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Frobozz Magic

Colossal Caves

  1. What's the danger of walking in the dark?
    You will likely fall into a pit and break every bone in your body

  2. What can be done with the black rod with rusty star that is useful?
    waving it at the fissure in the Hall of Mists produces a Crystal Bridge spanning the fissure

  3. At window on pit, who is the shadowy figure who's trying to attract your attention?
    Your reflection

  4. How do you defeat the dragon?
    with your bare hands

  5. What is the purpose of the magazine?
    leaving it at Witt's End gets you a point

  6. What happens if you throw the axe at the troll?
    "The troll deftly catches the axe, examines it carefully, and tosses it back, declaring, 'Good workmanship, but it's not valuable enough.'"

  7. How can you get fresh batteries for the lamp?
    drop the coins in the vending machine in the Maze All Different

  8. What is the significance of "Fee Fie Foe Foo"?
    it returns the nest of golden eggs to the Giant Room

DUNGEON (DECUS version)

  1. Where was DUNGEON originally written? Who were the original authors?
    at the Programming Technology Division of the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science, by Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling

  2. In what language was DUNGEON originally written? How is the name of this language pronounced?
    MDL, said muddle

  3. Who translated DUNGEON into Fortran IV?
    "a somewhat paranoid DEC engineer who prefers to remain anonymous"

  4. According to US NEWS & DUNGEON REPORT, how should you report any problems? What forms of reporting won't work, and why not?
    report IN WRITING to DECUS (DEC User Society), attn Dungeon Maintenance; "PHONE CALLS AND IN-PERSON VISITS WILL BE RUDELY REJECTED!"

  5. What items do you need for an exorcism?
    bell, book, candles (lit)

  6. From the Bat Room: "A deranged vampire bat (a reject from WUMPUS) swoops down from the ceiling and lifts you away...." What's the reference?
    in the game Hunt the Wumpus you find and shoot the Wumpus, avoiding Bottomless Pits. Super Bats pick you up and drop you in a random part of the maze

ZORK 0

Never mind about ZORK Zero.

ZORK I

  1. Name all of the Dungeon's entrances or exits.
    trap door in the living room, Strange Passage from the Cyclops room
    the Rainbow over Aragin Falls, going over Aragin Falls, praying at the Altar
    Grating room in the Maze All Alike, chimney from the (Art) Studio to the kitchen

  2. What's wrong with the nasty knife?
    nothing

  3. What is the danger of walking in the dark?
    You are likely to be eaten by a grue.

  4. What happens if you try the magic words from the Colossal Cave?
    A hollow voice says "Fool."

  5. What is a grue?
    The grue is a sinister, lurking presence in the dark places of the earth. Its favorite diet is adventurers, but its insatiable appetite is tempered by its fear of light. No grue has ever been seen by the light of day, and few have survived its fearsome jaws to tell the tale.

  6. How can you get the Jewel-encrusted egg opened without damaging its contents?
    Give it to the thief

  7. What's wrong with the rusty knife?
    It kills its user instead of the intended victim

  8. What is advertised on the matchbook?
    "YOU too can make BIG MONEY in the exciting field of PAPER SHUFFLING!" ad for GUE Tech

  9. Name two distinct ways of defeating the Cyclops.
    Say Ulysses (or Odysseus); give him the hot pepper sandwich, then the bottle of water, and he falls asleep

  10. What's all the noise in the Loud Room?
    the roar of water rushing over Flood Control Dam #3

  11. Describe the sin and punishments of Commandment #12592?
    Oh ye who go about saying unto each: "Hello sailor":
    Dost thou know the magnitude of thy sin before the gods?
    Yea, verily, thou shalt be ground between two stones.
    Shall the angry gods cast thy body into the whirlpool?
    Surely, thy eye shall be put out with a sharp stick!
    Even unto the ends of the earth shalt thou wander and
    Unto the land of the dead shalt thou be sent at last.
    Surely thou shalt repent of thy cunning.

