The Idea
Cosmic Consensus challenges you to guess how others will answer funny and thought-provoking questions. Correct predictions can allow you to climb the Ziggurat, a pyramid that changes layout with every game. There are good steps (read: IQ Points) and bad steps, and random storms can affect your ascent. IQ Points increase at the top, especially during the Blowout round when you can blast above the pyramid to collect high numbers.
Your Sensator will be visible on the Ziggurat and do all the climbing for you, and you'll be playing against many opponent Sensators — up to 100 others, each representing another person online. All you have to do is answer questions. Since the players change from game to game, the answers change, creating a new experience every time.
Getting to the top of the Ziggurat can be difficult, but it is the IQ points that really matter. The player(s) with the most IQ Points in a game wins, and those points are cumulative. You can see at the end of each game your total points and average points per game.
Click to enlarge images
Credits
© 1998 Berkeley Systems, Inc.
Rules of the Game
The Object
Have the most IQ POINTS at the end of the game.
You acquire IQ points by answering questions, which moves your Player Icon up the steps of the Ziggurat. There are many kinds of steps on the Ziggurat, but landing on the Point Steps as you ascend is how you get IQ points. The steps with the most IQ points are at the top.
The Questions
The questions do not have right answers — you will be asked for your opinion. You move up the Ziggurat when your answers match the answers of the other players. Questions are multiple choice or fill-in-the-blank, and can advance you one, two or three steps.
- One-step questions: Select or fill in the most popular answer to advance one step.
- Two-step questions: Matching the most popular answer moves you two steps; matching the second most popular answer moves you one step.
- Three-step questions: Matching the most popular answer moves you three steps, the second most popular moves you two steps, and the third most popular moves you one step.
You will have from 15 to 25 seconds to answer, depending on the type of question. Play continues until at least one player has reached the top step of the Ziggurat — this triggers the final Blowout Question.
The Ziggurat
The Ziggurat has a total of 20 steps. Each step has a different attribute that will affect your progress or IQ points in a positive or negative way. The top three steps (18, 19 and 20) are IQ Point Steps worth 35, 40 and 45 IQ points respectively. The other steps change location for every game. The types of steps that may appear are:
- IQ Point Steps: Add or subtract IQ points from your total.
- Turbo Steps: Instantly advance you an additional 2 or 3 steps.
- Stun Steps: Prevent you from advancing on the next question.
- Sticky Steps: Require you to correctly answer a question worth two or three steps to break free and advance.
- Mystery Steps: Not revealed until you land on them — could be an IQ Point Step (positive or negative) or a Turbo Step.
- 2x or Ø (Double or Nothing) Steps: Not revealed until you land — will either double your IQ points or drop them to zero.
- Black Hole: Sends you back to Start.
Storms
Storms occur once per game. They affect various players at random, altering their step position and/or IQ points.
- Ion Storm: Irradiates your brains, wiping out some of your IQ points.
- Meteor Shower: Pelts players with meteors — stricken players are knocked down one or two steps AND lose some IQ points.
- Tornado: Randomly affects your position, blowing you up or down a few steps.
Blowout Question
When any player reaches the top step, The Dimension Of Light appears above the Ziggurat, revealing three additional steps worth 50, 75 and 100 IQ points. Next, a three-part fill-in-the-blank Blowout Question appears. You'll have 40 seconds to fill in all three blanks.
IMPORTANT: You must answer the three-part question in the proper order.
- The first-place answer is worth 3 steps.
- The second-place answer is worth 2 steps.
- The third-place answer is worth 1 step.
You can move as many as six steps if you get all three answers right.
Note: Because each of the three answers is matched independently, it is possible for the same answer to appear in more than one answer slot. Completion of the Blowout Question ends the game — the player with the most IQ points wins.
Strategy
Count the steps ahead of you. Try to skip over bad steps and land on good steps by answering (or not answering) certain questions. You can also try to get the second or third most popular answer rather than the first. Buying storm insurance is up to you.
Sample Questions
Listed below is just a sampling of some of the questions you could encounter playing Cosmic Consensus:
Of these traits, the one that you would rather pass on to a child would be…
- common sense.
- creativity.
If you and your best friend were up for the same job, and you got it…
- you would want to be the one to break the news.
- you would want someone else to break the news.
If people witness a serious crime, do you think they should be legally obligated to report it?
- Yes
- No
If my amount of physical activity was compared to a horse, I would be most like…
- a race horse.
- a trotter.
- a kiddie ride at a petting zoo.
The cooler Darren from "Bewitched" was…
- Dick York, the first one.
- Dick Sargent, the second one.
Game Origins
Cosmic Consensus came about in the most unusual way I have ever heard of or experienced. While most game concepts are laboriously hammered together over weeks or months of trial and error testing, Cosmic Consensus came to me in the dead of night, full blown, in a dream. I awoke suddenly in the middle of the night, oddly wide awake, with the entire game concept vivid in my mind. In less than an hour, at the computer, I had the game design completed — not so much created as transcribed from the extraordinarily detailed dream. Every rule, every sound, the look of the Ziggurat and the screen layout — it was all there, and has not changed since.
The very next morning, I received a call out of the blue from a Mr. Nano Bleem, representing the Antares Plenum Development Group. He said he had a group of investors who were interested in funding Internet entertainment, and did I have any Big Ideas? (That was his exact phrase, even though I had already named the game the previous night.) After a brief description of the game, Mr. Bleem readily agreed to fund the entire project. His only stipulation was that we use questions provided by an associate of his, a Mr. Nemlo Bleem (strangely enough, no relation to Nano), and that one of their engineers, Ray Dorq, help with some of the coding. This seemed like a modest enough request, so a simple deal was quickly struck and the game went into production.
As it turns out, Nemlo Bleem's questions were surprisingly refreshing, and although we have asked for more he provides only a small percentage of the total. Ray Dorq's code, while unusual, is also not a problem — and while we're not always sure exactly what it does (all of his contributions are in machine language), at least it does not interfere with our basic programming.
A short time later Nano Bleem (apparently bitten by the performance bug) asked if he could audition to be the host of the show. As you probably know he got the part, and while his delivery is atypical, he provides a level of fun and infectious energy that everyone seems to enjoy.
And the oddest thing is, through the entire process neither I nor anyone else at Bezerk has ever met with anyone from the Antares Group in person. All communications so far have been by phone, fax and over the Internet. But in spite of its unusual beginnings, we hope you find Cosmic Consensus to be a fun product of this strange but hopefully successful collaboration.