Scene It?

Summary

Scene It? is an interactive film series created by Screenlife Games, in which players answer trivia questions about films or pop culture. The games were first developed to be played with questions read from trivia cards or viewed on a television from an included DVD or based on clips from movies, TV shows, music videos, sports and other popular culture phenomena. Scene It? was made available as a mobile game for iPhone, iPad, on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii as well as two social network games on Facebook. The series was discontinued in 2012, after Paramount Pictures, who owned Screenlife Games after 2008, closed the studio.[1] The series was revived in 2022 by Imagination Games and Paramount Pictures, with streaming functionality replacing DVDs.[2]

Scene It?
PublishersScreenlife Games (2002-2012)
Mattel (2003-2008)
Imagination Games/Paramount Pictures (2022-present)
PlayersAt least 2 (can be played in teams)
Setup time5 minutes
Playing time30 to 45 minutes
ChanceMedium
SkillsMovie/Pop Culture knowledge,
& Dice rolling

History edit

Screenlife, the game company that invented and produced the game Scene It?, was founded in 2001 by two entrepreneurs, Craig Kinzer and David Long. Craig Kinzer served as the majority shareholder and chairman of the board, while David Long assumed the role of CEO. Screenlife's establishment coincided with the widespread adoption of DVD players.

The game's inception came from David's use of VHS tapes for Halloween parties, which sparked Craig's idea of utilizing DVDs and DVD players as game machines. They devised a code to embed on DVDs that transformed any DVD player into a random game machine. With hundreds of millions of DVD players already distributed worldwide, Scene It? quickly gained popularity.

The secret to their success, apart from the innovative DVD code, was their ability to secure licensing agreements with major studios and associated actors and writers. Through persuasive negotiations, Dave and Craig convinced these studios to reduce their licensing costs to a share of a small pool based on the game's gross revenue. The first Scene It? game featured movies from 20th Century Studios, DreamWorks Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Sony Pictures, and Universal Pictures; & others with additional licensing agreements with other companies followed in later years. These studios were among the most prominent and influential in the film industry at that time.

Their first breakthrough came when Angela Lansbury agreed to be featured in the game, followed by Tom Cruise. With studios Universal and 20th Century Studios, plus a few notable actors on board, Screenlife's licensing business flourished. The company established two royalty pools—one for studios and one for actors—encompassing thousands of individuals or entities.

To enhance gameplay, they incorporated elements from other popular games like Concentration and Pictionary, creating unique play scenarios that challenged participants with movie-themed questions. For instance, Craig's youngest son, Austin, conceived the idea of using Concentration by displaying a spinning top on the screen, followed by an image of a gun after a few seconds, prompting players to guess the movie. These innovative additions were provided free of charge, incurring no additional expenses to Screenlife.

One of their additional secrets to success was the transition from selling mere discs to creating an entire board game in a large game box. This strategic move boosted the retail price from $10 to $50, further solidifying their market position and profitability.’

Scene It? debuted during Christmas 2002 through Wizards of the Coast and Nordstrom. Its initial season of sales exceeded all expectations, surpassing the competition, despite the countless games that fail to gain traction each year.

Recognizing the game's potential, Mattel secured a licensing agreement, leading to its availability in Walmart and stores nationwide. On October 7, 2008, Paramount Pictures, a division of Viacom, closed on it's acquisition of Screenlife, marking a significant monetization for the company.

Gameplay edit

Players choose either a short or long game by adjusting the "Flextime" game board: For a short game, the board is folded so fewer spaces show. Each player throws a six-sided die to see who goes first. Then, the player rolls both the ordinary die and a customized eight-sided "category die" to see how far they move, and what challenge they face. The challenge can range from a trivia card question, a DVD challenge, ("My Play" or "All Play"), or they may have to draw a "Buzz card" (Cards are often renamed in special editions, such as a "Prime Directive" card in the Star Trek edition). If the roller wins the challenge, they can go again, but if they lose, the dice are handed to the next player. This process keeps going until someone hits the All Play to Win stop sign, in which that player must win one final All Play, in which everyone participates, in order to win. If not, they go to ring 3 of the zone called Final Cut. There, they must answer 3 questions right. If that falls through, then on the next turn they only have to answer 2 questions, and if they fail that as well, they answer 1 question on every following turn. If a Final Cut challenge is won, then they win the game, and they get to watch a victory scene on the DVD.

Optreve DVD Enhancement Technology edit

All board game versions of Scene It? use a DVD that is designed to reshuffle itself every time it is inserted into the DVD player. In some instances, the DVD player may reset the system, and in this case, the DVD will reshuffle itself before returning players to the game menu. If a question from a previous game is shown in the same session, players can hit the "Return" button on their remote in order to start a new question. Some DVD players do not support this technology, but players can choose from 20 to 25 (depends on version) pre-set games to play. As their title suggests, these game sets are not random, and stay constant, no matter how many times the DVD is reset.

Gamestar+ edit

In 2022, Paramount Pictures and Imagination Games revived Scene It? as a streaming board game on TVs, computers, smartphones and tablets.

Main series releases edit

Game Packs edit

Game Packs are expansions that can be added to any Scene It? game or can be played by themselves.

"To Go!": Editions edit

To Go! Editions are versions of standard games that were meant to be played in cars using portable DVD players or a car's built in DVD player. The board was smaller and used magnetic pieces to stick to the board.

  • Movies Edition
  • Junior Edition
  • TV Edition
  • Music Edition
  • 80's Music Edition
  • Marvel Comics Edition
  • Disney Movie Edition

Video games edit

A video game version of Scene It?, entitled Scene It? Lights, Camera, Action was released for the Xbox 360 on November 6, 2007. It featured 20 new game modes/categories and special game show-style "Big Button Controllers". The first sequel, Scene It? Box Office Smash was released on October 28, 2008, featuring the new Xbox 360 Avatars. A second sequel, Scene It? Bright Lights! Big Screen! was released on November 17, 2009, for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii. Opting for a multi-platform approach, this title abandoned the avatars in favor of more generic characters. After Scene It? Twilight two sequels were released: on November 18, 2010, Scene It? Harry Potter HD for iOS and on November 30, 2011, Scene It? Movie Night for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Two unsuccessful, web-only versions of the game, Scene It? Online, and Scene It? Daily,[3][4] were made available online, on Facebook, and on mobile platforms. Scene It? Online borrowed strongly from the DVD games' format, including video clips, sound clips, and puzzles. Scene It? Daily was predominantly text based, and represented a major departure from the multimedia-centric roots of the series.[4]

Canceled editions edit

In 2012, to celebrate Scene It?'s 10th anniversary, two games were announced. These games would be canceled as Paramount Pictures closed the Screenlife studio later that year.

  • Star Wars Edition (canceled)
  • Movie Night Edition (canceled)

References edit

  1. ^ Tu, Janet I. (2012-03-07). "Maker of Scene It? movie-trivia game shutting down". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on 2022-08-08. Retrieved 2022-08-08.
  2. ^ Gamestar+. "Scene It? is BACK and BETTER THAN EVER! Are you ready to play the ultimate Hollywood trivia game? All hosted by Mario Lopez, game night just got 🔥!". Twitter. Archived from the original on Aug 3, 2022. Retrieved 2022-08-08.
  3. ^ Bishop, Todd (July 13, 2011). "'Scene It?' goes daily with unified trivia game across web, devices". GeekWire. Archived from the original on 27 February 2018. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
  4. ^ a b Webster, Andrew (July 19, 2011). "Scene It? Daily Review". GameZebo. Archived from the original on Aug 18, 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2018.