Video Games

Question 1

The US headquarters of Nintendo are in the city of Redmond in this state.

Answer 1

Washington

Question 2

This city served as the starting point for travelers in the Oregon Trail (and real life).

Answer 2

Independence, MO

Question 3

What are the names of the ghosts in Pac Man?

Answer 3

Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde

Question 4

Ralph Baer designed the world’s first video game console, which was released in 1972. What was the console called?

Answer 4

Magnavox Odyssey

Question 5

This is a screenshot from “Desert Bus,” a boring yet cult minigame from an unreleased 1995 Sega CD video game. To score one point: Drive the eponymous vehicle from Tucson to Las Vegas at 45 mph for eight straight hours of real time (no pausing allowed). To score a second point: Make the return trip. Give the duo—related to one of the above cities—the game is most closely associated with.

Answer 5

Penn & Teller

Question 6

This Atari game that shares its name with a Shakespeare play was known for its rotating dial used as a controller.

Answer 6

Tempest

Question 7

Considered by many to be the first video game (and the first indie game by default), Tennis for Two was developed at Brookhaven National Laboratory and exhibited in 1958. It used what laboratory equipment as a display?

Answer 7

Oscilloscope

Question 8

It’s very, very difficult to get rich from making an indie game, but people do manage it. One such indie game developer purchased 1811 Hillcrest Road in 2014, reportedly beating out Jay-Z and Beyoncé for the chance to (according to the house’s selling agent) buy the most expensive house in the history of Beverly Hills. Its 23,000 square feet will be something of a liability for the new owner; unwanted hissing sounds could develop in any part of it not kept at a light level of at least 8 at nighttime. Who bought this house?

Answer 8

Markus “Notch” Persson (Minecraft)

Question 9

Scott Cawthon posted a game to the PC game distribution platform Desura in 2014. Later, it made its way to Steam and became so popular that Scott has since released 5 other main series games, two spin-off games, and three novels. A feature-length film, he says, is in the works. Name the first title in this series, whose gameplay and business plan have both thus far focused on things appearing with little warning and terrifying speed.

Answer 9

Five Nights at Freddy’s

Question 10

In 2014, a browser-based puzzle game created by Gabriele Cirulli experienced a burst of popularity. Cirulli’s page says the game is “conceptually similar to Threes by Asher Vollmer”, but Vollmer himself is less charitable and says the game gave him a “cloning feeling”. What’s the name of this game?

Answer 10

2048

Question 11

Quirk Ford of Quincy, MA apologized to the developers of what game after an email advertisement from the dealership with this plagiarized header image was covered in the gaming press?

Answer 11

Firewatch

Question 12

“QQ” is gamer slang for the reaction your smith has when he tries to play indie game-turned-professional sport League of Legends. Appropriately, QQ is also the name of an instant messenger run by the company that purchased Riot Games, the creator of LoL, between 2011 and 2015. What is the name of that company?

Answer 12

Tencent Holdings, Ltd.

Question 13

While it is now largely dead at the hands of HTML5 and Apple’s refusal to support it on the iPhone, the Flash browser plug-in, for a time, underpinned a vast ecosystem of browser-based games by solo creators and small hobbyist teams. Which company purchased FutureWave Software in 1996, renaming FutureSplash Animator to Flash?

Answer 13

Macromedia

Question 14

Perhaps you know that Mario was first introduced to the world as Donkey Kong’s foe, Jumpman. Within the timeline of the in-game Mario universe, however, which game is chronologically first? Although the complete ordering of games according to the internal chronology of the Mario canon is a matter of ongoing debate (actually!), the fact that this game comes first is undisputed since it opens with a cutscene involving babies Mario and Luigi being delivered by storks.

Answer 14

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island

Question 15

Although her origin story is somewhat problematic and occasionally contradictory, the character Birdo introduced in Super Mario Bros. 2 is often cited as the earliest example of a character who shares what characteristic with later video game characters such as Krem from Dragon Age: Inquisition and Hainly Abrams in Mass Effect: Andromeda?

Answer 15

Transgender

Question 16

Although never officially cited by the designers as an inspiration, it’s hard not to notice similarities between a certain internationally renowned 1943 novella by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and the distinctive environment of which game in the main Super Mario platforming series? As an unrelated hint, this game was also the debut of the character Rosalina.

