Trivia Quiz

Excalibur

Electronics

OPERATING MANUAL

www.ExcaliburElectronics.com

Model No. 458

C

ongratulations on your purchase of The New

York Times and Excalibur Electronics’ Trivia

Quiz. It will provide you, your family and friends with hours of entertainment. You’ll enjoy the two different modes Trivia Quiz offers. Its single player mode lets you compete against yourself any time the mood strikes you, and the multi-players mode allows up to four people to play a challenging game.

Trivia Quiz is easy to use, but be sure to use it safely.

Before starting, please read this manual thoroughly, especially noting safety, care and battery information.

Keep this manual handy for easy reference.

The legendary King Arthur brandished a magic sword,

Excalibur, from which we take our company name. With this unique weapon in his hands, he could not be vanquished.

Although Excalibur Electronics can’t claim the magical secrets of Merlin, King

Arthur’s court wizard, sometimes our patented technology may make it seem as if we could. The New York Times

Trivia Quiz is another unmatched innovation of

Excalibur Electronics.

We make you think.

©2003 The New York Times Company.

The New York Times logo is a registered trademark of The New York Times Company .

Replacing the Batteries

Your Trivia Quiz requires 2 AG13 batteries, which are included and already installed. If there is a tab extending from the battery compartment, simply pull out this tab, to activiate the batteries, and throw it away.

When you need to replace the batteries, carefully turn Trivia Quiz over so that the unit is face-down on a soft surface. Find the battery compartment on the back of the unit. Use a small

Phillips screwdriver to remove the screw. Lift off the battery compartment lid. Install the batteries. Return the battery compartment lid to its position. Replace the screw and tighten.

Opening the Unit

Press the Lid Release button (see diagram below) to open the unit. Then pull up on the lid.

Layout of The New York Times Trivia Quiz

DISPLAY

PLAYERS

ON

/

OFF

1 PLAYER

A

B

C

D

LID RELEASE

E

3

PASS

HINT

SCORE

UP

DOWN

ENTER

Functions of Buttons

ON

/

OFF

: Press to turn the unit on and off. If

OFF is pushed when a game is underway, a new game will begin when you turn Trivia Quiz back on.

1 PLAYER : Press to enter the Single

Player game mode.

PLAYERS

: Press to enter the Players game mode if you’d like two to four people to compete.

PASS

: Can be used in the Single

Player game mode to skip over a question. This function is not available in the Players game mode; the message NO PASS AVAILABLE!

will be displayed.

HINT

: Press to eliminate one of the incorrect answers.

SCORE

: Press to check your game score. This button is also used to change the LCD display contrast.

Press SCORE and UP at the same time to increase the contrast, and press

SCORE and

DOWN at the same time to decrease the contrast.

A BUTTON

: Press to select answer A.

B BUTTON

: Press to select answer B.

C BUTTON

: Press to select answer C.

D BUTTON

: Press to select answer D.

E BUTTON

: Press to select answer E.

ENTER

: Press to begin a game or to confirm a choice.

UP

: Press to scroll through an options menu upward or to return to the previous screen. Press

UP together with

SCORE to increase the LCD contrast.

D

OWN

: Press to scroll through an

4 options menu downward or to display the next screen. Press with the

SCORE button to decrease the LCD contrast.

RESET : Press to reset the game if the unit locks up or malfunctions.

RESET is located on the back of the unit.

Playing Trivia Quiz

Getting Started

Press the

ON

/

OFF button to begin a game. You’ll hear a melody and see the message NEW YORK TIMES

TRIVIA QUIZ displayed for three seconds, with NEW YORK TIMES displayed on the first screen and

TRIVIA QUIZ on the second screen.

Then 1 OR MORE PLAYERS? will appear on the LCD. (Pressing

ON

/

OFF to turn off Trivia Quiz will cause the game to play a melody and display

QUIT!

before the unit turns off.)

When 1 OR MORE PLAYERS? is displayed on the screen, press the 1

PLAYER button to enter the singleplayer game mode, or press the

PLAY

-

ERS button to enter the multiple-players game mode. Press

ENTER to confirm your choice.

