At Bungie Fanfest IV (West Bay Conference Center, San Francisco, Jan 12, 2001) Bungie ran the second of their Fan Trivia Contests. While the first trivia contest was an impromptu affair consisting of only five questions the second trivia contest involved 27 'pre-prepared' questions in the form a slide show. You can see all 27 questions (and answers) here. Unfortunately a number of the answers as given by Bungie are wrong (or suspect). Below are the questions with the correct answers explained.

9. What was the original codename for Marathon? A. Still No Jumping v0.5.0 B. Blam! C. Tuncerthon D. Pathways Into Uranus

Correct answer: None of the above.

According to the Marathon Scrapbook the original codename for Marathon was "Marathon". I quote from page 9 of the Marathon Scrapbook:

Marathon had started as a code-name, and Jason had every intent of changing it before the game shipped. "What the hell are we going to name the new game?" was the focus of an extended brainstorming session in a Chinese restaurant at MacWorld SF earlier that year. "Pathways Into Uranus" was the favorite to win, but it was eventually rejected as too oblique. As time went on, the name Marathon seemed like a more appropriate choice for a game that was a grueling test of endurance; eventually the code-name became official.

11. What material did Bungie use to construct their first Macworld booth? A. Legos B. Balsa Wood C. PVC pipes D. Cinder blocks

Correct answer: None of the above.

In the Marathon Scrapbook on page 10 you'll find two pics of Bungie building their Macworld Boston '94 booth out of... PVC Pipes. Yet this isn't their first Macworld booth. Bungie had a booth at Macworld San Francisco '94 (they showed a Marathon alpha) and earlier at Macworld Boston '93 (Pathways Into Darkness was sold from this booth). If you check the Marathon Scrapbook again this time on page 4 you'll find a pic of Jason and Alex at a Macworld Booth. The caption date is incorrect (note the old style Bungie logo). The pic is probably from Macworld San Francisco '94. See any PVC Pipes? Of course this isn't Bungie's first Macworld booth. Did Bungie use PVC Pipes to construct their booth at Macworld Boston '93? Unlikely it would have been a very simple affair. Of course if you were there you might know different.

14. What does the Disembodied Soul call his dog? A. Scooter B. Ralphie C. Ling-ling D. Roofus

Correct answer: None of the above.

The Disembodied Soul's dog is called Ralfie not Ralphie. This was first noted by Alex "Traxus" Montgomery.

20. What did the Disembodied Soul do to warrant eternal damnation? A. Leaked a Marathon beta B. Ran Bungie's casino business into the ground C. Back-talked to The Man D. Sent Bungie the obscenity-filled letter that inspired the TBWSAF acronym

Correct answer: None of the above.

According to the Bungie Webmaster in a "Letters to the Webmaster" dating from 1997 the Soul was an individual who incorrectly printed 1500 Marathon Infinity CDs yellow-and-black. Here's the letter containing the correct answer:

Okay, here's simple question. Why is my Marathon Infinity CD half black and half yellow when the rest of the world's is half grey and half black?

Sam Miller, samm@ames.net

Sam-

It was a printing mix-up. There were only about 1500 of the yellow-and-black infinity CDs printed before we burst into the CD pressing plant, captured the idiot responsible and sucked his soul into our web server, where he will answer tech support questions in his incredibly brain-dead fashion 24 hours a day for all eternity. Please feel free to torment him whenever you like.

As for the CD, think of it as a limited edition.

This was first noted by Mark "Have Blue" Levin.

22. What did Max dress up as for Bungie's 1998 Halloween party? A. Dwarf B. Ghol C. Soulblighter D. Your Mom

Correct answer: None of the above.

Max Hoberman dressed up as "Your Mom" at Bungie's 1999 Halloween party. Here's a pic:

Is that Max Hoberman? Ok the picture isn't very clear so I asked a well known face at Bungie to identify the people in the pic. That person replied:

"Yeah, that was Max in the curlers, facial mask and pink robe. Mojdeh, his fiancee, is the woman in the foreground."

It was also confirmed that the pic was taken at the 1999 Halloween party.

So Max was dressed as "Your Mom" at Bungie's 1999 Halloween party. But was Max dressed as "Your Mom" at Bungie's 1998 Halloween party? Well the answer should be obvious... afterall if you dressed up in drag two years in a row you might be giving people the wrong idea... right? ;-)

26. What's the Tiajuana Mamma? A. Butcher's first American "girlfriend" B. A lunch item from the holy La Cocina menu C. A spiced beef stick D. More slang for "Your Mom"

Correct answer: Well the problem here is the question is technically incorrect.

Tom Bridge <tbridge@toad.net> pointed out that it was "Tijuana", not "Tiajuana". In fact it is Tijuana Mama not "Tiajuana Mamma". So both words are actually wrong. Tijuana Mama is a spicy sausage. See also this Bungie Webcam image dating from March 7, 2001. Thanks Timothy Collett <tcollett@hamilton.edu>.

Thanks to Dave Keys <dkeys@uclink4.berkeley.edu> for capturing the trivia contest questions on camera and to Claude Errera <errera@bungie.org> for transcribing and coding the trivia contest and for the title graphic.

Trivia Contest questions © 2001 Bungie Studios