Sample pickWhat makes you sleepy after Thanksgiving dinner more than the tryptophan in the turkey?
Thanksgiving Trivia Questions for Adults, With the History Checked: how it works
The plates are cleared and nobody wants to move. Read the question on the card aloud, tap the choice the table settles on, then press Check answer for the right one and a sentence on why. These 80 thanksgiving trivia questions for adults cover six topics, from the 1621 harvest at Plymouth to the turkey pardon, parades and football.
Run a round between dinner and pie
Pick a Topic, or leave all six on for a mixed round. Read the question aloud, tap the answer the table votes for, then press Check answer. The card names the answer, gives the reason and links the Wikipedia article it was checked on, which ends most arguments. Misses are kept under Missed for a second pass. For a scored game, Exam mode asks 20 and totals them by topic.
What the six topics ask
The 1621 topic follows the two first-hand accounts: three days, five deer, some ninety guests. The holiday topic runs from the 1777 proclamation to the 1941 law. The turkey covers snoods, jakes and the pardon. On the table has cranberry beds, pie spice and the wishbone's older name. Parades and football are asked by city, with no team names. The last topic visits Canada, Liberia, Japan and Korea.
Tips
For a mixed table, start on The turkey or On the table, which need no dates, and save the holiday's history for the readers.
Playing in teams: press Print question sheet for 20 questions with lettered choices, hand out pens, then read from Print answer key.
At a Friendsgiving with guests from abroad, the world topic is the fair one: Canada's October Monday, Japan's November 23, Korea's Chuseok.
Questions and answers
Does the pack repeat the Pilgrim myths?
No. The 1621 questions keep to what Edward Winslow and William Bradford wrote down. Seventeenth-century accounts describe a harvest celebration, not a day of thanksgiving, and the name First Thanksgiving comes from an editor's footnote printed in 1841. So the bank asks about Massasoit, the five deer and the three days.
How hard are the questions?
An editor marked 16 as easy, 47 as medium and 17 as hard, judged for a table of adults, and the hard ones are spread across all six topics. Children of ten and up can play along, since every question has four choices.
How do I know the answers are right?
Each answer was checked on September 19, 2026 against the Wikipedia article linked under it, by reading the sentence that states the fact. Where two articles disagreed, as on the year of Martin Frobisher's thanksgiving, the question follows the article it cites. Crop rankings, poll results and viewing figures change yearly, so they are left out.
About how many Wampanoag men came to the 1621 feast with their leader, by one colonist's count?Wikipedia: Thanksgiving (United States)
About what share of the 102 passengers died during the first winter at Plymouth?Wikipedia: Plymouth Colony
How long did the 1621 harvest celebration at Plymouth last?Wikipedia: Thanksgiving (United States)
How many passengers sailed on the Pilgrims' ship in 1620?Wikipedia: Mayflower
In which Dutch city did the Pilgrim congregation live before sailing to America?Wikipedia: Plymouth Colony
Squanto was the last known member of which band, whose village stood where Plymouth was built?Wikipedia: Squanto
Tisquantum, who showed the Plymouth colonists how to plant local crops, is better known by which name?Wikipedia: Squanto
What agreement did the men aboard sign before going ashore in 1620?Wikipedia: Mayflower
What did the Wampanoag guests go out and bring back to the 1621 feast?Wikipedia: Thanksgiving (United States)
What does the name Wampanoag mean, as the Wampanoag translate it?Wikipedia: Wampanoag
Where did the Pilgrims' ship first drop anchor in 1620?Wikipedia: Mayflower
Which 1622 booklet holds Edward Winslow's first-hand account of the 1621 harvest feast?Wikipedia: Thanksgiving (United States)
Which leaky second ship had to be left behind in England when the Pilgrims sailed in 1620?Wikipedia: Mayflower
Which Plymouth governor wrote the history called Of Plymouth Plantation?Wikipedia: Thanksgiving (United States)
