back 2 big silly
fortune 20: welcome to the silliest trivia game on the internet
Everyone, their mom, and their dog tuned in for The Summer I Turned Pretty (TSITP) every Wednesday these last couple of months. I looked forward to it every week and joined the rest of the world (from my friend’s couch) as we ate popcorn and ice cream while screaming at Jeremiah and Belly + crying for Conrad.
This week, though? The first Wednesday without them. Belly and Conrad are living happily ever after in Cousins. Jeremiah is probably still living through an episode of The Bear. Denise, Taylor, and Steven should be doing Princess Diaries things in San Fran. And me? I geared up for a new season of Natalie Shine @ Big Silly : The Big Silly Trivia Game.
for those not “in the know”…
The Big Silly Trivia Game—or BST if you will—is an online game show specifically for the pop culture dolls. The fans of Sue Sylvester & Dominique Blatt, Timothée Chalamet & Harry Styles, Twilight & Sex and the City, Juicy Couture & slumber parties. It’s using your oven to store shoes and being a zookeeper who shows up to their job in Gucci. Sparkles and all things pink.
BST is for the girls far and wide who adore Natalie Shine (@natgawd) and her capris.
I discovered Big Silly in October 2024, seven months after it first started. We had a Zoom call, a Kahoot, a pink studio, and a dream as we joined Natalie and “The Boss” every Wednesday for the silliest evening.
It’s the hardest thing to explain, though—because how do you describe the most magical community of dolls who don’t even really know each other—but really we’re all best friends—part of the biggest, silliest, sparkliest internet family of pop-culture aficionados and fashionistas with the aesthetic DNA of early 2000s tweenhood. Think MyScene, Disney Channel Games, and Fancy Nancy.
big silly facelift
In the past year and a half that this community has existed, Natalie has gone from a Zoom webinar and Kahoot game in her silver Courrèges jacket to a Marc Jacobs trivia event, a summer tour with Wishbone Kitchen, aka Meredith Hayden, live trivia events in NYC, and now the Big Silly talk show, plus a Sony-backed game on her gorgeous site!!! (No, I am not being paid to write this, I’m just in awe.)
My roommates all know I play Big Silly, and yesterday, right as I was going upstairs to play my little game, they asked me to stay downstairs so they could watch and join. Four questions in, a B.O.B.S had slid in!!!!! Actually, scratch that, a B.F.O.B.S. (Boy Friend of Big Silly, not boyfriend). He did the classic: quiet, pretending he wasn’t intrigued, only to eventually join in and proclaim, “we’re getting a higher score next week.”
Big Silly really is for the girls, the gays, and now the B.F.O.B.S, just as The Boss intended.
community (tucker pillsbury’s version)
We’ve got Big Silly chats on Instagram, plus the live chatroom during the game. There are angel numbers, leaderboards, random polls, and chaotic side convos. Obviously, timmy time, themed Spotify playlists, and yes, we do dish on the pop culture happenings of the week.
And I can’t believe I almost forgot the jingle—the sparkliest, cutest theme song with an animated video by Ashley Setiawan, made exactly the way Natalie hoped it would feel: like being teleported straight out of your bedroom, Carrie’s Manolos and vintage Fendi and magazines strewn everywhere, into this alternate sparkly world of gaming girlhood. Natalie, of course, is leading trivia dressed like Fran Fine in a vintage pink Mugler set.
The lyrics:
“It’s big and it’s silly, it’s pink and it’s frilly
It’s coming to you live from the very-best-city
It’s the Big Silly Trivia Game!”
As Natalie herself put it: “A theme song is essentially emotional glitter.” And she’s right—the jingle sets the tone for the night, builds anticipation, and makes sure you know exactly what you’re stepping into.
curtains, prizes, and fits
It’s not Big Silly without pink velvet curtains, whether on the website or in Natalie’s studio, and of course, we can’t talk trivia without talking prizes. Except, this isn’t your uncle’s bar trivia night—you can’t be surprised that the prizes are fabulous. We’re talking Emi Jay, Ghia, Merit, Athena Club, Marc Jacobs, Starface, Amika, Rhode, Summer Fridays, Away… literally every company you dream of. I once won an Emi Jay claw clip! (Angel number luck, not leaderboard domination. I am unfortunately not a trivia god, unlike Maya B, who dominated last night’s game.)
Throughout the show, “The Boss” is in the Zoom chat monitoring vibes, answering questions, and providing guidance, while Natalie stays front and centre, fully on-theme, serving a look with a background that matches perfectly. Every week is themed—past ones have included Pop Princess, Rom-Com Holiday Edition, Chronically Online, Camp Y2K, and Fashion Week—with Spotify playlists to match.
And here’s the thing: the experience is unparalleled. The themes, the prizes, the fits, the execution. But all of it would be nothing without Miss Natalie Shine!!! The hosting is the secret sauce—the glue and the glitter. She makes it feel less like you’re playing trivia and more like you’ve stumbled into the internet’s best sleepover, where divas are in charge of the questions, and we all love Ashley Tisdale’s early 2000s red carpet looks.
pink and frilly
Big Silly has been my mid-week pick-me-up for almost a year. It’s camp, it’s cosy, it’s chaotic. And now? It fills the void TSITP left behind and gives me something even better: a glitter-soaked little universe where pop culture is treated with the exact seriousness it deserves.
So just in case it wasn’t clear enough: THIS IS YOUR SIGN TO JOIN THE DOLLS IN THE WORLD OF BIG SILLY TRIVIA <33
Wednesdays are no longer for crying over Cousins Beach—they’re for screaming about campy theme nights, talking about gagameat in the chat, and praying you land a claw clip from Emi Jay.
Because at the end of the day, Big Silly isn’t just trivia—it’s a lifestyle; it’s a religion. It’s emotional glitter, it’s the skirt-over-jeans era reborn, and it’s Natalie Shine in a vintage outfit holding court over the us dolls. 🌟🌟🌟
This is so sweet, thoughtful and has my HEART SOAR!! Thank you for playing 💗💗🥹