I am skiing with no snow and no hill. A boat pulls me by a rope, and I skim across the top of a lake. What am I?
I am a tennis score of 40 to 40. From me, a player must win two points in a row to take the game. What word am I?
I am played on a small court with solid paddles and a plastic ball full of holes. My name sounds like something from a jar. What game am I?
I have three steps, and the middle one is the highest. Stand on it, and a gold medal goes around your neck. What am I?
I am a number that skaters once had to carve into the ice, tracing two circles that touch. The sport of figure skating is named for shapes like me. What am I?
In bowling I am all ten pins down with two balls, not one. On the score sheet I am a slash. What am I?
I am a black rubber disc, one inch thick. I am frozen before the game, so that I slide and do not bounce. What am I?
Two runners cross the line in a tie for first place. What place does the next runner get?
I am a stretched sheet held to a frame by springs. Jump on me, and I throw you back up higher than you jumped. What am I?
You are running a race, and you pass the runner in second place. What place are you in now?
These sports riddles are about the games themselves: the ball, the rink, the track, the odd words each sport uses, and trick questions about races. Nobody has to follow a season to guess.
Read the full guide
Riddles for sports of every kind
The five sets are Ball games, On ice, snow and water, Track, field and gym, Words of the game and Trick questions. Words of the game is for fans: love in tennis, a turkey in bowling, icing in hockey.
Riddles on sports for a team dinner or a bus ride
Easy riddles describe something every player has seen or held. Hard ones turn on a rule or a word, so they suit a team that knows its sport.
On a bus, split the seats into two sides and let the sides answer in turns.
Questions and answers
What are the best sports riddles to start with?
The ones that need no rules. You are running a race, and you pass the runner in second place. What place are you in now? Second place: the leader is still ahead of you.
What is a hard sports riddle?
I am one word with opposite meanings in two sports. In baseball I am a swing that hits nothing. In bowling I am every pin down with the first ball. What word am I? A strike.
Which sports do these riddles cover?
Baseball, softball, soccer, tennis, golf, bowling, volleyball, lacrosse, pickleball, hockey, curling, skiing, swimming, water polo, track and field and gymnastics. There is no basketball or football riddle in this list.
A full course has eighteen of me. Each of me has a flag standing in it, so that players can see where I am from far away. What am I?Answer: A golf hole. A full golf course has 18 holes, each marked by a flagstick.
I am a ball that must never be caught or held. Each team may touch me three times before I have to cross the net. What am I?Answer: A volleyball. In volleyball a team gets three touches to send the ball back.
I am a frame with a handle and a face made of crossed strings. Without me, tennis would be a game of catch. What am I?Answer: A tennis racket. A racket is a handled frame with tight strings across it.
I am a game played with a ball and long sticks. Nobody carries the ball by hand: it is carried, passed, caught and shot with the head of the stick. What game am I?Answer: Lacrosse. Lacrosse players carry, pass, catch and shoot the ball with the head of the stick.
I am a hollow ball that weighs less than three grams. Two players with small paddles hit me back and forth across a table. What am I?Answer: A table tennis ball. A table tennis ball weighs 2.7 grams.
I am a leather hand with a web between the thumb and the finger. A ball going very fast ends its trip in me with a smack. What am I?Answer: A baseball glove. A baseball glove has a web between the thumb and the first finger.
I am a small peg pushed into the grass. I hold the ball up for the first hit of each hole, and then I am left behind. What am I?Answer: A golf tee. A tee is normally used for the first stroke of each hole.
I am fuzzy and bright yellow. I am hit back and forth over a net until somebody misses, and then the dog wants me. What am I?Answer: A tennis ball. A tennis ball is covered in felt, and most are a bright yellow.
I am heavy and round, with holes for your fingers and thumb. I roll down a lane toward ten things that are standing up, and my job is to knock them all down. What am I?Answer: A bowling ball. In tenpin bowling the ball is rolled at ten pins.
I am hit back and forth over a high net, and I am not a ball. I have a round cork nose and a skirt of sixteen feathers, and players call me a birdie. What am I?Answer: A shuttlecock. A badminton shuttlecock has 16 feathers set in a cork base.
I am kicked for ninety minutes and I never complain. Twenty-two players chase me, and only two of them are allowed to pick me up. What am I?Answer: A soccer ball. A soccer match lasts 90 minutes, with 11 players a side, and only the goalkeepers may handle the ball.
I am one kicker, one goalkeeper and nobody else, twelve yards apart. The referee gives me to a team after a foul close to the goal. What am I?Answer: A penalty kick. A penalty kick is taken 12 yards from the goal line.
