Thoughts by Mr Creosote (14 Feb 2008) – Amiga (OCS)
Now here’s a real test of important knowledge! Not sure what this has to do with pubs, though. Judging from the title screen, it might refer to some sort of quiz machine standing in a pub, but I’ve never seen one in real life. So, for me, this is a game about the things you might be talking about at a pub: TV, music, sports – you get the drift.
You put 10p into the machine and off you go. You can choose between a few different categories on a simple grid on which you try to climb up. Your choice on the first level is important beyond the first question, because you can only choose neighbouring questions afterwards, so the slightly strategic question here is to choose your path.
A game like this always depends on the quality and the number of quiz questions, and it looks like we have a winner here. The 80s pop music geek in me especially appreciated the questions about the likes of INXS and Culture Club. Showbiz can get tricky for anyone not living in the UK, with questions like ‘who hosted show X’ popping up (I had heard neither of these shows, nor the three respective names).
The downside is that game over can occur too quickly. Although you win money over time if you keep guessing correctly, it’s all over once you’re broke. Since the first round is paid for by your last ten pence, it’s quite dangerous at first. Then again, it doesn’t matter much, because unlike with a real machine in a real pub, you can always start over again, and it’s not really going to make any difference.
So, a good budget game to prepare to impress your friends (or even total strangers) with your limitless knowledge later! Hmm… now I start wondering about that guy who wasn’t even with us, but sat alone at the next table, always started laughing when we laughed and when we talked about the music they played there, he started lecturing us about the detailed discography of Jimmy Sommerville…