• 136 team names

80s Trivia Team Names

Press Pick 5 new team names for mixtapes, arcades and big hair, then copy or print the list.

80s Trivia Team Names

All 136
  1. Headphone FoamOrange foam pads on a thin metal headband.
  2. Up High, Down Low, Too SlowThe high five routine, with the hand pulled away at the end.
  3. Tape Counter ResetThree little digits and a reset button were the only way to find a song again.
  4. Dial Clicks to ThirteenThe main TV dial clicked around from 2 to 13, with a second dial for the fuzzy channels.
  5. Beep Means Next FrameA classroom filmstrip came with a recording that beeped when it was time to turn to the next picture.

Next step Music round? See the music namesFilm round? See the movie names

All 136 team names

Cassettes and boomboxes 16

  • Auto-Reverse A deck that played the other side without anyone getting up to flip the tape.
  • Cassette Single Collectors Cassettes outsold every other format for new music in the United States from 1983 to 1991.
  • The Deck Ate Our Tape A worn player pulled the tape out into its works. People said it had eaten or chewed the cassette.
  • Fast Forward to the Good Part Hold the button, guess, stop, listen, try again.
  • Flip to Side B Halfway through every album, somebody had to get up.
  • Forty-Five Minutes a Side A C90 cassette ran 45 minutes a side, and the last song usually got cut off.
  • Graphic Equalizers A row of sliders, set in a smile shape by everyone everywhere.
  • Headphone Foam Orange foam pads on a thin metal headband.
  • High-Speed Dubbing A double-deck stereo copied a tape at twice the speed, chipmunk voices included.
  • Mixtape Makers A home-made cassette of songs in a careful order, usually for one particular person.
  • Pencil Rewind A six-sided pencil fits a cassette spool exactly, and winding by hand saved the batteries.
  • Recorded Off the Radio Finger on the pause button, waiting for the DJ to stop talking.
  • Tape Counter Reset Three little digits and a reset button were the only way to find a song again.
  • Tape Over the Tab Snapping the tabs out of a cassette stopped anyone recording over it. A strip of sticky tape across the hole undid that.
  • Ten D Batteries A big boombox could need ten or more D batteries, and could weigh more than 12 kilograms.
  • Tiny Track List Handwriting The card inside the case, filled in with twenty song titles in ballpoint.

Arcades and pinball 17

  • Air Hockey Knuckles A plastic puck on a cushion of air, moving faster than fingers can get out of the way.
  • Change Machine Regulars A dollar in, four quarters out, as long as the bill was flat enough.
  • Claw Machine Near Misses It picked the prize up. It always picked the prize up.
  • Extra Ball In pinball, a bonus ball earned by finishing a task on the table.
  • Extra Life Earned A bonus turn for passing a score, and the most welcome sound in the room.
  • Game Over, Continue? A countdown from ten, and a scramble through every pocket for another coin.
  • Golden Age Gamers The golden age of arcade video games ran from the late 1970s into the early 1980s.
  • Joystick Wigglers No plan, plenty of wrist.
  • Match the Last Two Digits After the last ball, a pinball machine picks a number. If it matches the end of your score, you play again free.
  • Multiball Mayhem Several pinballs in play at once, and only two flippers to deal with them.
  • Prize Ticket Math Four hundred tickets, one plastic spider ring.
  • Quarter on the Glass A coin lined up on the edge of the screen claimed the next game.
  • Roll of Quarters Arcades ran on quarters, and a roll of forty was ten dollars of Saturday.
  • Three-Letter Initials An arcade high score table took three letters, so most players entered their initials.
  • Tilt Warning Shake a pinball table too hard and it tilts: the flippers go dead and the ball is lost.
  • Token Gesture A token gesture is a small show of effort. An arcade token was worth about one game.
  • Turned the Score Over Turning a machine over meant scoring so high that the counter rolled back to zero.

