These Alaska trivia questions come in five rounds of 12: the purchase of 1867 and what followed, peaks, rivers and islands, light, ice and wildlife, state symbols, and work and travel.
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Five rounds for a trivia night or a classroom
History starts with the check for $7.2 million and ends at statehood. The map asks for the lake, the island and the inlet. Light, ice and wildlife leans on the national parks' own pages: why white icebergs are white, and what rangers call a bear that steals a fish.
Play one at a time or score a round
Tap a choice and the card shows the answer with its reason. See all 60 with answers opens the whole list under the card. Scored round asks 20 and marks them at the end.
Tips
State symbols is the gentlest round: a flower, a tree, a fish and a fossil.
Questions and answers
What are some easy Alaska trivia questions?
What is the Alaska Marine Highway, if not a road? What is the state flower? Which fish do bears wait for at Brooks Falls? The answers are a ferry system, the forget-me-not and sockeye salmon.
How much did the United States pay for Alaska?
$7.2 million, agreed on March 30, 1867. The National Archives works that out at less than 2 cents an acre for nearly 600,000 square miles. The check itself is dated August 1, 1868.
Is the mountain called Denali or Mount McKinley?
Both names have been official at different times, so the pack does not ask. It asks for the range, the Alaska Range, and for what the Koyukon name means: the National Park Service gives 'the tall one'.
How were the answers checked?
Each was read on October 2, 2026 on the page linked under it: the National Archives for the purchase, four National Park Service pages for glaciers, bears and the aurora, and Wikipedia for the rest, including its table of state symbols.
The Alaska Statehood Act became law on July 7, 1958 under which president?Answer: Dwight D. Eisenhower. Source: Wikipedia: Alaska Statehood Act
In which city did the envoys put their names to the Alaska treaty?Answer: Washington. Source: U.S. National Archives: Check for the Purchase of Alaska
In which year did the strongest earthquake ever recorded in North America strike Alaska?Answer: 1964. Source: Wikipedia: 1964 Alaska earthquake
In which year did Vitus Bering's expedition sight the Alaskan mainland?Answer: 1741. Source: Wikipedia: Vitus Bering
In which year was the check for the purchase of Alaska issued?Answer: 1868. Source: U.S. National Archives: Check for the Purchase of Alaska
Opponents of the purchase gave it a mocking nickname. What was it?Answer: Seward's Folly. Source: U.S. National Archives: Check for the Purchase of Alaska
Spread over the land gained, what was the price of Alaska an acre?Answer: Less than 2 cents. Source: U.S. National Archives: Check for the Purchase of Alaska
What was the price of the Alaska Purchase?Answer: $7.2 million. Source: U.S. National Archives: Check for the Purchase of Alaska
Which gold strike of 1896 quieted the critics of the purchase?Answer: The Klondike. Source: U.S. National Archives: Check for the Purchase of Alaska
Which Russian ruler signed the Treaty of Cession?Answer: Alexander II. Source: U.S. National Archives: Check for the Purchase of Alaska
Which town was the informal capital of Russian America and the site of the handover of Alaska in 1867?Answer: Sitka. Source: Wikipedia: Sitka, Alaska
Who negotiated the sale of Alaska for Russia?Answer: Edouard de Stoeckl. Source: U.S. National Archives: Check for the Purchase of Alaska
The map: peaks, rivers and islands 12
The Aleutian Islands reach west toward which Russian peninsula?Answer: Kamchatka. Source: Wikipedia: Aleutian Islands
Anchorage stands at the head of which inlet?Answer: Cook Inlet. Source: Wikipedia: Anchorage, Alaska
By what name was the city of Utqiagvik known until 2016?Answer: Barrow. Source: Wikipedia: Utqiagvik, Alaska
How many time zones does Alaska use?Answer: Two. Source: Wikipedia: Alaska Time Zone
In which mountain range does the tallest peak in North America stand?Answer: The Alaska Range. Source: Wikipedia: Denali
Into which sea does the Yukon River empty?Answer: The Bering Sea. Source: Wikipedia: Yukon River
The name Denali comes from a Koyukon word. What does the National Park Service say such names mean?Answer: The tall one. Source: National Park Service: Denali, Mountain Name Origins
Which forest in Southeast Alaska is the biggest of all the national forests?Answer: Tongass National Forest. Source: Wikipedia: Tongass National Forest
Which is the largest island in Alaska?Answer: Kodiak Island. Source: Wikipedia: Kodiak Island
Which is the largest lake in Alaska?Answer: Iliamna Lake. Source: Wikipedia: Iliamna Lake
Which line runs between Little Diomede, in Alaska, and Big Diomede, in Russia?Answer: The International Date Line. Source: Wikipedia: Diomede Islands
Which peak on the Alaska and Yukon border is the second highest in both the United States and Canada?Answer: Mount Saint Elias. Source: Wikipedia: Mount Saint Elias
Light, ice and wildlife 12
About how many days does the polar night last at Utqiagvik?Answer: 66. Source: Wikipedia: Utqiagvik, Alaska
Around which year did the ice in Glacier Bay reach its greatest extent in the Little Ice Age?Answer: 1750. Source: National Park Service: Glacier Bay, Glaciers
At Brooks Falls, bears stand on the lip of the falls and wait for which fish to jump?Answer: Sockeye salmon. Source: National Park Service: Katmai, Brown Bear Frequently Asked Questions
Grizzly bears and Kodiak bears are both subspecies of which bear?Answer: The brown bear. Source: National Park Service: Katmai, Brown Bear Frequently Asked Questions
