Commodore Format


Arcade Trivia Quiz

Publisher: Zeppelin Games
Machine: Commodore 64/128

 
Published in Commodore Format #4

Arcade Trivia Quiz (Zeppelin Games)

With the rising cost of alcohol and increased awareness of the harm it does, people are leaving pubs by their thousands (though not, I hasten to add, the employees of Commodore Format). However, the born-again teetotallers are experiencing a gap left in their otherwise fulfilled lives, and that's the inability to play pub trivia games. Thankfully this gap has now been filled with the new budget release from Zeppelin. All the fun of an arcade machine on your trusty C64 - sounds like a hoot!

At the start of the game a menu gives you a choice of seven sets of questions and if you've got your mates round you can choose to control up to three players. When the main screen appears, you are faced with a pyramid of playing cards, each with different symbols on them. The symbols represent question categories and are well-designed in that each category is immediately recognisable - a globe for geography, a camera for films, and so on.

When the clock starts ticking down you must select a category from the bottom row of the pyramid. Answer the question correctly and you progress to the next level of the pyramid. Get it wrong and you can either start again or continue by forfeiting another 20p (you start the game with 80p). Once you reach the top row of the stack and answer the question relating to the one remaining card you move onto the 'cash run' bonus level. A trail of cash amounts flashes before your greedy eyes, increasing in value from 20p 10 a £5 jackpot. Your simple task is to answer a question correctly for each amount.

Arcade Trivia Quiz

One incorrect answer loses you the bonus level and you return to the start of the pyramid again.

The ultimate aim in the single player game is to accumulate as much money as possible. In multiple player mode, you must try to stay in credit longer than your odious chums.

There's not really a great deal more you can say about this game except that it's fast, colourful, musical and if you like trivia games you'll love it. The multi-player option also allows for friendly interaction with some friends which increases the overall enjoyment even more.

Frame Rate

It's a fair cop, this is a goodie. Don't be fooled by the relatively low rating, that only reflects the lack of originality and interesting features. If you take it for what it is (and that's a simplistic triv' attack) you won't be disappointed. I wonder if the screws will lend me £2.99?