Time Warp Trivia Quiz

Answer: Primordial Soup Theory

Interestingly, it was Darwin who first put forward in writing: "Life may have begun in a warm little pond, with all sorts of ammonia and phosphoric salts, lights, heat, electricity, etc. present, so that a protein compound was chemically formed ready to undergo still more complex changes".

The first level of this game takes place around 1,000,000,000 BC. The puzzles involve pitting organisms such as bacteria, viruses and protozoa against each other for supremacy. Take caution, or else you'll be Dustin Hoffman in the movie "Outbreak".

Answer: troglodyte

To many people, the word "troglodyte" conjures up an image of what a prehistoric "caveman" may have looked like. There is evidence that humans spent time in caves, but it is unlikely that they did so for entertainment or scientific study.

But speaking of prehistoric, your job in this puzzle set is to guide a lungfish through mazes of underwater caverns filled with obstacles (without "drowning" it).

Answer: eon

The order of time span from longest to shortest is: eon, era, period, epoch, age.

In 60 million BC, the dinosaurs had been extinct for nearly 5 million years. Just as well, since your task in the game at this point is to help a mother lizard hatch her young using geysers/mudpots for incubation purposes.

Answer: Beaver fever

Yellow fever is a virus spread by mosquitoes. Rocky mountain spotted fever (carried by ticks) and cat-scratch fever are both caused by specific bacteria. Beaver fever is the only one on the list involving a parasite. Beavers get an unfair "rap" regarding this disease, as all mammals including humans can be carriers. Besides, you're more likely to ingest a cyst from food that wasn't handled hygienically than you are to drink polluted pond water.

In the Time Warp game, the fourth set of puzzles involves building bridges/dams across water using sticks. Of course there are hazards along the way for you to avoid, including animals on shore that apparently have nothing better to do other than interrupt your work (you busy beaver, you).

Answer: Iron Age

The oldest is the Stone Age and everything else that followed are considered the "ages of metals". Chalcolithic, otherwise known as the Copper age, refers to the period of time where humans could smelt copper, but didn't yet know how to make bronze (copper + tin).

The second set of puzzles in the video game is called "Caveman Rock". You listen to recordings of musical phrases and then have to reproduce them as sound bytes. Since the puzzle supposedly takes place in 1 million BC, it's a really huge anachronism - but then again, the game title IS "Time Warp" after all! Just pretend you're watching "The Flintstones" and you'll be okay with it.

Answer: gibbon

One of the main differences between monkeys and apes is that apes do not have tails. Mandrills and Macaques do have tails, although they're quite small. The common name for a macaque is a "barbary ape", which is a misnomer.

In the "Monkey See - Monkey Do" puzzle level, your challenge is to make more words than your opponent (who happens to be an ape). Sounds easy? Perhaps - but unless you brush up on American Sign Language that chimp is going to make a chump out of you!

Answer: change Pb into Au

Their grip on economic concepts was apparently about as good as their attempts at transforming cheap metals such as Lead (Pb) into Gold (Au), as eventually too many people would be in on the secret and the gold would become worthless.

Since you aren't provided with a particle accelerator in the Time Warp game, you are not expected to produce gold, but you do have to come up with a few specific concoctions/potions. A mistake anywhere in your formulae will result in piles of unusable sludge.

Answer: Baulk road

A Baulk road is a type of railway track that uses long pieces of wood (called baulks) placed lengthwise to fully support the rails, with transoms inserted (sparingly) to keep the gauge consistent.

The eighth level of the game is called "Gridlock". It seems that in the year 5,000 AD they still haven't found a solution to traffic problems and have left it up to you to figure out. It's all about logistics. That may sound boring to some folks, but it's kind of fun as you get to crash lots of vehicles without killing anyone.

Answer: Mir

Soyuz is a spacecraft, not a space station. Salyut space stations were built and launched as a single unit, with everything on board (except people, who were ferried up later) and were considered "disposable" once they ran out of supplies. Almaz is the name given to some Salyuts to differentiate between civilian and military stations. Mir was sent up in several stages/modules and stayed in orbit for 15 years.

In the "Time Warp" game, you are given a set of blueprints and you have to build your own space stations. If you're good at visualising concepts in 3D, you can get through these puzzles fairly quickly. If not - well, they say patience is a virtue.

Answer: EEG

EEG = Electroencephalogram, EMG = Electromyogram, ECG = Electrocardiogram, EEK = Rattus giganticus.

According to scientists, the human brain, on average, is approximately 10% smaller than it was 20,000 years ago. Some people feel this means our brains are getting more efficient, while others think we've become "domesticated". I'm sure you have your own thoughts on this phenomenum : )

In the video game on this 10th and final level, people are merely disembodied brains floating in tanks who spend all day solving matrix logic problems.