Back to Square One Trivia Quiz

Answer: True

Squaring a number essentially means that you can multiply it by itself to give a 'squared' value. In this case, the number 20 is multiplied by itself, making the number 400 a 'perfect square'. An easy way of working backwards for this is popping 400 into a calculator and determining the square root, which would inevitably turn out to be 20 as well. Squares of even numbers are always even and squares of odd numbers are always odd.

The square of 0 is also 0. Cubing a number means that you would multiply a number by itself, and then multiply that value by the same number once more.

This quiz is about squares though. We won't delve into that one. ;)

Answer: Whoopi Goldberg

"Hollywood Squares", a game show which debuted in 1966, was aired on various occasions, each with different hosts over its long-running tenure. The aim of the game is to have two players complete a game of tic-tac-toe. Essentially, both players would ask a celebrity, each in a respective square, for an answer to a trivia question which they would need to determine as either a truth or a bluff. If they do this, they get their X or O, but if they get it wrong, the opponent gets it (unless it's a winning piece, in which case the opponent needs to claim it). In later seasons of the show, the host was Tom Bergeron and the center square would be Whoopi Goldberg (who also produced it).

The final season of the show (after Whoopi had left) featured Martin Mull as the center.

Answer: Sudoku

In the 2000s, one might call the Sudoku puzzle a 'fad' because of its immense surge in popularity. In this type of logic game, players must take a grid of eighty-one squares, each split into nine squares of nine squares each. Each of these groups of nine squares need to contain the numbers 1 through 9 in a different order. Additionally, each row of nine squares, both horizontally and vertically, must contain one of each number. The puzzle was originally released in 1986.
Sudoku has spread to video games, live TV shows, and many other outlets due to its immense popularity.

Answer: Huey Lewis and the News

Released on their second-most popular album, the Billboard #1 CD "Fore!", "Hip to Be Square's" catchy lyrics and beat quickly stuck in the minds of listeners and became one of the band's most well-known songs. Huey Lewis later withdrew the song from the soundtrack for "American Psycho", a movie starring Christian Bale due to the fact that the main character murders a character moments after giving a brief speech about the song. The band's most popular CD, "Sports", by comparison went four times more Platinum than "Fore!" which in itself went three times Platinum itself.

The band is perhaps most well-known for its song on the "Back to the Future" soundtrack, "The Power of Love".

Answer: Times Square

One of the more famous New York City sights, Times Square rests at one of the busiest intersections in Manhattan. A large, commercially built-up stretch of shops, stores, streets, and billboards, the area is known for a large concentration of advertisements and digital screens, most of which cost top dollar for real estate. The Lincoln Highway, one of America's first cross-country highways, begins at one corner of Time's Square.
Many American New Years-goers will turn on their television sets to find the famous ball drop at this location.
Times Square is in New York's Theater District, so many Broadway shows are advertised on the billboards.

Answer: Squidward Tentacles

"Spongebob Squarepants" hit immediate popularity upon its release on Nickelodeon and inevitably, after about seven or eight years, it accumulated more than one hundred episodes, a CD, and a theatrical movie. Numerous famous actors have appeared during the show's run (including David Hasselhoff as himself in the movie), but none of the characters are so famous as the eponymous sponge himself, voiced by Tom Kenny (who also meows the voice of Spongebob's pet, Gary the Snail). Kenny also appeared as a voice actor in many other shows including his roles as the narrator of "The Powerpuff Girls" and Dog in "CatDog".

Answer: Watermelon

Although Square Watermelons seem to be quite the novelty item, they're exactly the same as their round counterparts. In order to make one of these, you need to plant a regular watermelon (at the proper size) in a strong box, and grow it with the root out the top. Ironically, despite the lack of difference between taste and quality, square watermelons are usually sold for much more money.

These are typically found in Japan, but they can be grown in such shapes (as well as pyramids) in any location.

At one point, Japanese fruit-sellers capitalized off the square watermelon market, selling each fruit for nearly $100 US.

Answer: Tiananmen Square

While all of these are major squares around the world, Tiananmen Square is the only one found in Beijing. In 1989, protests were held in this large public area, prompting one of the most famous photos of the 1980s to be taken. In this, one man stands in front of a line of armored tanks in the middle of the square defying communism in the country of China.

This event is also known as the June Fourth Incident. The word Tiananmen translates to the Gate of Heavenly Peace. The Square is located adjacent to the Forbidden City, a UNESCO site, in Old Beijing.

Answer: Final Fantasy

Square, as it was known before the merger, was well known for beginning the "Final Fantasy" series in Japan in 1987 (though they had made games on the Famicom/NES for years before). In 2003, Square Co. and Enix combined to form Square-Enix, one of the largest Japanese gaming companies, and over two decades they had amassed over twenty-five different "Final Fantasy" titles on many different systems.

They are also known for making the "Kingdom Hearts" series with Disney, "Star Ocean", and 'Dragon Quest".

In 2009, they also purchased Eidos, known for making "Hitman" and the long-running "Tomb Raider" series. One of their subsidiaries, Taito, were responsible for creating "Space Invaders" and "Bubble Bobble" in 1978 and 1986 respectively.

Answer: Square One

Inevitably, as the title states, this quiz would end up back at "Square One". In this case, Coldplay's third CD, the top-selling "X&Y", began with this fun song which, sadly, never became one of the band's five international singles (though a sixth was released in South America). Overall, the CD became the top-selling album of 2005.

The title only appears once in the song at the very end at which point Chris Martin states "You wonder if your chance will ever come/Or if you're stuck in square one". "Square One", evidently, was one of the final songs to be added to the album though it set the tone for the tracks featured which were regarded as more upbeat and futuristic than those heard in "Parachutes" and "A Rush of Blood to the Head" which were more laid back.