1-Player Game Mode

After selecting the 1-Player game mode, you’ll be asked to choose how many questions you would like to answer in the game. If you’d like to answer eight questions, which is the default number of questions, simply press

ENTER

. If you’d like instead to answer a different number of questions, press the

UP button to display either 16, 24 or 40 questions. (The

D own button will allow you to decrease the number of questions you’d like to answer.) Press

ENTER when the number of questions displayed is the number you’d like to answer.

You’ll then be asked to choose how many hints you want to have available in the game. The number of hints allowed in the game depends on the number of questions you chose to answer.

(a) If you selected 8 questions, you may choose 8, 16 or 24 hints.

(b) If you selected 16 questions, you may choose 16, 32 or 48 hints.

(c) If you selected 24 questions, you may choose 24, 48 or 72 hints.

(d) If you selected 40 questions, you may choose 40, 80 or 120 hints.

Choose the number of hints you would like in the game by pressing

UP or

DOWN to increase or decrease the number of hints. Then press

ENTER to confirm your choice when the number of hints you want is displayed.

Next the message QUESTION 1 will be displayed on your screen. Press

ENTER . The topic of the question will be shown. (This can be a valuable hint!) Press the

DOWN button to dis-

5 play the question. First a “Q:” will appear on the screen, followed by the beginning of the question. Pressing the

DOWN button repeatedly will display the question screen by screen.

When the question is completed,

CHOICES: will then be displayed, and pressing

DOWN repeatedly will show the five possible answers, A through E. If you press

DOWN and you see no additional answers, END!

will appear on the screen for one second. Pressing the

UP button repeatedly will allow you to review the answers and the question. When you have reached the beginning of the question again, TOP! will appear on the LCD for one second.

When CHOICES: is displayed on the

LCD, choose either the

A

,

B

,

C

,

D OR

E button to select your answer. If you choose the right answer, you’ll see the message CORRECT! and then the screen will display REMARK:, followed by some interesting information about the question. To read all of the remark, press the

DOWN button repeatedly. When you have reached the end of the remark, END! will be shown for one second. Pressing the

UP button repeatedly will allow you to review the remark. Press

ENTER any time to exit the remark. Your score will then be shown and the next question will automatically appear.

(The topic will be displayed again.)

Press

ENTER to continue.

If you did not select the right answer,

WRONG will be displayed and you may try again to select the right response. If you select four wrong answers, you’ll see THE CORRECT

ANSWER IS: appear on screen, and the right answer will be displayed.

Then the next question will automatically appear. Press

ENTER to continue.

You may check your score any time during the game by pressing the

SCORE button. Pressing it once will display your score, and pressing it again immediately will return you to the previous screen. If you press

SCORE only once, you will be automatically returned to your previous screen after one second.

When you’ve completed the last question and answer of a game, END will be displayed. Your score will be displayed on screen, together with the number of correct answers you picked out of the total number of questions in the game. Depending on your result, one of the following comments will appear: EXCEL-

LENT!, GREAT!, GOOD! or TRY

AGAIN!

If you want to skip a question during the game, press the

PASS button. (The question must be displayed for you to use this option.) You can use the

PASS option only twice during a game. The third time you try to pass a question during a game, the message NO

PASS AVAILABLE!

will be dis-

6 played.

Remember that you also have the option of getting a hint. You may press the

HINT button only three times for any one question. Each time the

HINT button is pressed, the game will eliminate one incorrect answer, indicated by CHOICES X ELIMINATED appearing on the LCD. (The X will be the actual answer deleted out of A through E.) If you press

HINT four times while answering a question, or if you run out of hints, the message

NO HINT AVAILABLE!

will be displayed.

Multiple Players Game Mode

After selecting the Players game mode, you will be asked to choose how many players you’d like to have in the game. If there are two players, which is the default setting, simply press

ENTER

. If you would like a different number of players, press

UP to display the choice of either three or four players. (The

DOWN button allows you to decrease the number of players in the game.) Press

ENTER when the number of players displayed is the number you would like to have in the game.

You’ll next be asked to choose how many questions you would like to answer in this game. If you’d like to answer eight questions (the default number), simply press

ENTER

. If you would like to answer a different number of questions, press the

UP button to display the option of either 16, 24 or 40 questions. (The

DOWN button will allow you to decrease the number of questions you would like to select.) Press

ENTER when the number of questions displayed is the number you would like to answer.

