Early Computers
The 1950s-60s
The 1970's
The 1980s-90s
Computer Parts & Functions
100

This 1936 invention by Konrad Zuse is considered the first electric computer.

What is the Z3?

100

The UNIVAC I was used by this U.S. agency in 1952 to count ballots.

What is the Census Bureau?

100

This IBM invention of 1971 was the first portable storage device.

What is the floppy disk?

100

IBM’s first PC, the IBM 5150, was released in this year.

What is 1981?

100

Known as the “heart” of the computer, this part connects all components together.

What is the motherboard?

200

John Atanasoff and Clifford Berry created this electronic-digital computer in 1937.

What is the Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC)?

200

IBM produced this 1953 model, with only 19 units made.

What is the IBM 701?

200

The Intel 4004, released in 1971, was the first of this “brain of the computer.”

What is a microprocessor?

200

Bill Gates created this operating system for IBM’s PC.

What is MS-DOS?

200

This is permanent software stored on a chip in the motherboard.

What is firmware?

300

The ABC introduced this number system, still used in modern computers.

What is the binary system?

300

The first computer chips, made in 1958, were this size.

What is the size of a pinky finger?

300

This pair of tech pioneers created the Apple I computer in 1976.

Who are Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs?

300

Apple’s Lisa failed due to its high price, but it was the first PC with this feature.

Double points for the full name of the feature.

What is a GUI? (Graphical User Interface)

300

This computer part runs software code and often requires fans to stay cool.


Double points for the full name.

What is the CPU (Central Processing Unit)? 

400

Thomas Flowers developed this code-breaking machine in 1943 to help the British.

What is Colossus?

400

Seymour Cray’s 1964 supercomputer, the CDC 6600, could process this many instructions per second.

What is three million?

400

This 1979 program by Daniel Bricklin and Robert Frankston turned the Apple II into a business machine.

What is VisiCalc?

400

Tim Berners-Lee developed this in 1990, changing the way we access information online.

What is the World Wide Web?

400

This computer part is dedicated to rendering graphics.

What is GPU (Graphics Processing Unit)?

500

Built in 1946, this machine by Mauchly and Eckert was the first with a storage device.

What is ENIAC?

500

In 1969, this U.S. defense project created ARPAnet, the predecessor to the internet.

What is the Department of Defense?

500

This British monarch famously sent her first e-mail in 1976.

Who is Queen Elizabeth II?

500

Intel’s Pentium processor, released in 1993, contained more than this many transistors.

What is one million?

500

To connect to a network, computers use this card, often requiring an RJ-45 jack and ethernet cable.

What is an Network Interface Card (NIC)?

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