Perhaps your interests lay in astronomy, rather than Asteroids. Perhaps you preferred books to Breakout. Chances are, if you were around in the 70s, you were still eventually going to find yourself inside an arcade at one time or another. But one needn’t stand around while others fired with reckless abandon at crawling centipedes;  there was even a game that a brainiac could enjoy, one where hand/eye coordination wasn’t required – the quiz game.

These cerebrally challenging games were initially the specialty of a company called Nutting Industries, but Atari and Sega took notice and soon offered their own versions, with titles such as Tic Tac Quiz and Quiz Show. The premise was simpler than the question. Players chose from a variety of categories that included sports, movies, television, music and even general knowledge. And if someone desired a little cranial competition, most offered two-player mode for a friendly battle of wits.

Points were awarded for every correct answer to questions presented in a multiple-choice format. Speed was a factor as well, with quicker responses earning more points. And with machines generally loaded with a few thousand questions, there was plenty to keep a person occupied while their partner practiced their Pac-Man skills.

These games not only inhabited arcades, they also found a popular following in restaurants and bars, the latter of which often offered specialized versions, such as Golf IQ and Sports World. Eventually the thirst for knowledge-based games began to wane a bit in the video arcades, but bars especially kept them around, to give patrons something to do while wetting their whistle. Britain seems to hold a particular affinity for trivia based games to this day, which are commonly found in many locations.

And at least the brainiacs of the world, who might never see their initials atop a Missile Command screen, could rest easy with the knowledge that their own particular high scores were likely untouchable by the majority of arcade regulars.