Random Trivia Generator With Answers and Team Scores

One question per card with the answer hidden, a round timer, team scores and 537 checked questions sorted by topic and difficulty.

Question 1 · Food · Easy

Which vegetable is sauerkraut made from?

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Answer Cabbage The German name means sour cabbage.

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Random Trivia Generator With Answers and Team Scores: how it works

This random trivia generator deals one question at a time from a deck of 537, with the answer hidden until you tap Show answer. Pick one of 13 topics, from Space to Weird but true, choose a level and read the card aloud. It doubles as a trivia question generator for quiz writers: every answer was checked against an encyclopedia article, and the whole list is printed below.

Run a round from one phone

One player is the reader and keeps the screen out of sight. The first question is already showing, so tap a topic, or leave it on All, and pick Easy, Medium or Hard before you read. Read the card aloud, take the answers, then tap Show answer. Most answers carry an extra line worth reading out. Tap +1 beside the team that got it and press Next question. For a lightning round, press Start round: one team answers all it can in 60 seconds, and the page then says how many questions were played.

Quiz rules worth agreeing first

These are trivia questions for fun, so agree how strict to be before question one. The usual house rules: a team's first spoken answer is the one that counts, the answer on the card is final, and phones stay face down. Most tables accept a surname for a full name and forgive spelling, but not a near miss on a number. For a quieter game, teams write their answers down and the reader reveals all ten when the round ends. A missed question can go to the next team as a steal.

The printed list and what the phone remembers

All 537 questions are printed under the generator in their 13 groups, each with its answer, so scroll with care near players. Hosts who prefer paper can copy ten questions a round. If you want trivia questions for sports fans, Sports and games keeps to rules, scoring and equipment, and skips champions and records, which go out of date. With No repeats tonight ticked, a question stays out until the deck runs dry. Team names, scores and played questions are kept on this phone only, and Reset scores clears the board.

Tips

  • Open on Easy. Easy trivia questions for adults who rarely quiz are a kindness, and every team scores early.
  • Planning trivia questions for team building? Mix the departments, keep teams to four people and let each team choose one topic.
  • Save Weird but true for the final round. Its 39 weird trivia questions for adults and older kids start the loudest arguments.
  • Read every question twice, slowly, before you take an answer.
  • Hand the phone to a new reader each round. Reading suits a younger player who finds the questions hard.

Questions and answers

Have the answers been checked?

Yes. Every answer was checked on September 18, 2026 against the Wikipedia article on its subject, and an editor read the supporting sentence. We left out records, populations, prices and anything called current, because those go stale. Encyclopedias can be wrong too, so if your table has a better source, the host decides.

What makes good trivia questions for adults?

A good question is one that half the room almost knows. On this deck that is mostly Medium: which canal links the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, who painted Guernica, what a group of owls is called. The deck holds 123 easy, 322 medium and 92 hard questions, and the levels are our judgment.

Are these multiple choice trivia questions for adults?

No. Every card is open-answer: the reader asks, the teams answer, and the card shows one hidden answer. To make a card multiple choice, the reader taps Show answer in private, then offers the real answer beside two invented ones. That helps on Hard cards.

Are there trivia questions for girls, or for boys?

The deck is not split that way, because every topic is for everyone. For a sleepover, a scout troop or a class aged nine to twelve, set the level to Easy and try Animals, Food, and Film and TV. Every card can be read aloud in front of children.

How many trivia questions for a party?

Plan three rounds of ten questions, one topic a round, with a break between them. Allow about an hour once you add the answers, the scoring and the arguing. The scoreboard opens with two teams and Add a team makes room for four, so pair up smaller groups.

Where are the funny trivia questions for adults?

Tap Weird but true. Nothing in it is a joke, but the answers get a laugh: wombats leave cube-shaped droppings, a group of flamingos is a flamboyance, and the shortest war on record lasted under an hour. Animals on Hard has more in that spirit.

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All 537 trivia questions

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Geography 48

  • In which city is the Colosseum? Answer: Rome. Building began under the emperor Vespasian and was completed in AD 80 under Titus.
  • In which city is the Eiffel Tower? Answer: Paris. It was built as the centerpiece of the 1889 World's Fair.
  • In which city is the Golden Gate Bridge? Answer: San Francisco. The bridge links San Francisco to Marin County.
  • In which country are the pyramids of Giza? Answer: Egypt. The site holds the Great Pyramid, the pyramids of Khafre and Menkaure, and the Great Sphinx.
  • In which country is Machu Picchu? Answer: Peru. It was built by the Inca in the fifteenth century.
  • In which country is Mount Kilimanjaro? Answer: Tanzania. It is a dormant volcano and the highest mountain in Africa.
  • In which country is the temple complex of Angkor Wat? Answer: Cambodia. It was built as a Hindu temple to Vishnu and gradually became a Buddhist one.
  • In which Indian city is the Taj Mahal? Answer: Agra. Shah Jahan had it built to house the tomb of his wife, Mumtaz Mahal.
  • On which continent is the Sahara? Answer: Africa.
  • The prime meridian runs through which part of London? Answer: Greenwich. The Royal Observatory there gave its name to Greenwich Mean Time.
  • The Strait of Gibraltar joins the Atlantic Ocean to which sea? Answer: The Mediterranean Sea. The strait also separates Europe from Africa.
  • What is the capital of Argentina? Answer: Buenos Aires.
  • What is the capital of Australia? Answer: Canberra.
  • What is the capital of Brazil? Answer: Brasília. It sits in Brazil's Federal District, apart from the 26 states.
  • What is the capital of Canada? Answer: Ottawa.
  • What is the capital of Egypt? Answer: Cairo.
  • What is the capital of Japan? Answer: Tokyo.
  • What is the capital of Morocco? Answer: Rabat.
  • What is the capital of New Zealand? Answer: Wellington.
  • What is the capital of South Korea? Answer: Seoul.
  • What is the capital of Turkey? Answer: Ankara.
  • What is the capital of Vietnam? Answer: Hanoi.
  • Which African country was once widely known as Abyssinia? Answer: Ethiopia.
  • Which canal links the Atlantic and Pacific oceans across Central America? Answer: The Panama Canal. Locks at both ends raise ships to Gatun Lake, then lower them again.
  • Which canal links the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea? Answer: The Suez Canal. It runs through Egypt and divides Africa from Asia.
  • Which country has three capital cities: Pretoria, Cape Town and Bloemfontein? Answer: South Africa.
  • Which European country is shaped like a boot? Answer: Italy. The peninsula is nicknamed lo Stivale, the Boot.
  • Which imaginary line divides Earth into northern and southern halves? Answer: The equator. It sits at 0 degrees latitude.
  • Which is the deepest lake in the world? Answer: Lake Baikal. It lies in Siberia, in Russia.
  • Which is the largest country in the world by area? Answer: Russia.
  • Which is the largest hot desert in the world? Answer: The Sahara. Only the deserts of Antarctica and the Arctic are larger.
  • Which is the largest island in the world? Answer: Greenland.
  • Which is the largest ocean on Earth? Answer: The Pacific Ocean. It is also the deepest of Earth's five oceans.
  • Which is the largest US state by area? Answer: Alaska.
  • Which is the longest mountain range on land? Answer: The Andes. The range runs through seven South American countries.
  • Which is the longest river in Europe? Answer: The Volga. It flows through Russia into the Caspian Sea.
  • Which is the only country that shares a land border with Portugal? Answer: Spain.
  • Which is the smallest country in the world by area? Answer: Vatican City. It is an enclave inside the city of Rome.
  • Which is the smallest US state by area? Answer: Rhode Island.
  • Which is the tallest uninterrupted waterfall in the world? Answer: Angel Falls. It is in Venezuela.
  • Which mountain is the highest above sea level? Answer: Mount Everest. Its summit marks part of the border between China and Nepal.
  • Which mountain range is the traditional boundary between Europe and Asia? Answer: The Ural Mountains.
  • Which river flows through London? Answer: The Thames. It is the longest river entirely in England.
  • Which river flows through Paris? Answer: The Seine. It reaches the English Channel at Le Havre.
  • Which sea has no coastline at all? Answer: The Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by four ocean currents, not by land.
  • Which South American desert is the driest non-polar desert on Earth? Answer: The Atacama Desert. It lies in northern Chile, west of the Andes.
  • Which US state is a chain of islands in the Pacific Ocean? Answer: Hawaii.
  • Which very salty lake lies between Jordan and Israel? Answer: The Dead Sea. Its main tributary is the Jordan River.

