So you’ve sampled the food, greeted the host and chatted with the three people at the party you’ve actually met before. Now with drink in hand you’re for the dreaded small-talk. Which reliable topic is it going to be tonight? The weather, last week’s Grey’s Anatomy, the Yankees? Not this time. You can retire them all in favor of some new random and impressive tidbits of knowledge. With the help of HipSoft’s Trivia Machine you’ll have endless conversation fodder to stave off those awkward pauses. And if your newly acquired knowledge seems too overwhelming for your new friend, you can always chat about the party food, especially the tasty Party Mix recipe I’ve got today. It’s deliciously perfect for some quality schmoozing.

Your Delightful Game:

We’ve all been there. A big party full of people you maybe met once five years ago. You’d be uncertain in the past, but not today. Today you walk up to Ben, the guy from Jenny’s office, and you greet him with: “Did you know that Halle Berry was named after the Halle Bros. Department Store in Cleveland?” A little unusual I grant you, but I bet you got his attention. You nod knowingly as you glance around at the room full of people. Luckily, you’re stocked up on random trivia thanks to HipSoft’s Trivia Machine.

Trivia Machine is pretty much just what it sounds like. The machine generates endless trivia questions in the categories of science, technology, arts and literature, music, television, geography, history and sports. The game has three difficulty levels (laid out from left to right on the screen): elementary, scholar, and genius. On each turn new categories are placed in each difficultly, so you can choose a category you’re confident about in the genius setting, but maybe attempt a less familiar category at a lower difficulty. This allows you to play to your strengths, unlike Trivial Pursuit, which I’m sure is just designed to make you fail.

Correct answers earn you points, which help you move up the ladder on the left of the screen. The rungs mark the amount of your winnings – increasing when you answer correctly, dropping when you don’t. To complete each level, you must earn enough points to reach the top of the ladder before you’ve used all your allotted turns.

The game offers power-ups such as double or triple points and additional turns. Sometimes answering a question correctly will send you into the lightning round. In this bonus round you have to answer 10 questions in 60 seconds, and you don’t have to answer them all correctly to get points. These questions fall into all the different categories, so you don’t get a chance to specialize. Because of the speed of the lightning round it’s particularly helpful here to know a little about a lot. And being a good guesser doesn’t hurt. In the regular game if you’re uncertain about an answer you can remove up to two wrong answers to confirm your hunches, or at least give you a fifty-fifty shot at guessing correctly.

The game is brightly colored and the music is evocative of a game show. The questions are often challenging, even on the elementary level, which keeps things interesting. The pacing is good – you don’t feel too rushed in the regular rounds, and you instantly know if you were correct or not, so you don’t have to sit there and second-guess yourself. Plus the game can automatically download new questions so you’ll never have the same question twice.

So the next time you’ve got a party to attend, be sure to find some good trivia tidbits first. Because, let’s be honest, who wouldn’t be impressed with the guy who knew about the Bayeux Tapestry’s depiction of the Norman Conquest of England, or that, strangely enough, Al Gore and Tommy Lee Jones were college roommates? I know I’m impressed.

Your Delicious Dinner:

Now believe me, I know that despite one’s best efforts, chances are good random lulls in conversation will occur. In anticipate of those moments, I selected a great Party Mix recipe today. This classic snack is a super simple, delicious, and totally customizable recipe. Be sure to grab a handful before engaging in small talk and it’ll keep your mouth busy while you try and recall another intriguing fact. Plus when you run out, you’ll have a perfectly understandable reason to excuse yourself from Bob’s disturbing and descriptive chatter about his bunions.

Party Mix

You’ll need:

- 2 cups corn biscuit cereal
- 2 cups rice biscuit cereal
- 2 cups wheat or multi-grain biscuit cereal
- 1 cup pretzels (any variety; I’m partial to the twists)
- 1 cup peanuts (or any nuts)
- ½ cup sesame sticks
- ½ cup cheese crackers
- ¼ cup butter (1/2 stick)
- 5 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 ¼ tsp salt

1. Pre-heat oven to 250 degrees.
2. Put butter in a roasting pan in the oven until butter melts.
3. Remove pan from the oven and stir in Worcestershire sauce and salt.
4. Gradually add the rest of the ingredients to the pan. Stir until all pieces coated equally.
5. Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
6. Remove from the oven and pour mixture on wax paper to cool.
7. Grab a handful and chat up some party guests!