Games in Movies Trivia

1. One of the most famous poker movies is "Rounders". As part of its background it uses World Series of Poker Main Event champ Johnny Chan as the ultimate poker player. In both the movie and real life, who did Chan defeat to win the 1988 Main Event?

From Quiz Shuffle Up and Deal

Answer: Erik Seidel

In 1988, Chan beat Erik Seidel to win his second Main Event (ME), having won the 1987 ME against Frank Henderson. Chan went on to finish second to Phil Helmuth in 1989, barely missing the chance to make history by winning back to back to back MEs. Doyle Brunson has also won the ME in two consecutive years, in 1976 and 1977, as has Stu Ungar, in 1980 and 1981. The clip of Chan beating Seidel features prominently in the film as does Mike McDermott's (Matt Damon) desire to beat Chan in one hand. A chance he gets and takes full advantage of. The film ends with McDermott heading to Vegas to play in the ME. The term 'rounder' refers to any player who seeks out poker games, mostly underground and illegal, to play in to make a living. Rounders differ from the professional players who make their livings in casinos and are a rarer breed today with the advent of casinos across the country and online poker. Many of the old time poker greats were rounders back in the day, including Brunson and Amarillo Slim who played on the Texas circuit. There is some debate about whether the movie became popular because of the rise of Hold'em or vice versa because when it first came out it was not as revered as it is today. Now it is considered one of the more accurate movies in terms of the play and atmosphere of a Texas Hold'em game.

From Quiz Games in the Movies

Answer: Chess

'The Seventh Seal' is really one of the classic films of all time, perhaps Bergman's greatest work. It features the acting Max von Sydow, who plays the returned knight, and Gunnar Bjornstrand, who plays the knight's squire. The chess scene from the film has been borrowed, lampooned, and otherwise been paid general homage in a number of films and television shows since the release of the film.

From Quiz Seventy-Five Years of Chess Movies

Answer: Vladmir Nabokov

Directed by Marleen Gorris, starring John Turturro and Emily Watson. It tells the story of an emotionally unstable chess master (perhaps a high-functioning autistic and on the edge of being an idiot-savant) who falls in love with a rich society woman.

From Quiz Video Games in the Movies!

Answer: Space Paranoids

Flynn is vindicated at the end of the film after getting the goods on Dillinger's wrongdoings.

From Quiz I Want to Play That Movie Game

Answer: Wake the dead

The rules of Wake the Dead are not given but, from context clues, we can surmise that it involves digging up graves in the cemetery. This is told to Wednesday and Pugsley by Uncle Fester. Perhaps, it's best this game remains fictional.

From Quiz Shuffle Up and Deal

Answer: Texas Hold'em

In the novels and in the prior movies Bond plays Baccarat almost exclusively. When Ian Fleming wrote the books, Baccarat was the game high-stakes players played in most casinos, especially in Europe. But with the growing popularity of Texas Hold'em, the game was changed to make it more appealing to modern audiences. The movie features a sit-n-go type game where only one winner walks away from the table with all of the cash. This is a very popular tournament style on most poker sites. Bond (Daniel Craig) beats Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen) on the final hand when his straight flush tops Le Chiffre's Aces full of Sixes. Le Chiffre then takes Bond hostage and tortures him to get access to the tournament winnings.

From Quiz Games in the Movies

Answer: Dungeons & Dragons

Sadly enough, the film was a very poor adaptation of the game, despite featuring the excellent actor Jeremy Irons (what was he thinking?) 'Dungeons & Dragons' was the most popular of a number of role-playing games (RPGs) that became popular in the 1980s. The popularity of these games, and the fantasy content, prompted many rather paranoid folks to imagine that the game was somehow attached to Satanism.

From Quiz Seventy-Five Years of Chess Movies

Answer: "Alice Through the Looking Glass", by Lewis Carroll

Directed by Esme Lammers, starring Tiba Tossijn and Derek de Lint. Tells the story of a young girl who learns to play chess and finds her father.

From Quiz Video Games in the Movies!

Answer: Missile Command

Remember this one? The goal was to stop missiles from raining down upon unsuspecting cities. When the game ended, the words 'The End' appeared on the screen.