Space 34

  • During a solar eclipse, what passes between Earth and the Sun? Answer: The Moon. It can only happen at new moon.
  • The Great Red Spot is a giant storm on which planet? Answer: Jupiter. It is the largest anticyclonic storm in the Solar System.
  • How many planets are there in the Solar System? Answer: Eight.
  • In which year did people first land on the Moon? Answer: 1969. Apollo 11 carried Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin.
  • In which year was Pluto reclassified as a dwarf planet? Answer: 2006. Pluto lies in the Kuiper belt, beyond the orbit of Neptune.
  • On which planet does one full spin take longer than one trip around the Sun? Answer: Venus. It is the second planet from the Sun and close to Earth in size and mass.
  • On which planet is Olympus Mons, the tallest volcano in the Solar System? Answer: Mars. It stands about 2.5 times as high as Mount Everest does above sea level.
  • What do we call a rock from outer space that has fallen to a planet's surface? Answer: A meteorite. On the way down through the atmosphere it is a meteor, also known as a shooting star.
  • What is the boundary around a black hole called, beyond which nothing can escape? Answer: The event horizon. General relativity predicts that any sufficiently compact mass forms a black hole.
  • What is the brightest star in the night sky? Answer: Sirius. It sits in the constellation Canis Major.
  • What is the largest moon of Saturn? Answer: Titan. It is the only moon known to have a dense atmosphere.
  • What is the name for the path one object in space takes around another? Answer: An orbit.
  • What is the name of the galaxy we live in? Answer: The Milky Way. It is a barred spiral galaxy.
  • What was the first artificial satellite? Answer: Sputnik 1. The Soviet Union launched it in October 1957.
  • Which famous comet returns to the inner Solar System about every 76 years? Answer: Halley's Comet. It last appeared in 1986 and is due back in mid-2061.
  • Which is the hottest planet in the Solar System? Answer: Venus. Its surface reaches about 464 degrees Celsius under an atmosphere of mostly carbon dioxide.
  • Which is the largest moon in the Solar System? Answer: Ganymede. It orbits Jupiter.
  • Which is the largest planet in the Solar System? Answer: Jupiter. Its mass is nearly 2.5 times that of all the other planets combined.
  • Which is the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way? Answer: The Andromeda Galaxy. It is about 2.5 million light-years from Earth.
  • Which planet did William Herschel discover in 1781? Answer: Uranus.
  • Which planet has a bright and extensive system of rings made mostly of ice? Answer: Saturn. It is the second largest planet, after Jupiter.
  • Which planet has an axial tilt of about 82 degrees, so that it spins almost on its side? Answer: Uranus. It is the seventh planet from the Sun.
  • Which planet has two small moons called Phobos and Deimos? Answer: Mars. Asaph Hall discovered both moons in August 1877.
  • Which planet is closest to the Sun? Answer: Mercury. It is also the smallest planet in the Solar System.
  • Which planet is known as the Red Planet? Answer: Mars. It is the fourth planet from the Sun.
  • Which planet is the densest in the Solar System and the only one known to have life? Answer: Earth. Ocean covers about 70.8 percent of its crust.
  • Which planet was found in 1846 after its position was predicted by mathematics? Answer: Neptune. It is the eighth and farthest known planet from the Sun.
  • Which space telescope was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990? Answer: The Hubble Space Telescope. It is named after the astronomer Edwin Hubble.
  • Which spacecraft, launched in 1977, is the most distant human-made object? Answer: Voyager 1. It launched 16 days after its twin, Voyager 2.
  • Which star is closest to the Sun? Answer: Proxima Centauri. It lies about 4.25 light-years away in the constellation Centaurus.
  • Which star is known as the North Star? Answer: Polaris. It is the brightest star in the constellation Ursa Minor.
  • Who was the first human in space? Answer: Yuri Gagarin. He orbited Earth once, in April 1961.
  • Who was the first person to walk on the Moon? Answer: Neil Armstrong. He commanded the Apollo 11 mission in 1969.
  • Who was the first woman in space? Answer: Valentina Tereshkova. She flew on Vostok 6 in 1963.

Animals 40

  • A tadpole is the young form of which kind of animal? Answer: An amphibian, such as a frog or a toad. Tadpoles have gills and swimming tails.
  • An axolotl is what kind of animal? Answer: A salamander. It keeps its feathery gills for life and is native to Mexico.
  • Do wild penguins live mostly in the Northern or the Southern Hemisphere? Answer: The Southern Hemisphere. Only the Galapagos penguin lives at, and slightly north of, the equator.
  • How many hearts does an octopus have? Answer: Three.
  • How many humps does a Bactrian camel have? Answer: Two. The dromedary has a single hump.
  • How many legs does a spider have? Answer: Eight. Spiders live on every continent except Antarctica.
  • How many legs does an insect have? Answer: Six. An insect's body has three parts: head, thorax and abdomen.
  • Koalas eat the leaves of which kind of tree? Answer: Eucalyptus. The koala's closest living relatives are the wombats.
  • What color is a polar bear's skin under its fur? Answer: Black. It is the largest living species of bear.
  • What is a baby goat called? Answer: A kid. Goats were among the first animals to be domesticated.
  • What is a baby kangaroo called? Answer: A joey.
  • What is a baby swan called? Answer: A cygnet. The swans' closest relatives include geese and ducks.
  • What is a female fox called? Answer: A vixen.
  • What is a group of lions called? Answer: A pride.
  • What is a group of wolves called? Answer: A pack. The wolf is the largest wild living member of the dog family, Canidae.
  • What is the breathing hole on top of a dolphin's head called? Answer: A blowhole.
  • What is the hard case called in which a caterpillar turns into a butterfly? Answer: A chrysalis.
  • What is the largest animal ever known to have lived? Answer: The blue whale. The longest confirmed blue whales measured about 30 meters, or around 100 feet.
  • What is the name for an animal that eats both plants and animals? Answer: An omnivore.
  • What is the only continent with no native ants? Answer: Antarctica.
  • What plant makes up almost all of a giant panda's diet? Answer: Bamboo. The giant panda is a bear found only in China.
  • What word describes animals that are active at night? Answer: Nocturnal. The opposite, active by day, is diurnal.
  • Which are the largest living primates? Answer: Gorillas. They eat mostly plants and live in the tropical forests of equatorial Africa.
  • Which are the only mammals that can truly fly? Answer: Bats. The smallest, Kitti's hog-nosed bat, weighs about 2 grams.
  • Which bird is the fastest animal on Earth when it dives? Answer: The peregrine falcon.
  • Which black and white mammal is known for spraying a foul-smelling liquid? Answer: The skunk. Every skunk species wears warning colors.
  • Which insect makes honey? Answer: The honey bee. Honey bees build nests of six-sided wax cells.
  • Which is the fastest land animal? Answer: The cheetah. It can run at 93 to 104 km/h (58 to 65 mph).
  • Which is the largest fish in the sea? Answer: The whale shark. It is a slow-moving filter feeder.
  • Which is the largest living bird? Answer: The ostrich. It cannot fly, and it is native to Africa.
  • Which is the largest living land animal? Answer: The African bush elephant.
  • Which is the largest living lizard? Answer: The Komodo dragon. It lives only on a few Indonesian islands, including Komodo, Rinca and Flores.
  • Which is the largest living reptile? Answer: The saltwater crocodile.
  • Which is the smallest bird in the world? Answer: The bee hummingbird. It lives in Cuba.
  • Which is the tallest and heaviest penguin? Answer: The emperor penguin. It lives only in Antarctica.
  • Which is the tallest living land animal? Answer: The giraffe. Its closest living relative is the okapi.
  • Which seabird flies from the Arctic to the Antarctic and back each year? Answer: The Arctic tern. Its migrations are by far the longest known in the animal kingdom.
  • Which tiny birds are named for the sound of their fast-beating wings? Answer: Hummingbirds. They are native to the Americas.
  • Which two apes are the closest living relatives of humans? Answer: Chimpanzees and bonobos. The chimpanzee and the bonobo share the genus Pan.
  • Which two kinds of mammal lay eggs? Answer: The platypus and the echidnas. Egg-laying mammals are called monotremes, from the order Monotremata.

