What's a Bilby?
A Bilby is a marsupial that lives in the
Australian desert and is closely related
to the bandicoot. Prior to European
colonisation there were 2 species of
Bilby however one species became extinct
in the 1950's due to, amongst other
factors, competition for food from
introduced rabbits. The surviving species
is likely to become endangered unless the
circumstances threatening its survival
improve.
What do the level names mean?
The level names come from the code-names
given by the British Nuclear Board to
tests carried out at the Maralinga site
in South Australia. 'One
Tree',
'Marcoo',
'Kite'
and 'Breakaway'
were conducted in 1956.
Doc, what's a Kilowatt?
A Kilowatt (kW) is a unit of power equal
to 1,000 watts or 2 chocolate cookies
(860 calories). In
BiB: Grey Alert!
kilowatt-hour (kWh) is used for the score
and 1,162,222 kWh are equal to 1 kiloton
(kT), the unit used for level completion
awards. 1 kT is equal to about 2.3
million chocolate cookies of
energy.
Why use Kilowatts instead of points?
Pinball machines have a long history of
offering ridiculously large award scores
and using large amounts of electricity to
power them. In keeping with this,
Kilowatts (kW) are used for the scoring
as its a tangible figure used in everyday
living and it differentiates this game
from other.
So why are the level jackpots in Kilotons?
A kiloton (kT) is the unit of energy used
to describe a nuclear bomb's yield and as
this game is based around the nuclear
testing at Maralinga its fitting to use
this unit for the jackpots. The Hiroshima
atomic bomb had a yield of between 13 and
16 kilotons.
How can I help the Bilby?
Buy a chocolate Bilby from Darrell Lea at
Easter time rather than a chocolate
rabbit will help raise funds for the
Bilby. Alternatively, donations to the
Save The Bilby Fund will ensure the
future survival of the Bilby, they can be
found
here.