Hidden stories of Leeds are being brought to life in a giant city game - meet the team behind Trivial Pursuit
The Yorkshire Evening Post meets the brains behind the new city centre board game that is putting our knowledge of Leeds to the test 🎲
Did you know the traffic light was invited right here in Leeds? Or that the city has produced three Nobel prize winners?
Most people don’t - and that is exactly what Leeds BID hopes to change this summer with a giant city-centre quiz trail designed to uncover fascinating stories of our city hiding in plain sight.
Trivial Pursuit will see players travel across six different city centre locations testing their knowledge of Leeds’ history and heritage with the chance to win prizes along the way - as well as boosting footfall in the city this summer.
James Wilson, projects and events manager at Leeds BID, said: “We came up with Trivial Pursuit on back of Monopoly in 2024. We thought 400 years is there a board game we could attach to this and tell stories through entertainment and sporting history of Leeds.”
And for James and the team at Leeds BID this is also about putting the city on the map.
He added: “ There's the economic impact. Monopoly bought £3.3m into the city with 600,000 visitors over five week period. It instils that pride in local people with heritage links with collaborators.
“It's about introducing people to the history of Leeds whether they are local or travelling further afield. It's been amazing to bring people together from across the city for this.”
Mia Themistocleous, marketing and events co-ordinator at Leeds BID, said the game started with over 600 questions from partners and organisations across the city that had to be fact checked and whittled down.
She said: “We had 600 questions, mainly about Leeds. We know everything about Leeds now.
“But the one thing that really surprised me was the traffic light was created in Leeds.
“But you think about all these things you discover that have been created on our doorstep that are used everywhere. We discovered tonnes along the way that you think wow, I never knew this about Leeds.”
And schools have played a huge role in helping to shape the questions for the junior Trivial Pursuit trail - and they have shared their ideas about what the city could look like in 100 years time.
Mia added: “I’m proud of the breadth of organisations we've worked with and breadth of info put out there.
“It's highlighting people and stories and raising the profile of Leeds. The main thing is its a free thing to give to families for the summer who are struggling to find things to do that are free. “