Debmar-Mercury Bags Worldwide Rights to Trivial Pursuit

October 24, 2007 World Screen

LOS ANGELES, October 24: Debmar-Mercury has secured the
worldwide television distribution rights to the best-selling Hasbro brand
Trivial Pursuit, and will partner with the toys and games giant to deliver a
first-run half-hour TV version of the classic board game.

The new show, titled Trivial Pursuit: America Plays, includes a user-generated content feature and will
be offered to broadcast stations in the U.S. for rollout in fall 2008. The
format rights will be available to international territories.

Trivial Pursuit: America Plays will challenge the audience to submit Trivial Pursuit questions via
video downloads to participating station websites, making them eligible to win
money if their question is selected and stumps the in-studio competitor.
Wheeler-Sussman Productions is on board to produce the series. The company
developed the format, creating interactive elements to allow viewers to be a
part of the game from home while driving local station website participation.
The company was also involved with previous game show properties such as Sale
of the Century, Scrabble (in the U.S.), Scattergories
and MTV’s Singled Out.

Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, Trivial Pursuit
was introduced in the U.S. in 1982 and by 1984 had sold 20 million games in
that year alone. There have been numerous versions of the game released since
the launch, with more than 85 million games sold worldwide since the game was
introduced.

William Morris Agency’s Mark Itkin brokered the deal.

“Trivial Pursuit represents
an incredible opportunity to leverage a brand that is extremely popular with
multiple generations and combine it with interactive elements to bring a new
and exciting concept to the game show genre,” said Mort Marcus, a co-president
at Debmar-Mercury.

“We are excited to be working with Hasbro and look forward
to partnering on an aggressive marketing plan in support of the Trivial
Pursuit: America Plays launch,” added Ira
Bernstein, a co-president at Debmar-Mercury.

—By Kristin Brzoznowski