I am played on a small court with solid paddles and a plastic ball full of holes. My name sounds like something from a jar. What game am I?Answer: Pickleball. Pickleball is played with solid paddles and a hollow plastic ball with holes.
I am small and white, and I am covered in hundreds of little dents. The dents are there on purpose: they steady my flight. What am I?Answer: A golf ball. Dimples were added in the early 1900s to give more control over the flight of the ball.
I am white, and I am held together by 108 red stitches. A good pitcher can make me curve on my way to the plate. What am I?Answer: A baseball. A regulation baseball has 108 stitches, usually of red thread.
I catch no fish. In tennis I stand in the middle and the ball must clear me. In soccer I hang at the back, and the ball is meant to hit me. What am I?Answer: A net. A tennis net divides the court, and a soccer net hangs behind the goal.
In this game the ball is thrown at you, and your whole job is not to be where it lands. Get hit, and you are out. What game am I?Answer: Dodgeball. In dodgeball players throw balls at the other team and dodge the ones thrown at them.
My name says soft, and I am not. I am bigger than a baseball, and I am pitched underhand. What am I?Answer: A softball. A softball is larger than a baseball and is pitched underhand.
On ice, snow and water 15
Between periods I drive slowly around the rink. I shave the ice, wash it and lay down a thin coat of water, and I leave a shining floor behind me. What am I?Answer: An ice resurfacer. An ice resurfacer shaves the ice and spreads water that freezes smooth.
I am a ball game played in deep water. Nobody may touch the bottom of the pool, and only the goalkeeper may hold the ball with two hands. What game am I?Answer: Water polo. Water polo players tread water, and only the goalkeeper may use both hands.
I am a bench that hangs from a moving cable and never touches the ground. I carry skiers up the hill, so that they can slide back down. What am I?Answer: A chairlift. A chairlift is a row of chairs hung from a moving cable.
I am a black rubber disc, one inch thick. I am frozen before the game, so that I slide and do not bounce. What am I?Answer: A hockey puck. Pucks are frozen before a game to cut down on bouncing.
I am a long board with no wheels and no engine. Lie on me, paddle with your hands, and stand up when the wave lifts us both. What am I?Answer: A surfboard. A surfer paddles out lying down and stands to ride the wave.
I am a number that skaters once had to carve into the ice, tracing two circles that touch. The sport of figure skating is named for shapes like me. What am I?Answer: A figure eight. Compulsory figures were patterns traced on the ice, built on the figure eight.
I am a plank that sticks out over deep water and bends when you walk to my end. One bounce, and you are in the air. What am I?Answer: A diving board. A springboard is a flexible board for diving.
I am a polished granite stone with a handle on top. A player slides me down the ice, and teammates sweep the path in front of me with brooms. What am I?Answer: A curling stone. Curling stones are granite, and sweepers brush the ice in front of them.
I am a ski race that never goes straight. The skier must weave between poles, or gates, left, right, left, all the way down. What race am I?Answer: Slalom. Slalom is skiing between poles or gates set close together.
I am a sliding sport with a spooky name. Riders go down an ice track head first, face down, on a small sled. What sport am I?Answer: Skeleton. In skeleton the rider lies face down and goes head first.
I am one board for both feet. You ride me sideways down the snow, the way a surfer rides a wave. What am I?Answer: A snowboard. A snowboarder stands sideways with both feet on one board.
I am skiing with no snow and no hill. A boat pulls me by a rope, and I skim across the top of a lake. What am I?Answer: Water skiing. A water skier is pulled behind a boat.
I sit in a racing boat and never pull an oar. I steer, I call the rhythm, and I am the one person in the boat who faces the way we are going. Who am I?Answer: The coxswain. The coxswain steers the boat and faces forward, toward the bow.
We are floating ropes that turn a swimming pool into roads. Each racer gets one road and has to stay in it. What are we?Answer: Lane lines. Lane ropes divide a pool into lanes.
We are two long, narrow boards with turned-up tips. Clip one of us to each boot, and a snowy mountain turns into a ride. What are we?Answer: Skis. Skis glide over snow, one under each foot.
Track, field and gym 19
I am a heavy metal ball, and nobody throws me the way a ball is thrown. An athlete tucks me against the neck and pushes me into the air with one hand. What am I?Answer: The shot. In the shot put the ball starts beside the neck and leaves from one hand.
I am a heavy plate that is flung, not filled. A thrower spins around inside a circle and lets me fly. What am I?Answer: A discus. A discus thrower spins inside a circle before the release.
