The second Computer Bowl, Boston 1990

[crustyasp46]

The second Computer Bowl sponsored by The Computer Museum was held in Boston
in April 1990. The questions used are listed below. For a more detailed report
see the August 1990 issue of Communications of the ACM (CACM v33n8).

[Keep in mind these questions were posed in early 1990! Some of the answers
may be out of date.]


ROUND ONE QUESTIONS

1. The summer of 1977 was a major year for personal computers. In that year
three famous PC's were introduced. What were they?

2. Ethernet was named a networking standard in 1980 in a joint public
announcement by three famous computer companies. What were their names?

3. According to the Computer Industry Almanac, California has the most
computer companies in America, with over 38% of the total. Massachusetts is
number 2. Within plus or minus 5%, what is Massachusetts' share of the
nation's computer companies?

4. In 1980, one of the largest public stock offerings of modern times was made
by a computer company. The size of the offering was the largest since the Ford
Motor Company's in 1956. What was the computer company?

5. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak are best known for the Apple computer they
developed. But they also teamed up to design a popular arcade game for Atari.
What was the name of the game? Was it, Space Invaders, Breakout, Asteroids,
or Space Wars?

6. What now defunct computer company used this animal as part of an
advertising campaign? [photo of a Saint Bernard dog sculpture made out of
electronic components]

7. The abacus was one of the earliest counting devices, probably originating
in Babylonia and spreading to other countries. Of China, Greece, and Japan,
which received the abacus first?

8. In the past, the Chinese used the abacus to do their national census. They
stopped using it and replaced it with a computer. When did the Chinese
dump the abacus in favor of computers -- was it 1972, 1977, or 1982?

9. In 1989, 16% of NeXT, Inc. was sold for $100M to what company?

10. In the comic strip "Doonesbury", Mark learns to program a computer. What
computer does Mark use in "Doonesbury"?

11. In the comic strip "Bloom County", the character Oliver Wendall Jones has a
personal computer. What is the name of that computer?

12. Again in "Bloom County", before getting his Banana Junior, Oliver Wendall
Jones owned another computer. What was it?

13. The National Computer Conference reached its peak as a trade show during
the 1980s. And in its best year 97,000 people attended. What year was that?
Was it 1983, 1985, or 1987?

14. Comdex has become one of the dominant trade shows in the computer
industry. In what year was the first comdex held? Was it 1978, 1980, or 1982?

The Computer Bowl consisted of four rounds of questions and over the next four weeks I will post the answers to each round and then post the next round of questions. Dig into your grey matter and see what you know and remember about retro computing. Have fun.