Pub Quiz Night

Pub Quiz Questions

A pub quiz is the all-rounder's night: a bit of history, a bit of science, a capital city or two, some sport and the odd pop culture curveball. Nobody knows everything, and that's the fun of it. Below are 25 pub quiz questions with answers, written for Trivia Night HQ and checked against their sources, sorted from easy to hard so you can warm up before things get tricky.

See the 25 questions

Free, no sign-up needed. 20 questions, 10 seconds each.

Every question has four options. Make your pick, then tap "Show answer" to see if you were right, with a short explanation and the source. Borrow them for a family quiz, a classroom warm-up or a team round at your next quiz night.

Want more? The quick play deals you 20 fresh pub quiz questions in the show's format: 5 easy, 10 medium, 4 hard and one Last Call, ten seconds each, with points for speed. The house crew, our badged AI regulars, will happily race you. Then watch Roxy Midnight host Pub Quiz Night on YouTube and play that night's exact 20 on the leaderboard.

Roxy's advice: trust your first instinct, then read the fact anyway. That's how general knowledge grows.

25 pub quiz trivia questions and answers

Pick your answer, then tap "Show answer". These questions never turn up in a night or a quick play.

Easy 8 questions

  1. 1. How many strings does a standard violin have?

    1. A.3
    2. B.4
    3. C.5
    4. D.6
    Show answerHide answer

    Answer: B. 4

    Violins are tuned in perfect fifths to the notes G, D, A and E.

    Source

  2. 2. Which country gave the Statue of Liberty to the United States?

    1. A.Spain
    2. B.Italy
    3. C.United Kingdom
    4. D.France
    Show answerHide answer

    Answer: D. France

    French sculptor Bartholdi designed the copper statue, and Gustave Eiffel built its metal framework.

    Source

  3. 3. In which country were the ancient Olympic Games held?

    1. A.Turkey
    2. B.Egypt
    3. C.Greece
    4. D.Italy
    Show answerHide answer

    Answer: C. Greece

    They were held every four years at the sanctuary of Zeus in Olympia, from the 8th century BC to the 4th century AD.

    Source

  4. 4. Which band recorded the 1975 song 'Bohemian Rhapsody'?

    1. A.Led Zeppelin
    2. B.Queen
    3. C.The Beatles
    4. D.Pink Floyd
    Show answerHide answer

    Answer: B. Queen

    It appeared on the album A Night at the Opera and was recorded at five studios in 1975.

    Source

  5. 5. Who wrote the play 'Romeo and Juliet'?

    1. A.Christopher Marlowe
    2. B.William Shakespeare
    3. C.Charles Dickens
    4. D.Oscar Wilde
    Show answerHide answer

    Answer: B. William Shakespeare

    The play is set in Verona, Italy, where the feuding Montague and Capulet families clash.

    Source

  6. 6. Which artist painted the 'Mona Lisa'?

    1. A.Michelangelo
    2. B.Rembrandt
    3. C.Raphael
    4. D.Leonardo da Vinci
    Show answerHide answer

    Answer: D. Leonardo da Vinci

    The Mona Lisa hangs in the Louvre in Paris and is painted on a poplar wood panel, not on canvas.

    Source

  7. 7. How many interlocking rings make up the Olympic symbol?

    1. A.6
    2. B.7
    3. C.5
    4. D.4
    Show answerHide answer

    Answer: C. 5

    The rings are blue, yellow, black, green and red on a white field, a design Pierre de Coubertin created in 1913.

    Source

  8. 8. Which legume is the main ingredient in hummus?

    1. A.Kidney beans
    2. B.Chickpeas
    3. C.Lentils
    4. D.Peas
    Show answerHide answer

    Answer: B. Chickpeas

    Classic hummus blends mashed chickpeas with tahini, lemon juice and garlic. Its name is simply the Arabic word for chickpeas.

    Source

Medium 12 questions

  1. 9. What is the name of the modern writing system used for the Korean language?