Science 51

  • How many colors did Isaac Newton count in the rainbow? Answer: Seven. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.
  • In which layer of the atmosphere is most of the ozone layer found? Answer: The stratosphere. The ozone layer absorbs most of the Sun's ultraviolet radiation.
  • On the Fahrenheit scale, at what temperature does water freeze? Answer: 32 degrees. The physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit proposed the scale in 1724.
  • Roughly how fast does light travel in a vacuum, in kilometers per second? Answer: About 300,000 kilometers per second (299,792,458 meters).
  • What are the huge moving slabs of Earth's outer shell called? Answer: Tectonic plates.
  • What do the letters DNA stand for? Answer: Deoxyribonucleic acid. Its two chains coil around each other to form a double helix.
  • What do we call a substance that speeds up a reaction without being used up? Answer: A catalyst.
  • What does a Geiger counter detect? Answer: Ionizing radiation.
  • What is dry ice made of? Answer: Solid carbon dioxide. At normal pressure it turns straight from a solid into a gas, with no liquid stage.
  • What is it called when a liquid turns into a gas at its surface? Answer: Evaporation.
  • What is molten rock called once it has erupted onto the surface? Answer: Lava. It usually erupts at 800 to 1,200 degrees Celsius.
  • What is the bending of light as it passes from air into water called? Answer: Refraction.
  • What is the chemical formula for water? Answer: H2O.
  • What is the chemical name for ordinary table salt? Answer: Sodium chloride. As a mineral it is called halite.
  • What is the chemical symbol for gold? Answer: Au. The symbol comes from aurum, the Latin word for gold.
  • What is the chemical symbol for iron? Answer: Fe. The symbol comes from the Latin word ferrum.
  • What is the chemical symbol for lead? Answer: Pb. The symbol comes from the Latin word plumbum.
  • What is the chemical symbol for potassium? Answer: K. The name comes from potash, the ashes of plants, from which it was first isolated.
  • What is the chemical symbol for silver? Answer: Ag. The symbol comes from the Latin word argentum.
  • What is the chemical symbol for sodium? Answer: Na. The symbol comes from natrium, the element's Latin name.
  • What is the chemical symbol for tungsten? Answer: W. The W stands for Wolfram, the element's German name.
  • What is the name for animals that have a backbone? Answer: Vertebrates. The backbone surrounds and protects the spinal cord.
  • What is the pH of pure water at 25 degrees Celsius? Answer: 7, which is neutral.
  • What is the scientific study of earthquakes called? Answer: Seismology.
  • What is the small, dense center of an atom called? Answer: The nucleus. Ernest Rutherford discovered it in 1911.
  • What is the unit of electrical resistance? Answer: The ohm. It is named after the German physicist Georg Ohm.
  • What is the unit of frequency, equal to one cycle per second? Answer: The hertz.
  • What kind of energy does an object have because it is moving? Answer: Kinetic energy.
  • What kind of rock forms when magma or lava cools and hardens? Answer: Igneous rock. The other two main rock types are sedimentary and metamorphic.
  • What name is given to the coldest temperature that is theoretically possible? Answer: Absolute zero. It is 0 kelvin, or minus 273.15 degrees Celsius.
  • What was the supercontinent that held almost all of Earth's land together? Answer: Pangaea. It began to break apart about 175 million years ago.
  • Which color of visible light has the longest wavelength? Answer: Red. Red light has a wavelength of roughly 625 to 750 nanometers.
  • Which element has the chemical symbol He? Answer: Helium. The name comes from helios, the Greek word for the sun.
  • Which gas do plants take in from the air to make their food? Answer: Carbon dioxide. The process releases oxygen as a byproduct.
  • Which gas makes up about 78 percent of Earth's atmosphere? Answer: Nitrogen.
  • Which gas puts the fizz in carbonated drinks? Answer: Carbon dioxide.
  • Which gemstone is the hardest natural material? Answer: Diamond. Diamond is a form of carbon, and so is graphite.
  • Which instrument measures air pressure? Answer: A barometer.
  • Which is the closest star to Earth? Answer: The Sun.
  • Which is the lightest chemical element? Answer: Hydrogen. It has atomic number 1.
  • Which is the most abundant chemical element in the universe? Answer: Hydrogen. It makes up about 75 percent of all normal matter.
  • Which is the most abundant element in Earth's crust? Answer: Oxygen. It makes up almost half of the crust.
  • Which is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature and pressure? Answer: Mercury. It is commonly known as quicksilver.
  • Which metal conducts electricity better than any other? Answer: Silver. It also conducts heat and reflects light better than any other metal.
  • Which particle in an atom carries a negative electric charge? Answer: The electron. Electrons have almost 2,000 times less mass than protons or neutrons.
  • Which Russian chemist published a periodic table of the elements in 1869? Answer: Dmitri Mendeleev.
  • Which scientist is best known for developing the theory of relativity? Answer: Albert Einstein. He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics.
  • Which unit of force is named after an English scientist? Answer: The newton. One newton accelerates a mass of one kilogram at one meter per second squared.
  • Who is the only person to win Nobel Prizes in two different sciences? Answer: Marie Curie. Physics in 1903 and chemistry in 1911.
  • Who set out the three laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation? Answer: Isaac Newton.
  • Who wrote On the Origin of Species, published in 1859? Answer: Charles Darwin. It was published on 24 November 1859.

Human body 39

  • The "funny bone" is not a bone. Which nerve is it? Answer: The ulnar nerve. It is the largest nerve in the body that is unprotected by muscle or bone.
  • A lack of which vitamin causes scurvy? Answer: Vitamin C. Vitamin C is also called ascorbic acid.
  • How many baby teeth does a child have? Answer: 20. Baby teeth are also called deciduous, primary or milk teeth.
  • How many bones does an adult human normally have? Answer: 206. A newborn has around 270 bones, and some fuse together as the child grows.
  • How many chambers does the human heart have? Answer: Four. A human heart is roughly the size of a closed fist.
  • How many chromosomes are in a normal human body cell? Answer: 46.
  • How many pairs of ribs do most people have? Answer: 12.
  • How many teeth are in a full adult set, wisdom teeth included? Answer: 32. The four types are incisors, canines, premolars and molars.
  • How many tiny bones are in each middle ear? Answer: Three: the malleus, incus and stapes. In English the three are the hammer, the anvil and the stirrup.
  • What are the two large lower chambers of the heart called? Answer: The ventricles. Each is fed by an atrium, a smaller chamber in the upper heart.
  • What is the colored part of the eye called? Answer: The iris. It controls the size of the pupil.
  • What is the hardest substance in the human body? Answer: Tooth enamel. The other tissues of a tooth are dentin, cementum and dental pulp.
  • What is the largest artery in the human body? Answer: The aorta. It starts at the left ventricle of the heart.
  • What is the light-sensitive layer at the back of the eye called? Answer: The retina. The name comes from rete, the Latin word for net.
  • What is the medical name for the breastbone? Answer: The sternum. It is shaped roughly like a necktie.
  • What is the medical name for the collarbone? Answer: The clavicle. It is the only long bone in the body that lies horizontally.
  • What is the medical name for the kneecap? Answer: The patella. Whales and most reptiles have no kneecap.
  • What is the medical name for the lower jawbone? Answer: The mandible. It is the only movable bone of the skull.
  • What is the medical name for the shoulder blade? Answer: The scapula. It connects the upper arm bone to the collarbone.
  • What is the medical name for the windpipe? Answer: The trachea. It connects the larynx to the bronchi of the lungs.
  • Which blood cells carry oxygen around the body? Answer: Red blood cells. They are the most common type of blood cell.
  • Which blood cells defend the body against infection? Answer: White blood cells. Their scientific name is leukocytes.
  • Which blood type is often called the universal donor for red blood cells? Answer: O negative.
  • Which dome-shaped muscle under the lungs does most of the work of breathing? Answer: The diaphragm.
  • Which figure in degrees Celsius is widely cited as normal body temperature? Answer: 37 degrees. That is 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Newer studies put the average a little lower.
  • Which iron-rich protein in red blood cells carries oxygen? Answer: Hemoglobin.
  • Which is the largest muscle in the human body? Answer: The gluteus maximus. It is the main muscle that extends the hip.
  • Which is the largest organ of the human body? Answer: The skin.
  • Which is the largest part of the human brain? Answer: The cerebrum.
  • Which is the longest bone in the human body? Answer: The femur, or thigh bone. It is the only bone in the thigh.
  • Which is the smallest bone in the human body? Answer: The stapes, in the middle ear. It is also called the stirrup.
  • Which organ makes bile? Answer: The liver.
  • Which organ makes insulin? Answer: The pancreas. It sits in the abdomen behind the stomach.
  • Which pair of bean-shaped organs filters the blood? Answer: The kidneys. An adult kidney is about 12 centimeters long.
  • Which pigment gives human skin, hair and eyes their color? Answer: Melanin. It is made in cells called melanocytes.
  • Which protein are hair and fingernails made of? Answer: Keratin. It also makes feathers, horns, claws and hooves.
  • Which sense does the olfactory nerve serve? Answer: Smell. It is also known as the first cranial nerve.
  • Which tube carries food from the throat to the stomach? Answer: The esophagus. It is about 25 cm (10 inches) long in an adult.
  • Which vitamin does the skin make when sunlight falls on it? Answer: Vitamin D.

