Homogenius - The Game - Trivia Game for GLBT Players

Gay Trivia Trivia Game - Homogenius

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By Kathy Belge, About.com Guide

Homogenius Board Game

A group of us sat down to to play Homogenius, a gay trivia game, on a rainy weekend. It's a GLBT trivia game, with a nod to Trivial Pursuit. The object of the game is to "get out of the closet" by correctly answering trivia questions about the GLBT community.

What are the rules?

The outside of the box says the game is for 2-4 players, but we found six playing pieces inside the box. Six people can easily play and even more if you team up. It also says the game is for ages 18 and up. But we see no reason to exclude younger players. There are no racy or sexual questions that we noticed.

The rules are pretty simple. Roll the die, land on a "rumor" or "potpourri" square, pick a card and answer the question correctly to move on. The first person to get to the end of the board or "out of the closet" wins.

So, what were our thoughts about this gay trivia game?

Do Gays Know Grammar?

Close up of Homogenius Board Game

We know grammar, but obviously the question writers of Homogenius do not. It may seem like a trivial matter, but this is a trivia game, after all. Note to budding game creators out there: hire an editor and a fact checker.

Apostrophes are used wrong on numerous occasions. For example, "This playwright won her 1998 Pulitzer Prize for drama for her story of a young girls' sexual abuse at the hands of her Uncle." Should be girl's. And no need to capitalize Uncle.

One of the reasons I don't like to read self-published books is because grammatical errors drive me crazy. It's hard to trust the credibility of the answers when you know they didn't take the time to even check grammar. Which brings me to my next complaint about Homogenius...

Quality Control Anyone?

Even worse than poor grammar are full blown errors. For example one question reads, "What lesbian author wrote 'Lesbian out of Carolina?'" The answer is Dorothy Allison. Dorothy Allison's famous novel is not Lesbian out of Carolina, but Bastard out of Carolina.

And then there are misspellings. Thom Filicia from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. That’s Thom with a “Th” not "Tom." It’s Eric McCormack from Will & Grace, not Eric McCormach.

The Game is Fun--Or is it?

Board of Homogenius Gay and Lesbian Board Game

Despite the complaints, we had lots of fun playing Homogenius. But I think it was more in spite of, rather than because of the actual game. Like any game, it's all about the people you play with, isn't it?

And there's a certain amount of joy to be had in looking for errors you know you'll find. Perhaps next time we play, we'll give extra credit for each grammatical and factual error. Actually, it's highly unlikely we'll play again.

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