  12. What can be done to the mirror that is useful?
    touching the mirror transports you to the other Mirror Room

  13. What's the ritual for getting past the Entrance to Hades?
    ring bell, light candles, read book

ZORK II

  1. What happens if you wait too long in the Topiary?
    "The topiary animals attack! You are crushed by their branches and clawed by their thorns."

  2. Stupid Riddles:
    What is tall as a house,
    round as a cup,
    and all the king's horses
    can't draw it up?
    a well

  3. How do you defeat the dragon?
    lure him to the ice room and he does the rest (breathes on reflection in glacier, melts the glacier, and drowns in the flood)

  4. What's this? 
    o  b  o

A  G  I
  E L

m  p  a
    part of logo for Frobozz MAGIC WELL company

  5. What object is useful in determining the functions of the iced cakes?
    the flask (looking through it magnifies the lettering on the cakes)

  6. What's wrong with the orange cake?
    it's a blasting cake

  7. What's the advertisement on the matchbook this time?
    ">> Visit Exotic ZORK I <<" advert for the Frobozz Magic Travel Agency

  8. Where can the Grue Repellent be found?
    Room 8 (off the Carousel Room)

  9. How does Grue Repellent work?
    It smells like a mixture of old socks and burning rubber.

  10. What kind of degree does the Wizard of Frobozz have? Where did he get it?
    a D. T. (Doctor of Thaumaturgy) degree from GUE Tech

  11. What's the title of J. Pierpont Flathead's outrageous autobiography?
    I'm Rich and You Aren't Ð So There

  12. What's in the package of candy?
    Candied Grasshoppers, Chocolated Ants, and Worms Glacee

  13. What does all the money say?
    In Frobs We Trust

ZORK III

  1. What items do you need to face the Dungeon Master and how are they obtained?
    amulet - Underwater (down from On the Lake)
    key - Key Room ( past the Dark Place on south side of lake)
    hood and cloak - defeating (but not killing) cloaked and hooded figure in Land of Shadow
    staff - from chest on Cliff Ledge (let your "friend" open it)
    book - from Royal Puzzle under a sandstone block
    ring - from the Jewel Room in 776 GUE

  2. How do you get into the museum?
    wait for the earthquake

  3. What locations can be visited from the viewer at Scenic Vista? In which games do they originally appear?
    Timber room from ZORK I; Room 8 from ZORK II; Damp Passage from ZORK III; Sacrificial Altar from ENCHANTER

  4. What item do you need from one of the other adventures?
    the Grue repellent

  5. Where and how is "Hello, sailor" useful?
    On the Shore of the Flathead Ocean, say hello sailor to the "old and crusty sailor." He gives you a vial

  6. What do the weapons of the Museum Guards look like?
    waffles

  7. Who is Lord Feepness?
    the gent to whom Dimwit Flathead is explaining his plans for the Flood Control Dam #3 and the Volcano room for his crown (in the Museum, the year 776 GUE)

BEYOND ZORK

  1. What is your name (if you use the default character)?
    Frank Booth

  2. What is your Quest?
    to find the Coconut of Quendor

  3. Who appears on the bubble gum card, and how is he significant to the adventure?
    Orkan of Thriff, placed the Glyph guarding the town of Thriff

  4. What is the name of the wine in the Wine Cellar? What's the picture on the label?
    Chateau Blanc 877, a white house with a mailbox in front of it

  5. More Stupid Riddles:
    My tines be long,
    my tines be short,
    my tines end ere my first report.
    What am I?
    lightning

  6. Still More Stupid Riddles:
    Never ahead, ever behind
    Yet flying swiftly past;
    For a child, I last forever,
    For adults I'm gone too fast.
    What am I?
    youth

  7. Name the songs sung by the Christmas Tree Monsters.
    Plover the River and Frotz the Woods, Winter Bozbarland, Dwaarnyn the Dark-Nosed Ur-Grue, I'm Dreaming of a Black Cavern, Good King Flathead, Dornbeasts Roasting on an Open Fire

