NIT2000 Game

Meet the 1999 Purple Team

As of 1999, the Purple team has played in six Games. The exact composition of the team changes each year, but revolves around a core set of friends who met through jobs at Microsoft Corporation.

Four members of the 1999 Purple Team. From left to right: Roger Carlson, Bruce Oberg, Jeff Pettiross, Jan Miksovsky. Roger is a genuine rocket scientist who makes cool stuff at TRW. Bruce writes games for the Nintendo 64 console. Jeff works on Internet video software for a .com in downtown Seattle. Jan is a software designer. Two people are not shown above: 1) Thane Plambeck, head of an Internet security company, and 2) David Sanderman, a colleague of Jeff's. Although Dave wasn't physically in the van with us, he acted as our invisible and invaluable Seattle-based remote operative and Internet avatar, and hence was virtually everywhere.

The Ford Club Wagon with v10 Triton engine is practically a member of the team. One of the only rules of The Game is that each team must travel in a single vehicle. Some teams prefer small minivans, while others have occasionally used large recreational vehicles. We prefer the size and strength of a full-sized 15-passenger van. This year's van came in a handsome purple color.

Thane Plambeck with the van

No real team goes without a team shirt. Here Bruce models our lineup of summer 1999 teamwear. Available only in purple.

Detail of shirt. The design alludes to a pre-game clue that used Scrabble tiles. "Permute Pal", of course, is an anagram of "Team Purple". We make no bones about it: we really are geeks.

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