History 44

  • The Hundred Years' War was fought between which two kingdoms? Answer: England and France. It ran from 1337 to 1453, longer than its name says.
  • In which city was Archduke Franz Ferdinand assassinated in 1914? Answer: Sarajevo.
  • In which country did the Industrial Revolution begin? Answer: Great Britain. It began around 1760.
  • In which year did Christopher Columbus first cross the Atlantic to the Americas? Answer: 1492. He made four Atlantic voyages for the Spanish crown.
  • In which year did the Berlin Wall come down? Answer: 1989. Construction had begun on 13 August 1961.
  • In which year did the First World War begin? Answer: 1914. At the time it was known as the Great War.
  • In which year did the French Revolution begin? Answer: 1789. It ended with the Coup of 18 Brumaire in November 1799.
  • In which year did the Great Fire of London break out? Answer: 1666. It started in a bakery in Pudding Lane.
  • In which year did the Second World War end? Answer: 1945. The war ran from 1 September 1939 to 2 September 1945.
  • In which year was Julius Caesar assassinated? Answer: 44 BC. He died on 15 March of that year.
  • In which year was the United States Declaration of Independence adopted? Answer: 1776. The Second Continental Congress adopted it on July 4.
  • On which ship did the Pilgrims sail from England to North America in 1620? Answer: The Mayflower. The crossing took 10 weeks.
  • What is the picture writing of ancient Egypt called? Answer: Hieroglyphs. The system had more than 1,000 distinct characters.
  • What name is given to the plague pandemic that swept Europe from 1346 to 1353? Answer: The Black Death.
  • What was the capital of the Aztec Empire, whose ruins lie under Mexico City? Answer: Tenochtitlan. The city was built on an island in Lake Texcoco.
  • What was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas, founded in 1607? Answer: Jamestown, Virginia. The Virginia Company of London set it up as James Fort.
  • What was the name of the trade routes that linked China with the Mediterranean? Answer: The Silk Road. The name was only coined in the late nineteenth century.
  • Which ancient people built the Parthenon? Answer: The ancient Greeks (Athenians). The temple was dedicated to the goddess Athena.
  • Which British queen reigned from 1837 to 1901? Answer: Queen Victoria. Her reign lasted 63 years and 216 days.
  • Which carved stone gave scholars the key to reading Egyptian hieroglyphs? Answer: The Rosetta Stone. It carries one decree in hieroglyphs, in Demotic script and in Ancient Greek.
  • Which charter did King John of England agree to in 1215? Answer: Magna Carta. The name is Latin for Great Charter, and it was sealed at Runnymede, near Windsor.
  • Which city did the Byzantine Empire have as its capital? Answer: Constantinople. The city fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453.
  • Which city was the capital of the Inca Empire? Answer: Cusco. The Inca called their empire the Realm of the Four Parts.
  • Which empire built Hadrian's Wall across northern Britain? Answer: The Roman Empire. Building began in AD 122, in the reign of the emperor Hadrian.
  • Which French heroine is known as the Maid of Orléans? Answer: Joan of Arc. She is a patron saint of France.
  • Which Greek philosopher was the tutor of Alexander the Great? Answer: Aristotle.
  • Which is the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still standing? Answer: The Great Pyramid of Giza. It was the tomb of the pharaoh Khufu.
  • Which Norse explorer is thought to have reached America centuries before Columbus? Answer: Leif Erikson. The sagas say he set up a Norse settlement at Vinland.
  • Which ocean liner sank on its maiden voyage in April 1912? Answer: The Titanic. She struck an iceberg on the way from Southampton to New York City.
  • Which of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World stood in the harbor of Alexandria? Answer: The Lighthouse (the Pharos). It is estimated to have stood at least 100 meters (330 feet) tall.
  • Which Portuguese explorer led the expedition that first sailed around the world? Answer: Ferdinand Magellan. The Spanish expedition ran from 1519 to 1522. Magellan died in 1521, before it ended.
  • Which queen of Egypt, who died in 30 BC, was its last active pharaoh? Answer: Cleopatra. She ruled the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC.
  • Which two climbers were the first confirmed to reach the top of Mount Everest, in 1953? Answer: Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. They reached the summit on 29 May 1953 with a British expedition led by John Hunt.
  • Which US president issued the Emancipation Proclamation? Answer: Abraham Lincoln. He issued it on January 1, 1863.
  • Which Venetian merchant traveled the Silk Road to the court of Kublai Khan? Answer: Marco Polo. He travelled through Asia between 1271 and 1295.
  • Which volcano buried the Roman city of Pompeii in AD 79? Answer: Mount Vesuvius. The city lay under 4 to 6 meters (13 to 20 feet) of ash and pumice.
  • Which war was fought between the Union and the Confederacy from 1861 to 1865? Answer: The American Civil War.
  • Who founded the Mongol Empire? Answer: Genghis Khan. He was born Temüjin.
  • Who led the party that was first to reach the South Pole, in December 1911? Answer: Roald Amundsen. Amundsen was a Norwegian polar explorer.
  • Who was the British prime minister from 1940 to 1945? Answer: Winston Churchill. He served again from 1951 to 1955.
  • Who was the first president of the United States? Answer: George Washington. He served from 1789 to 1797.
  • Who was the first Roman emperor? Answer: Augustus. He was born Gaius Octavius and is also known as Octavian.
  • Who was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean? Answer: Amelia Earhart. She made the flight in 1932.
  • Whose tomb did Howard Carter open in Egypt in 1922? Answer: Tutankhamun. He died at about the age of 18.