I am a horse with no head and no tail, and two handles stick up from my back. A gymnast swings around on me with only the hands touching. What am I?Answer: The pommel horse. The two handles of a pommel horse are called pommels.
I am a race of 26 miles and 385 yards. I am named for a town in Greece, after the old story of a messenger who ran from there to Athens. What am I?Answer: A marathon. The marathon is 26 miles 385 yards, and its name comes from the legend of a run from Marathon to Athens.
I am a running race with barriers and a pit of water to jump. My name comes from horse races that were steered by the sight of a church tower. What race am I?Answer: The steeplechase. The steeplechase is named after a horse race, and the horse race after the church steeple the riders steered by.
I am a short hollow stick. Four runners carry me, one after another, and if any of them drops me, the race is as good as lost. What am I?Answer: A relay baton. In a relay each runner hands the baton to the next.
I am a spear thrown for distance and at nobody. My point must touch the ground before the rest of me, or the throw does not count. What am I?Answer: A javelin. A javelin throw counts only if the tip lands first.
I am a stretched sheet held to a frame by springs. Jump on me, and I throw you back up higher than you jumped. What am I?Answer: A trampoline. A trampoline is a taut sheet stretched on a frame with springs.
I am a wheel with no rim, made by one person. Hand, hand, foot, foot: I roll sideways across the grass. What am I?Answer: A cartwheel. In a cartwheel the body turns sideways over the hands.
I am about four inches wide, and I stand about four feet off the floor. Gymnasts leap, flip and turn on me as if I were a sidewalk. What am I?Answer: The balance beam. A competition beam is four inches wide and 125 centimeters off the floor.
I am one contest made of ten: four races, three jumps and three throws, spread over two days. What am I?Answer: The decathlon. The decathlon is ten track and field events over two days.
I am three jumps in one: a hop, a step and a jump, with a landing in the sand. What event am I?Answer: The triple jump. The triple jump is a hop, a step and a jump.
I have three steps, and the middle one is the highest. Stand on it, and a gold medal goes around your neck. What am I?Answer: The podium. The winner stands on the highest, middle step of the podium.
In my event a bar rests on two posts, and it goes up after each round. Clear it, and you stay in. Miss three times in a row, and you are out. What event am I?Answer: The high jump. A high jumper is out after three misses in a row.
In my event the athlete sprints with a long, bending pole, plants one end in a box in the ground and rides it up and over a bar. What event am I?Answer: The pole vault. A pole vaulter uses a flexible pole to clear a bar.
In my event you sprint down a runway, leap from a board and land in sand. The mark your body leaves nearest the board is the one they measure. What event am I?Answer: The long jump. A long jump is measured to the nearest mark in the sand.
We are ten fences standing across a running lane. Nobody goes around us and nobody stops: the runner sails over us one by one. What are we?Answer: Hurdles. A sprint hurdles race has ten hurdles in each lane.
We are two footrests fixed to the track. A sprinter crouches with one foot against each of us and pushes off at the sound of the gun. What are we?Answer: Starting blocks. Starting blocks brace a sprinter's feet at the start.
We are two rings that hang from straps and never go on a finger. A gymnast grips us and tries to hold us perfectly still. What are we?Answer: The rings. On the still rings a gymnast must keep the rings from swinging.
Words of the game 22
I am a bell that never rings. I am a short bar with a weight at each end, and my name goes back to an exercise rig that copied the ringing of a church bell with no bell on it. What am I?Answer: A dumbbell. In 17th-century England, exercise machines copied the action of ringing a church bell, with weighted bars in place of the bell.
I am a butterfly that lives in a swimming pool. Both arms swing forward over the water together, and both legs kick together like the tail of a dolphin. What am I?Answer: The butterfly stroke. The butterfly is swum with both arms together and a dolphin kick.
I am a diamond that nobody wears. I have a base at each of three corners and a plate at the fourth. What am I?Answer: A baseball diamond. The infield of a baseball field is called the diamond.
I am a goodbye that nobody says. I am a free pass into the next round of a tournament, with no game to play. What am I?Answer: A bye. A bye moves a player or a team to the next round without playing.
I am a hammer that never hits a nail. I am a metal ball on a wire with a handle, and an athlete whirls me around and lets me fly. What am I?Answer: The hammer. The hammer of the hammer throw is a metal ball on a wire.
I am a heat with no temperature. I am an early race that decides who gets to run in the final. What am I?Answer: A heat. When a race has too many entrants to run at once, preliminary heats narrow the field.
I am a pen with no ink and no bulls. I am the place where relief pitchers warm up. What am I?Answer: The bullpen. The bullpen is where relief pitchers warm up before they enter a game.