Who was the military leader of Plymouth Colony?Wikipedia: Plymouth Colony
Who was the Wampanoag leader who came to the 1621 feast at Plymouth?Wikipedia: Thanksgiving (United States)
How it became a holiday 14
By a law signed in 1941, Thanksgiving falls on which day?Wikipedia: Thanksgiving (United States)
The Continental Congress issued the first national thanksgiving proclamation in 1777 from which temporary home?Wikipedia: Thanksgiving (United States)
From 1863 until 1939, presidents proclaimed Thanksgiving for which Thursday of November?Wikipedia: Thanksgiving (United States)
How long did Sarah Josepha Hale campaign before Thanksgiving became a national holiday?Wikipedia: Sarah Josepha Hale
Sarah Josepha Hale, who campaigned for Thanksgiving, also wrote which nursery rhyme?Wikipedia: Sarah Josepha Hale
The thanksgiving of December 1777 honored an American victory over the British at which place?Wikipedia: Thanksgiving (United States)
What is the earliest date on which Thanksgiving can fall?Wikipedia: Thanksgiving (United States)
What mocking nickname was given to the earlier Thanksgiving date of 1939?Wikipedia: Franksgiving
Which magazine editor spent years urging presidents to make Thanksgiving a national holiday?Wikipedia: Thanksgiving (United States)
Which president moved Thanksgiving a week earlier in 1939?Wikipedia: Thanksgiving (United States)
Which president proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day in 1863?Wikipedia: Thanksgiving (United States)
Who issued the first Thanksgiving proclamation by a United States president, in 1789?Wikipedia: Thanksgiving (United States)
Who wrote the text of the 1863 Thanksgiving proclamation?Wikipedia: Thanksgiving (United States)
Why was Thanksgiving moved a week earlier in 1939?Wikipedia: Franksgiving
The turkey 14
Benjamin Franklin's praise of the turkey over the bald eagle comes from a 1784 letter to whom?Wikipedia: Wild turkey
Besides the wild turkey, which other turkey species is alive today?Wikipedia: Turkey (bird)
Can wild turkeys fly?Wikipedia: Wild turkey
In 1963 President Kennedy sent a 55-pound turkey back to the farm. What did the sign around its neck say?Wikipedia: National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation
In what year did the presidential turkey "pardon" become a permanent part of the ceremony?Wikipedia: National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation
The name "turkey" was first used in English for which African bird?Wikipedia: Turkey (bird)
On a male wild turkey, where does the "beard" grow?Wikipedia: Wild turkey
Under which president did the yearly presentation of a turkey to the White House begin in 1947?Wikipedia: National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation
What is a young male turkey called?Wikipedia: Wild turkey
What is an adult male turkey called?Wikipedia: Wild turkey
What is the fleshy flap that hangs over a turkey's bill called?Wikipedia: Wild turkey
Where do most wild turkeys spend the night?Wikipedia: Wild turkey
Where were turkeys probably first domesticated?Wikipedia: Turkey (bird)
Which breed is the usual turkey on large American farms, and the usual one to be pardoned?Wikipedia: Domestic turkey
On the table 14
A cranberry's name comes from an old word meaning which bird's berry?Wikipedia: Cranberry
Are the orange "yams" sold in American stores true yams?Wikipedia: Sweet potato
Before it was called a wishbone, what was the bone's name in English?Wikipedia: Furcula
Botanically, a pecan is not a true nut. What is it?Wikipedia: Pecan
In the United States, what is another common name for stuffing?Wikipedia: Stuffing
In what year was the green bean casserole recipe created?Wikipedia: Green bean casserole
Succotash is sweet corn cooked with what?Wikipedia: Succotash
The sweet potato belongs to which plant family?Wikipedia: Sweet potato
What is another name for the cornucopia on a Thanksgiving table?Wikipedia: Cornucopia
What is the scientific name for a bird's wishbone?Wikipedia: Furcula
What makes you sleepy after Thanksgiving dinner more than the tryptophan in the turkey?Wikipedia: Domestic turkey
Which 1796 cookbook is the first to mention cranberry sauce as a companion to turkey?Wikipedia: Cranberry sauce