Answer 16

Super Mario Galaxy

Question 17

Mario’s Cement Factory, Mario’s Bombs Away, and Mario the Juggler were some of the Mario-themed games that could be played on what dual-feature Nintendo system from the early ’80s?

Answer 17

Game & Watch

Question 18

The loud-mouthed person on the left, known for provoking shouting matches on his trashy late-‘80s talk show, is the namesake of the big-mouthed character on the right. What first name do they share?

Answer 18

Morton

Question 19

Though the game itself was initially unnamed, the infamously difficult fan-made mod of Super Mario World first introduced via a video called “Making my friend play through my Mario hack” is now universally referred to using what 5-letter term? A Romanized version of a Japanese term meaning “reorganized” or “remodeling,” this word has evolved to mean “difficult and unfair” in the Mario community, and is now used to refer to an entire genre of fan-made games in this style which are becoming increasingly popular at speedrunning events and in YouTube playthrough videos.

Answer 19

Kaizo

Question 20

Elias Toufexis voices genetically amped-up Adam Jensen in this series with a Latin name.

Answer 20

Deus Ex

Question 21

From 1999 to 2014, the EA Sports game series PGA Tour was named after Tiger Woods. In 2015, Tiger Woods’ name was replaced with what Northern Irish golfer, as he was the new world number one at the time of release? This 2015 game has subsequently served as the last game of the series, with no new games since 2015.

Answer 21

Rory McIlroy

Question 22

The original 1994 version of DOOM is one of the few games with both a release which is playable on Mac OS X 10.2 (using the “Classic Environment”) and a release for what commercially unsuccessful console, which shares a name with the code name of the aforementioned version of Mac OS?

Answer 22

Jaguar

Question 23

Which company is best known for developing several PlayStation exclusive franchises, such as Spyro the Dragon, Ratchet & Clank, and Resistance? They probably didn’t get much sleep while developing 2018’s massively successful PS4 exclusive, Marvel’s Spider-Man.

Answer 23

Insomniac Games

Question 24

Although the years 1992, 2004, and 2016 were the year of this animal in the Chinese zodiac, they were among the few years from 1990 to today in which there were no releases in either major game series which includes this animal in its title. One is an adventure/puzzle series set on an island and the other is a series of fast-paced movement games in which players control the track on which a ball is rolling.

Answer 24

Monkey

Question 25

In a house hidden by darkness; in a secret fortress chamber with a high-up entrance; guarded by brothers who hide behind a rock in the desert. This is a complete list of the three places you could find what video game object?

Answer 25

Magic Whistle / Warp Whistle

Question 26

Which major video game publisher has a subsidiary music label named Suleputer? The name of the publisher is comprised of the first few letters of two different words, and the name of this music label consists of the remaining parts of those two words.

Answer 26

Capcom

Question 27

What is the two-word name of the mod that allowed access to a sexually explicit minigame in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, leading in part to the introduction of the Family Entertainment Protection Act? It’s also the title of a 2011 documentary about tort reform in the wake of Liebeck v. McDonald’s Restaurants.

Answer 27

Hot Coffee

Question 28

A straw hut, a forest populated with dinosaurs, a cathedral, the Medina village town square, and a robot-filled factory are among the locations found on the various overworld maps in which SNES game?

Answer 28

Chrono Trigger

Question 29

“Reticulating ___” is a recurring loading screen message in numerous “Sim” games developed by Maxis. The word that properly fills in the blank can refer to spokes at the end of a driveshaft, a class of mathematical curves, or a flexible strip used in drafting and shipbuilding. However, SimCity creator Will Wright has clarified that this loading message was only chosen because it sounded cool, and none of the games are actually reticulating anything. What plural word belongs in this blank?

Answer 29

Splines

Question 30

The first piece of video game music to win a Grammy Award was a song titled “Baba Yetu” composed by Christopher Tin for the fourth installment in which long-running strategy game series?

Answer 30

Civilization

Question 31

Subtitles of which racing video game franchise include Point of Impact, Takedown, Revenge, Crash!, and Paradise? This list is (perhaps ironically?) not exhaustive.

