Playing by the Rules Trivia Quiz

Answer: Thumb

If someone is operating with a 'Rule of Thumb', it means they're going with a commonly regarded method of completing a task or process that's generally based on experience. For instance, someone who engages with trade work is much more likely to have a first-hand idea of what they must be doing to complete the job. If you expect that cutting a piece of wood to precise measurement could lead to problems down the line, for instance, a rule of thumb might be to save a little extra of the length to compensate.

Although the rule is often attributed to the idea of 'adding a thumb's width', the concept extends further than measurement.

Answer: Eight

"8 Simple Rules... for Dating My Teenage Daughter", later shortened to "8 Simple Rules", aired on ABC for three seasons spanning 2002-2005, and while it was a popular show early in its time, it came to a quick end following the passing of its lead actor, John Ritter, who died unexpectedly in 2003. A handful of actors filled in the void left by Ritter's death (including James Garner and David Spade) but the show was cancelled shortly after.

The rules featured on the show were clearly outlined early on and involved items such as "Use your hands on my daughter and you'll lose them after" and "If your pants hang off your hips, I'll gladly secure them with my staple gun."

Answer: You do not talk about Fight Club.

There's actually a thorough list of rules for the Fight Club(s) featured in both the Chuck Palahniuk novel and the film adaptation of "Fight Club", but all of it starts with the insistence that you don't talk about the Fight Club. In fact, that's also the second rule. The catch with this is that it's pretty much a rule meant to be broken. As the story progresses, the club grows rapidly, leading to pockets and groups of radicalized individuals who not only give in to the dangerous activity, but let the aggression and chaos spill into other facets of life.

It's the type of rule that's become a cultural touchstone.

Answer: Numbers 1 through 9 must be on the diagonals, forming an X

There is a certain satisfaction to knowing that everything is in its right place, and Sudoku is perfect for anyone eager to engage in pattern and logic puzzles. Presented with an eighty-one squared grid (nine by nine) which is subsequently divided into nine smaller squares of nine, the goal is to place the numbers one through nine in each column, row, and smaller square.

Although the two full-puzzle diagonals are not requirements to solve a sudoku puzzle, modern variants of the game are able to work this out as a criteria as well, generally because computers make it easier to create these challenges.

Answer: New Rules

Although the seventh of eight singles from Dua Lipa's debut album, "New Rules" was the track that got her the most international recognition in her early career, being featured on a number of awards shows when it topped the UK Singles Chart and appeared near the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. The late-album single only propelled the UK-based singer into a string of new singles a couple of years later when her sophomore album, "Future Nostalgia", arrived with radio bangers at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"New Rules" would also help Lipa net a Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 2019.

Answer: Saw

Though ten movies would grace the franchise over the course of the next two decades, the first "Saw" movie was quite the seminal work considering the state of horror-thriller movies in the 2000s. Leaning into graphic violence and an inclination towards violent lesson-learning, the films had characters of questionable ethics and morals going face-to-face against one mastermind's deadly traps, harming themselves to escape their traumatic trials and the wrath of the Jigsaw Killer. Players of these games had to follow rules to survive, even if those rules weren't particularly favourable for anyone.

Answer: Isaac Asimov

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Isaac Asimov's logic for robot programming, at least in his science fiction works, were always intended to be protective in nature as, with these in mind, there was no real chance for a robot to turn on its human master. While the implications occasionally led to new questions of their own (think "I, Robot" as an instance), these Three Laws have been a recurring fixture in futuristic sci-fi since their introduction in literature in the 1940s. What happens, for instance, if a robot doesn't know it's breaking its own laws?

Answer: Used the washroom

Really, the rules of this adult fill-in-the-answer card game aren't elaborate, and you would be able to just make your own up to your own leisure as it is, but the guide suggests starting with the person who last used the restroom. It's a gentle hint, one might find, that the game they're about to play will push the envelope a little bit.

More interestingly, the rules suggest several variations of gameplay including one where a random answer card is drawn for each round and attributed to Rando Cardrissian. If he wins, then your group isn't funny. That, or fate itself is funnier. Neither's too flattering.

Answer: Keep them warm

Another trio of rules to remember, and they're given to a man who subsequently gifts the Mogwai to his son in the 1984 Joe Dante film "Gremlins". Specifically:
1. Do not expose the Mogwai to light, especially sunlight, which will kill it.
2. Do not let it come in contact with water.
3. Above all, never feed it after midnight.

Naturally, all of these things happen in some order or another, leading to holiday hi-jinx as the Peltzer family deals with the creatures that spawn from poor, innocent Gizmo. The same happens in the sequel, "Gremlins 2: The New Batch", which released six years later in 1990.

Answer: Free Parking

While passing Go generally results in a windfall of $200 and Go to Jail will send you across the board to a jail cell, Free Parking is the square that likely gets the most questions in a general game of Monopoly as the official rules for the game say it's basically a nothing space.

There's no collective pot of money to claim upon landing there; there's no waiting turns; there's no nothing. The catch is, hardcore players might actually see this as a reprieve since late-game turns around the board can, with poor rolls, be quite costly as one jumps from property to property.