ZORK General Section

  1. Name all products and subsidiaries of FrobozzCo International, the multinational conglomerate, mentioned in the series.
    • FM Security Systems (D only)
    • FM Safe Company (D only)
    • FM Boat Company (Z1)
    • FM Gunk Company (Z1)
    • FM Well Company (Z2)
    • FM Robot Company (Z2)
    • FM Alarm Company (Z2)
    • FM Vault Company (Z2)
    • FM Travel Agency (Z2)
    • FM Balloon Company (Z2)
    • FM Cave Company (Z2, safe D)
    • FM Grue Repellent (Z2)
    • FM Candy Company (Z2)
    • FM Pressurizer (Z3, model)
    • FM Room Spinner (Z3, model)
    • FM Wine Company, Ltd. (BZ)
    • FM Potion Company (BZ)
    • FM Breadbox Company (BZ)
    • FM Vial Company (BZ)

  2. Give the names and occupations of all the Flatheads mentioned in the series.

Random Computer Games Trivia

  1. What are Alexi Paszitnov and Vagim Gerasimov responsible for?
    Tetris

  2. Draw a glider for Conway's Game of Life? 
    ##    ##   ###    #
# #  ##    #     ##
#      #    #    # #   or any rotation/reflection of these

  3. What is a glider gun, and who invented/discovered it?
    Life pattern which shoots an infinite number of gliders, by Bill Gosper

  4. In Star Trek: TNG, Riker, then Data, lose a game of something to the Zackdorn Sirna Kolrami, and Data later forces a draw with Kolrami at the same game. What is the name of the game, and what does the playing field look like?
    strategema, three planes of colored squares

  5. What is your quest in Hack?
    to find the Amulet of Yendor

  6. A computer game is central to the story "Dogfight", by Michael Swanick and William Gibson. Name and describe it.
    Spads & Fokkers, a 3D biplane dogfight

  7. In Star Trek III: TSFS, McCoy enters a bar to commission a ship. Two other patrons are playing a video game in the background. Describe it.
    a 3D biplane dogfight

  8. In Corewar, what is an IMP? An IMP STOMPER?
    imp - one line of code that copies itself to the next memory location so it will be executed again
    imp stomper - code that continously moves null data to the memory location immediately preceding itself (in the hope of squishing an IMP)

  9. "You hear Herb Alpert and the Tiajuana Brass playing a Sex Pistols medley very soothingly." What game does this come from, and what company is responsible for the game.
    From Bureaucracy by Infocom

  10. What are the different types of terrain in Populous, the Promised Lands?
    Wild West, (Revolution) Francaise, Silly World, Bit Plains, Block Land

Random Computer Trivia

  1. According to K&R, 2ed., what is "everyone's favorite trivial change" between original C and ANSI C?
    "8 and 9 are not octal digits"

  2. What do the following stand for: ping, awk, grep?
    ping - Packet INternet Groper; awk - a=Aho, w=Weinberger, k=Kernighan; grep - Global search Regular Expression and Print

  3. What is the WELL, i.e. what does the name WELL stand for?
    Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link

  4. What was the title of the first computer-written novel? What was the name of the program that wrote it?
    The Policeman's Beard is Half Constructed, by Racter

  5. Murphy's Law is often misquoted as "Anything which can go wrong, will, and at the worst possible moment." What is the real Murphy's Law?
    "If there are two or more ways to do something, and one of those ways can result in a catastrophe, then someone will do it."

  6. What does the prefix yocto- mean?
    10 ^ -24

  7. How long is a jiffy?
    one tick of system clock, or 1/60 sec, also acceptable 1/50 or 1/100, or milli or nano (phys)

  8. Translate the following from rot13: Lbh ner va gur Gbzo bs gur Haxabja Vzcyrzragre. N ubyybj ibvpr fnlf, "Gung'f abg n oht, vg'f n srngher!"
    You are in the Tomb of the Unknown Implementer. A hollow voice says, "That's not a bug, it's a feature!"

Brought to you by The Frobozz Magic Genital Company