Trivits Q & A

Karlo Lara, one of the Trivbits pioneers, answered some question about the history of Trivbits email last September 1998, and recently was posted on UP Compsoc mailing list.

Hhow was the concept of Trivbits formed?
Trivbits is loosely based on the Trivial Pursuit game. TP was popular during that time. We had to modify the game because the trivial pursuit game was too long for tournament play. So, it eventually became a cross between trivial pursuit and an IQ contest. We also must involve computers because that is what the society is/pretends to be about. It was a good idea too because the graphics will make the game more enjoyable to spectators.

Who were the people who thought about this idea?
Uh-oh. This is a hard one. I don't want to leave out any impt. names. It was a collaboration of ideas from perennial tambays of compsoc. Also it was such a big project that it needed the cooperation of many people. Fortunately, we got the support we need from the members. Just credit it to compsoc '85-'86

When? Why? Why the name "Trivbits"?
The name came out immediately. I don't recall who coined it. I guess it must be a good name because it had no rivals. The root words are trivia and bits or bits of trivia. The fact that 'bit' is also a computer word is another plus.

What was the aim of Trivbits?
Compsoc wanted to sponsor an event during eng'g week. That was the main motivation. Compsoc used to sponsor 'Drag race' - a race that involves teams pushing cars. There are problems with this event. And it does not involve computers at all.

How was the first Trivbits played?
Do you mean the mechanics? I only have a vague
recollection of it right now.

When?
Throughout most of eng'g week

Where?
Audio-visual room, first floor of NEC bldg.

What were the topics in the first Trivbits?
Current events, math, science, general knowledge, history&geography, and something... 8^). There were 6 categories.

What were the equpment used?
An APPLE II+ computer
A large projector-type TV
A color graphics monitor
A monochrome text monitor
Buttons for the contestants.The Apple is an 8-bit computer running at a scorching speed of
1Mhz. It has 64 kilobytes of memory. The display is capable of 280 by 192 pixels and 6 colors. No hard disk yet. We used 5.25in floppies. I enjoy pointing this out because it demonstrates how fast
computers have evolved.

Mechanics of the early games?
My memory is vague on this. If somebody can describe to me how it is played today, maybe that will jog my recollection.

Any troubles during early games?
The first day was the hardest. Setting up the equipment, testing the system, debugging the program - all amid the excitement. Yup, trivbits had bugs that didn't get fixed until the second or third day. There were goof-ups. Like the answer popping out of the screen along with the question (or sometimes without the question)We also did not have time to screen the questions thoroughly. There were impossible to anwser questions, ambiguous questions, questions with wrong answers, questions that have been asked before, etc. This is a little org secret - we attached 2 monitors to the Apple computer. One shows the screen visible to the contestants. The other displays the next questions for each category. The
operator screens the questions right there - discarding bad questions before they are used. This is a secret because it gives the operator the power to fix games. Though it was never used that way, it is better keep it confidential.

Who were the sponsors?
It was solely sponsored by compsoc.

Any other means of funding?
There was a joining fee.

Who were the major winners then?
I have no idea, now.

Through the years, how did the game evolve? What were the improvements?
The next year, the game was more popular
because of the success of the previous year.
So we had more teams wanting to join.As more powerful computers came, trivbits improved.
After I graduated, a group headed by Junjun Gervasio made the first version of trivbits to run on IBC/PC compatible computers.I am proud that compsoc kept on improving the game.

Difficulties encountered during the succeeding years? Major accomplishments related to Trivbits?
The second year of Trivbits ran much smoother. There were only minor improvements to the game, technically. We just took the lessons we learned the previous year and applied it to make the game more enjoyable to the contestants and spectators.I think the next difficult year was when they shifted to the PC platform. Which was understandable because it was a complete rewrite.

Do you have a logo of the early Trivbits?
There was no official trivbits logo. I don't have a copy anymore of the first trivbits logo.I did not develop the trivbits program on my own. There were 3 of us - Pyke Gervasio, Teddy Liuson, and moi. There were several EE guys who did the answer button circuit. And of course, almost the whole org helped by contributing questions and encoding them. I think the hardest and most
important part of staging trivbits is gathering good questions.

So, you see that the game was borne out of the efforts of the whole org. That makes it all the more special.There were a few commercial stablishments interested in licensing Trivbits. For example, Shakey's Katipunan was interested in using the game for the benefit of customers.
We begged out because it would affect the games impact as an eng'g week event. Besides, it's very hard to gather questions to be used on a continuing basis.

HTH

Karlo