The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Game
Doug Larson
OCC Editor in Chief
This is the Worst-Case Scenario Survival Game!
It was published in 2001 by University Games as branded merchandise inspired by the New York Times best selling book The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook by Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht. Originally published in 1999, The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook was so popular that it spawned 11 books in a series that covered a wide range of hypothetical “survival” situations from wild animal encounters to office life.
In 2002 TBS launched a television series hosted by Mike Rowe that featured re-enactments of many of the iconic situations from the books. Stunt performers would test the efficacy of the advice featured in The Worst-Case Scenario Handbook for the pleasure of the TV audience. The show ran for only one season, but in 2010, the Discovery Channel re-imagined the Worst-Case Scenario for a new audience. Hosted by Bear Grylls, the new Worst-Case Scenario television series again failed to gather enough of an audience to last more than one season.
The popularity of the novelty book series has long since waned, but this game is a unique collector’s piece that’s worth a look. The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Game is a roll and move trivia game with a potentially deadly twist! Players wager the results of their movement roll against their ability to guess the correct answer to a wide range of “survival” related trivia questions. If a player selects the correct answer, they move forward, but if they are incorrect, the player who asked the question advances. This means that The Worst Case Scenario Survival Game is the only trivia game where a player can win without ever answering a question correctly!
Not only is the game broken on a fundamental level, but the trivia cards present survival techniques that could potentially injure or kill someone if they were implemented in real life. Of course, this game is intended as a novelty, and bears all the warnings of the series of books that inspired it. These warnings are prominently printed in the instruction manual and clearly state that players should never attempt anything outlined on the trivia cards. This stands in stark contrast to the game’s “for ages 8+” label, which I think is just a bit young given the semi-graphic nature of some of the trivia answers.
Though there is fun to be had with this game, the seemingly random and off-the-wall answers coupled with the movement wagering system make playing a slog. Victory is not based on strategy, skill, or knowledge. The outcome of the game is almost entirely up to luck, and the trivia subjects wildly swing between silly, disgusting, and potentially dangerous content. I had a laugh while playing in the same way that one laughs at a classic B-movie wrought with flaws and packed with terminal levels of camp.
See my video review of The Worst Case Scenario Survival Game.