VCRs and television 17

  • Adjust the Tracking A dial on the VCR that cleared the fuzzy lines from the picture, mostly.
  • The Blinking Twelve A VCR clock that nobody set flashed 12:00 for years.
  • Couch Potatoes A person who watches television all day. The term was coined in 1976, in time for the VCR.
  • Dial Clicks to Thirteen The main TV dial clicked around from 2 to 13, with a second dial for the fuzzy channels.
  • Format War Veterans Two kinds of home videotape fought it out through the 1980s. Owners of the losing one still bring it up.
  • Human Remote Controls The youngest child, sent across the room to change the channel.
  • Late Fee Fugitives Due back Tuesday. It is now the following Tuesday.
  • New Releases Wall Forty empty boxes of the one film everybody wanted, all checked out.
  • Please Rewind Before Returning The sticker on every rented tape, and the rule that everybody broke.
  • Rabbit Ears and Tinfoil Rabbit ears are the two telescoping rods of an indoor TV antenna. The foil was an upgrade.
  • Saturday Morning Cereal Cartoons ran on Saturday mornings, and so did the sugar.
  • Set the Timer, Missed the Show Programming a VCR to record took eleven steps and a manual.
  • Taped Over the Wedding One unlabeled cassette, one soccer game, one family incident.
  • Test Pattern Watchers Colored stripes and a steady tone: what a channel showed when it had nothing on.
  • Tune It to Channel Three A VCR or a game console fed the television through channel 3, or 4 if that did not work.
  • Video Store Membership Card Laminated, kept in the wallet, under one parent's name.
  • Wood-Paneled Television A TV set built as furniture, with a lace mat and a plant on it.

Hair and fashion 18

  • Acid Wash Cycle Acid-washed jeans were tumbled with pumice stones and chlorine until nearly white. The process was patented in 1986.
  • Banana Clips A long curved comb clip that turned a ponytail into a mane.
  • Bangs to the Ceiling Teased, sprayed and standing straight up.
  • Fingerless Gloves Lace for the dance floor, leather for the bike rack.
  • Friendship Pins Safety pins threaded with colored beads and worn on your shoelaces.
  • Home Perm Survivors A box kit, a kitchen chair and a smell that lasted a week.
  • Leg Warmer Weather Dancers wore them to keep their muscles warm. In the early 1980s everybody else joined in.
  • Mirror Shades Sunglasses that showed everybody their own reflection.
  • Mullet Over Mull it over, with a haircut: short at the front and sides, long at the back. The word mullet only dates from the 1990s.
  • Off-the-Shoulder Sweatshirts A sweatshirt with the collar cut out, worn slipping off one side.
  • Parachute Pants Swishy nylon trousers with more zippers than pockets.
  • Power Dressers A suit with shoulders wide enough to fill a doorway.
  • Rat Tail Regrets One long thin lock at the back of an otherwise short haircut.
  • Shoulder Pad Squad Big padded shoulders were the defining look of the decade, under the name power dressing.
  • Side Ponytails Worn high, over one ear, with the biggest hair tie available.
  • Slouch Socks, Two Pairs Two colors, layered and pushed down over basketball sneakers.
  • Stirrup Pants Stretch trousers with a strap under the foot to keep them taut.
  • Terry Cloth Sweatbands On the forehead and both wrists, gym or no gym.

