How it works
These 80 Thanksgiving trivia questions for adults keep to the record. The 1621 feast ran three days, with five deer and about ninety Wampanoag guests. Presidents proclaimed the holiday year by year until a 1941 law. The turkey pardon became permanent only in 1989.
Read the full guide
Six topics, from Plymouth to Liberia
The 1621 harvest and Plymouth follows the two first-hand accounts. How it became a holiday 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.
A round between dinner and pie
Each topic holds 10 to 16 questions, short enough to finish before the pie is cut. For teams, choose a round under Start from, below the question, play it, press Print, then tick With answer key to read from. Set Start from to All topics, pick Scored round, then Start the round: 20 questions, totaled by topic at the end.
- 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.
- 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.
- When someone blames the turkey for the nap, find the tryptophan question in On the table. The large meal itself does more.
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. The name First Thanksgiving comes from a footnote Alexander Young added to an 1841 reprint of Winslow's account.
Can children take this Thanksgiving quiz too?
From about ten, yes: every question has four choices. The pack is judged for adults, and the hard questions are spread across all six topics. The turkey and On the table need no dates, so start there. The levels are our estimate.
Why are cranberry beds flooded at harvest?
So the berries can be gathered. The beds are flooded in the autumn, a harvester knocks the fruit off the vines, and the berries float and are corralled into a corner. During the growing season the beds are not flooded.