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1980s Decade Quiz

Do you have what it takes to answer these questions about the 1980s?
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: January 2, 2020
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First submittedFebruary 5, 2015
Times taken52,735
Average score70.0%
Rating4.28
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Question
Answer
What city was divided by a wall until 1989?
Berlin
What world leader had a prominent birthmark on his head?
Mikhail Gorbachev 
What comet was visible in 1986?
Halley's Comet
Who scored "The Goal of the Century" in the 1986 World Cup?
Diego Maradona
What deadly disease was first clinically observed in 1981?
AIDS
Who did Diana Spencer marry?
Prince Charles
What drug caused a crime wave in American inner cities?
Crack cocaine
What country was to blame for blowing up Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland?
Libya
What country had a famine that killed over 400,000?
Ethiopia
Who was Prime Minister of the U.K. for the entire decade?
Margaret Thatcher
What 1982 music album remains, to this day, the best-selling album of all-time?
Thriller
In what city were democracy protestors massacred in 1989?
Beijing
What war was fought between Argentina and the United Kingdom?
Falklands War
What famous musician was murdered in New York City shortly after the
release of his final album "Double Fantasy"?
John Lennon
What Colombian drug lord became one of the world's richest people?
Pablo Escobar
What product was commercially released for the first time, costing $4000 and having
the approximate shape and weight of a brick?
Mobile phone
Who directed "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial", the highest grossing film of the decade?
Steven Spielberg
What hugely-popular video game was invented in 1984 in Russia?
Tetris
What deep-fried McDonald's menu item was first introduced in 1981?
Chicken McNuggets
What stretchy synthetic fabric became so popular that DuPont, its creator,
had trouble meeting demand?
Spandex
+20
Level 84
Feb 5, 2015
Shouldn't cocaine work for the drug question? I'm not really an expert on drugs but I thought crack was just another form of cocaine.
+6
Level 65
May 23, 2015
Crack is a much stronger and more addictive form of cocaine. It's definitely the correct answer to the question.
+2
Level 46
Jan 23, 2018
This deals with the 80's and back then there were a lot of versions of crack that contained a mixture of cocaine and heroin. So cocaine itself would not be entirely correct.
+2
Level 75
Jan 11, 2020
Law enforcement members of my family tell me that crack is made by dissolving powdered cocaine in water and mixing with something else such as ammonia which turns it into rock form. So, nearly but not exactly the same thing.
+1
Level 79
Nov 29, 2021
I think cocaine should be an acceptable answer.
+1
Level 92
Feb 6, 2015
I must have typed in versions of Diego Miradona 20 times before I realized I was misspelling his name. That goal is almost as much fun to watch as his 'Hand of God' goal, especially with VH Morales' commentary.
+1
Level 57
Mar 18, 2017
maby accept:

Mikhail GorbacheF

?

+10
Level 59
Apr 9, 2020
His name is never spelled that way.
+2
Level 66
Apr 9, 2022
but why
+3
Level 65
Jan 21, 2018
Ooh Diego Maradona, ooh Diego Maradona, ooh Diego Maradona, he put the English OUT OUT OUT.
+2
Level 55
Apr 10, 2022
He cheated. The second goal was brilliant but the first should have been disallowed.
+1
Level 58
Jan 21, 2018
not enough time
+2
Level 41
Jan 21, 2018
crack = cocaine... everyone knows it
+16
Level 71
Jan 21, 2018
Or you could read the other comments and learn something new /s/
+3
Level 84
Jan 2, 2020
Everyone but Jonathan knows it, I guess.
+4
Level 65
Mar 11, 2020
Well crack is cocaine but does not equal it. Cocaine is the drug used to make crack (cocoaine). A baked (or jacket) potato is still a potato, though can synonymously used with a normal potato.
+2
Level 75
Apr 9, 2020
Chemically the active drug in crack and cocaine are in fact the same thing. Crack cocaine has the coordinating salt removed and is actually more pure in terms of active ingredient.

The differences result in what the drug was purified with and they do have different side effects, but both answers should be accepted.

+2
Level 63
Apr 17, 2018
Thatcher was PM for the entirety of the 80s? I didn't know that!
+1
Level 55
Apr 10, 2022
1979 to 1990.
+1
Level 70
Jan 2, 2020
The McRib was also introduced in 1981.
+2
Level 88
Jan 2, 2020
1981-1985

1989-2005

Annually in the fall 2006-2018

Lest we forget.

+3
Level ∞
Jan 2, 2020
1981! What a time to be alive. Added "deep-fried" to the question to remove ambiguity.
+2
Level 67
Mar 3, 2020
1981! The famous FC Carl Zeiss Jena made it into the European Cup Winners Cup final. And lost to Dynamo Tblissi. And my wife was born. So, yes...definitely ambiguous...
+1
Level 65
Mar 11, 2020
Well, I know another (atleast one) awesome person that was born then, post-its came to the market, ms-dos came out, And ofcourse: raiders of the lost ark made it's debut!

