Trivial Pursuit co-creater dies

Chris Haney, a co-creator of the popular Trivial Pursuit board game, died Monday at the age of 59.

Scott Abbott, who created Trivial Pursuit with Haney, said Haney died in a Toronto hospital after a long illness.

Haney worked for The Canadian Press and the Montreal Gazette newspaper as a photo editor before going into the board game business.

He teamed up with Abbott, a Canadian Press sports reporter, in 1979 to invent Trivial Pursuit. Released in 1982, it took off after a slow start and the duo sold the rights to toy giant Hasbro in 2008 for US$80 million.

“We didn’t realize it would transcend games players and become, with the Cabbage Patch Kids, what Time magazine in 1984 called an American social phenomenon,” said Abbott.