From Quiz Shuffle Up and Deal

Answer: Blackjack

Both movies feature card counting in Blackjack. Although casinos would like you to believe card counting is illegal, it is not. It is, however, not allowed in most casinos and in Nevada, card counters can be banned because the casino is private property. This is not true in Atlantic City because the New Jersey Supreme Court in Uston v. Resorts International ruled card counters cannot be banned. This does not stop most casinos from still 'blacklisting' card counters. "21" is based on the book "Bringing Down the House", which tells the story of the MIT Blackjack team. The book and the movie contain fictional elements but the essential plot that MIT students formed a team to use card counting to win at Blackjack is accurate. The film follows the exploits of student Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) and Professor Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey) as they run the team. "Rain Man" is the story of Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise) and his autistic brother Raymond (Dustin Hoffman). It follows their journey across the country with a stop in Las Vegas. There Charlie uses Raymond, who is also a math savant and great at counting cards, to win at Blackjack.

From Quiz Games in the Movies

Answer: Poker

'Rounders' is a film about the seedier side of life of a pair of young men who make their living playing poker. Aside from the two lead actors, the film includes great acting work from John Malkovich (Teddy KGB), John Turturro and Martin Landau. World Series of Poker player Johnny Chan is also briefly featured in the film.

From Quiz Seventy-Five Years of Chess Movies

Answer: The Marquise's daughter, Anne-Lise

Directed by Yves Hanchar, starring Hilde Heijnen, Denis Lavant and Catherine Deneuve. Recounts the chess played in the tournament for the hand of Anne-Lise (played by Hilde Heijnen), but also the chess-like battle of wits between mother and daughter.

From Quiz Video Games in the Movies!

Answer: Galaga

Broderick asked the studio to provide him with with an actual 'Galaga' machine a month prior to shooting so he could practice -- and he got it!

From Quiz I Want to Play That Movie Game

Answer: Trash talking

Every time a shot is missed in BASEketball, it counts as an out just like receiving three strikes in baseball. Points are received by taking shots and, just like in real basketball, more points are given the further away a shot is made from. There are singles, doubles and triples that award one, two and three points respectively. Trash talking and psyching out your opponent are used to distract them when they take a shot. While a common feature in most sports, trash talking in BASEketball is usually dirtier and full of low blows.

From Quiz Shuffle Up and Deal

Answer: Three Card Brag

A rigged game of Three Card Brag is used by Harry "The Hatchet" Lonsdale (P. H. Moriarty) to cheat Eddy (Nick Moran) and his friends, including Bacon (Jason Statham), out of 500,000 pounds. The rest of the movie follows the their attempts to raise the cash to pay off the debt and the chaos that ensues. Three Card Brag comes from Primero, an Elizabethan gambling game, and is an ancestor of poker as we know it today. Brag, however, differs significantly from modern poker in both betting and hand values. Variations are Four, Seven, Nine, Thirteen, and Fifteen Card Brag.

From Quiz Video Games in the Movies!

Answer: Atari 5200

Yes, before the advent of Nintendo and Sega, these systems were about all there was, folks. (Man, I'm old.)

From Quiz I Want to Play That Movie Game

Answer: Chess

Instead of using tangible pieces, Dejarik uses holographs to play. When moved, the monsters will fight and attack each other. The Millennium Falcon contains a Dejarik table which Chewbacca and R2-D2 play on in the film.

From Quiz Shuffle Up and Deal

Answer: 5 Card Stud

Five Card Stud originated during the American Civil War, when it had its greatest popularity, and was featured in the first few years of the WSOP in the 1970s. It has since declined in popularity with the rise of community card games such as Hold'em. "The Cincinnati Kid" tells the story of Eric Stoner (Steve McQueen), a rising poker star in New Orleans. He wants to play against Lancey "The Man" Howard (Edward G. Robinson). They get involved in a six player game and play until only the two of them are left. The final hand of the game has created much controversy because the odds of it happening in a Five Card Stud game heads up are astronomical. Eric loses to Howard when his full house is beaten by a straight flush. "5 Card Stud" tells the story of Van Morgan (Dean Martin) who is involved in a Five Card Stud poker game in Rincon Colorado in which one of the players is caught cheating. He is lynched by the other players against the objections of Morgan. Later on members of the lynching begin to die and Morgan returns to Rincon to find out why. A new resident in the town is Reverend Rudd (Robert Mitchum).

