Test your Big Apple savvy
BY JOSEPH V. AMODIO
Newsday
Joseph V. Amodio is a freelance writer.
March 24, 2004
We all have our favorites. There’s Monopoly and Clue, Scrabble and Pictionary. But native New Yorkers Patrick Martins and Toby Tumarkin looked to Trivial Pursuit when they decided to design their own board game about a longtime love: their hometown.
“That’s what’s most amazing about New York – there’s enough content in this city to merit a whole game,” says Manhattanite Martins, who, with buddy Tumarkin, scoured the city neighborhood by neighborhood, looking for odd and interesting facts to challenge and amuse players.
“I suddenly found myself reading the Taxi Cab Bill of Rights posted in cabs, or noticing that weird little footbridge going across to Ward Island,” says Tumarkin, who lives in Jackson Heights.
Trivia and timing
The 32-year-old entrepreneurs, who met at Vassar, have a knack for trivia, and timing. Though Trivial Pursuit took the game-playing public by storm back in the 1980s, throughout most of the ’90s sales of traditional games (including Monopoly, Sorry and Risk) were as flat as the boards they were played on. Video games were the hot sellers. But in the past five years, the board game biz has been revived. Sales rose 11 percent last year, according to the NPD Group, a Port Washington- based firm that tracks the games we buy.
“We have stacks of reference books in our house this high,” says Martins’ wife, Serena, gesturing from floor to waist. The research-gathering took a year and a half; producing the actual board and cards took six months. (It was made easier once they by chance met illustrator Howell Burnell of Highland Park, N.J., who’d designed board games and knew the industry.)
The New York City Trivia Game hit store shelves last December (for information, go to www.newyorkcitytriviagame.com). It sells for $39.95; a portion of the proceeds benefits Bette Midler’s New York Restoration Project.
Burnell’s board takes players on circuitous paths through Manhattan, as they field questions on landmarks, history, culture, sports and shopping. An informal quiz of some “consummate New Yorkers” revealed that most of the questions are moderately tough, some easy. A few (like “What club describes itself as the ‘jazz capital of the world’?” Answer: Blue Note) are just clunkers. “Well, that’s blatant PR – it could be any club,” says Barry Lewis, the architectural historian known for his “walking tour” documentaries on PBS.
A question of conversation
Most questions, however, inspired good conversation. A question about Lower East Side pickle vendors prompted memories from Lewis’ youth. “There’s nothing like a sour pickle,” he recalls fondly.
A question about “Little Odessa” reminded Manhattan songwriter Amanda Green of her Russian ancestors. A query about a popular cabaret space cued her tale of a show she performed there. And the address of Tower Records’ flagship store? Well I oughta know that,” says Green (her CD, “Put A Little Love in Your Mouth,” is on sale there).
Such stories are vintage New York, and will always change depending on the players – a bonus to this venture that likely pleases the game boys who made it.
“I hope even if people get a question wrong, they’re inspired to explore, check out the right answer and find out something new about the city,” says Bronx native Brian Andersson, commissioner of the department of records and information services. As resident archivist, the pressure was on – and Mayor Michael Bloomberg may be happy to learn Andersson got four out of five answers right. (See accompanying story. )
But which questions are easy or tough depends on those playing. The best part of the game is when one must draw from a deck of “New York Moment” cards: Spotting celebrities, finding an apartment sans broker’s fee and getting your kid into the right nursery school jumps you forward; snotty bouncers, gridlock when the president’s in town, and snoozing past your subway stop all set you back.
Now that’s the true game of city life.
The beauty of New York, of course, is that each new day brings another roll of the dice.