80s slang 20

  • Bad, in the Good Sense In the 1980s, calling something bad could be a compliment. Last place is looking up.
  • Bogus Answers Bogus meant unfair or no good. It still does.
  • Def Not Wrong Def meant excellent in 1980s hip-hop slang. It is also short for definitely.
  • The Dweebs A dweeb was a studious, awkward kid. At a quiz that is a compliment.
  • Fer Sure, Fer Sure For sure, as a California teenager said it.
  • Fresh Answers Daily Fresh meant new and impressive.
  • Gnarly Guessers Gnarly comes from gnarled, like knotted wood. Surfers made it mean both dangerous and excellent.
  • Grody Guesses Grody meant dirty or disgusting. Some of our guesses qualify.
  • I'm So Sure Said flatly, it meant the exact opposite.
  • Like, Totally Guessing Valley talk used like as a filler and totally for very. It became a fad far beyond California in the 1980s.
  • Not Even Short for not even close, and a fair summary of our history round.
  • Rad Scientists Mad scientists, with rad, the short form of radical.
  • Radical Signs Radical meant excellent. A radical sign is also the square root symbol, for the math round.
  • Righteous Guesses Surfer praise for anything that went well.
  • Stoked for Round Two Stoked is surf slang for thrilled.
  • Take a Picture, It Lasts Longer The playground answer to being stared at.
  • To the Max As far as a thing can go.
  • Totally Tubular Tubular meant excellent. It comes from surfing, where a wave closes around the rider like a tube.
  • Up High, Down Low, Too Slow The high five routine, with the hand pulled away at the end.
  • The Yuppies Short for young urban professional, the decade's word for anyone with a briefcase.

Growing up in the 80s 17

  • At the Tone, the Time Will Be You could phone a number just to hear a recorded voice read out the exact time.
  • Beep Means Next Frame A classroom filmstrip came with a recording that beeped when it was time to turn to the next picture.
  • Card Catalog Champions Finding a library book meant a drawer of index cards and the decimal system.
  • Cereal Box Prizes A toy at the bottom of the bag, reached by an arm in up to the elbow.
  • Chalkboard Eraser Monitors Clapping the erasers clean outside was a reward, somehow.
  • Drink from the Garden Hose Summer hydration. Let it run for a second first.
  • Halley's Comet Club Halley's Comet last came by in 1986 and is due back in mid-2061. Members plan to see it twice.
  • Home Before the Streetlights The only curfew most kids had.
  • Latchkey Kids Children who let themselves in after school with their own door key. The word dates from the 1940s and was commonplace by the 1980s.
  • Looked It Up in Volume Q Homework research meant a shelf of matching encyclopedias, a few years out of date.
  • Metal Lunchboxes A steel box with a matching flask that leaked.
  • Purple Ditto Sheets Worksheets from the ditto machine came out purple, with a faintly sweet smell that a whole generation remembers.
  • Puzzle Cube Peelers The quick way to solve a color cube: peel off the stickers and put them back in order.
  • Scratch and Sniff Scent sealed in tiny capsules that break when rubbed. Teachers gave the stickers out as rewards from the late 1970s.
  • Sticker Album Traders Puffy, shiny, fuzzy and scented, swapped at recess under strict exchange rates.
  • Tape Recorder Radio Show A blank cassette, a built-in microphone and a made-up radio station.
  • Way-Back Seat Riders The rear-facing seat of a station wagon, waving at the car behind.

Aerobics, skates and breaking 16

  • All Skate The rink announcer's call that opens the floor to everybody.
  • BMX Bunny Hop Both wheels off the ground at once: the first trick a BMX rider learns.
  • Cardboard Dance Floor Breakers laid flattened boxes on the sidewalk to spin on.
  • Couples Skate Wallflowers The lights dimmed, a slow song came on, and half the rink went to look at the snack counter.
  • Double Dutch Champions Two long ropes turning in opposite directions, and one jumper in the middle.
  • Half-Pipe Dreams Pipe dreams, on a skateboard ramp shaped like half a tube.
  • Hold the Freeze In breaking, a freeze is a pose held off the ground on the hands, and it often ends the set.
  • Home Workout Tape A 1982 exercise video moved aerobics from the studio to the living room carpet.
  • Leotard Over Tights Aerobics took off worldwide after 1982, and this was the uniform.
  • Reverse Skate Everybody turn around and go the other way.
  • Rink Rats There every Friday night, skates already laced.
  • Shoot the Duck A roller rink trick: crouch on one skate with the other leg straight out in front.
  • Six-Step Starters The six-step is the basic footwork of breaking, a circle walked on hands and feet.
  • Step Touch Grapevine Two moves from every aerobics class ever taught.
  • Windmill Warmups The windmill is a breaking power move: the dancer rolls across the shoulders with legs whirling in the air.
  • The Worm A dance move: lie face down and ripple from toes to chin.

