Manic Miner Trivia Quiz

Answer: Miner Willy

The objective of the game was to help Willy collect all the keys in each cavern. Once these keys had been collected the portal to the next cavern would be opened and Willy had to reach it before his oxygen ran out.

Answer: In The Hall of the Mountain King

In-game music was a revolutionary feature of "Manic Miner". Edvard Grieg's tune from "Peer Gynt" could be heard (in a rather staccato form) throughout every level of the game. "The Blue Danube" was the music that could be heard on the game's introduction screen.

Answer: The Forgotten Abbey

"The Forgotten Abbey" was a level from the sequel to "Manic Miner". Attack of the Mutant Telephones was cavern number eleven, Skylab Landing Bay was cavern number fourteen and The Sixteenth Cavern was, not surprisingly, cavern number sixteen.

Answer: Processing Plant

Other creatures to be avoided throughout the game included birds (The Menagerie), telephones (Attack of the Mutant Telephones) and robots (The Central Cavern). If Willy got caught by one of these creatures he would lose a life. Other means of losing a life were to hit a stalactite or stalagmite, to fall a long distance or to run out of oxygen.

Answer: A rival programmer

Eugene Evans was a renowned programmer from Liverpool who had originally worked for BugByte Software but had left the company whilst "Manic Miner" was in development. Why Matthew Smith chose to populate this level with toilets can only be imagined.

Answer: Amoebatrons

The Amoebatrons appeared on level 9, "Wacky Amoebatrons", and level 18 "Amoebatron's Revenge". The Kong Beast was another character to appear on more than one level (Miner Willy Meets the Kong Beast and Return of the Alien Kong Beast).

The kangaroos appeared in level 7, "The Vat", the penguins on level 2, "The Cold Room" and the seals on level 4, "Abandoned Uranium Workings".

Answer: Jet Set Willy

"Jet Set Willy" was released in 1984 and was a much bigger game than "Manic Miner" with a whopping (for the time) 60 levels to explore. Despite having major bugs, the game quickly became the biggest selling computer game of all-time (a record it has since lost several times over).

The objective of the game was for Willy to tidy up his house after a huge party. Only once Willy had collected all the discarded items in the house and the surrounding grounds, would his housekeeper allow him access to his bedroom and let him go to sleep.

Answer: Ore Refinery

The incorrect answers are all levels from the sequel "Jet Set Willy". The Ore Refinery saw Willy having to avoid a giant blinking eye that was guarding the portal to the next cavern.

Answer: False

The cheat code "6031769" which allowed the player to jump directly to any of the levels of the game, according to different sources, based on either Matthew Smith's own phone number, or on a number found on his driving license.

When "Manic Miner" was re-released by Software Projects in 1984, the cheat code had been changed to "typewriter".

Answer: The Mega Tree

"The Mega Tree" was a project undertaken for Software Projects but was never completed. Software Projects informed the press that the in-development game was called "Miner Willy Meets The Taxman" as a joke, referring to Matthew Smith's ongoing tax problems at the time.

Another Matthew Smith game under development at this time was "Attack of the Mutant Zombie Flesh Eating Chickens From Mars". Sadly, despite the excellent title, this was also never completed