In fall, large male brown bears at Katmai can routinely weigh more than how much?Answer: 1,000 pounds. Source: National Park Service: Katmai, Brown Bear Frequently Asked Questions
What do rangers at Katmai call it when one bear steals a fish from another?Answer: Pirating. Source: National Park Service: Katmai, Brown Bear Frequently Asked Questions
What does the National Park Service call a glacier that flows all the way down to the sea?Answer: A tidewater glacier. Source: National Park Service: Glacier Bay, Glaciers
What does the National Park Service call a glacier that flows out of its valley and spreads over the lowlands?Answer: A piedmont glacier. Source: National Park Service: Glacier Bay, Glaciers
What is the popping and sizzling of a melting iceberg, as it lets out ancient air, called?Answer: Bergie seltzer. Source: National Park Service: Glacier Bay, Glaciers
What is the wool of the muskox called?Answer: Qiviut. Source: Wikipedia: Muskox
Why can the northern lights not be seen on Alaskan summer nights?Answer: The sky does not get dark. Source: National Park Service: Wrangell-St. Elias, Frequently Asked Questions
Why do white icebergs look white, according to the National Park Service?Answer: They hold many trapped air bubbles. Source: National Park Service: Glacier Bay, Glaciers
State symbols 12
What is the state bird of Alaska?Answer: The willow ptarmigan. Source: Wikipedia: List of Alaska state symbols
What is the state fish of Alaska?Answer: The king salmon. Source: Wikipedia: List of Alaska state symbols
What is the state flower of Alaska?Answer: The forget-me-not. Source: Wikipedia: List of Alaska state symbols
What is the state fossil of Alaska?Answer: The woolly mammoth. Source: Wikipedia: List of Alaska state symbols
What is the state gem of Alaska?Answer: Jade. Source: Wikipedia: List of Alaska state symbols
What is the state insect of Alaska?Answer: The four-spot skimmer dragonfly. Source: Wikipedia: List of Alaska state symbols
What is the state marine mammal of Alaska?Answer: The bowhead whale. Source: Wikipedia: List of Alaska state symbols
What is the state mineral of Alaska?Answer: Gold. Source: Wikipedia: List of Alaska state symbols
What is the state motto of Alaska?Answer: North to the Future. Source: Wikipedia: List of Alaska state symbols
What is the state tree of Alaska?Answer: The Sitka spruce. Source: Wikipedia: List of Alaska state symbols
Which star pattern appears on Alaska's flag beside the North Star?Answer: The Big Dipper. Source: Wikipedia: Flag of Alaska
Who designed Alaska's flag in a contest for schoolchildren?Answer: Benny Benson. Source: Wikipedia: Flag of Alaska
Work and travel 12
The Alaska Marine Highway is not a road. What is it?Answer: A ferry system. Source: Wikipedia: Alaska Marine Highway
The Alaska Railroad runs north from Seward to which city?Answer: Fairbanks. Source: Wikipedia: Alaska Railroad
At which Alaskan town does the Alaska Highway end?Answer: Delta Junction. Source: Wikipedia: Alaska Highway
At which ice-free port does the Trans-Alaska Pipeline end?Answer: Valdez. Source: Wikipedia: Trans-Alaska Pipeline System
By which short name is the Alaska Highway also known?Answer: The Alcan Highway. Source: Wikipedia: Alaska Highway
The Iditarod Trail was once named for its two ends: Nome and which port?Answer: Seward. Source: Wikipedia: Iditarod Trail
In 1925 dog teams relayed a medicine 674 miles to which town?Answer: Nome. Source: Wikipedia: 1925 serum run to Nome
In which year was the Prudhoe Bay oil field confirmed?Answer: 1968. Source: Wikipedia: Prudhoe Bay Oil Field
What does the Trans-Alaska Pipeline carry south from the North Slope?Answer: Crude oil. Source: Wikipedia: Trans-Alaska Pipeline System
Which sled dog ran on the final leg of the 1925 relay and has a statue in a New York park?Answer: Balto. Source: Wikipedia: Balto
Who built the Alaska Highway during the Second World War?Answer: The United States Army. Source: Wikipedia: Alaska Highway
Whose team ran the farthest in the 1925 relay, 261 miles?Answer: Togo's. Source: Wikipedia: 1925 serum run to Nome
How this list was compiled
Written for this site; nothing was copied from another list. Questions and wrong choices are our own. Each explanation restates, in our own sentences, facts from the page named and linked beside it. Each answer was checked on 2026-10-02 against that page, fetched that day: the U.S. National Archives page on the check for the purchase of Alaska (https://www.archives.gov) and four National Park Service pages (https://www.nps.gov: the name of Denali, the glaciers of Glacier Bay, the bears of Katmai and the questions page of Wrangell-St. Elias) for 19 of the 60 questions; the English Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org, text under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license) for the rest. The state symbols were read in the table of the article List of Alaska state symbols. The tallest peak is asked by its range and by the meaning of the name Denali, not by its official name, which has changed more than once. Left out on purpose: population figures and ranks, office-holders, teams and anything a census or a season changes; the customs of Alaska Native peoples, which are not ours to list; and facts other trivia sets on this site already ask (Juneau as capital, the state sport, the land border, the length of the pipeline). Levels are our estimate: easy is fair for any table, medium suits people who know the state, hard will stump most tables. Each round is stored easiest first, and each question carries the date its page was read. Licence: own work