Flashback to 1982
Hey all you long-running GAMES fans! We're back with something a little different that we think you'll enjoy. Every 15th of the month, we will be featuring a puzzle previously published going as far back as 1980! You can solve online, but if that's not your thing, we've also provided a printable version.
Remember, this puzzle was published in 1982, and a lot has changed since then.
We hope you enjoy our first installment!
Printable pdfs
American Averages
Who is the average American anyway? While few people we know admit to being average, ordinary, or run-of-the-mill, almost everybody is curious about who is. According to statistics collected by regular guys Mike Feinsilber and Bill Mead in their book, American Averages, the average American has some pretty peculiar habits. Do you recognize this person in the following quiz? Scores of 0 to 4 and 15 to 20 correct are unusual; 5 to 9 and 11 to 15 correct are fairly typical; and 10 correct, for better or worse, is exactly average.
1. On an average day, Americans buy 3,287
a) IBM electric typewriters
b) pairs of roller skates
c) sets of encyclopedias
d) clarinets
2. Between morning coffee and "lights out," the average married couple converses
a) 2 hours a week
b) 2 minutes a week
c) 20 minutes a week
d) 6 hours a week
3. According to time management expert R. Alan McKenzie, the average manager
a) writes 45 memos a week
b) spends 72 percent of his or her workday on the phone
c) drinks 7 martinis a week
d) is interrupted every 8 minutes all day long
4. Including signs, package labels, and all kinds of ads, the average American is exposed to ____ commercial messages each day.
a) 200
b) 65
c) 1,800
d) 482
5. At a typical Redskins game, fans will consume
a) 16,000 hotdogs
b) 2,250 servings of french fries
c) 15,000 beers
d) 500 glasses of wine
6. On a usual summer day, the average American's feet
a) are bare 52 percent of the time
b) swell 10 percent
c) perspire 38 percent more than in winter
d) are, in likelihood, the farthest thing from his mind
7. Each year, the average young, up-and-coming executive spends ____ tying his tie
a) 24 hours
b) 4 hours
c) 1,460 seconds
d) 68 minutes
8. In an average year, Americans use the Yellow Pages
a) 8 out of 10 times to reach high shelves
b) 43 percent more than they use dictionaries to boost kids up to the dinner table
c)17 billion times for all kinds of information
d) 2.3 percent of the time for kindling
9. The candy bar that satisfies the American sweet tooth more often than any other is:
a) a Snickers bar
b) an Almond Joy
c) a Milky Way
d) a Nestle's Crunch bar
10. Before it runs out of lead, a typical #2 pencil can draw a line
a) 26 yards long
b) 3.2 times faster than a ball-point pen
c) 35 miles long
d) 53-1/2 times taller than Walt Frazier
11. In the course of their daily rounds
a) 538 out of 1,000 boxers are TKO'd
b) 59 percent of average American interns are propositioned by their patients
c) 2 out of 7 merry-go-rounds break down
d) 28 mailmen are bitten by dogs
12. The favorite pastime of 1 out of 5 Americans is
a) whittling
b) daydreaming
c) working crossword puzzles
d) shooting the breeze
13. The average American will pack up and move from one home to another
a) every 10.6 years
b) 59 percent more readily than his or her parents
c) in 9.8 hours, with a U-Haul
d) 14 times in his or her lifetime
14. The average person laughs
a)63 percent more often at slapstick than at subtle humor
b) twice as loud as the average hyena
c) at 2.5 out of 3 jokes
d) 15 times a day
15. The average family car
a) has 7 accidents in its lifetime
b) is driven 12,000 miles a year
c) goes through 35 tires
d) receives 6 paint jobs before retiring to the junkyard
16. The average listener hears
a) better at age 10 than he or she ever will again
b) better at the dinner table than at the breakfast table
c) exactly what he or she wants to hear 79 percent of the time
d) 23 percent worse than a dog
17. The average person--when not flirting--bats his or her eyelashes
a) every ten seconds
b) 25 times per minute
c) 2.5 times faster than Vivien Leigh
d) on a par with Elsie the Cow
18. Between dawn and dusk on any given day in America, ___ couples are wed, and ___ couples are divorced.
a) 10,015; 6,504
b) 848; 12
c) 3,150; 6,320
d) 5,962; 2,986
19. The average American spends 16 cents of every dollar on
a) a Big Mac
b) off-track betting
c) a new pair of Adidas
d) a new car
20. For business or pleasure, on an average day, Americans will make ___ telephone calls.
a) 980,000
b) 1.8 million
c) 75 million
d) 580 million
Published in GAMES, May/June 1982