iPhone trivia apps

One of the great things about rounding up a group of like-applications is that after a while it often becomes obvious which is the best among those apps -- it's the one you keep returning to, to "test" some more. Which is what happened when I was assigned to test a trio of iPhone trivia games. I kept returning to ""Ben Stein: It's Trivial. The $3 game from Griptonite Games is the most fun of the three I tested. And it seems to be literally less trivial than the other games. The questions and answers are interesting, and there's a goal, achievable by any player: steal Ben Stein's stuff.

You steal his stuff by accumulating points, and you accumulate points by answering questions in four categories: pop culture, natural wonders, sports, and "random Steinage." Along the way there are opportunities to win bonus points by answering certain questions correctly, and these points accumulate into the hundreds of thousands. Stein's stuff is random, and has different point values: a gazebo costs only 125,000 points, while a space capsule is 275,000 and a treasure chest tops the list at 1,000,000 points. There are three unpriced items: Ben's glasses, Ben's suit, and Ben's mansion.

Clearly, your mission is to totally wipe Ben out. The questions get progressively harder as the game progresses, and you can win extra points based on how quickly you answer. The game is accompanied by circus-like music, and a bobble-head version of Stein makes facial expressions and sarcastic comments on your answers. These get repetitive and tiring after an hour or so of play, but you have the option to turn off the "sound effects" and music.

According to the game's developers, It's Trivial includes more than 1,200 questions, and additional "theme packs" are on the way. This number of questions isn't enough to prevent repeats after an hour or so of play. More are needed in the regular version of the game to move it from the "very good" to "excellent" category.

Besides the terrific questions, Ben Stein: It's Trivial has also been well-produced. It has a slick, intuitive, and fun interface.

Mr. Trivia from Iron Square is not so much fun. The $2 game includes more than 700 questions--not many, considering the speed of play; at the same time, it boasts "300+ faux prizes," which are silly and tiresome (A year at boot camp. Books on Objective C programming. A year's supply of lipstick. Does it matter?).

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