for the central hub and answer a final, deciding question, seemingly picked at random. In this sense, Celebrity Edition is as identical to any previous version of Trivial Pursuit in terms of format and works just perfectly on the mobile, even coming complete with its own dice.

What's more, it can be played by up to six players at once, giving you the full Trivial Pursuit experience. Doing so, of course, requires you to pass the phone amongst yourselves, though given the somewhat pedestrian pace of the game, this is hardly a problem in reality. Celebrity Edition also comes with multiple choice questions, meaning there's always a one-in-four chance of you picking the right answer, even if you actually have no idea what the answer is.

Mr Goodliving has strapped on a couple of additional modes to give the game a bit of longevity, although the form of the actual questions never changes. The Time Attack mode, for instance, is almost identical to the main Classic mode, apart from two elements; questions have to be answered in a matter of seconds (though the countdown doesn't start until you look at the possible answers), with extra points being awarded if you answer in quick time, and you only have five lives. Answer five questions incorrectly, and it's game over.

This system of lives is also carried over to Survival mode, which is just an endless string of random questions seen in the main mode. Again, five lives are in the offing here, and the only task is to answer as many questions correctly before all lives are spent. Perhaps at its best when played against someone else rather than solo, it allows for a quick and easy face-off without the random element of the dice getting in the way.

Needless to say, neither of these 'new' modes ultimately changes the game fundamentally and, thankfully, even the game's subject matter manages to keeps up the franchise's grand tradition of rewarding knowledge and penalising folly, even if the world of celebrities doesn't initially appear to be University Challenge material. This is a subtle realignment of Trivial Pursuit that doesn't ruin its tried and tested formula, but also manages to makes use of the technology at its fingertips - the end-of-game statistics, showing your performance in each category, is a particular treat.

Trivial Pursuit: Celebrity Edition is exactly the game you'd expect it to be, making an appearance on the mobile with grace and distinct lack of fanfare. It won't change your life or turn you into a gamer overnight, but it will provide an entertaining stop-gap when you need one – which is as valid a pursuit as you could ever hope to find on a mobile phone.