You’ll then be asked to choose how many hints you would like in this game for the first player. (NOTE: each player can select a different number of hints, so “handicapping” is possible. For example, a parent could choose 8 hints, while his child may choose 24.) The number of hints allowed in the game depends on the number of questions you chose to answer.

(a) If you selected 8 questions, you may choose 8, 16 or 24 hints.

(b) If you selected 16 questions, you may choose 16, 32 or 48 hints.

(c) If you selected 24 questions, you may choose 24, 48 or 72 hints.

(d) If you selected 40 questions, you may choose 40, 80 or 120 hints.

Choose the number of hints you would like in the game by using the

UP and

DOWN buttons as described in the previous step above. Then press

ENTER to confirm your choice. Repeat this process for each player to indicate how many hints a player is allowed.

7

The message QUESTION 1 and

PLAYER 1 will next be displayed on your screen. Press

ENTER

.

Now the topic of the question will appear on the LCD. Press

DOWN to display the question. A “Q:” will appear on the screen, followed by the beginning of the question. Pressing the

DOWN button repeatedly will display the remainder of the question, screen by screen.

When you then reach the end of the question, CHOICES: will be displayed. At this point, pressing the

DOWN button repeatedly will show the five answers, A through E. When you press the

DOWN button and no more answers appear, ‘END!’ will be shown for one second. Press the UP button repeatedly to review the answers and the question. When you reach the top of the question, ‘TOP!’ will be shown for one second.

When CHOICES: is on the screen, press either the

A

,

B

,

C

,

D or

E button to select your answer. If you selected the right answer, CORRECT! will be shown and then the screen will display some interesting information about the question. To read all of the remark, press the

DOWN button repeatedly. When you reach the end of the remark, END! will appear on the screen for one second. (Press

UP repeatedly to review the remark.)

Press

ENTER any time to exit the remark.

Your score will be displayed and the same question will automatically appear for the next person. Press

ENTER to continue.

If you did not select the right answer during your turn, WRONG will be displayed and you may try again to select the right answer. If you select four wrong answers, THE COR-

RECT ANSWER IS: will be displayed as well as the right answer.

The same question for the next player will automatically appear. Press

ENTER to continue.

You may check scores any time during the game by pressing

SCORE

.

Pressing this button once will display the first score, and pressing it immediately again will display the next player’s score, and so on for the remaining players. After all the players’ scores have been displayed, the next time you press

SCORE will return

Trivia Quiz to the previous screen. If you press

SCORE only once, you will be automatically returned to your previous screen after one second.

When the final answer of the game has been completed by the last player, END will be displayed. The score, and the number of correct answers picked out of the number of total questions in the game, will then be shown for each player. Depending on how well each player scored, one of these comments will appear on the screen: EXCELLENT!, GREAT!,

GOOD! or TRY AGAIN! After this, the message PLAYER: X WINS!

will be displayed, with X being replaced with the number of the winning player.

In the Multiple-Players game mode, no passes are available. If the

PASS button is pressed, the message NO

PASS AVAILABLE!

will be displayed.

A player can press the

HINT button only three times for any question.

Each time the button is pressed, the game will eliminate one incorrect answer. The screen will show

CHOICES X ELIMINATED, with the

X being the letter of the answer deleted out of the choices A through E. If you press

HINT four times during a question, or you run out of hints, the message NO HINT AVAILABLE!

will be displayed.

8

Scoring

At the beginning of a game, each player’s score begins with zero (0).

Each time a question is completed, the score will be updated. It is possible to have negative scores, as indicated below.

If a question is answered correctly on the first attempt, 10 points is added to the player’s score. If the question is not answered correctly the first time, each additional attempt to answer the question correctly reduces the player’s score by 5 points. Therefore the player scores 5, 0 or -5 points for the second, third and fourth correct guesses.

The player scores -10 points for the fourth incorrect guess.

Note that using the

HINT or

PASS buttons will not affect a player’s score.

Sound

Any time during a game, press and hold the

UP and

DOWN buttons together if you want to change the sound setting. Either SOUND ON or

SOUND OFF will be displayed.

