Peripherals | Keyboard |

Micro Trivia is a simple quiz program based on a 'three in a row' board. The mike throws questions at you and expects a quick answer. If you guess right, you can choose the next square on the board. If not, the computer chooses it for you. Three squares in a row wins you the game and you receive a 'fun IQ' score.

MicroTrivia is simply a piece of software, but it offers the same challenge as the famous Trivial Pursuit, and yet the only things to be gained from it are personal satisfaction and a jumble of mostly useless facts. There is no great difficulty in using the program. First, it stops a counter that runs continuously for the number of seconds (maximum 20) that it thinks it will take to answer each question.

Next, a grid containing the numbers from 1 to 9 appears on the screen. You choose one of them and a question with its four possible answers is displayed next to the grid.

You face the computer, and the basic idea is three in a row. In other words, you have to make a horizontal, vertical or diagonal line of three “wins”. If you answer a question incorrectly, or time out, a “loss” is recorded in the box you selected, and the program chooses the next number instead of you, giving you an advantage.

Once a complete win or loss line is made, you get what the show calls your “funny IQ.” Whatever the actual meaning of this phrase is, the show's authors are right to have added the qualifier, because no self-respecting psychologist would want to use Micro Trivia scores as a measure of anyone's IQ.

However, the show is definitely proving something, and while playing the game you really feel like you're competing against a powerful force. In fact, it can be quite unpleasant, and it's clearly not for those of a nervous disposition.

The program selects questions at random from a database of over a thousand contained on the distribution disk, and if the self-imposed time limit is as low as four or five seconds, even the simplest ones are likely to catch you the most. of the times

Ask something like “What is the next number in the series 15, 30. 45?” It's child's play when you think about it, but it's very easy to miss the correct answer as time goes on. There aren't many questions as easy as that either. For example, unless you specialize in the field, could you say with any degree of certainty what year Alexander the Great was born (356 BC, 849 AD, 929 AD, or 1066 AD). ), who invented the neon lamp (Volta, Bunsen, Claude or Loud), or where would you find Mandraka Falls (Wales, Madagascar, Scotland or Derbyshire)?…

You may be able to rule out one or two of the distractors right away, but that often leaves a couple of answers that seem perfectly respectable.

His hilarious IQ is on display along with the overloaded response characteristic of low-quality computer-assisted learning packages.

Another drawback may not be one at all, it depends on what the authors of the program intended. They have provided a Busy button: press Exit and the screen displays a half-finished business letter. The idea is that if you're playing Micro Trivia in the office and the boss walks in, you can instantly switch to what appears to be a serious application, but anyone worth their salt might wonder how you can write a letter without LocoScript or another word processor? texts?.

Conclusion

There is little to recommend this game. The loading instructions, which are photocopied onto a small piece of paper, advise you to boot the disk from scratch.

Micro Trivia is clear enough: it will waste your time, but you will probably enjoy wasting it.

The program itself is a short BASIC listing with minimal graphical content and the essentials to play. You can select a time limit for your answers, but this seems to have little effect on your final score, which, as far as I can tell, is randomly selected. Sometimes, but not always, you are allowed to add your name to a high score list. However, he almost always receives a comment on his performance.

Micro Trivia is not a game designed for intelligence, since its questions are quite simple and not very interesting.

In general, therefore, Micro Trivia a real challenge.

En las siguientes imágenes podéis comprobar el empaquetado original.

• Carátula original

Aquí tenéis la carátula original.

• Carátula retocada

Sus medidas son: Ancho: 34,30 cm x Alto: 16,80 cm.

No disponible

Disco original suministrado con Micro Trivia.

Etiquetas a medida para imprimirlas. Con el paso de los años debido a su uso, las etiquetas se van estropeando y perdiendo su color y calidad. Ahora intentamos adaptar lo más parecido en la medida de nuestras posibilidades, las etiquetas para que se puedan imprimir y sustituir o para aquellos que trabajéis con una copia del programa y preservar el disco original. Medida en 3“ alto: 7,00 cm - ancho: 7,10 cm. La primera imagen corresponde a la etiqueta original del juego, la segunda es la misma etiqueta modificada para poder sustituir la rota.

Próximamente

Juego

Las imágenes de disco, de disco, se han obtenido de la versión original de Micro Trivia, han sido grabadas y verificadas.

• Micro Trivia (Archivo .DSK comprimido en formato ZIP)