I am a seed that never grows. I am the rank given to a player before a tournament, so that the best do not meet in the first round. What am I?Answer: A seed. Seeding spreads the strongest players through a tournament bracket.
I am a tennis score of 40 to 40. From me, a player must win two points in a row to take the game. What word am I?Answer: Deuce. At deuce a player needs two points in a row to win the game.
I am a walk that goes no farther than first base. A batter gets me after four pitches outside the strike zone. What am I?Answer: A walk. A walk, or base on balls, sends the batter to first base after four balls.
I am called a ring, and I am square, with a post at each of my four corners and ropes all around. What am I?Answer: A boxing ring. A boxing ring is a square platform with ropes around it.
I am icing, and nobody can lick me. A hockey referee calls me when a puck is shot from a team's own half all the way past the other goal line and nobody touches it. What am I?Answer: Icing. Icing is called when the puck is shot from behind the center line across the far goal line untouched.
I am one word with opposite meanings in two sports. In baseball I am a swing that hits nothing. In bowling I am every pin down with the first ball. What word am I?Answer: A strike. A strike is a miss for a batter and the best first ball for a bowler.
I am the one word a golfer shouts when a ball is flying toward other people. I sound like a number. What word am I?Answer: Fore. Fore is the golfer's warning shout.
I am the only stealing that a crowd cheers for. A runner takes me by dashing to the next base while the pitcher throws to the batter. What am I?Answer: A stolen base. A runner steals a base by advancing while the pitcher is pitching.
I am three goals scored by one player in one game. There is a hat in my name, and I was first said about cricket. What am I?Answer: A hat trick. The term hat-trick began in cricket and now means three goals by one player.
In bowling I am all ten pins down with two balls, not one. On the score sheet I am a slash. What am I?Answer: A spare. A spare is marked with a slash.
In bowling I am three strikes in a row, and I am named for a bird. What am I?Answer: A turkey. Three strikes in a row are called a turkey.
In curling I am a house with no walls and no roof. I am the rings painted under the ice, and every stone is trying to stop in me. What am I?Answer: The house. The target rings in curling are called the house.
In tennis I am worth nothing at all. A player who has only me has not won a point yet. What word am I?Answer: Love. Love is the tennis word for a score of zero.
On a golf course I am a score of one under par for a hole. I am a little bird, and two bigger birds beat me. What am I?Answer: A birdie. One under par is a birdie, two under an eagle and three under an albatross.
On a relay team I go last. I am named for a heavy thing that holds a ship in place. What am I called?Answer: The anchor. The last leg of a relay is the anchor leg.
Trick questions 11
A game of tenpin bowling has ten frames. How many strikes does a perfect game take?Answer: 12. Nine frames take one strike each, and the tenth frame takes three: twelve strikes in a row.
A referee tosses a fair coin before each of five games, and it lands heads all five times. What is the chance of heads at the sixth game?Answer: One in two. A coin has no memory, so every toss is an even chance.
A relay team has four runners and one baton. How many times is the baton handed over?Answer: 3. The first runner starts with it, and it changes hands once for each of the other three.
A soccer match starts with eleven players on each side. The referee shows one red card. How many players are left on the field?Answer: 21. A red card sends one player off, and the team may not replace that player: 22 minus 1.
A swimmer races 100 meters in a pool that is 50 meters long. How far from the starting wall is she when she finishes?Answer: No distance at all. She swims one length out and one length back, and finishes at the wall where she started.
Ana beats Ben by 10 meters in a 100-meter race. They race again, and this time Ana starts 10 meters behind the line. Both run as fast as before. Who wins?Answer: Ana wins again. When Ana has run 100 meters, Ben has run 90, so they are level with 10 meters to go, and Ana is the faster runner.
Four teams play a round robin, in which every team plays every other team once. How many games is that?Answer: 6. Each of the 4 teams plays 3 games, and each game is shared by two teams: 4 times 3, divided by 2.
In baseball, three outs end a team's turn at bat. So how many outs are there in one full inning?Answer: 6. An inning has two halves, one for each team, with three outs in each.
Two runners cross the line in a tie for first place. What place does the next runner get?Answer: Third place. Two runners finished ahead, so the next one is third, and nobody is second.
You are running a race, and you pass the runner in last place. What place are you in now?Answer: It cannot happen. To pass the last runner you would have to be behind the last runner.
You are running a race, and you pass the runner in second place. What place are you in now?Answer: Second place. You took the place of the runner you passed, and the leader is still ahead.