Q 01/05

Valve's two founders both quit which tech giant in 1996 to start the company?

A) Microsoft

B) Nintendo

C) Motorola

D) Apple

Answer · why

A) Microsoft

Microsoft had made both founders millionaires, and they spent that money bankrolling Valve themselves while it built its first game.

Q 02/05

To which nearby city did Valve move its headquarters from Kirkland, Washington?

A) Redmond

B) Renton

C) Bellevue

D) Tacoma

Answer · why

C) Bellevue

Bellevue became home when the company moved about five miles south, at around the time it dropped the name Valve L.L.C. and became Valve Corporation.

Q 03/05

Valve's debut game, Half-Life, casts the player as which crowbar-wielding physicist?

A) Gordon Freeman

B) Barney Calhoun

C) Adrian Shephard

D) Eli Vance

Answer · why

A) Gordon Freeman

Gordon Freeman never speaks: the story plays out through his eyes while the player keeps control, an approach that broke new ground for shooters.

Q 04/05

Valve was founded on which personal occasion for Newell?

A) His graduation

B) His 30th birthday

C) His first child's birth

D) His wedding day

Answer · why

D) His wedding day

His wedding day: Newell signed the papers setting up the company on the day he got married, and Rhino Scar was among the names he and Mike Harrington ...

Q 05/05

Valve's handbook for new hires, written for a company with no bosses, says every desk comes with what?

A) Wheels

B) A fridge

C) A hammock

D) A treadmill

Answer · why

A) Wheels

Wheels: the handbook calls them a reminder to keep asking where you would be more valuable, and staff really do unplug their desks and roll them to wh...