Elements of Truth by Veritasium
- BackerBuzz
- Nov 25
- 2 min read
The tabletop trivia game
Test Your Wits (and Your Confidence): Elements of Truth by Veritasium
If you are one of the 20 million subscribers who love getting smarter with Veritasium, Derek Muller’s hit science channel, you know that the best part of science is often the surprise—the moment your intuition is challenged and then corrected. Now, the team behind the channel is bringing that "aha!" moment to your living room with Elements of Truth, a new tabletop trivia game launching on Kickstarter.
Project Overview
Name and Creator: Elements of Truth by Veritasium.
What It Is: This isn't just a "who knows the most facts" trivia game. It is a game of scientific reasoning and confidence. Players answer questions about the world, but the twist is a betting mechanic: you must wager on how sure you are of your answer. It combines knowledge with strategy, forcing you to manage your confidence just as much as your intellect.
Key Features
The Confidence Mechanic: You don't just give an answer; you bet on it. Players use numbered tokens to wager points. The catch? You can only use each token once per game, so you have to decide when to go "all in" on a question you’re sure about and when to hold back.
Curated Science Content: The base game comes with 200 questions that span physics, biology, history, and engineering. Like the channel's videos, these questions are designed to be counter-intuitive and educational, offering context and explanations rather than just dry facts.
Community Driven: Backers get to vote on future expansion topics and even submit questions for a special "Community Booster Pack," making the final product a collaboration between the channel and its fans.
Expandable: The game is built to grow. The campaign offers multiple expansion packs covering topics like Astronomy and Engineering, potentially bringing the total question count up to 800 in the premium tier.
Reward
Pledge Levels:
Standard Edition ($39): Gets you the base game with 200 questions plus the Community Booster Pack.
Veritasium Edition ($59): Adds a Veritasium-themed question pack and a neoprene playmat, totaling 400 questions.
Einsteinium Edition ($99): The ultimate collector's tier. It includes a premium wooden box and all five expansion packs, totaling 800 questions.
Delivery: The estimated delivery date is September 2026, allowing ample time for the team to refine the questions and incorporate community feedback.
Concept
The core concept is to gamify the scientific method's reliance on evidence and uncertainty. In science, being "technically right" isn't enough; you need to know how strong your evidence is. By forcing players to bet on their answers, Elements of Truth simulates this intellectual humility. It levels the playing field so that a player with a little knowledge and great strategy can beat a walking encyclopedia who takes reckless risks.
Inspiration
Derek Muller returns to Kickstarter exactly 10 years after his first successful campaign (for the molecular modeling kit Snatoms). The inspiration for Elements of Truth came from the desire to move the channel's passive learning experience into an active, social one. Muller wanted to create a physical space where friends could debate, second-guess their intuitions, and experience the joy of discovering the "truth" together—face to face, rather than through a screen.