Fundraising trivia game from mid-1980s gives snapshot of Holley businesses
This is the cover of Trifles trivia game, left, and the playing board from the game, right.
By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian
“Illuminating Orleans” – Volume 5, Number 23
HOLLEY – Where is Garrand’s Quarry?
Name the postmaster of Holley in 1985?
What was the reason for the formation of the Holley School Boosters?
These Holley area questions are from a trivia game recently brought to our attention by Melissa Ierlan, Town of Clarendon Historian. Marketed under the name “Trifles: a Unique Educational Trivia Game Customized for Your Community,” this board game was marketed in the mid-1980s as a fundraiser for the Holley Sports Boosters and the Holley Music Boosters.
Designed to be played by two or more players, the box contains a sturdy board, a rules sheet, tokens, dice, discs, a box of question and answer cards, and a set of category questions and answers.
The names of contributing local businesses appear on square tiles on the perimeter of the board. Players who answer General Knowledge trivia questions correctly can place colored discs on the tiles.
A player who has three or more discs on each of the four sides of the board or six discs on any one side of the board qualifies to enter the circle. The Master Position is at the end where the player must answer correctly a question from the Etc. category to be the winner.
The General Knowledge questions are wide-ranging and varied, while the “Etc.” questions are locally oriented.
Trifles was manufactured by Henco in Selmer, TN and was the creation of Tom Hendrix, a versatile entrepreneur who had honed his salesmanship skills as a door-to door Bible salesman. He and his wife, Sherry, started Henco with a $3,500 loan, in a small building in Selmer. The company went national, with nearly 1,000 employees on the payroll in its heyday of helping schools raise money through selling items that Henco manufactured.
Regardless of how much money was raised by sales at the time, this game is a gem forty years later. Kudos to whoever prepared the questions and answers for the “Etc.” category back then. They are now a rich resource of Holley/Murray/Clarendon area facts, and would be perfect for family get-togethers and campfire conversations.
The list of the local businesses, farmers, and professionals who subscribed captures the essence of Holley at that point in time. How many of them do you remember?
A quick eBay search indicates that the resale value of the game is only about $25, but its local significance will only increase the passage of time.
Holley area sponsors of the Trifles trivia game from 1984-85 incude:
- Assembly of God Church
- Bowen Trucking, Inc.
- Brockport Ford Tractor
- Burgio Tire World
- Country Garden Florist
- Danny’s Small Engine Repair
- Dave’s Antenna Satellite Communications
- Danco Home Improvements
- Deerfield Country Club
- DeNe’s Cake Shop
- Disciples United Methodist Church
- Domenico’s Italian Imports & Deli
- Drennan Service
- Ed Blissett Nursery
- Edward Fuirerer & Sons, Builders
- Fingland Electric
- First Baptist Church
- First Presbyterian Church
- Fissler Collision
- 5 Point Collision
- Gordis Hardware
- Grenadier Kennels
- Hendel Farms
- Herring Development Corp.
- Holley Cold Storage
- Holley Lime Company
- Holley Mower Service
- Holley Pharmacy
- Holley Ridge Stables
- Holley Super Duper
- Hurd’s Orchard Apple Shed
- Jerry L. Wagner, Contractor
- Jim Albright, Remodeling
- J.P’s Farm Market
- Lake Country Pennysaver
- Lester, Rubenstein & Pellegrino, Attorneys
- Liftec Systems
- Lisa’s Dance Boutique
- Lutes Model Dome
- Marine Midland Holley Staff
- Maxon Farms
- Merrill- Grinnell Funeral Service
- Muesey’s Grocery of Clarendon
- Murray Superette Busy Mart
- Personality Plus Hairstyles
- P.J.’s Dolls
- Rayburn’s Jewelers
- Rockafellow & Son Farms
- Ron’s Satellite Sales
- Ryan’s Ceramic Studio
- Salyers Archery & Range
- 7 Brothers Catering Service
- Seward Candies
- Shepherd’s Mill Lumber
- St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church
- St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
- Squicks – Public Square
- Stockham Lumber Co.
- Sugar’s Bikeology Shop
- Territory Wholesale Supply
- Transit Sportsman’s Supplies
- Thomas Young, Attorney-at-Law