From Quiz Games in the Movies

Answer: Never Say Never Again

James Bond, played for the last time by Sean Connery in 'Never Say Never Again', engages in a game of 'Domination' with the villain Largo (played by Klaus Maria Brandauer). Bond loses the first game, which features electric shocks as punishment for bad moves, but eventually gains victory in the final game between himself and Largo. The film, which is essentially a remake of 'Thunderball', also features Kim Basinger, Max von Sydow and Barbara Carrera in a riotous, over-the-top performance as the wicked Fatima.

From Quiz Seventy-Five Years of Chess Movies

Answer: Christopher Lambert

Directed by Carl Schenkel. A murder mystery in which a chess grandmaster is the chief suspect.

From Quiz Video Games in the Movies!

Answer: After Burner

The popular jet fighter simulation game created by Sega. (Yup, Sega made real arcade games in addition to their home system accomplishments.)

From Quiz I Want to Play That Movie Game

Answer: Wreck-It Ralph

"Wreck-It Ralph" is about a video game villain who can no longer tolerate being evil and wants to be the hero for a change. During the course of the film, he winds up in a few different games including "Sugar Rush" which is a racing game and "Hero's Duty" which is a tamer version of "Call of Duty". "Fix-It Felix" is Wreck-It Ralph's original game where he is the villain.

From Quiz Games in the Movies

Answer: Jumanji

The movie 'Jumanji' is based on the award-winning children's book of the same title by Chris Van Allsburg. Frankly, the book is better than the film, which also features the acting of Kirsten Dunst, Bebe Neuwirth and David Alan Grier, among others.

From Quiz Seventy-Five Years of Chess Movies

Answer: in a prison cell

Directed by Bernhard Wicki, starring Fred Dueren, Kalus Schwarzkopf and Joerg Gudzuhn. Tells the story of a man who remembers more than just a tricky move as he struggles to reconstruct a chess game he played against a Jewish prisoner some forty-odd years before in a WWII prison cell.

From Quiz Video Games in the Movies!

Answer: baseball & hardball

The character wears a Bears jersey throughout the film.

From Quiz I Want to Play That Movie Game

Answer: Wrestle Jam

Randy Robinson is apparently one of the characters the player can wrestle in "Wrestle Jam". Randy Robinson is so obsessed with this game and his past that he is ignorant that there are more advanced games in existence. When he finds out about them, he still prefers to play "Wrestle Jam" since it is the only game where he can play as his younger self.

From Quiz Shuffle Up and Deal

Answer: Five Card Draw

Both movies feature Five Card Draw, the pre-eminent game in the Old West and on the riverboats of the Mississippi. The game involves each player being dealt five cards with a round of betting. From there the players are allowed to discard cards they don't want in order to try to improve their hand. How many can be discarded depends on the rules of that particular game. Another round of betting takes place and then the hands are revealed unless all players fold. Both movies involve fixed games where card mechanics are involved. In "A Big Hand for a Little Lady", Meredith (Henry Fonda) and Mary (Joanne Woodward) run a scam on the five richest men in Texas, in which Mary ends up bluffing them out of a huge pot. Freezing the frame reveals she only held two pair, fours and fives. "Maverick" tells the story of Bret Maverick (Mel Gibson), Mrs Annabelle Bransford (Jodie Foster), Marshal Zane Cooper (James Garner), Angel (Alfred Molina), and Commodore Duvall (James Coburn). The Commodore holds a tournament on his riverboat that is a winner takes all event. Maverick wins the tournament with a royal flush and from there tons of double crosses and plot twists ensue.

From Quiz Games in the Movies

Answer: Wheel of Fortune

Raymond, along with his brother Charlie (played by Cruise), win big on a Vegas blackjack table thanks to Raymond's card counting abilities. Unfortunately, Raymond is incapable of the same magic on a 'Wheel of Fortune' game. He loses several thousand dollars by incorrectly guessing in which slot the wheel will stop.

From Quiz Seventy-Five Years of Chess Movies

Answer: Geneva

Directed by Richard Dembo, starring Michel Piccoli and Alexandre Arbatt. A cold-war psychodrama in which the chess match played on the board (between a Soviet grandmaster and an ex-Soviet defector challenger) is interwoven with a behind-the-scenes political chess match.

From Quiz Video Games in the Movies!

Answer: Stocker

I'd actually never heard of this driving game by Bally Sente before seeing the movie...and to this day, I have yet to see one 'in the wild.'

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