A long time ago, amongst the midst of a dying Empire, there was a scholar named Boethius, who had this bright idea of dividing all knowledge into categories and writing a book about it. This he did. The lesser subjects, which were rhetoric, logic, and grammar, became known as the "trivium" (Latin for "three ways": you'd never guess that a guy with a name like Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius was Roman). The more difficult stuff, arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy, became the "quadrivium" (again, Latin for "four ways").
For a thousand years, Boethius' division of knowledge into a trivium and quadrivium reigned supreme. The trivium became considered easier, in fact, trivial. (Completion of the trivium is, very roughly, equivalent to earning a Bachelor's degree; completion of the quadrivium is, again, very roughly, equivalent to earning a Master's degree)
For Quadrivial Quest (the moniker "pursuit" being already taken...), the player attempts to collect tokens that prove his sufficiency in the various disciplines before moving on to the next level. Since there are only about five people on the planet today who could play Quadrivial Quest if the questions were limited to the actual trivium and quadrivium, I've modified (read: twisted beyond recognition) the categories.
As the game is still in progress, you might want to test your wits with some of the following questions:
The game is still abuilding, but roughly the categories are:
If you want to mail me a question, please provide the question, and a reference if possible. If I use your question, I'll give you no money whatsoever, and your name in smallprint on the back of the rules book...
A primero is a hand containing one card of each suit. See the rules elsewhere on my web page.
Cato often ended his speeches with "Carthago delenda est": Carthage must be destroyed.
The Crusaders captured (and sacked) the Christian city of Constantinople. They never made it to the Holy Land.
Adrian IV (Nicholas Breakspear) was the only English Pope.
A noble was worth 128 pennies before 1464.
Chalcedon (now in Turkey). The city got its name because right across the straits was an empty site that would eventually become Constantinople.
Berenice's Hair, or Coma Berenice.
If you're interested in receiving an advance copy of the game, well, you can mail me, and I'll take your name down, but I haven't worked out the details of sending advanced copies out, so it might take a while before you get one.