Wikipedia

The Impossible Quiz

The Impossible Quiz is a 2007 Flash game created by a DeviantArt user known as Splapp-me-do. Noted for its difficulty, the quiz game consists of various trick questions among irreverent humor and references to popular culture. Considered to be an influential title during the heyday of Flash content, The Impossible Quiz received generally positive reviews for its difficulty, creativity of the questions and encouragement of outside-the-box thinking. The game was also released on iOS and Android in 2011, and spawned various sequels.

The Impossible Quiz
Developer(s)Splapp-me-do
Publisher(s)
EngineAdobe Flash
Platform(s)Browser, Android, iOS
Release
  • Flash
  • February 20, 2007
  • Android, iOS
  • 2011
Genre(s)Quiz game, point-and-click
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay edit

 
Five screenshots of different questions from the original quiz, each requiring different logic. Each screenshot has a question number in the top left, a life counter in the bottom left, a skip counter in the bottom right, and the question in the top-center.[a]

The Impossible Quiz is a point-and-click quiz game that consists of 110 questions.[1][2] Notorious for its difficulty, the quiz mixes multiple-choice trick questions similar to riddles, along with various challenges and puzzles.[1][2] Despite the quiz's name and arduousness, the game is possible to beat.[3][4] Many of the questions are abstract and unconventional in nature, and have been noted as requiring players to think outside the box.[2][5] Considered a memory game, the quiz emphasizes trial-and-error gameplay.[1][2][5] Players receive three lives to answer all the questions.[2] Answering a question wrong results in the game producing a bomb sound to indicate the player losing a life,[1] and having to pick another answer before proceeding to the next question.[2] The game ends when players lose all three lives. However, some questions have a time limit ranging from one to ten seconds; if the player fails to answer the question before the allotted time, the game instantly ends.[2] The game offers players seven "Skip" buttons over the course of the game that grant the ability to bypass most questions, although these skips are useless due to having to use them all in the last question.[1] In the mobile versions, a feature called a "Moron Mark" appears every 20 questions which allows players to reset from a particular question if all lives are lost.[2] The quiz was also noted for its irreverent humor.[1][6] Some questions contained references to video games and popular culture,[3][7] while other questions consisted of scatological humor.[1][7]

Development edit

DeviantArt user Splapp-me-do lives in the United Kingdom.[‡ 1] He released the game on the website in 2007,[3] and it later appeared on Flash game websites such as Newgrounds[5] and Not Doppler,[8] along with being released on its own website.[2] On Tumblr, he stated that he originally made the game as a demo in college for a website his friends developed, but later went back to develop it on his own time.[‡ 2] The influences for the game were the quiz portion of the level "The Villi People" in Earthworm Jim 2 and the quiz show Shooting Stars.[‡ 3] In 2011, publisher inXile Entertainment released the game on iOS and Android devices.[2][9] The game also led to several sequels, such as The Impossible Quiz 2, The Impossible Quiz Book and The Impossible Quizmas.[5][8]

Reception and impact edit

The Impossible Quiz received positive reviews from critics, with several outlets praising the game's difficulty and the creativity of the questions. In a 2022 retrospective of The Impossible Quiz, Polygon writer Harri Chan described the game as "intentionally antagonistic to the player", but "satisfying", and compared the quiz to other games with hard difficulty such as Getting Over It and Unfair Mario.[1] Chan also reflected on how the game's popularity within schools invoked collaboration amongst classmates, despite the game's single-player focus.[1] Jenny Williams of Wired noted that the game's focus on memorization and logic encouraged players to continuously fail and retry. She also claimed that finding the answers would make players both laugh and feel clever, also recommending the quiz "to thinking adults and very clever children everywhere".[2] Another Wired article claimed that although the quiz is possible to beat, it may be impossible to complete without the player losing their sanity.[4] Engadget writer Ludwig Kietzmann echoed a similar sentiment, and also described the game's difficulty as akin to "having moist strands of spaghetti run through your fingers. You just can't get a grip".[3] Kat Brewster of Rock Paper Shotgun regarded the game as emblematic of 2000s internet humor, along with praising the game's focus on the meaning of difficulty and failure.[6] Conversely, Lex Friedman of Macworld criticized the mobile version while comparing it unfavorably to The Moron Test, claiming it lacks the charm of the latter game.[10]

