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100 quiz questions with answers for a quiz night

Friends coming over, a birthday, a long evening at a cabin? Here are 100 fact-checked trivia questions in eight themed rounds, ready to read aloud, with the answers hidden until you need them. First, a quick guide to running the night.

How to run a quiz night with friends

Pick a host. One person reads the questions and keeps score. The host doesn't play, so it's a good job to rotate between rounds.
Split into teams of two to four. Mix up couples and best friends, it makes the game louder.
Hand out paper. Each team writes its answers for the whole round, then the host reads out the right ones.
One point per correct answer. Let each team play a “joker” once a game to double its points for one round.
Keep a tiebreaker ready. If teams are level at the end, ask a number question (“How long is a marathon?”), and the closest answer wins.

Eight rounds of 12–13 questions take about an hour and a half with breaks. For a shorter game, pick four rounds. Open the answer under a question only after everyone has written theirs.

100 questions with answers

All questions come from the BrainMesh question base, where every fact is checked before it goes into the game.

Round 1. General knowledge

How many minutes are there in a day?
Answer
1,440
How many keys does a standard piano have?
Answer
88
How many rings are on the Olympic flag?
Answer
Five
How long is a marathon?
Answer
42.195 km
In which sport does “love” mean a score of zero?
Answer
Tennis
How many holes are in a standard round of golf?
Answer
18
In which sport do you hit a shuttlecock?
Answer
Badminton
What is a sommelier an expert in?
Answer
Wine
What is the airport code of London Heathrow?
Answer
LHR
Bluetooth is named after the nickname of whom?
Answer
A Viking-age king, the Danish king Harald Bluetooth
In 1947, what was found inside a Harvard computer, helping the word “bug” stick?
Answer
A moth
The QWERTY keyboard layout was originally designed for what?
Answer
Typewriters

Round 2. Food and drink

Which country gave the world the Margherita pizza?
Answer
Italy
Which spice gives paella its golden colour?
Answer
Saffron
Tequila is made from which plant?
Answer
Blue agave
Hummus is mainly made from which legume?
Answer
Chickpeas
Wasabi is a close relative of which plant?
Answer
Horseradish
What does “tiramisu” literally mean in Italian?
Answer
“Pick me up”
Which berry gives gin its signature flavour?
Answer
Juniper
In which country was the Caesar salad invented?
Answer
Mexico
The Pavlova dessert is named after whom?
Answer
A Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova
Where was bubble tea with tapioca pearls invented?
Answer
Taiwan
What gives Earl Grey tea its distinctive aroma?
Answer
Bergamot
Which food can stay edible for thousands of years if stored properly?
Answer
Honey
Which compound makes chili peppers hot?
Answer
Capsaicin

Round 3. Animals

Which bird is the fastest in a dive?
Answer
The peregrine falcon
What is a group of lions called?
Answer
A pride
How many hearts does an octopus have?
Answer
Three
Whose fingerprints are almost identical to humans’?
Answer
The koala’s
Which of these is actually a fish: a starfish, a seahorse, a jellyfish or a cuttlefish?
Answer
The seahorse
Why are flamingos pink?
Answer
Because of pigments in their food
What do camels store in their humps?
Answer
Fat
Which of these sleeps with only half of its brain at a time: an elephant, a dolphin, a horse or a sloth?
Answer
The dolphin
Which bird can fly backwards?
Answer
The hummingbird
Which of these mammals lays eggs: the platypus, the pangolin, the armadillo or the mole?
Answer
The platypus
What colour is a giraffe’s tongue?
Answer
Dark purple
What shape is wombat poop?
Answer
Cubes
Sloths are so slow that what grows in their fur?
Answer
Algae

Round 4. Geography and travel

What is the capital of Australia?
Answer
Canberra
What is the capital of Canada?
Answer
Ottawa
Which country’s flag is not a rectangle?
Answer
Nepal
Which country has a dragon on its flag: China, Bhutan, Vietnam or Mongolia?
Answer
Bhutan
Which city lies on two continents: Istanbul, Cairo, Moscow or Athens?
Answer
Istanbul
In which country can you visit the ancient city of Petra?
Answer
Jordan
Which European capital is built on 14 islands?
Answer
Stockholm
Where is the deepest point of the world’s oceans?
Answer
The Mariana Trench
Which is the deepest lake in the world?
Answer
Lake Baikal
What is the driest non-polar desert on Earth?
Answer
The Atacama
The world’s highest waterfall, Angel Falls, is in which country?
Answer
Venezuela
Which is the northernmost capital of a sovereign country?
Answer
Reykjavík
Which strait separates Russia and the USA?
Answer
The Bering Strait

