Odin's Challenge


 

Please post suggestions for new game questions under the SUGGESTED QUESTIONS heading at the bottom of this page. Thanks!

 

Summary


Odin's Challenge is an interactive flash application (game) that tests and builds your knowledge of Norse mythology, Icelandic sagas, Viking history, and modern Viking representations in pop culture. It is styled in the fashion of a wisdom contest, with Odin asking questions or riddles and the opponent (player) answering. The style of the questions is modeled after the Vafthruthnismol in the Poetic Edda. Source material for each question/answer is cited and linked. Questions are randomized so that the experience is different every time you play. The application is intended to be educational, not a time-wasting trivia game; by including the source material and linking to external resources, users can explore the topics they find interesting.

 

 

Development Status


To Do Next: 

 

2009-12-18: v0.2 released. Added 5 new questions with source material. The application now resizes itself to fit the window if the user's screen resolution is too low. Fixed minor text display issues. Revised existing questions. The start page now displays the version number in the lower right corner.

 

2009-12-16: v0.1 released. Graphics redone. There are only 5 questions so far, and a lot aesthetic and functional issues still need to be addressed. No scoreboard as of yet; that will be the last thing I do, when I get time. I'll be adding many questions over the coming days, because the question-adding process is now highly automated. Also, the filesize is too large and there is no loading screen, so please be patient if you have a slow connection.

 

 

Features


 

 

Original Concept Screenshots


 

Screenshot 1: Title Screen.

 

 

Screenshot 2: Odin asks a question, user answers correctly, supplemental information is displayed on the right frame. Clicking the title of the supplemental information, namely Prose Edda, links to the Havamal online. Clicking the picture in the lower right links to the Creative Commons version, available in higher resolution. The number 8 is the timer; you only have a set amount of seconds to answer, in order to thwart cheaters.

 

 

 

Sample Questions


 

Q: Where was Egil Skallagrimsson born and raised? (ADDED)

Choices: Denmark; Norway; Iceland; Greenland

Category: Egil's Saga

Difficulty: 3

Links: Egil's Saga, Of Skallagrim's Children; Picture of Egil;

 

Q: How will Thor meet his demise? (ADDED)

Choices: Fenrir/Managarm will slay him; The midgard serpent will slay him; Thor's belt makes him invulnerable; Thor is a god and thus cannot be destroyed.

Category: Eddas

Difficulty: 2

 

Q: According to Monty Python, do Vikings like SPAM? (ADDED)

Choices: Very much so; Not at all; Only when eaten with fish; Vikings never experienced SPAM because it was invented in 1937, long after the Viking Age.

Category: Modern Representations

Difficulty: 2

Links: Monty Python Spam Video

 

Q: Who did I (Odin) sacrifice myself to when I hung on the world tree?

Choices: Humanity; Those of the Norse religion; Your fellow Aesir brethren; Yourself.

Category: Eddas

Difficulty: 2

 

Q: In what year did the Battle of Stamford Bridge take place? (ADDED)

Enter Year: XXXX

Category: History

Difficulty: 3?

Links: Viking World Wiki Stamford Bridge

 

Q: Who gave Sigmund Volsungsson the sword which brought about Volsung's death by jealousy?

Choices: You; Loki; Volsung; Siggeir of Gautland.

Category: Volsunga Saga

Difficulty: 2

 

Q: How will the rainbow bridge Bifrost be destroyed?

Choices: Loki and the giants will break it; Emir's skull will fall from the sky and crush it; Charlie will dynamite it; Thor will shatter it with his hammer.

Category: Eddas

Difficulty: 2

 

Q: What is the name of the Marvel comic series featuring a Norse god? (ADDED)

Choices: The Wise Odin; The Lecherous Loki; The Fertile Freya; The Mighty Thor.

Category: Modern Representations

Difficulty: 1

Links: Vikings in Graphic Novels Wiki page 

 

 

SUGGESTED QUESTIONS - Please post your questions here, with source material if possible


 

Q: What is the name of the squirrel who lives in the tree Yggdrasil? (ADDED)

A: Ratatosk

Source: Poetic Edda: Grimnismal, Stanza 32