Food 42

  • Chocolate is made from the seeds of which tree? Answer: The cacao tree. The seeds, called cocoa beans, are fermented, dried, cleaned and roasted.
  • The croissant was inspired by the shape of the kipferl, a pastry from which country? Answer: Austria. The name comes from its crescent shape.
  • Dim sum is a range of small dishes from which country's cooking? Answer: China. Most modern dim sum is associated with Cantonese cooking.
  • Falafel is made from which ground pulses? Answer: Fava beans, chickpeas or both. It is a deep-fried fritter of Egyptian origin.
  • Maple syrup is made from the sap of which tree? Answer: The maple. The sap is heated to evaporate much of the water.
  • Miso paste is made by fermenting which bean? Answer: Soybeans. The soybeans are fermented with salt and koji, a fungus.
  • Mozzarella di bufala is made with the milk of which animal? Answer: The Italian buffalo. Made with cow's milk, it is called fior di latte.
  • Neapolitan pizza comes from which Italian city? Answer: Naples. The dough is soft and thin, with a high edge.
  • Paella is one of the best-known dishes of which country? Answer: Spain. It began in the Valencia region.
  • The sweet orange is a cross between the mandarin and which larger citrus fruit? Answer: The pomelo. It is called the sweet orange to tell it from the bitter orange.
  • Vanilla comes from the pods of which family of flowering plants? Answer: Orchids. Most of it comes from the seed pods of a Mexican and Central American species.
  • What are the two main ingredients of meringue? Answer: Egg whites and sugar. Sometimes an acid such as lemon, vinegar or cream of tartar goes in too.
  • What is ghee? Answer: Clarified butter. It originated in the Indian subcontinent.
  • What is hummus mainly made from? Answer: Chickpeas. The chickpeas are blended with tahini, lemon juice and garlic.
  • What is the Japanese name for a boxed single-portion meal? Answer: Bento.
  • What is the main ingredient of guacamole? Answer: Avocado. It was first developed in Mexico.
  • What is tofu made from? Answer: Soy milk, from soybeans. It originated in China and has been eaten for over 2,000 years.
  • Which cheese goes on a classic Greek salad? Answer: Feta. The rest is tomatoes, cucumbers, onion and olives.
  • Which cold Spanish soup is made from raw blended vegetables? Answer: Gazpacho. It comes from the south of the Iberian Peninsula.
  • Which country does sushi come from? Answer: Japan. Sushi is built on vinegared rice.
  • Which country does the noodle soup pho come from? Answer: Vietnam. The broth is served with rice noodles, herbs and meat, usually beef.
  • Which food is named after an eighteenth-century English earl, John Montagu? Answer: The sandwich.
  • Which fruit is dried to make a prune? Answer: A plum. Most prunes come from the European plum.
  • Which fruit is dried to make a raisin? Answer: A grape. A sultana is a golden dried grape, and a currant is a dried small Black Corinth grape.
  • Which grain is risotto made from? Answer: Rice. The name comes from riso, the Italian word for rice.
  • Which herb gives classic pesto its green color? Answer: Basil. Pesto comes from the city of Genoa.
  • Which Korean side dish is made of salted and fermented vegetables? Answer: Kimchi. Napa cabbage and Korean radish are the most common vegetables.
  • Which leavened flatbread can be oven-baked, fried on a tawa or baked in a tandoor? Answer: Naan.
  • Which Mexican dish is a small folded tortilla with a filling? Answer: A taco.
  • Which nut is ground to make marzipan? Answer: Almonds. The other main ingredient is sugar.
  • Which part of the plant is a potato? Answer: A tuber. The potato plant belongs to the nightshade family.
  • Which pasta has a name that means butterflies in Italian? Answer: Farfalle. In Emilia-Romagna the same shape is named after bow ties.
  • Which pulse is the base of Indian dal? Answer: Lentils, peas or beans (split pulses).
  • Which rice is most often used for Italian risotto: basmati, arborio or jasmine? Answer: Arborio. It is named after the town of Arborio in the Po Valley.
  • Which scale measures the spiciness of chili peppers? Answer: The Scoville scale. It is named after the American pharmacist Wilbur Scoville, who devised his test in 1912.
  • Which seeds are ground to make tahini? Answer: Sesame seeds.
  • Which sharp green paste is served with sushi? Answer: Wasabi. It is also called Japanese horseradish.
  • Which single-celled fungus makes bread dough rise? Answer: Yeast. Yeast turns sugars in the dough into carbon dioxide.
  • Which soft Italian cheese is used in tiramisu? Answer: Mascarpone. The base is ladyfingers soaked in coffee.
  • Which spice comes from the threads of a crocus flower? Answer: Saffron. The flower is Crocus sativus, the saffron crocus.
  • Which spice is the dried inner bark of a tree? Answer: Cinnamon. The trees belong to the genus Cinnamomum.
  • Which vegetable is sauerkraut made from? Answer: Cabbage. The German name means sour cabbage.

Words and language 35

  • A traditional Japanese haiku has 17 sound units in three phrases. In what pattern? Answer: 5, 7, 5. A traditional haiku also holds a cutting word and a seasonal reference.
  • From which language does the word tsunami come? Answer: Japanese. It means harbor wave.
  • How many letters are in the modern English alphabet? Answer: 26. The word alphabet joins alpha and beta, the first two Greek letters.
  • In Chinese-speaking regions, which three letters name a karaoke box? Answer: KTV.
  • In the NATO spelling alphabet, which word stands for the letter Z? Answer: Zulu. The alphabet was defined in 1955 and 1956 by the International Civil Aviation Organization.
  • On an invitation, which French phrase do the letters RSVP stand for? Answer: Répondez s'il vous plaît (please reply). Word for word, the phrase means respond if it pleases you.
  • What do we call a phrase that repeats the same starting sound, as in wild and windy? Answer: Alliteration. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers is a common example.
  • What do we call a word made by rearranging the letters of another word? Answer: An anagram. Every letter of the original is used exactly once.
  • What do we call a word made from the first letters of other words, such as NASA? Answer: An acronym.
  • What do we call a word that blends two others, such as brunch or smog? Answer: A portmanteau (a blend). Smog blends smoke and fog, and motel blends motor and hotel.
  • What do we call a word that means the same, or nearly the same, as another? Answer: A synonym. Begin, start, commence and initiate are synonyms.
  • What do we call a word that reads the same backwards as forwards? Answer: A palindrome. Madam and racecar are two examples.
  • What do we call words that sound the same but differ in meaning, such as knight and night? Answer: Homophones. Rain, reign and rein are another set.
  • What is a sentence that uses every letter of the alphabet at least once called? Answer: A pangram. Pangrams are used to show off typefaces and to practice typing.
  • What is the fear of confined spaces called? Answer: Claustrophobia.
  • What is the fear of heights called? Answer: Acrophobia. It is also known as hypsophobia.
  • What is the fear of spiders called? Answer: Arachnophobia. The word comes from the Greek arachne and phobia.
  • What is the first letter of the Greek alphabet? Answer: Alpha. It comes from the Phoenician letter aleph, named after a word for an ox.
  • What is the last letter of the Greek alphabet? Answer: Omega. The name means big o, to tell it apart from omicron, small o.
  • What is the name for a word that means the opposite of another? Answer: An antonym.
  • What is the name of the & symbol? Answer: The ampersand. It began as a joined-up form of et, the Latin word for and.
  • What is the official language of Brazil? Answer: Portuguese.
  • What is the small dot over a lower-case i or j called? Answer: A tittle.
  • What is the term for a word that imitates a sound, such as buzz or sizzle? Answer: Onomatopoeia. Oink, meow, beep and hiccup all count.
  • Which classical language was first spoken in Latium, the area around Rome? Answer: Latin. Latium is now known as Lazio.
  • Which constructed language did L. L. Zamenhof publish in 1887? Answer: Esperanto. Zamenhof presented it as the International Language.
  • Which figure of speech directly compares two unrelated things, often with the word like? Answer: A simile.
  • Which Hawaiian word can be used both to welcome someone and to say farewell? Answer: Aloha. It is the Hawaiian word for love, affection, peace, compassion and mercy.
  • Which letter is used most often in English? Answer: E. E is the fifth letter and the second vowel of the alphabet.
  • Which punctuation mark shows possession, as in the dog's bowl? Answer: The apostrophe. Its other main job in English is to mark missing letters, as in don't.
  • Which script became the third official script of the European Union in 2007? Answer: Cyrillic. It joined the Latin and Greek alphabets when Bulgaria became a member.
  • Which system of raised dots lets people read by touch? Answer: Braille.
  • Which three-letter Morse code signal is the international call for help? Answer: SOS. In Morse code it is three dots, three dashes and three dots, sent without a gap.
  • Which word with Japanese roots names the art of folding paper? Answer: Origami.
  • The word kindergarten was coined by Friedrich Fröbel, a teacher from which country? Answer: Germany.

