Grunty's Furnace Fun

"Welcome all, Grunty's the name, Banjo's here to play my game!"

- Gruntilda

Grunty's Furnace Fun is a sinister game show hosted by none other than the wicked Gruntilda herself.

Banjo and Kazooie must get past the quiz show, defeat Grunty, and save Tooty. When the player steps on a square, he or she must answer one of Gruntilda's question correctly in order to proceed to the next squares. If a question is answered incorrectly, Banjo and Kazooie lose one Honeycomb and will not proceed to the next square. If a question is answered wrong on a skull space, Banjo and Kazooie are immediately thrown into the pit of lava and must start the quiz all over again! (It should be noted that missing questions on skull spaces is the only way to ever fall into the lava pit, since an invisible barrier prevents you from walking directly off the board.) Another thing which should be mentioned is that all of your abilities are disabled excluding the basic jump.

There are three different prizes at the display: Tooty for first place, the Washing Machine for second place, and the Gruntilda Doll for third place.

Introduction cutscene

 * Welcome all, Grunty's the name, Banjo's here to play my game!
 * My lair is done and here he stands, through all my tricks and traps and lands!
 * This final test will see me win, when Banjo fails then I'll be thin!
 * The prizes on this stand bring joy, from Tooty down to cuddly toy!
 * My little quiz will make you sweat, and Tooty you shall never get!
 * 'Cuz somewhere soon along the way, your lack of skill will make my day...
 * 'Cuz in the fiery pit you'll go, and I will win the prize on show!
 * So step on over to the square, press to try it if you dare!

Layout


Banjo-Kazooie Panels: Grunty asks a general question about the game. It will range from Spiral Mountain to the inside of Gruntilda's Lair, from Mumbo's Mountain to Click Clock Wood.
 * A little answer's all I seek, 
 * About this game you furry geek!

Eyeball Panels: Grunty will show a picture from one of the worlds from the game, and ask which world was displayed.
 * A visual challenge you stupid bear, 
 * To tell me who is it or where!

Note Panels: Grunty will either play an audio sample from one of the worlds, or a character's voice and ask which world/character it was from.
 * A question on the sounds I play, 
 * Get it wrong to make my day!

Stopwatch Panels: Banjo must complete a challenge from the game (such as the Tiptup Choir, The Pyramid Memory Game, defeating Boss Boom Box, or doing the Sandcastle Banjo-Kazooie Puzzle backwards) within the time limit given.
 * Prepare yourself to take a whack, 
 * Pick this test, you won't come back!

Grunty Panels: Grunty will ask Banjo a personal question (such as who was her past boyfriend, what the name of her band was, etc.). The only way to obtain the correct answers is by asking Brentilda, who will tell Banjo 3 of Grunty's secrets every time he finds her. These answers are random, so if you play the 2nd time, using the same answers may not work.
 * I think it's time, so let me see, 
 * How much you know of little old me!

Skull Panels: These can be of any category, but failing to answer them correctly results in instant death.
 * Get this wrong for Grunty's sake, 
 * Then a lava bath you will take!

Joker Panels: Once again, these can be of any category. Answering them correctly results in Banjo gaining 2 joker cards, which can be used to skip any square on the board. Unlike the other panels, a Joker Panel is consumed after one question, regardless of whether or not Banjo was correct.
 * Just one chance to get this right, 
 * Win a joker and help it might!

There are also various blank panels around the board which contain honeycombs or extra lives.

Extra Lives

 * There are a total of four extra lives on the board. Once Banjo and Kazooie have completed Grunty's Furnace Fun, they can easily collect them to aid in the final battle.

Joker Cards

 * When collected, Joker Cards allowed you to skip any question/challenge by pressing.

Furnace Fun Skip
By making use of a clever trick involving Sudden Death squares, the player is able to completely walk over the later half of the board and completely skip Furnace Fun, essentially ignoring a long credits sequence. The set-up for this glitch involves purposely failing a Skull Square's question, but instead of getting launched into the lava and dying, the player lands back onto the board unharmed, letting the player walk over every subsequent square without having to answer any questions or complete any Time Challenges. The player must stand on one of the two death squares and perform the following:

On the first death square of a row of three near the end, line up Banjo's right foot with the skull icon's left eye. As soon as you do it, enter first person mode and line up the bottom of Kazooie's beak (image next to life and energy count) with the intersecting corners of the previous squares. Once done, press A to try the question. Get the question wrong on purpose. The square will launch you off, but you will not land in the lava if the trick was set-up correctly. You can now freely walk over every square on the board without having to answer any questions. There are no repercussions to this trick, and the game will proceed as normal.

An alternative method is going to the most top-right spot possible in the death square adjacent to a Music square and a Grunty square at roughly the far left of the board. Face the direction of the top-right corner and press A to try the question. If you did the set-up correctly, the trick should occur as normal.

Detailed tutorial video on the set-up and execution for the regular method.

Tutorial on the alternative method.

Trivia

 * The music that plays on a skull space sounds oddly similar to part of the music that plays in Rusty Bucket Bay.
 * The music that plays on a skull space also sounds familiar, it is a haunting, sped up version of the starting tune of the original Donkey Kong arcade game. It also sounds like the first few notes of the Creepy Castle level from Donkey Kong 64.
 * The Joker card panel's fanfare was reused for Lanky Kong's highlight theme in the Tag Barrel in Donkey Kong 64.
 * The possibility of getting a question wrong on the Grunty Panel and being thrown into the lava was vaguely foretold by Brentilda the first time Banjo and Kazooie meet her. As she stated that knowing facts about Grunty would help the duo avoid a "fiery fate".
 * Unlike most of the other questions, the Grunty Panel's answers change per playthrough.
 * For one of the questions, the anwser was 'Cranky Kong' from the donkey kong series. Strangely enough, This wasn't removed in the Xbox Live Arcade remake.
 * Another answer you can pick is "Funky the monkey". this is a clever reference to another character from the Donkey kong series, specifically Funky Kong.
 * It is impossible to do anything on the squares other than moving from one to another, but this can be bypassed by enabling a Gameshark cheat that will allow them to fly in any place.
 * When completing a square correctly, the audience will humourously boo at Banjo and Kazooie.
 * Pre-final boss quiz shows would later return in Banjo-Tooie in the form of 'Tower of Tragedy' and in Yooka-Laylee (as the third stretch goal of the kickstarter).
 * The background music during the quiz plays a remix of the Banjo-Kazooie theme. This is carried on to the Tower of Tragedy quiz in Banjo-Tooie albeit a different remix.