''Facts in Five: The Game of Knowledge'' is a trivia game for two or more players, designed in 1964 by Rick Onanian. The game is based on the parlor game

Categories Category, plural categories, may refer to: Philosophy and general uses *Categorization, categories in cognitive science, information science and generally *Category of being *Categories (Aristotle), ''Categories'' (Aristotle) *Category (Kant) ...

. Onanian got the idea for ''Facts in Five'' after reading in the newspaper supplement '' This Week'' that Categories was the favorite word game of the recently deceased President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

. Each game set includes a number of cards, each containing one or more ''Class''; within each Class may be one or more ''Category''. The game also includes tiles, one for each letter of the alphabet, a five-minute sand timer, and scorecards. A round of the game begins with players taking turns drawing cards and selecting a Category (or a Class, on certain cards). Five Categories are selected this way. Next, players draw five letter tiles in turn, and the timer is started. Before the timer runs out, players must write down at most one entry for each category/beginning-letter pair (thus, a maximum of 25 answers). Five rounds make up a complete game, with scoring based on the number of valid answers given. It was originally published in 1964 by Advanced Ideas Co of

Arlington, Massachusetts Arlington is a New England town, town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. The town is six miles (10 km) northwest of Boston, Massachusetts, Boston, and its population was 46,308 at the 2020 census. History ...

. In

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

, Facts in Five was acquired by the

3M Company 3M (originally the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company) is an American multinational conglomerate operating in the fields of industry, worker safety, U.S. health care, and consumer goods. The company produces over 60,000 products under ...

for its bookshelf game series. In 1976, 3M divested its game business to

Avalon Hill Avalon Hill Games Inc. is a game company that publishes wargames and strategic board games. It has also published miniature wargaming rules, role-playing games and sports simulations. It is a subsidiary of Hasbro, and operates under the company' ...

of Baltimore, which published it until 1998, when it disbanded.

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of ...

bought the rights to Avalon Hill's games, but stopped publishing ''Facts in Five''; the rights reverted to the game's inventor, Rick Onanian. In 2007, a new edition was published by University Games. ''Computer Facts in Five'', a video game adaptation of ''Facts in Five'', was published by Avalon Hill in 1982.

References

External links

* {{3M bookshelf games Quiz games 3M bookshelf game series