Art, books and music 50

  • At which London address does Sherlock Holmes live? Answer: 221B Baker Street.
  • Claude Monet was a founder of which art movement? Answer: Impressionism.
  • How many keys does a standard modern piano have? Answer: 88. Pressing a key makes a hammer strike the strings.
  • How many lines does a sonnet have? Answer: 14. The name comes from the Italian sonetto, little song.
  • How many strings does a cello have? Answer: Four. The strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths.
  • How many strings does a violin have? Answer: Four. It is the smallest and highest-pitched instrument in the violin family.
  • In which country is Shakespeare's Hamlet set? Answer: Denmark. It is Shakespeare's longest play.
  • In which Italian city is the Uffizi Gallery? Answer: Florence. It stands beside the Piazza della Signoria.
  • In which Paris museum does the Mona Lisa hang? Answer: The Louvre.
  • Which ancient Greek poet is credited with the Odyssey? Answer: Homer. Like the Iliad, it is divided into 24 books.
  • Which ballet features the Sugar Plum Fairy? Answer: The Nutcracker. Tchaikovsky's two-act ballet dates from 1892 and is set on Christmas Eve.
  • Which English city did the Beatles come from? Answer: Liverpool. The band formed in 1960: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
  • Which is the highest of the classical female singing voices? Answer: Soprano.
  • Which is the lowest of the classical male singing voices? Answer: Bass.
  • Which Scottish author created Peter Pan, the boy who would not grow up? Answer: J. M. Barrie. He leads the Lost Boys on the island of Neverland.
  • Who composed the ballet Swan Lake? Answer: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. He composed it in 1875 and 1876.
  • Who composed The Four Seasons? Answer: Antonio Vivaldi. It is a group of four violin concertos, published in 1725.
  • Who composed the Moonlight Sonata? Answer: Ludwig van Beethoven. Beethoven did not give it that name. It is his Piano Sonata No. 14, completed in 1801.
  • Who composed the opera The Magic Flute? Answer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It premiered in Vienna on 30 September 1791.
  • Who created the detective Sherlock Holmes? Answer: Arthur Conan Doyle. Holmes calls himself a consulting detective.
  • Who painted Girl with a Pearl Earring? Answer: Johannes Vermeer. It entered the collection of the Mauritshuis in The Hague in 1902.
  • Who painted Guernica in 1937? Answer: Pablo Picasso. The canvas is 3.49 meters tall and 7.76 meters across, all in grey, black and white.
  • Who painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel? Answer: Michelangelo. He painted it in fresco between 1508 and 1512.
  • Who painted the melting clocks of The Persistence of Memory? Answer: Salvador Dalí. He painted it in 1931.
  • Who painted the Mona Lisa? Answer: Leonardo da Vinci. It is a half-length portrait from the Italian Renaissance.
  • Who painted The Scream? Answer: Edvard Munch. Munch made it in 1893, and its Norwegian name is Skrik.
  • Who painted The Starry Night? Answer: Vincent van Gogh. He painted it in June 1889.
  • Who sculpted The Thinker? Answer: Auguste Rodin. It is a bronze, and its French name is Le Penseur.
  • Who wrote Alice's Adventures in Wonderland? Answer: Lewis Carroll. John Tenniel made 42 wood engravings to illustrate it.
  • Who wrote and illustrated The Very Hungry Caterpillar? Answer: Eric Carle. The picture book works in numbers and the days of the week.
  • Who wrote Anne of Green Gables? Answer: L. M. Montgomery. L. M. stands for Lucy Maud, and the novel came out in 1908.
  • Who wrote Charlotte's Web? Answer: E. B. White. Garth Williams drew the pictures. Wilbur is the pig and Charlotte is the spider.
  • Who wrote Don Quixote? Answer: Miguel de Cervantes. It was published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615.
  • Who wrote Dracula? Answer: Bram Stoker. The 1897 novel is told through letters, diary entries and newspaper articles.
  • Who wrote Frankenstein? Answer: Mary Shelley. The 1818 novel has a second title: The Modern Prometheus.
  • Who wrote Jane Eyre? Answer: Charlotte Brontë. She published it in 1847 under the pen name Currer Bell.
  • Who wrote Little Women? Answer: Louisa May Alcott. The four March sisters are Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy.
  • Who wrote Moby-Dick? Answer: Herman Melville. The narrator is the sailor Ishmael, and the ship is the Pequod.
  • Who wrote Oliver Twist? Answer: Charles Dickens. It was his second novel, first published as a serial from 1837 to 1839.
  • Who wrote Pride and Prejudice? Answer: Jane Austen. It was published in 1813.
  • Who wrote Romeo and Juliet? Answer: William Shakespeare. The two young lovers come from feuding Italian families.
  • Who wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer? Answer: Mark Twain. The town in the book is based on Hannibal, Missouri, where Twain lived as a boy.
  • Who wrote The Hobbit? Answer: J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published in 1937.
  • Who wrote The Jungle Book? Answer: Rudyard Kipling. Mowgli is raised by wolves, Shere Khan is the tiger and Baloo is the bear.
  • Who wrote The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe? Answer: C. S. Lewis. It was the first published of the seven Chronicles of Narnia.
  • Who wrote the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four? Answer: George Orwell. It was published on 8 June 1949.
  • Who wrote The Tale of Peter Rabbit? Answer: Beatrix Potter. She also drew the pictures.
  • Who wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz? Answer: L. Frank Baum. It came out in 1900 with pictures by W. W. Denslow, the first book of the Oz series.
  • Who wrote Treasure Island? Answer: Robert Louis Stevenson. Its original title was The Sea Cook: A Story for Boys.
  • Who wrote War and Peace? Answer: Leo Tolstoy. It is set during the Napoleonic Wars.

Film and TV 35

  • In Doctor Who, what is the name of the Doctor's time machine? Answer: The TARDIS. The letters stand for Time And Relative Dimension In Space.
  • In Star Wars, which starship does Han Solo fly? Answer: The Millennium Falcon. Joe Johnston designed the ship for the 1977 film.
  • In the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, what color are Dorothy's magic slippers? Answer: Ruby red. Judy Garland wore them as Dorothy Gale.
  • In The Lord of the Rings, what is the homeland of the hobbits called? Answer: The Shire. It lies in the northwest of Middle-earth, in the region of Eriador.
  • In the Shrek films, what kind of creature is Shrek? Answer: An ogre. The 2001 film is loosely based on a 1990 picture book by William Steig.
  • In The Wizard of Oz, which of Dorothy's friends wants a brain? Answer: The Scarecrow. In the book he is only two days old.
  • In which 1964 Disney musical did Julie Andrews make her feature film debut? Answer: Mary Poppins. The Sherman Brothers wrote the songs.
  • In which 1985 film does a DeLorean car travel through time? Answer: Back to the Future. Marty McFly is sent back from 1985 to 1955.
  • In which city is the 2007 film Ratatouille set? Answer: Paris.
  • In which country is The Sound of Music set? Answer: Austria. The film is based on a 1959 stage musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein.
  • In which town do the Flintstones live? Answer: Bedrock. The show first ran from 1960 to 1966, the first animated series in a prime-time slot.
  • What is the name of the coffee house in the TV series Friends? Answer: Central Perk. The show ran for ten seasons, from 1994 to 2004.
  • What is the name of the school of magic in the Harry Potter stories? Answer: Hogwarts. Its full name is Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
  • What is the name of the snowman in the 2013 film Frozen? Answer: Olaf. The film was loosely inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale The Snow Queen.
  • What is the name of the toy cowboy in Toy Story? Answer: Woody.
  • What is the nickname of the golden statuette given at the Academy Awards? Answer: Oscar. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presents the awards.
  • What kind of animal is Bambi? Answer: A deer. In the Disney film he is a white-tailed deer.
  • What kind of animal is Dumbo? Answer: An elephant. His real name in the film is Jumbo Jr.
  • What kind of fish is Nemo in Finding Nemo? Answer: A clownfish. Nemo's father, another clownfish, is called Marlin.
  • Which 1928 cartoon short introduced Mickey Mouse to cinema audiences? Answer: Steamboat Willie. Minnie Mouse made her official debut in the same cartoon.
  • Which 1937 film was Walt Disney's first full-length animated feature? Answer: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It is based on the 1812 fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm.
  • Which 1975 Steven Spielberg film is about a great white shark? Answer: Jaws. It is based on Peter Benchley's 1974 novel.
  • Which 1982 film is about a boy who befriends a stranded alien? Answer: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. The boy is called Elliott, and Melissa Mathison wrote the script.
  • Which 1993 Steven Spielberg film is set in an island park of living dinosaurs? Answer: Jurassic Park. The island is Isla Nublar, and the film is based on Michael Crichton's 1990 novel.
  • Which 1994 Disney film follows a lion cub named Simba? Answer: The Lion King.
  • Which 1995 film was the first feature made entirely with computer animation? Answer: Toy Story. It was also the first feature film from Pixar.
  • Which animated TV family lives in the town of Springfield? Answer: The Simpsons. The family is Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie.
  • Which animation studio uses a hopping desk lamp called Luxo Jr. as its mascot? Answer: Pixar. Luxo Jr. first appeared in a two-minute short film in 1986.
  • Which children's TV show is home to Big Bird? Answer: Sesame Street. Big Bird stands eight feet two inches (249 cm) tall.
  • Which director made Rear Window, Vertigo and Psycho? Answer: Alfred Hitchcock. He was known as the Master of Suspense and directed over 50 feature films.
  • Which Japanese studio made Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro? Answer: Studio Ghibli. The studio was founded on June 15, 1985.
  • Which New York skyscraper does King Kong climb in the 1933 film? Answer: The Empire State Building.
  • Which science fiction series follows the crew of the starship Enterprise? Answer: Star Trek.
  • Which silent film star created the character known as the Tramp? Answer: Charlie Chaplin. His career spanned more than 75 years.
  • Who directed, produced and starred in the 1941 film Citizen Kane? Answer: Orson Welles. It was his first feature film.