Since its release, The Impossible Quiz has been recognized by several outlets as an influential game in the heyday of Flash's popularity.[1][7][11] CBR listed the quiz as one of the most nostalgic Flash games, noting that the game's "goofy imagery and the talk it generated on the playground remain etched in memory".[7] Alternative Press also added the game to a similar list in 2020.[12] Game journalist Rachel Watts noted the game as building a sense of camaraderie amongst classmates in a PC Gamer article about games played on school computers.[13] John Daskalopoulos, founder of the Flash game website Not Doppler, praised the game for its creativity in a 2008 TechRadar article.[8] Gaming website Poki noted that the game was one of the titles that inspired the company to focus on Flash game preservation.[14]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Chan, Harri (August 1, 2022). "The Impossible Quiz made me rage quit — and learn to collaborate". Polygon. Archived from the original on August 1, 2022. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Williams, Jenny (May 11, 2011). "Bang Your Head Against This Impossible Quiz!". Wired. Archived from the original on March 14, 2016. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d Kietzmann, Ludwig (February 28, 2007). "Play The Impossible Quiz, lose your mind". Engadget. Archived from the original on August 21, 2023. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  4. ^ a b Sjoberg, Lore (February 27, 2007). "Impossible Quiz Deluxe". Wired. Archived from the original on March 2, 2007. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  5. ^ a b c d White, Billy (December 23, 2017). "Celebrating With The Impossible Quizmas". Game Industry News. Archived from the original on February 23, 2018. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  6. ^ a b Brewster, Kat (December 15, 2018). "Priceless Play - 15 December 2018". Rock Paper Shotgun. Archived from the original on March 5, 2021. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  7. ^ a b c d Williams, Samuel (July 23, 2023). "15 Most Nostalgic Flash Games From The Early 2000s". CBR. Archived from the original on July 24, 2023. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  8. ^ a b c Thompson, Jon (December 23, 2008). "Casual games you can play in your lunch break". TechRadar. Archived from the original on October 8, 2012. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  9. ^ "The Impossible Quiz™ Now Available Free-to-Play - Only on Android™!" (Press release). Business Wire. November 17, 2011. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  10. ^ Friedman, Lex (March 15, 2010). "iPhone quiz apps". Macworld. Archived from the original on August 26, 2023. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  11. ^ Benson, Thor; Yaden, Joseph (March 24, 2022). "The best Flash games". Digital Trends. Archived from the original on April 2, 2022. Retrieved August 21, 2023. Whereas many early Flash games were browser-based recreations of classic titles like Pac-Man and Frogger, the market reached new heights with the introduction of the high-speed internet and hit titles like Bowman, The Impossible Quiz, and Max Dirt Bike.
  12. ^ Darus, Alex (April 24, 2020). "Here are 10 online games from your childhood that you can still play". Alternative Press. Archived from the original on June 28, 2022. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  13. ^ Macgregor, Jody (June 27, 2020). "What was the best game on your school computers?". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on June 28, 2020. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  14. ^ Cowley, Ric (May 29, 2020). "Interview: Why Poki is partnering with Nitrome and more to preserve the Flash games of old". Pocket Gamer. Archived from the original on June 3, 2020. Retrieved August 21, 2023. Over the years we had been looking for ways to preserve the Flash classics that we grew up with. Quirky, diverse creations like Dino Run (Pixeljam), Tank Trouble (Mads Purup), and The Impossible Quiz (Splapp-me-do) that have been around for 10 years or longer. It's amazing that these games are still attracting and inspiring new generations of players around the world.

Primary sources edit

  1. ^ Splapp-me-do (2017). "What time in what time zone will The Impossible Quizmas be released?". Tumblr. Retrieved August 29, 2023.
  2. ^ Splapp-me-do (2014). "Why did you make The Impossible Quiz? Is there a specific reason you made it?". Tumblr. Archived from the original on May 8, 2014. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  3. ^ Splapp-me-do (2014). "I've always wondered, what inspired you to create The Impossible Quiz?". Tumblr. Retrieved January 27, 2024.

Notes edit

  1. ^ The solutions, in question number order, are "Four" (referencing the amount of holes in the letter glyphs of the phrase "A Polo", as opposed to the presumed amount of physical holes in a polo shirt), clicking "The Answer" (in the question, as opposed to any given multiple choice answer), directing one's cursor from the starting "Go!" button to outside the bounds of the game's computer window and reentering on the "Next Question" button (the question otherwise being impossible within the regular confines of the quiz), "O.K.", and "4 8 15 16 23 42" (dependent on the player's ability to recall the sequence of numbers presented in Question #50).

Further reading edit

External links edit

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