If you are a history buff, or looking for a new web game to play, Wikitrivia may be worth your time. The creator of the game, Tom Watson, describes it on his site as “Wikidata as a trivia card game”, and the tweet that brought it to our attention called it an “online clone of the Timeline card game.”
Playing is simple: it gives you a card that represents something with a date, which is drawn from Wikidata; some examples I saw asked me to establish when the Bastille was built, when the Foo Fighters were formed, and when the October Revolution ended (unfortunately it took a year, not a month). You then have to put the card in the right place in the timeline. You may make three mistakes, which are represented by hearts, and you lose one if you put a card in the wrong place. If you lose all your hearts, your streak will end and you will have to start over with a new timeline.
Wikitrivia is not flawless. While the action of moving cards to the timeline actually works almost flawlessly on my phone, I wouldn’t say the game is very fun to play on mobile; the concept really benefits from the widest possible screen in my opinion. As some players have pointed out, some titles can also act as a giveaway – while I was playing I got at least one with a year in the title, making it pretty easy to place. I also have this card:
There is also the possibility that data is incorrect. I haven’t noticed any instances where that was the case (though keep in mind I’m not a history buff; you could tell me the Roman Empire ended in the 1900’s and I’d probably be like “um, that could be right” ), but Watson does have started a thread on Github where people can report incorrect maps or data.
The page also urges users to make necessary corrections to Wikipedia or Wikidata itself, which could lead to answers on the web becoming more accurate – for example, Google sometimes pulls data from Wikipedia for its knowledge panels so that errors can be reflected there, unless they have been repaired.
For those who like to say “wow, I never realized that was that recent/long ago”, (or anyone looking for something to do after finishing Today’s Wordle Puzzle), Wikitrivia can be a great way to pass some time.