Sports and games 43

  • Golf courses typically have one of two numbers of holes. What are they? Answer: 9 or 18. The game was first played in Scotland in the fifteenth century.
  • How high above the floor is a basketball hoop? Answer: 10 feet, or 3.05 meters.
  • How long is a marathon? Answer: 42.195 kilometers, or about 26.2 miles.
  • How long is an Olympic swimming pool? Answer: 50 meters.
  • How many cards are in a standard deck, not counting jokers? Answer: 52.
  • How many events make up a decathlon? Answer: Ten. The events are held over two consecutive days.
  • How many events make up a heptathlon? Answer: Seven.
  • How many pieces does each player have at the start of a chess game? Answer: 16. That is one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights and eight pawns.
  • How many players does a baseball team have in the field? Answer: Nine.
  • How many players does a cricket team have? Answer: 11. The pitch in the middle of the field is 22 yards long.
  • How many players does a rugby union team have on the field? Answer: 15. The sport began at Rugby School in England.
  • How many players does an ice hockey team have on the ice, goaltender included? Answer: Six.
  • How many players does each basketball team have on the court? Answer: Five.
  • How many players does each soccer team have on the field? Answer: 11.
  • How many players does each volleyball team have on the court? Answer: Six. Volleyball has been an Olympic sport since Tokyo 1964.
  • How many points is a touchdown worth in American football? Answer: Six.
  • How many rings are on the Olympic flag? Answer: Five. The flag was created in 1914 under the guidance of Baron de Coubertin.
  • How many squares are on a chessboard? Answer: 64. That is 8 rows by 8 columns.
  • How many tiles are in a standard double-six set of dominoes? Answer: 28. The spots on a domino are also called pips.
  • How often are the Summer Olympic Games normally held? Answer: Every four years.
  • In baseball, how many strikes put a batter out? Answer: Three. Scorers usually mark a strikeout with the letter K.
  • In golf, what is a score of one under par on a hole called? Answer: A birdie.
  • In ten-pin bowling, what are three strikes in a row called? Answer: A turkey.
  • In tennis, what word is used for a score of zero? Answer: Love.
  • In which sport do players sweep the ice in front of a sliding stone? Answer: Curling. Each team has four players, and the target is called the house.
  • In which sport might you see a move called the Fosbury flop? Answer: The high jump. Dick Fosbury won gold with it at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.
  • Judo is a modern martial art from which country? Answer: Japan. Kano Jigoro created it in 1882.
  • On a standard die, what do the numbers on opposite faces add up to? Answer: Seven.
  • On which surface is the Wimbledon tennis championship played? Answer: Grass. The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club runs the tournament.
  • Taekwondo is a martial art from which country? Answer: Korea. The name can be translated as strike with foot, strike with hand, and the way.
  • What are the three weapons used in fencing? Answer: Foil, épée and sabre.
  • What color jersey does the overall leader of the Tour de France wear? Answer: Yellow. The race was first organized in 1903.
  • What is the highest possible score in a game of ten-pin bowling? Answer: 300. It takes 12 strikes in a row.
  • What is the playing area in baseball called, after its shape? Answer: The diamond.
  • Which chess piece can move only diagonally? Answer: The bishop. Each player starts with two bishops.
  • Which chess piece moves in an L shape and can jump over others? Answer: The knight. Each knight starts between a rook and a bishop.
  • Which city hosted the first modern Olympic Games, in 1896? Answer: Athens. The Games ran from 6 to 15 April 1896.
  • Which form of wrestling is the national sport of Japan? Answer: Sumo. A wrestler is called a rikishi, and the ring is a dohyo.
  • Which gymnastics apparatus is named for the handles on top of it? Answer: The pommel horse.
  • Which sport is played with a puck? Answer: Ice hockey.
  • Which sport is played with a shuttlecock? Answer: Badminton. A shuttlecock is also called a birdie.
  • Which three sports make up a triathlon? Answer: Swimming, cycling and running.
  • Which winter sport combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting? Answer: Biathlon. In the Nordic languages the sport is called ski-shooting.

