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The Tower of Tragedy is a Jeopardy-style quiz game show hosted by Gruntilda in Banjo-Tooie which serves a similar purpose to Grunty's Furnace Fun from Banjo-Kazooie. The host asks a question and players race to hit their buzzer first to be able to answer it. Questions all pertain to Banjo-Tooie and range from simple trivia, to matching a world to a certain piece of music, to looking at a picture and identifying certain details, such as how many books are on a bookcase.

After Banjo and Kazooie defeat Klungo for the third and last time in the Cauldron Keep, they enter the mystery door to find themselves as a contestant on the Tower of Tragedy quiz along with Grunty's sisters, Mingella and Blobbelda. The game consists of three rounds, and after each of the first two rounds, the player with the fewest points is eliminated by a giant 1-ton weight which dangles precariously over the players' heads. If Banjo and Kazooie make it to the third and final round, they will face the host in a speed round where they race against the clock to earn 15 points within 180 seconds. If they can manage to beat the last round, Gruntilda, flustered by yet another loss, takes Kazooie's advice about "cowardly running away like in the last game" and makes an escape to the top of the tower where she awaits the pair for the final battle with the Hag 1 (and considering how Banjo's weight collapsed just as Banjo and Kazooie were leaving, narrowly missing them, she most likely also tried to crush them while escaping). Grunty will also have questions up her sleves for the player to answer. She will slow down her attacks if the player gets the answer right, but will speed up if they choose incorrectly.

Once the Tower of Tragedy has been beaten, it becomes playable as single-player minigame and as a multiplayer game in which Banjo and Kazooie, Mumbo Jumbo, Humba Wumba, and Jamjars face off to earn the most points within the allotted time. 2-4 players can play, with any remaining player slots being filled by computers. Player 1 plays as Mumbo, player 2 gets Jamjars, player 3 gets Banjo and Kazooie and player 4 gets Wumba.

Scoring[]

  • Buzzing in first with a right answer: 2 points
  • Buzzing in after a contestant got it wrong and answered it correctly: 1 point
  • Buzzing in with an incorrect answer: -2 points
  • Buzzing in after a contestant got it wrong and answered it incorrectly: -1 point

See also[]

Quotes[]

Introduction Cutscene[]

Gruntilda: Thank you, thank you... I'm Grunty, your host, and may I welcome you to my Tower of Tragedy quiz! Let me run the rules for you all. There are three rounds of general knowledge questions, and the person with the lowest score at the end of each round will be eliminated! Correct answers score 2 points, with 1 point being awarded if it was a second guess following the incorrect answer from another contestant. Get one wrong and I'll take 2 points off you! Press B to buzz in and then A to answer if you can. Now let's meet tonight's victims, err...I mean contestants, shall we?
Introducing on the left...It's my gorgeous, slim sister, Mingella!
On the right we have...my lovely, err...shapely sister, Blobbelda!
And in the middle...just some loser bear called Banjo.

During Gameplay[]

  • Welcome. it's my Tower of Tragedy "Just for Fun" quiz round 1. Do you need the rules?
  • Fair enough.
  • Not bad.
  • You know-it-all.
  • A lucky guess.
  • Hmm...okay.
  • I'll accept that.
  • Well, it was 50/50...
  • I'll give you 1 point.
  • 1 point, I suppose...
  • Only 1 point though.
  • About time too.
  • Scavenger!
  • [if you fail to answer] What about the rest of you?
  • [if you fail to answer] Any other takers?
  • [if you fail to answer] I'll have to offer it...
  • Missed your chance...
  • Buzzer broken, huh?
  • You fool! Anyone else?
  • Dunce! Anyone else?
  • You half-wit! Anyone else?
  • Thicko! Anyone else?
  • Numbskull! Anyone else?
  • You plank! Anyone else?
  • No, no, no, you idiot.
  • That was easy...
  • Yippee! Wrong again!
  • No, no, no, you idiots!
  • I'm surrounded by morons...
  • Here's another....
  • You're wrong!
  • Even I knew that!

Endings of the rounds:[]

  • That's the end of round 1. Looks like my sister Blobbelda is as thick as her waist, and her score of (any low score number) is as low as her IQ. Here's your consolation prize, Blobby...
  • That's the end of round 1. It seems that my sister Mingella has set a new standard of dumbness, with a hopeless score of (any low score number). Time to say goodbye, Mingy...
  • That's the end of round 2. It seems that my sister Mingella has also been beaten by that useless bear. Time to say goodbye, Mingy...
  • That's the end of round 2. Looks like my sister Blobbelda has also failed to beat that dumb bear. Here's your consolation prize, Blobby...
  • [in the event of a tie in Round 1] Oh goody. Round 1's ended in a draw. So I'll just unfairly select a loser at random. I choose... [random name]!
  • [in the event of a tie in Round 2] Excellent. It's a draw after Round 2, so I'll just unfairly select a loser at random. I choose... [random name]!   
  • [If Banjo loses in Round 1] That's the end of round 1. As expected, it's the dunce bear who's last, with a loser's score of (any low score number).
  • [If Banjo loses in Round 2] That's the end of round 2. Your luck's run out, furface. I'm pleased to say you lost.
  • [If Banjo fails Round 3] That's the end of the final round. Look at the bear's score, everyone. Isn't it pathetic? I declare me the winner!

Trivia[]

  • If either Mingella or Blobbelda answer correctly, they are met with cheer and applause from the crowd; if Banjo answers correctly, however, he is met with boos and hisses from the crowd. This also applies to the introductions at the beginning as well.
  • Even though Bottles' Revenge was a multiplayer idea scrapped from the final product, his talk icon can be seen on one of the answers.
  • A Zubba's talk icon with Bottles' voice can be seen for one of the answers. There could be a possibility that at some point in development, Bottles' ghost was going to take over a Zubba's body, probably during the "Bottles Revenge" mode, but the concept was scrapped. It also might have just been a place holder from development.
  • A Beehive's talk icon is also seen as the answers, using the same sound effect from Banjo-Kazooie, though beehives don't speak in Banjo-Tooie. It, too, could be a placeholder from development, though it's also possible that beehives were meant to speak in Banjo-Tooie at one point.
  • In the minigame version of the game show, if the player beats it, Gruntilda apparently aborts her escape plan at the last second and then promptly asks if the player in a somewhat sarcastic manner if they wish to play the game again.
  • If neither the player nor Mingella/Blobbelda get a question correct, Gruntilda will sometimes say "I'm surrounded by morons...". This is similar to a line made by the main antagonist Scar in the film The Lion King, "I'm surrounded by idiots...".
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