I am sure there is much more to tip the scales ;)

+1
Level 76
Jan 2, 2020
The first mobile I ever saw, over here in Europe, was definitely larger than that. ~3 bricks large. Some businessman was showing it off and the receipt, too, with the price of over 10,000 of whatever their currency was.
+1
Level 63
Feb 20, 2020
Appearently nothing for the big market with that price and size.
+1
Level 65
Mar 11, 2020
the number doesnt mean anything if he doesnt know the currency, could be 72 bucks, could be 65.438 dollars. So it doesnt give any indication of the prize
+1
Level 65
Mar 11, 2020
3 bricks?? Do you have tiny bricks where you life? Average size are about 22x11x 5,5cm (yes, I spend time looking it up for many countries). The first prototype was 23 by 13 by 4.5 centimetres, after that they only became smaller. So basicly the same size as a brick (in some countries actually smaller like russia or sweden). 3 bricks would (dependingg in which directions you mean, I'll suppose not in length, because a 70 cm long phone is preposterous) so in the range of 22 x 16,5 x 11cm (2 on top of eachother, with one sideways next to it). you would need two hands for that..

you sure you arent confused and saw someone with a ghetto blaster? ;)

+1
Level 44
Apr 10, 2020
Nope, one of the first ones is the Nokia Mobira Senator, and I think that one is defenitely larger than a brick. It defenitely looks that big.
+1
Level 37
Apr 16, 2020
Even as late as 1996, they were still cumbersome. My husband had one that fit in a carrying case the approximate size of an old fashioned doctor's bag. (size of the bag, not the shape). Ironically, once the cell phone, which was much more convenient and could be slipped into a pocket, came into being, he resisted getting one with all his might. His sons and I nagged him relentlessly, because he spent weekdays alone in a remote part of the state, and to shut us up, he finally bought one... in 2009. STUBBORN man!
+1
Level 45
Apr 9, 2022
I imagine which currency it was in was important: there was a world of difference in value between the lira and sterling for example!
+2
Level 67
Apr 9, 2020
I understand that "inner city" is a polite euphemism for "the poor area where minorities live," but the term doesn't make any sense. Most actual inner cities are well-developed and economically robust. I appreciate the effort to be respectful to the economically distressed, but having worked with a lot of people in that situation, they scoff when we use terms like "inner city" and "urban" as polite terms for the hood, as if the rich parts of the city somehow don't qualify. "Low-income" is a better term because it's accurate without being insulting. Just food for thought.
+1
Level 46
Apr 9, 2020
Its an American idea mixed up with their local government system. If an inner city district is mismanaged the property prices tumble as affluent people go and live in swanky suburbs, as happened in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Detroit, but in a lot of other places poor people are displaced out into the suburbs and the inner city districts are wealthy.
+3
Level 67
Apr 9, 2020
But I'm from New York and I live in Chicago. The city centers are the most affluent parts. In Chicago, the closer you are to the actual inner city, the higher the property values and the fancier the neighborhoods. The poorest areas (and there are some really poor areas) are at the far southern and western corners of the city.
+1
Level 44
Apr 10, 2020
Well, it follows a trend: At first wealthy people settle in the centre. Then they move to the outskirts. After a while they move back to the centre.
+1
Level 37
Apr 16, 2020
That's what NYC is becoming now. The Working Class is being gentrified out of the city and being forced to move to Upstate NY or out of the state entirely. Retirees especially are leaving the state; I know of at least 150 former New Yorkers who have moved to Florida, North or South Carolina, Georgia and other points south with their families.
+1
Level 74
Dec 7, 2021
There has been considerable gentrification in the decades since the 80s - Inner city suburbs were stereotypically working class areas in most big cities then
+1
Level 48
Apr 9, 2020
I apparently have no clue how to spell that comet's name >
+3
Level 56
Apr 9, 2020
i wrote Prince of Wales for Prince Charle

It should work

+1
Level 42
Jun 24, 2020
That's a title not a person though, I suppose
+1
Level 76
Aug 30, 2020
Don´t wanna open a can of worms, but Malvinas should be accepted as an alternative answer. Choosing only one is making a political statement.
+1
Level 55
Apr 10, 2022
These quizzes are in English. Malvinas is Spanish.
+2
Level 64
Feb 11, 2022
You accept lots of misspellings on this site. Could you accept Maradonna? Getting that answer rejected threw me off the rest of the quiz
+2
Level 45
Apr 9, 2022
Wow, you're easily thrown off then. Was deleting one single letter to get the answer right really too much trouble?
+1
Level 48
Apr 9, 2022
Could you accept Peking for Beijing? This was the name that was more commonly used at the time, and is still used in the English name of the city's university.
+1
Level 52
Jul 20, 2023
I think the same. At this time it was Peking, not Beijing.
+1
Level 65
Apr 10, 2022
It's Gorbachov. In both Russian and Ukrainian btw. The Russian e with an umlaut is pronounced as an "o".
+1
Level 46
Apr 11, 2022
Couldn't stop thinking 'Killer' instead of 'Thriller'.
+1
Level 65
Apr 11, 2022
Little ditty bout Charles and Diane two British royals growing up in a foreign land.
+1
Level 52
Jul 20, 2023
Diana, not Diane.
+1
Level 64
Apr 23, 2022
"Who did Diana Spencer marry?"

It's "whom," as in "him" and "them" and other object pronouns.

Would we say Diana Spencer married "he"?

+2
Level 17
May 26, 2022
Can you accept GorbaTchev ?
+1
Level 21
Dec 6, 2022
The Prince Charles Answer needs to be updated to King Charles
+2
Level 55
Dec 20, 2022
Does not need to be updated - he wasn't king when he married Diana.
+1
Level 52
Jul 20, 2023
I don't think so. At this time he was a Prince.
+1
Level 81
Jul 18, 2023
Fun quiz! Just one thing: the Charles clue should be updated to "King Charles", rather than the now-outdated "Prince Charles".
+1
Level 79
Jan 17, 2024
No, Diana married Prince Charles, not King Charles
+2
Level 52
Jul 20, 2023
Peking also should be accepted.
+1
Level 40
Mar 6, 2024
phone or telephone for mobile phone :(