Gadgets and home computers 15

  • 20 GOTO 10 The second line of everybody's first BASIC program. It sends the computer back to line 10, forever.
  • Brick Phone Biceps The first handheld mobile phones were about the size and shape of a brick.
  • Calculator Watch Club Tiny rubber buttons on the wrist. Calculator watches were mass-produced from the early 1980s, the decade of their peak.
  • Car Phone Callers A telephone wired into the car, with a curly cord and an antenna on the back window.
  • Clock Radio Snoozers Red digits, a snooze button and a buzzer nobody could sleep through.
  • Cordless Phone Antenna A long metal aerial, usually pulled out with your teeth.
  • Dot Matrix Racket The home printer of the decade hammered each letter out of tiny dots, and everybody in the house heard it.
  • Green Text, Black Screen A monochrome monitor showed one color, and it was usually green.
  • Hourly Chime Watches A digital watch that beeped on the hour, in every classroom, never quite together.
  • Instant Camera Shakers Waving an instant photo in the air while it developed. Whether that helped is doubtful.
  • Loading from Cassette Many home computers loaded programs from an ordinary audio cassette, very slowly.
  • Rotary Dial Patience On a dial phone, a number full of nines took real commitment.
  • Solar Calculator Shade Test Cover the little panel with a thumb and watch the digits fade.
  • Tear Along the Perforation Printer paper came as one long folded strip with holes down both edges.
  • Typed In from a Magazine Computer magazines printed whole programs as listings for readers to type in, line by line.

How it works

These 80s trivia team names are made from what the decade left behind: a mixtape, a roll of quarters, a VCR blinking 12:00. No band, film or toy brand appears. Pick 5 new team names deals five of 136; to keep any that get a nod, take the others away with × and press again.

Read the full guide

Names that double as instructions

The All team names menu under the button holds eight groups. 80s slang is the largest, with 20 names. The one few people guess is Aerobics, skates and breaking, with 16. The cassette names still work as instructions. Snapping the tabs out stopped anyone recording over a tape, and sticky tape across the hole undid that, hence Tape Over the Tab. In the arcade, Turned the Score Over meant scoring so high that the counter rolled back to zero.

Some 80s words are not from the 80s

The haircut is pure 1980s, but the Oxford English Dictionary traces the word mullet only to 1994, so nobody wearing one called it that. Couch potato runs the other way: it was coined in 1976, in time for the VCR. Latchkey kid is older still, first recorded in 1942. Acid wash is the real thing, patented in 1986, the year Halley's Comet came by. It is due back in mid-2061.

  • 20 GOTO 10 and Game Over, Continue? belong on the answer sheet. If your host reads the scores out, Mullet Over and Token Gesture carry better.
  • Playing with your parents, or your kids? Choose Growing up in the 80s in the menu. One half of the table explains Purple Ditto Sheets and the other half refuses to believe it.
  • Choose 80s slang, press Add another until the list holds 10 and read the names out in your worst California accent. Whichever one the table says back, keep it.

Questions and answers

Is it 80s or 80's trivia team names?

Either. With or without the apostrophe it is one decade and the same 136 names. Editors tend to write 80s, or '80s with the mark in front for the missing 19, but quiz hosts are not editors. Spell it however fits on the sheet.

Are there names about 80s music and movies?

About how you listened and watched, yes. Cassettes outsold every other format for new music in the United States from 1983 to 1991. Two home videotape formats fought through the decade, which gives the list Format War Veterans.

What does 20 GOTO 10 mean?

It is the second line of the first program most people wrote in BASIC, the language built into practically every 1980s home computer. Line 10 prints a message and line 20 sends the machine back to line 10, so the screen fills with your name until somebody stops it.

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