wikitrivia

Meet Wikitrivia: The highly addictive history game stealing Wordle’s crown

I don’t need a history degree, I’ve got a 15-point streak x


Just when you thought the Wordle hype might start to die down, another addictive phone game has blown up on social media.

People are posting screenshots of random dates and timelines on Twitter and people who aren’t terminally online are wondering: What the hell is it all coming from?

It’s from a website called Wikitrivia, where people aim to correctly order historical events from earliest to most recent. But how do you actually play? Who made it in the first place? And WHY is it all over social media?

How do I play Wikitrivia?

So, unlike Wordle, you’re actually able to play endless rounds of Wikitrivia without being timed out or forced to come back in 24 hours.

At the beginning, you’re given three lives. A historical event card will pop up in the middle of your screen, and you have to decide whether it came before or after the event on the timeline.

wikitrivia how to

Photo via Wikitrivia

You lose a life every time you place a card in the wrong order. If you guess wrongly three times, you’re out. It’s as simple as that.

Who’s the evil genius behind this addictive new game?

Wikitrivia was created by a software engineer called Tom J. Watson. According to his site, he loves to code, play badminton and watch cars going fast around a track. He’s also responsible for creating websites including BreakTimer – a “cross-platform app for managing periodic breaks.”

tom j watson

Photo via Tom J. Watson

So, why are people on Twitter loving it so much?

In short: Some of the cards look like shitposts. Not only did one card call King George V a “postage stamp designer,” but another genuinely tried to say the universe began shortly before World War II. I mean, I might’ve got a D in my History GCSE, but even I know those things aren’t true.

That being said, all trivia cards are based on Wikipedia entries. So I’ll let you come to your own conclusions on how trustworthy they are.

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