Inventions and tech 37

  • Cai Lun, an official of the Han court, is linked to the early making of which material? Answer: Paper. Papermaking developed in East Asia at least as early as 105 CE.
  • The exclamation Eureka is attributed to which ancient Greek mathematician? Answer: Archimedes.
  • How many bits are in a byte? Answer: Eight.
  • In which country was gunpowder invented? Answer: China. Gunpowder is a mix of sulfur, charcoal and potassium nitrate, also called saltpeter.
  • What do the letters CPU stand for? Answer: Central processing unit.
  • What do the letters GPS stand for? Answer: Global Positioning System.
  • What do the letters HTML stand for? Answer: Hypertext Markup Language. It is the standard markup language for pages shown in a web browser.
  • What do the letters LED stand for? Answer: Light-emitting diode. It gives off light when current flows through a semiconductor.
  • What do the letters PDF stand for? Answer: Portable Document Format. Adobe developed the format in 1993.
  • What do the letters URL stand for? Answer: Uniform Resource Locator. Most people just call it a web address.
  • What do the letters USB stand for? Answer: Universal Serial Bus.
  • What is the QWERTY keyboard named after? Answer: The first six letters on its top row. The layout goes back to the Sholes and Glidden typewriter, sold from 1874.
  • What was the name of the first mammal cloned from an adult cell, born in 1996? Answer: Dolly the sheep. She was a Finn-Dorset sheep, cloned at the Roslin Institute in Scotland.
  • Which American inventor created the safety brake that made passenger elevators practical? Answer: Elisha Otis. In 1857 he installed the first safety elevator for passengers, in a New York City store.
  • Which American inventor gave his name to a telegraph code of dots and dashes? Answer: Samuel Morse. He made his name as a portrait painter before he turned to the telegraph.
  • Which brothers made the first powered airplane flights, in 1903? Answer: The Wright brothers. Their aircraft was called the Wright Flyer.
  • Which English scientist is credited with the first vaccine, against smallpox? Answer: Edward Jenner. The word vaccine comes from the Latin term he used for cowpox.
  • Which French brothers launched the first piloted hot air balloon, in 1783? Answer: The Montgolfier brothers. The brothers were paper manufacturers from Annonay in France.
  • Which German engineer invented the engine that bears his name, in the 1890s? Answer: Rudolf Diesel. Diesel fuel is named after him as well.
  • Which German goldsmith brought movable-type printing to Europe? Answer: Johannes Gutenberg. Movable type was already in use in East Asia before him.
  • Which German physicist won the first Nobel Prize in Physics, for discovering X-rays? Answer: Wilhelm Röntgen. He received the prize in 1901.
  • Which Italian inventor built a practical wireless telegraph based on radio waves? Answer: Guglielmo Marconi. He shared the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics with Ferdinand Braun.
  • Which Italian scientist invented the electric battery? Answer: Alessandro Volta. He invented the voltaic pile in 1799 and is also credited with discovering methane.
  • Which Scottish engineer's improved steam engine helped drive the Industrial Revolution? Answer: James Watt. He improved on Thomas Newcomen's steam engine of 1712.
  • Which Scottish inventor gave the first public demonstration of television, in 1926? Answer: John Logie Baird. He went on to invent the first publicly demonstrated colour television system.
  • Which Swedish scientist proposed the temperature scale now called Celsius? Answer: Anders Celsius. He founded the Uppsala Astronomical Observatory in 1741.
  • Who designed the Analytical Engine, a mechanical computer, in the 1830s? Answer: Charles Babbage. It was first described in 1837, as the successor to his difference engine.
  • Who developed one of the first successful polio vaccines? Answer: Jonas Salk.
  • Who discovered how to vulcanize rubber? Answer: Charles Goodyear. He received his patent on June 15, 1844.
  • Who discovered penicillin in 1928? Answer: Alexander Fleming. He shared the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Howard Florey and Ernst Chain.
  • Who founded the prizes for physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace in his will? Answer: Alfred Nobel. The prizes were first awarded in 1901.
  • Who invented dynamite? Answer: Alfred Nobel. He held 355 patents during his life.
  • Who invented the phonograph in 1877? Answer: Thomas Edison. Alexander Graham Bell's Volta Laboratory made several improvements in the 1880s.
  • Who invented the system of raised dots that blind people read by touch? Answer: Louis Braille.
  • Who invented the World Wide Web? Answer: Tim Berners-Lee.
  • Who is often called the first computer programmer? Answer: Ada Lovelace. She worked on Charles Babbage's proposed Analytical Engine.
  • Who was granted the first US patent for the telephone, in 1876? Answer: Alexander Graham Bell. He also co-founded the American Telephone and Telegraph Company in 1885.

Weird but true 39

  • A cow has one stomach. How many compartments does it have? Answer: Four.
  • The Anglo-Zanzibar War of 1896 is the shortest war on record. How long did it last? Answer: Between 38 and 45 minutes. It was fought on 27 August 1896.
  • Botanically speaking, is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable? Answer: A fruit (a berry). It belongs to the nightshade family, along with the potato and the chili pepper.
  • Botanically speaking, which common yellow fruit is a berry? Answer: The banana. Banana plants belong to the genus Musa.
  • In heraldry, which mythical creature is best known as a symbol of Scotland? Answer: The unicorn.
  • In medieval timekeeping, how long was a moment? Answer: 90 seconds. A sundial's shadow covered 40 moments in a solar hour.
  • In the Irish legend behind the jack-o'-lantern, Stingy Jack carries a hollowed what? Answer: A turnip.
  • In which country is the village of Llanfairpwllgwyngyll? Answer: Wales. The village is on the Isle of Anglesey, next to the Britannia Bridge.
  • Is a peanut a true nut? Answer: No, it is a legume. It is also called the groundnut, and its pods grow underground.
  • The Nubian pyramids were built by Kushite rulers in which present-day country? Answer: Sudan. The region was home to three ancient Kushite kingdoms.
  • What are baby hedgehogs called? Answer: Hoglets. No hedgehog is native to Australia, and no living species is native to the Americas.
  • What color is an aircraft's "black box" flight recorder? Answer: Bright orange. The color helps searchers find it after an accident.
  • What color is the blood of a horseshoe crab? Answer: Blue. Despite the name, horseshoe crabs are not crabs. They are closer to spiders and scorpions.
  • What is a baby puffin called? Answer: A puffling. Puffins nest in crevices among rocks or in burrows in the soil.
  • What is a group of crows called? Answer: A murder.
  • What is a group of flamingos called? Answer: A flamboyance. The name comes from a Portuguese or Spanish word meaning flame-coloured.
  • What is a group of owls called? Answer: A parliament. Most owls are solitary and nocturnal.
  • What is a rhinoceros horn made of? Answer: Keratin, like hair and nails. The name rhinoceros comes from Greek words meaning nose-horned.
  • What is the fear of the number 13 called? Answer: Triskaidekaphobia. Fear of Friday the 13th has an even longer name, paraskevidekatriaphobia.
  • What is the groove between your nose and your upper lip called? Answer: The philtrum. The name goes back to an ancient Greek word for a love charm.
  • What is the plastic or metal tip of a shoelace called? Answer: An aglet. It stops the lace from unraveling and makes it easier to thread.
  • What is the smooth patch of skin between your eyebrows called? Answer: The glabella.
  • What is the word for the earthy smell of rain falling on dry ground? Answer: Petrichor. Two Australian researchers introduced the term in a 1964 paper in Nature.
  • Which animal's name comes from the Greek for river horse? Answer: The hippopotamus. It is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa.
  • Which Australian animal leaves cube-shaped droppings? Answer: The wombat. Wombats are marsupials about one metre long.
  • Which bird has the longest wingspan of any living bird? Answer: The wandering albatross. It ranges all around the Southern Ocean.
  • Which day of the week was named after Thunor, an Old English god? Answer: Thursday. The names Thunor and Thor both derive from the name of a Germanic god of thunder.
  • Which food does not spoil when properly stored and has been found edible after millennia? Answer: Honey.
  • Which fruit is also called the Chinese gooseberry? Answer: The kiwifruit. It is the berry of a woody vine.
  • Which mammal is covered in large overlapping scales? Answer: The pangolin. Pangolins are also called scaly anteaters.
  • Which month is named after Julius Caesar? Answer: July. Before that it was Quintilis, the fifth month of a calendar that began in March.
  • Which month is named after the first Roman emperor? Answer: August. It was first called Sextilis, the sixth month of the early Roman calendar.
  • Which name beginning with O did Bell Labs workers invent for the # symbol? Answer: Octothorp.
  • Which pasta has a name that means little tongues? Answer: Linguine. Its cross-section is elliptical rather than flat.
  • Which planet is named after the Roman god of the sea? Answer: Neptune. It has 17 times the mass of Earth.
  • Which sea animal has a name built from the Greek words for eight and foot? Answer: The octopus. It is a mollusc, in the same class as squids and cuttlefish.
  • Which thin pasta takes its name from an Italian word that is a diminutive of worm? Answer: Vermicelli. In English-speaking regions it is usually thinner than spaghetti, but in Italy it is thicker.
  • Which tree gives us both a nut and a fruit known as its apple? Answer: The cashew. The tree is native to tropical South America.
  • Which vegetable has varieties called iceberg and romaine? Answer: Lettuce. Celtuce is a variety of lettuce grown for its stem.

How this list was compiled: Questions and answers written for this site by the editors; nothing was copied from another quiz. Every answer, and every extra line under an answer, was checked on 2026-09-18 against the text of the English Wikipedia article named in that item's x.src field. The article text was fetched through the MediaWiki API (action=query, prop=extracts) on that date, the sentence that supports the answer was located in it, and an editor read each supporting sentence. A question whose answer the article did not state in so many words was reworded to match the article or dropped. Left out on purpose: sports and world records, populations, prices, rankings, anything described as current or latest, and the ages or jobs of living people. Difficulty is an editor's judgment: easy is primary-school knowledge, medium is a fair pub-quiz question, hard is for the person who reads the encyclopedia for fun. Every question was screened against the site's family-safe rule (nothing sexual, no alcohol or drugs, nothing that mocks a person or a group). Licence: own work