Round 5. Movies and music

Which school does Harry Potter attend?
Answer
Hogwarts
What kind of creature is Shrek?
Answer
An ogre
What subject does Walter White teach in “Breaking Bad”?
Answer
Chemistry
In “Game of Thrones”, which house’s words are “Winter is Coming”?
Answer
House Stark
What is the name of the girl with powers in “Stranger Things”?
Answer
Eleven
Which Korean film won the Best Picture Oscar?
Answer
“Parasite”
What kind of fish is Dory in “Finding Nemo”?
Answer
A blue tang
What lifts Carl’s house into the sky in Pixar’s “Up”?
Answer
Balloons
Who directed both “Inception” and “Interstellar”?
Answer
Christopher Nolan
Who released the album “Thriller”?
Answer
Michael Jackson
Which band released “Wonderwall”?
Answer
Oasis
A-ha, the band behind “Take On Me”, is from which country?
Answer
Norway
Queen recorded “Under Pressure” (1981) together with which star?
Answer
David Bowie

Round 6. History

Who was the first person to walk on the Moon?
Answer
Neil Armstrong
Who was the first human in space?
Answer
Yuri Gagarin
In which year did the Titanic sink?
Answer
1912
Which city was buried by Vesuvius in 79 AD?
Answer
Pompeii
Who was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize?
Answer
Marie Curie
Which country launched the first artificial satellite?
Answer
The USSR
Which dog went into orbit in 1957?
Answer
Laika
Which famous English document of 1215 limited the power of the king?
Answer
Magna Carta
Which city was the capital of the Byzantine Empire?
Answer
Constantinople
Which Roman leader was assassinated on the Ides of March?
Answer
Julius Caesar
Which country sold Alaska to the United States?
Answer
Russia
How long did the shortest war in history, the Anglo-Zanzibar War of 1896, last?
Answer
About 40 minutes

Round 7. Science and technology

Which planet is known as the Red Planet?
Answer
Mars
What is the hardest natural material on Earth?
Answer
Diamond
Why do you see lightning before you hear the thunder?
Answer
Light travels faster than sound
Why does ice float on water?
Answer
Ice is less dense than water
Which gas makes up most of the air we breathe?
Answer
Nitrogen
Which cells in your eye let you see colours?
Answer
Cones
How long does sunlight take to reach Earth?
Answer
About 8 minutes
A lack of which vitamin causes scurvy?
Answer
Vitamin C
Which animals are the closest living relatives of the hippopotamus?
Answer
Whales
Vanilla comes from the seed pods of which kind of plant?
Answer
An orchid
What does “QR” in QR code stand for?
Answer
Quick Response
Who invented the World Wide Web?
Answer
Tim Berners-Lee

Round 8. Internet culture

What does “LOL” stand for?
Answer
Laughing out loud
Which Rick Astley song is used for rickrolling?
Answer
“Never Gonna Give You Up”
What breed is the dog in the Doge meme?
Answer
Shiba Inu
What was the very first YouTube video called?
Answer
“Me at the zoo”
Which game made the word “sus” a meme?
Answer
Among Us
In “GIF”, what does the G stand for?
Answer
Graphics
How many characters was a tweet originally limited to?
Answer
140
In which year did Wikipedia launch?
Answer
2001
What does “TL;DR” mean?
Answer
Too long; didn’t read
In the “This is fine” meme, where is the dog sitting?
Answer
In a burning room
Who coined the word “meme” back in 1976?
Answer
Richard Dawkins
In which country were emoji invented?
Answer
Japan

Play it on your phones instead

Reading questions from a page is fine, but someone has to be the host and miss the fun. In BrainMesh everyone plays, including the person who started the game:

No internet. Up to 8 phones connect directly over Bluetooth, so it works at a cabin, on a train or in a tent.
Android and iPhone together in the same game, no accounts.
Four kinds of rounds: Classic with four options and a category vote, Sort it (put items in order), Pairs (match two columns) and a Speed round with 8 seconds per question.
Pranks: good answers earn charges to freeze a friend's screen, cover their answers with bubbles or shuffle them.
Betting final: in “My money's on you”, everyone secretly bets points on whether a friend gets the question right.
More than 4,200 questions in English and 4,500 in Russian, across 16 categories. The app keeps score and runs the timer.

More than 8 people? Play in teams of two on one phone. For more tips, see how to host a quiz night without internet.

Get it on Google Play Download on the App Store

FAQ

How many questions do you need for a quiz night?
About 40–60 for an hour: four to five rounds of 10–12 questions, with short breaks to check answers. This page has 100, enough for a long evening or two shorter games.

How do you score a quiz night?
One point per correct answer is simplest. You can let each team double its points for one round with a joker, and keep a number question as a tiebreaker.

Is there a trivia app to play with friends in the same room?
Yes. BrainMesh connects up to 8 nearby phones over Bluetooth, without internet. Android and iPhone play together, and every player, including the host, answers on their own phone.

Can I use these questions for a birthday party?
Yes. They are general questions suitable for adults and teenagers. For a birthday, add a round about the guest of honour.