"So You Think You Know Known Space?" Quiz

1. What is the title of Larry Niven's most famous novel?
   1. A Gift from Earth
   2. Ringworld
   3. World of Ptavvs
   4. Protector
   5. Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers

2. Which two-headed species manufactures GP hulls?
   1. Thrintun
      
   2. Kdatlyno
      
   3. Puppeteers
      
   4. Tnuctipun
      
   5. Ferengi
      

3. What spindly albino Crashlander almost died surveying a neutron star?
   1. Beowulf Shaeffer
   2. Carlos Wu
   3. Sigmund Asufaller
   4. Margo Tellefsen
   5. Dorothy Gale

4. The fastest form of travel in Known Space is by...
   1. Fusion drive
   2. Gravity polarizer
   3. Thruster
   4. Hyperdrive
   5. Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator

5. Which cat-like species engaged Humans in multiple interstellar wars?
   1. Outsiders
   2. Kzinti
   3. Trinocs
   4. Puppeteers
   5. Hokas

6. Which mysterious, tentacled species sold the secret of the hyperdrive to Humans?
   1. Puppeteers
   2. Trinocs
   3. Kzinti
   4. Outsiders
   5. Fuzzies

7. Who recruited explorers for the first (known) Ringworld expedition?
   1. Louis Wu
   2. Speaker-To-Animals
   3. Nessus
   4. Teela Brown
   5. Link Hogthrob

8. Kzanol the Slaver was a...
   1. Protector
   2. Thrint
   3. Pierin
   4. Tnuctip
   5. Zabriskan Fontema

9. What Shmoo-like creatures are the largest known intelligent species in Known Space?
   1. Bandershatchi
   2. Outsiders
   3. Grogs
   4. Kzinti
   5. Cheela

10. What is Gil the ARM's psionic power?
    1. Plateau Eyes
    2. Telepathy
    3. A telekinetic "invisible arm"
    4. Precognition
    5. Invisibility, but only when no one's watching

11. Phssthpok and Brennan-monster were...
    1. Thrintun
    2. Kdatlyno
    3. Tnuctipun
    4. Protectors
    5. Hobbits

12. Condemned criminals on most Human worlds are sentenced to...
    1. Feed the tree
    2. A disintegrator booth
    3. The organ banks
    4. A transfer booth to nowhere
    5. Defenestration

II. MODERATELY CHALLENGING, LIKE HUNTING BANDERSNATCHI WITH A TANK

1. Who is Beowulf Shaeffer's true love?
   1. Taffy Grimes
   2. Cruella De Vil
   3. Sharrol Janss
   4. Margo Tellefsen
   5. Teela Brown

2. Beowulf met her when...
   1. She went to his 200th birthday party
   2. They played bridge at Gregory Pelton's mansion
   3. They both went to a Sons of Earth party
   4. She picked his pocket
   5. Her refrigerator became an inter-dimensional portal for terror dogs

3. Where did the Lying Bastard begin its journey to the Ringworld?
   1. Arrakis
   2. Fleet of Worlds
   3. Nereid
   4. Jinx
   5. Earth

4. Where did Kzanol's ship crash?
   1. Luna
   2. Nereid
   3. Earth
   4. Barsoom
   5. Pluto

5. Which spaceline did Beowulf Shaeffer work for?
   1. Pan Am Interstellar
   2. Nakamura Lines
   3. Spaceley Sprockets
   4. Outbound Enterprises
   5. IPC

6. What planet is a Mountaineer from?
   1. Gummidgy
   2. Mesklin
   3. Plateau
   4. Margrave
   5. Silvereyes

7. Which starship did Beowulf Shaeffer pilot to the galactic core?
   1. Long Shot
   2. Slower Than Infinity
   3. Lazy Eight
   4. Heart of Gold
   5. Skydiver

8. What is Louis Wu's middle name?
   1. Zaphod
   2. Warren
   3. Gridley
   4. Piet
   5. Mark

9. Which species was first encountered by humans in "There Is A Tide"?
   1. Kdatlyno
   2. Grogs
   3. Wookiees
   4. Outsiders
   5. Trinocs

10. What was the invention in "ARM"?
    1. thiotimoline
    2. a time accelerator
    3. an improbably strong material
    4. an inertial reducer
    5. an artificial gravity generator

11. What is/was the purpose of Confinement Asteroid?
    1. Pak protector expedition ferrying breeders to Ringworld
    2. Pregnant Belters bringing children to term
    3. An ARM hideaway for the remains of Pssthpok and his ship
    4. Prison for the Belt
    5. Lucky Starr's trap for the Asteroid Pirates

12. What planet is a Crashlander from?
    1. We Made It
    2. Plateau
    3. Trantor
    4. Silvereyes
    5. Home

III. HARD AS HAGGLING WITH AN OUTSIDER

1. Name three stories in which neutronium appears, not including "Neutron Star".

2. Of the two slowboats on Plateau, which survived the revolution?

3. Spell Prill's full name correctly.

4. Name Sigmund Ausfaller's ship from "The Borderland of Sol".

5. Give the shape and size of a #1 GP hull.

6. Name the specific substance a Kzin Telepath's telepathy drug is made from.

7. What oath did Seeker take?

8. Specify where Larry Niven stated that "Bordered in Black" and "One Face" are not Known Space stories.

9. Describe a Belter strip.

10. Correctly spell the names of two Kdatlyno artists.

11. Speaker-To-Animals was raised by followers of a heretical Kzinti religion/sect. Name it.

12. Name the TV show which featured Cecil the Sea-Sick Sea Serpent.

IV. TOUGH AS A GP HULL

1. Name two references to the Batman superhero comic and specify which stories they're in.

2. Name all Sharrol Janns' children and identify their biological father.

3. What name did Gregory Pelton and Beowulf Shaeffer originally settle on for the antimatter planet?

4. Give the exact wording of Finagle's First Law.

5. Name the first person to be frozen in the organ banks for clinical paranoia.

6. Name four species which we are sure have survived from the Slaver era.

7. Name all the bodies in Sol system considered major planets in the Beowulf Shaeffer era.

8. Name one of Teela Brown's great-great-grandmothers.

9. What drives a starseed's metabolism?

10. Name two references to E.E. "Doc" Smith's writings and identify the stories containing them.

    (Bonus question: A name from one of Smith's more obscure works appears in another story. This is probably a coincidence and not a genuine reference to Smith's work. Specify the name and the story.)

11. What section of which Larry Niven book has several pages about the Ringworld which he did not write?

12. What was Larry Niven's original suggested title for the shorter, magazine version of "World of Ptavvs"?

Quiz Answers