“How on earth do you spin a fairly barebones, more or less average trivia game?” I asked no one in particular as I sat on my sofa, watching images flicker on the television screen. “It sure hasn’t given me much to work with.” Then it hit me. “I just did.”

Thing is, when the most entertaining method of intro-ing a game I can come up with involves my hindquarters sinking ever deeper into a cushy couch, it becomes fairly obvious that the game is nothing special. Oh sure, there’s not really anything wrong with TV Show King, but a legion of other trivia games outclass it in almost every way.

As a 1000 point WiiWare title, TV Show King doesn’t try to be anything it’s not. From the moment you boot up the game and give its bland-but-functional menu screen a quick once-over, you pretty much know what you’re in for.

See, the menu only offers four options – two of which actually involve playing the game. You’ve got your basic game mode, wherein you select a Mii to represent you and compete with other Miis at – you guessed it – trivia, or you can try your hand at survival mode, which tasks you with going as long as possible without missing a question or running across an incredibly obscure query about some sports team from the mid-70’s.

The basic game mode is, however, a little more layered than survival, so let’s delve into the nitty-gritty. Each match begins with the game’s saucer-eyed announcer telling you how the game works and then asking everyone a question. After the question is asked, all four competitors have 15 seconds to choose between four possible answers. Whoever answers correctly is rewarded with a certain amount of money. If multiple people answer correctly, the person who answered first receives the full dollar amount, with copycats being forced to settle for slightly less.

A few rounds of questions later, the announcer brings out “The Wheel.” Each competitor can choose whether or not to give it a spin, and then the spinning commences. Depending on where the wheel stops spinning, it giveth, or it taketh away – money, obviously. In many cases, it acts as the game’s blue shell – injecting life into matches that seem all but over. Next up, more questions, another cameo by that crazy wheel, and then, finally, the top two competitors go head-to-head in a battery of questions. First to five correct answers pockets half of the other’s money, which usually means winning the whole shebang.

As a single-player game, you’ll tire of TV Show King quickly. The NPCs aren’t the sharpest tools in the shed (60 seconds in an hour? Really?) and outside of winning each match, the game has no overarching point. No unlocking, no extra modes – no real incentive to keep playing. Multiplayer, on the other hand, spices things up a tad. At $10, TV Show King is a perfectly serviceable party game. With three pals testing their mettle against yours, matches will fly by.

Really though, if you pal around with a bunch of trivia junkies, you’d be much better served picking up a more fully-fledged trivia game. Smarty Pants, with 20,000 questions dwarfing TV Show King’s 3,000, is a far better choice on the Wii.

Overall, though, TV Show King isn’t a bad game. Rather, it just doesn’t stack up well with other games in its genre. Taken on its own, the game is fairly enjoyable — albeit pretty limited — but with games like Smarty Pants on shelves, I really can’t recommend TV Show King.