Press either

UP or

DOWN to select the desired choice for sound, and then press

ENTER to confirm your choice and return to the previous screen. If the screen displaying the sound selection is not changed for three seconds, the unit will automatically choose the sound level that is currently displayed and will return to the previous screen.

Additional Comments

At the end of each game, one of the following comments will be displayed:

EXCELLENT!, GREAT!,

GOOD!

or TRY AGAIN!

The computer chooses which comment to show based on the following criteria:

(a) EXCELLENT! will be displayed when you achieve a perfect score.

(b) GREAT! will be displayed when your score is equal to or greater than seven times the number of questions you chose to answer in a game, but is less than a perfect score.

(c) GOOD! will be displayed when your score is equal to or greater than four times the number of questions you chose to answer in a game, but is less than a GREAT! score.

(d) TRY AGAIN! will be displayed when your score is less than a

GOOD!

score.

Automatic Power Off

When no buttons are pushed for 2.5

minutes, Trivia Quiz will turn itself off to preserve the batteries. Simply press the ON / OFF button to return to the game where you left off playing.

Manual Power Off

If you press

ON

/

OFF while a game is underway, the unit will be turned off.

Pressing

ON

/

OFF again will begin a new game.

9

Special Care & Handling

• Avoid moisture and extreme temperatures.

• For best results, use between the temperatures of 39ºF and

100ºF (4º C and 38º C).

• Clean using only a slightly damp cloth.

• Do not use cleaners with chemical agents.

Battery Information

CAUTION: Batteries should be removed and replaced by adults only.

• Do not mix old and new batteries.

• Your unit requires 2 AG13 batteries, included.

• Do not mix alkaline, standard

(carbon zinc) or rechargeable

(nickel-cadium) batteries.

• Do not use rechargeable batteries.

• To avoid explosion or leakage, do not dispose of batteries in a fire or attempt to recharge standard or alkaline batteries.

• Be sure to insert batteries with the correct polarities and always follow the toy and battery manufacturer’s instructions.

• Remove batteries and store them in a cool, dry place when not in use.

• Always remove old and dead batteries from the product.

• The supply terminals are not to be short-circuited.

Due to continuing improvements, actual product may differ slightly from the product described herein.

10

Limited 90-Day Warranty

EXCALIBUR ELECTRONICS,

INC., warrants to the original consumer that its products are free from any electrical or mechanical defects for a period of 90 DAYS from the date of purchase. If any such defect is discovered within the warranty period, EXCALIBUR ELECTRON-

ICS, INC., will repair or replace the unit free of charge upon receipt of the unit, shipped postage prepaid and insured to the factory address shown at right.

on the duration of implied warranties and do not allow exclusion of incidental or consequential damages, so the above limitations and exclusions in these instances may not apply.

The only authorized service center in the United States is:

Excalibur Electronics, Inc.

13755 SW 119th Ave

Miami, Florida 33186 U.S.A.

Phone: 305.477.8080

Fax: 305.477.9516

The warranty covers normal consumer use and does not cover damage that occurs in shipment or failure that results from alterations, accident, misuse, abuse, neglect, wear and tear, inadequate maintenance, commercial use, or unreasonable use of the unit. Removal of the top panel voids all warranties. This warranty does not cover cost of repairs made or attempted outside of the factory.

Any applicable implied warranties, including warranties of merchantability and fitness, are hereby limited to 90 DAYS from the date of purchase. Consequential or incidental damages resulting from a breach of any applicable express or implied warranties are hereby excluded.

Some states do not allow limitations www.ExcaliburElectronics.com

Ship the unit carefully packed, preferably in the original carton, and send it prepaid, and adequately insured. Include a letter, detailing the complaint and including your daytime telephone number, inside the shipping carton.

If your warranty has expired and you want an estimated fee for service, write to the above address, specifying the model and the problem.

PLEASE DO NOT SEND

YOUR UNIT WITHOUT

RECEIVING AN

ESTIMATE FOR SERVICING.

WE CANNOT STORE

YOUR UNIT!

11

Excalibur Electronics, Inc.

13755 SW 119th Ave

Miami, Florida 33186 U.S.A.

Phone: 305.477.8080

Fax: 305.477.9516

Play games live at: www.ExcaliburElectronics.com

We make you think.