TRIVIA TODAY - Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Greetings Infomaniacs,

I grew up during the time when Nintendo was all the rage. My friends and I would have Super Mario Brothers marathons that would last for hours on end. Aside from Mario Bros., I also loved the game Dr. Mario. It was similar to Tetris, except instead of blocks, Dr. Mario threw down pills and you had to line them up by matching color for them to disappear.

One night a few years ago, my friends and I were hanging out and decided to pull out the old Nintendo system. My friends could not believe how good I was at Dr. Mario and they all laughed at me that I had too much time on my hands to be that good at it. Well, after that night, my friend Stacy (wife of Daily Groaner's editor Steve) decided to master the game of Dr. Mario herself.

One day we were together and Stacy nonchalantly tells me, "I've been practicing at Dr. Mario. I'm really good now."

I shook my head. "I'll still beat you," I said with confidence.

"We'll see," she responded. "We are going to have a rematch one night. You're going DOWN!"

So, one evening when a big group of us were together at Stacy and Steve's residence, everyone gathered in the bedroom to watch the battle between Stacy and I.

For awhile, we went along equally turning pills and destroying color blocks, until suddenly I noticed some of her excess blocks coming to my side (one of the tricks of the game to screw your opponent), and before I knew it my pill bottle had filled to the top and my game was over! I stared at the screen in disbelief. Stacy stood up, dropped her controller, and commented as she walked out the room, "Told you you were going down."

We haven't played Dr. Mario again since that night.

Enjoy!
Melissa

Questions? Comments? Email Melissa


TODAY'S MYSTERY QUOTE
QUOTE: "The wisest mind has something yet to learn."

HINT: (1863-1952), Spanish American philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist.


RANDOM TIDBITS
Nintendo was founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi on Sept. 23, 1889 as a company that made Japanese playing cards.

At one time, Nintendo built a brick system called "N&B Blocks." LEGO was not happy, but Nintendo avoided legal troubles because some of its blocks were rounded.

Redmond, Washington was home to Nintendo before it ever became the headquarters of Microsoft. Nintendo bought land in Redmond in 1982 with profits from Donkey Kong.

Ninteno's famous cross-shaped D-pad was invented by GameBoy creator and long-time Nintendo employee Gunpei Yokoi. It was originally designed for the handheld version of Donkey Kong, but Nintendo realized it could be used with console controllers, too.

In 1992 Nintendo became the majority owner of major league baseball team the Seattle Mariners. Although the team's mascot remained the Mariner Moose, a Mario mascot did appear when the company was promoting Mario Super Sluggers.

Nintendo faced legal action with Universal Studios, who thought Donkey Kong infringed on the King Kong trademark. Nintendo's attorney John Kirby successfully argued that the King Kong plot and characters were in the public domain. To thank Kirby, Nintendo bought him a sailboat and granted him "exclusive worldwide rights to use the name for sailboats."

(Facts from mashable.com)


VIDEO CLIP
Ninja Gaiden Sigma - The Game
After Ryu Hayabusa's village is destroyed, he embarks on a journey of revenge and to take back the Dark Dragon Blade from the Vigoor Empire. The Ninja Gaiden game series began on Nintendo in 1988.

Watch It Now: Ninja Gaiden Sigma - The Game


*** Weekly Mind-Scrambler ***
I know what my job is,
The point has been made.
You say I have a big head,
And you're right I'm afraid.
Put me in my place,
And then leave me alone.
What I need most,
Is someone to drive me home.

What am I?

Submit your answer by visiting: HERE

Answer will be posted in Friday's Trivia Today. Good Luck!

If your name appears in Friday's newsletter, EMAIL MICHELE your complete name and address to be shipped your prize. Be sure to put "Winner" in the subject line.


TODAY'S MYSTERY QUOTE
QUOTE: "The wisest mind has something yet to learn."

ANSWER: George Santayana.

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