Which spices go into pumpkin pie spice?Wikipedia: Pumpkin pie
Why are cranberry beds flooded at harvest time?Wikipedia: Cranberry
Parades, football and the long weekend 12
In what year did the first giant character balloon appear in New York's Thanksgiving parade?Wikipedia: Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
In what year was New York City's big Thanksgiving Day parade first held?Wikipedia: Thanksgiving (United States)
The oldest Thanksgiving "turkey trot" footrace has been run since 1896 in which city?Wikipedia: Turkey trot
Police in which city used "Black Friday" for the crowds and traffic on the day after Thanksgiving?Wikipedia: Black Friday (shopping)
What did the first New York Thanksgiving parade have instead of giant balloons?Wikipedia: Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
What is the most common distance for a Thanksgiving turkey trot?Wikipedia: Turkey trot
Which city has the oldest Thanksgiving Day parade in the United States, begun in 1920?Wikipedia: Thanksgiving (United States)
Which city's pro football team has hosted a Thanksgiving Day game every year since 1945?Wikipedia: Thanksgiving (United States)
Which Texas city's pro football team took up hosting a Thanksgiving Day game in 1966?Wikipedia: Thanksgiving (United States)
Which two colleges began playing each other at football every Thanksgiving Day in 1876?Wikipedia: American football on Thanksgiving
Why was New York's Thanksgiving parade suspended from 1942 to 1944?Wikipedia: Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
The word "Friendsgiving" was first used online in which year?Wikipedia: Friendsgiving
Thanksgivings around the world 10
Chuseok, a three-day harvest festival held at the full moon of the 8th lunar month, belongs to which country?Wikipedia: Chuseok
During the Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot, where are meals eaten?Wikipedia: Sukkot
Erntedankfest, a harvest thanksgiving held on the first Sunday of October, belongs to which country?Wikipedia: Thanksgiving
Lammas, an old English harvest festival held on August 1, has a name that means what?Wikipedia: Harvest festival
On which date does Japan celebrate Labor Thanksgiving Day?Wikipedia: Labor Thanksgiving Day
When is Thanksgiving in Canada?Wikipedia: Thanksgiving (Canada)
Which Caribbean island nation celebrates Thanksgiving on the first Monday in October?Wikipedia: Thanksgiving
Which West African country celebrates Thanksgiving on the first Thursday of November?Wikipedia: Thanksgiving
Who brought Thanksgiving to Norfolk Island in the Pacific?Wikipedia: Thanksgiving
Whose 1578 voyage in search of the Northwest Passage do some historians count as North America's first Thanksgiving?Wikipedia: Thanksgiving
How this list was compiled: Written for this site by the editors; nothing was copied from another list. Every question, wrong choice and explanation is our own wording. Each answer was checked on 2026-09-19 against the English Wikipedia article (https://en.wikipedia.org) named and linked beside the question: the article text was fetched that day and the sentence that states the fact was read before the question was kept. Every extra claim in an explanation was checked the same way. The 1621 questions follow the two first-hand accounts the articles quote, Edward Winslow's letter in Mourt's Relation and William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation, and the bank calls the event a harvest celebration, as those accounts do. Questions were dropped or reworded when the articles disagreed or hedged: the year of Martin Frobisher's thanksgiving is given as 1578 in one article and 1579 in another, so the question names the 1578 voyage and the explorer only; the first Thanksgiving football game (1869) and the first yearly college game (1876) are asked separately. Left out on purpose: crop and sales rankings that change each year, poll results, parade attendance and viewing figures, living people, and store, league and team names in the question text (cities stand in for teams). Levels are an editor's judgment for a table of adults: easy is common knowledge, hard is for the history reader. Licence: own work