Answer 31

Burnout

Question 32

Everything or Nothing is a 2003 installment in a franchise featuring what protagonist? The game’s title comes from the three-letter name of the production company responsible for the film series on which the game is based.

Answer 32

James Bond

Question 33

Speaking of Pac-Man, in summer 2015 Bandai Namco released an “Endless Maze” version of the classic game and named it “Pac-Man” followed by what number? This number is a reference to the level number in the original game where a glitch left the screen unplayable, as it is just over the typical upper bound for incremented integers in older games (particularly when stored in byte registers).

Answer 33

Pacman 256

Question 34

What video game peripheral was Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime preparing to demonstrate at the time that he uttered the oft-quoted “my body is ready” at E3 2007?

Answer 34

Wii Balance Board

Question 35

North, then west, then south, then west again: this is the correct path through what maze-like region in the original The Legend of Zelda, a location that appears in numerous titles in the series (often as the resting place of the fabled Master Sword)?

Answer 35

Lost Woods

Question 36

One of the usable items in The Legend of Zelda, the Recorder, appears in almost identical form and playing an identical melody (though with a different name and function) in what non-Zelda NES game?

Answer 36

Super Mario Bros. 3

Question 37

Link’s trusty steed, Epona, takes her name from a Celtic goddess of horses and fertility whose worship was eventually adopted by the Romans, as well. From what Celtic people - native to Western Europe and assimilated into a Roman province more or less corresponding to modern-day France - did the Romans borrow their worship of Epona?

Answer 37

Gauls

Question 38

The kitsune, a common figure in Japanese folklore believed to possess great wisdom and supernatural powers, was a clear inspiration for the Keaton Mask found in Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask. What sort of creature is a kitsune?

Answer 38

Fox

Question 39

In the late 1980s, FBI Director William S. Sessions struck a deal with the American Amusement Machine Association to include what four-word slogan, to be shown whenever the game is not being played? This was later parodied on Futurama, when Fry was playing the game Delivery Command.

Answer 39

Winners Don’t Use Drugs

Question 40

What Japanese arcade game brings in more gambling revenue than Las Vegas, Macau, and Singapore? In order to circumvent gambling laws, you can’t redeem your winnings for cash, but you can trade the items you win for money at a different location.

Answer 40

Pachinko

Question 41

Claw machines (or crane games) became popular arcade fodder due to the public’s interest in what engineering project, which opened in 1914?

Answer 41

Panama Canal

Question 42

What 1991 film is the theme for the best-selling pinball game of all time? This pinball machine has sold over 21,000 units and has game states such as Raise the Dead, Tour the Mansion, and Vault Multiball.

Answer 42

Addams Family

Question 43

At a 2015 lecture, former Nintendo engineer Masayuki Uemura explained how the NES was carefully tailored to the tastes of U.S. audiences. As the pictured slide indicates, Nintendo bundled the console with this light-gun accessory because its research showed that “Americans in general are interested in gun [sic].”

Answer 43

Zapper

Question 44

1987’s Metroid was notable for featuring one of videogaming’s first female protagonists as well as an (at least nominally) female chief antagonist. Name both that bounty-hunting heroine (first name is sufficient) and that glass-enclosed evil mastermind.

Answer 44

Samus Aran, Mother Brain

Question 45

What was the name of the gaming magazine founded by Pokémon creator Satoshi Tajiri and his friends in the early 1980s? The magazine would later lend its name to the company, founded by Tajiri, that developed the original Pokémon Red and Green in Japan, and all subsequent main-series games.

Answer 45

Game Freak

Question 46

Originally named “Jumpman” in early American versions of an arcade game released in 1981, what video game character has since appeared in over 200 video games, most of which feature the character’s name?

Answer 46

Mario

Question 47

Ceres, Vesta, Pallas, Hygiea, Euphrosyne, and Interamnia are items in a very long list that could be described by a word that is the name of an arcade game released in 1979. What is that name?

Answer 47

Asteroids

Question 48

What bow-wielding heroine of the game Horizon Zero Dawn is voiced by Ashly Burch? Burch appeared on Critical Role as the no-nonsense dwarf Keg.

Answer 48

Aloy