Quiz Night Questions

Unless you are running a particularly tight theme, the questions for your quiz night should cover a broad range of topics so that as many participants as possible enjoy the event.

While some quiz nights have all their questions mixed in together in general rounds, having fixed topics for rounds provides for better use of pre-emptive bonuses.

Example topics are:

  • Music
  • Sport
  • General knowledge
  • History
  • Today's Events
  • Geography
  • Celebrities
  • Movies
  • Art

Each round should be a consistent number of questions, usually 10-12. Try to avoid ambiguous questions and be prepared to accept multiple answers in the event that there may be more than one that is correct.

For particularly challenging questions, consider making it a multiple choice or even true or false for a statement so that the quiz night is not too difficult.

Bonus Points

Many quiz nights incorporate a "joker" or "bonus" card that can be played on a single round of each table's choosing. Whether you require people to play their joker prior to hearing the questions for the round or when handing up their answers is up to you. Keep in mind that rounds with fixed topics are more conducive to the former - it's easier for a table who consider themselves strong with sport-related questions to play a joker prior to the sports round than merely "Round 5", for example.

Table Rounds

As well as your typical quiz night question rounds, two or more table rounds are a great way for tables to kick start their night and fill in the gaps in proceedings. They're also great ice-breakers for tables at which not all participants know each other.

Table rounds can be as simple as a sheet of paper for each round. You can specify at which point these need to be handed up. e.g., the first after Round 3, the second after Round 5, etc.

A few ideas for table rounds:

  • identify the corporate logos
  • name the movie from the identified scene
  • identify the famous boats
  • name the country for each of the pictured flags
  • name the owner of the famous cleavage depicted (guys love this one)
  • identify the country from its shape or location on a map

Riddles

  1. Who makes it, has no need of it.
    Who buys it, has no use for it.
    Who uses it can neither see nor feel it.
    What is it?
  2. I know a word of letters three.
    Add two, and fewer there will be.
  3. Each morning I appear to lie at your feet,
    All day I will follow no matter how fast you run,
    Yet I nearly perish in the midday sun.
    What am I?
  4. You heard me before, yet you hear me again,
    Then I die, 'till you call me again.
    What am I?
  5. What regularly changes shape, yet remains a sphere
    is always there, but often not seen?
  6. What is a room you cannot enter?
  7. A word I know, six letters it contains.
    Subtract just one, and twelve is what remains.
  8. A cowboy rode to an inn on Friday,
    stayed two nights, and left on Friday.
    How could that be?
  9. What happened in 1961 that will not
    happen again for over 4000 years?
  10. You are in a cold house in the winter.
    It is dark. You have one match.
    There is a candle and there is a wood burning stove.
    Which do you light first?

Riddles (Answers)

  1. A coffin
  2. Few
  3. Shadow
  4. Echo
  5. Moon
  6. Mushroom
  7. Dozens
  8. His horse's name was Friday
  9. The year's date reads the same turned upside down.
  10. The match