Saturday, May 29, 2010

THE PUZZLE CORNER: MAY 29, 2010

Happy Memorial Day Weekend everyone!
Let's take a moment out of those hectic vacation schedules to remember why the last Monday of every May is a holiday in the United States.

Memorial Day of course is to remember those fallen members of the military who are no longer with us. But can you match the soldier to their most famous battle?
Each conflict will have more than one soldier involved.

The wars:

A. World War 1
B. World War 2
C. The Korean War
D. The Viet Nam War

The military personnel, real and fictitious:

01. Staff Sgt. James Kinchloe
02. Cpl. Walter O'Reilly
03. General William Westmoreland
04. Airman Wayloo Marie Holmes, USAF
05. Sgt. Franklin Rock
06. General Douglas MacArthur
07. Dwight David Eisenhower
08. Private William G. Kirby
09. Sgt. Sam Troy

We'll finish our salute next weekend when we reveal the results of this quiz. Meanwhile, let's drop a quarter into THE ANSWERS BOX and discover the results of our video game quiz from last weekend that saluted the 30th anniversary of Pac-Man.

01. What are the names of Pac-Man's enemies?
The green ghost was called Bashful. The red ghost was known as Shadow. The pink ghost was known as Speedy, and the orange ghost was known as Pokey. But they were more commonly referred to by their nicknames: Inky, Blinky, Pinky, and Clyde.
02. When Ms. Pac-Man came out in 1981, she faced her husband's enemies, but one was replaced by an alternate. Who?
Clyde was replaced by another orange ghost named Sue, with no nickname.
03. Once again, when the next sequel, Junior Pac-Man (the son of the first two) came out in 1983, the three enemies common to the first two games were joined by an alternate. Which one this time?
Sue was replaced by another orange ghost named Tim, again without a nickname.
04. Believe it or not, the concept of video games was experimented with as far back as the late 1940s! But what was the first true arcade (coin operated) game?
The first arcade game period was called "The Galaxy Game", developed at Stanford University in 1971. The first massed produced arcade game was Atari's "Pong" in 1972.
05. Mario has become the Nintendo icon. What was his first appearance ever?
Originally called Jumpman, Mario first appeared as the hero in "Donkey Kong", circa 1981.
06. When did Mario's brother Luigi first appear?
Luigi joined the scene in 1983's "Mario Brothers", originally implying that Mario was their surname. The actual last name of Mario and Luigi has yet to be revealed/confirmed.
07. The original video/arcade games were all black and white. What was the first arcade game in color?
"Space Invaders", 1978.
08. What was the first home video game in color?
Provided you had a color TV at the time, Magnavox's Odyssey system, first released in 1972.
09. What video game features players riding on either an ostrich or a stork?
"Joust!", a 1982 release from Williams Electronics. Player 1 was on the ostrich, while Player 2 rode the stork.
10. What was the big surprise at the end of 1986's first "Metroid" video game for the home Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)?
That the lead character, Samus Aran, was a woman! Until then, ladies in video games were always depicted as either in the background or as the proverbial damsel in distress.
11. What was the company we know today as Nintendo first manufacturing before they got into the video/arcade game business?
They started their corporate existence as the Nintendo Playing Card Company in 1889!
12. When did the company we know today as SEGA enter the arcade market?
In 1981 with their first game: "Eliminator!"
13. When did SEGA's Sonic the Hedgehog first debut?
1991.
14. Who did Sonic replace as SEGA's mascot?
Alex Kidd.

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