| mind games |
Quentin Heath's Christmas QuizThe master of strategy himself dips into his lore-books and sets ten demanding questions guaranteed to separate the trolls from the orcs. |
CHRISTMAS IS traditionally a time for looking back at events of the past year and that is the theme of Mind Games this month.
You will have an opportunity to do some work for a change to see how good you are at adventure games. The puzzles are a jumble of traditional quizzes and brainteasers together with the practical applications of gaming illustrated in Mind Games earlier this year. Do not worry if you come across a problem that you cannot solve, hints will be given, sometimes as to where you can find the solution.
When you have done your best then consult the answers to find how many you solved correctly. Then turn to the Gold Points section on this page and discover your mind game percentage score.
1. Character Attributes. In the October issue we discussed how characters within adventures can be created by setting up emotional and physical attributes within a matrix. Two matrices were given for characters showing their endurance, strength, lawful, and intelligence traits. Each of those were given a score between -10 and +10 where a positive sign showed the existence of that trait and negative sign showed the opposite of that trait. For instance, if Strength was -5 the character would be a weakling.
The two characters below are about to perform two actions. Firstly, they are going to argue. The loser of the argument will start a fight. Who is the loser of the argument and who wins that fight?
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2. Lords of Midnight. What are the initials of the writer of the famous graphics adventure? Which two characters must fulfil the quests of the game?
3. Wrath of Magra. Which company took over Carnell Software in August? Name the adventures which make up the Third Continent Trilogy.
4. Chess Techniques. In the May issue of Sinclair User we described techniques for writing strategy games. What is a tree structure? Is it an infinite or absolute structure?
5. The Hulk. The jolly green giant thundered into the magazine in September, courtesy of Adventure International. Who wrote the game and where does it start? How does Banner become The Hulk? Clues for those questions can also be found in Marvel Superheroes comics.
6. Mad Martha. In the very successful game from MikroGen Martha was anything but a poor battered wife. She did most of the battering with an axe and it was her husband who suffered. What is the name of her husband who managed to survive the attempts on his life and went on to have his night out in Mad Martha Two?
7. Valhalla. How can you travel around the adventure without having to walk? Name one of the quest objects hidden in the adventure.
8. The Hobbit. How do you cross the Black River? Where is the ring? Who has the pleasure of killing Smaug the dragon and with what?
9. Sherlock. From which station must the famous detective leave to find his quarry and how does he get to that station? Who has been murdered? What is the name of the newspaper from which Watson gets most of his news?
10. Lords of Time. What is the mode of transport which the time traveller must take? How many time periods are there? Where can you hide your cache of discoveries? Answers to some of those questions can be found in April's Mind Games.
In order to find your percentage score:
1. give yourself 10 points for every correct answer. The top score possible is 220;
2. divide the score by 11 and multiply the result by five. You will then have a percentage score.
When you have done all that you will have your Mind Games Rating. Compare it with the chart below and you will see the level of understanding that you have of the market.
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