    1. A.Hangul
    2. B.Hiragana
    3. C.Hanzi
    4. D.Devanagari
    Show answerHide answer

    Answer: A. Hangul

    Hangul is a phonographic script, where each symbol represents a sound.

    Source

  2. 10. How many letters are in the modern Greek alphabet?

    1. A.22
    2. B.24
    3. C.26
    4. D.28
    Show answerHide answer

    Answer: B. 24

    The 24 letters run from alpha to omega, and this Ionic-based alphabet became standard by the end of the 4th century BC.

    Source

  3. 11. Who invented dynamite?

    1. A.Samuel Morse
    2. B.Nikola Tesla
    3. C.Thomas Edison
    4. D.Alfred Nobel
    Show answerHide answer

    Answer: D. Alfred Nobel

    Nobel's dynamite was safer to handle than raw nitroglycerin; he later left his fortune to establish the Nobel Prizes.

    Source

  4. 12. Which living bird lays the largest eggs?

    1. A.Andean condor
    2. B.Ostrich
    3. C.Cassowary
    4. D.Emu
    Show answerHide answer

    Answer: B. Ostrich

    Ostriches are also the heaviest and largest living birds.

    Source

  5. 13. Which pharaoh's tomb did Howard Carter discover in 1922?

    1. A.Akhenaten
    2. B.Ramesses II
    3. C.Tutankhamun
    4. D.Khufu
    Show answerHide answer

    Answer: C. Tutankhamun

    Carter's team uncovered the boy king's treasure-filled tomb in Egypt's Valley of the Kings.

    Source

  6. 14. In the novel 'Don Quixote', what is the name of the knight's loyal squire?

    1. A.Dulcinea
    2. B.Sansón Carrasco
    3. C.Sancho Panza
    4. D.Rocinante
    Show answerHide answer

    Answer: C. Sancho Panza

    Sancho is famous for his 'sanchismos', a mix of broad humour and ironic Spanish proverbs.

    Source

  7. 15. Who wrote the 1851 novel 'Moby-Dick'?

    1. A.Herman Melville
    2. B.Nathaniel Hawthorne
    3. C.Jack London
    4. D.Mark Twain
    Show answerHide answer

    Answer: A. Herman Melville

    Melville drew on his own time as a sailor, including on whalers, between 1841 and 1844.

    Source

  8. 16. Who directed the 1975 shark thriller 'Jaws'?

    1. A.Francis Ford Coppola
    2. B.George Lucas
    3. C.Ridley Scott
    4. D.Steven Spielberg
    Show answerHide answer

    Answer: D. Steven Spielberg

    Because the mechanical sharks often malfunctioned, Spielberg mostly suggested the shark, helped by John Williams's ominous theme.

    Source

  9. 17. Which metal has the chemical symbol Fe?

    1. A.Silver
    2. B.Tin
    3. C.Lead
    4. D.Iron
    Show answerHide answer

    Answer: D. Iron

    The symbol Fe comes from ferrum, the Latin word for iron. By mass, iron is the most common element on Earth.

    Source

  10. 18. Who wrote the 1813 novel 'Pride and Prejudice'?

    1. A.Mary Shelley
    2. B.Jane Austen
    3. C.Charlotte Bronte
    4. D.George Eliot
    Show answerHide answer

    Answer: B. Jane Austen

    Austen wrote the first draft, called First Impressions, when she was only 20 or 21.

    Source

  11. 19. On which planet would you find the giant storm called the Great Red Spot?

    1. A.Jupiter
    2. B.Saturn
    3. C.Mars
    4. D.Neptune
    Show answerHide answer

    Answer: A. Jupiter

    The Great Red Spot is the largest anticyclonic storm in the Solar System, a vast high-pressure swirl in Jupiter's clouds.

    Source

  12. 20. In which sport do teams compete for the Stanley Cup?

    1. A.Basketball
    2. B.Ice hockey
    3. C.Baseball
    4. D.American football
    Show answerHide answer

    Answer: B. Ice hockey

    First awarded in 1893, it is the oldest trophy for professional sports teams in North America.

    Source

Hard 5 questions

  1. 21. Which of these is the world's northernmost capital city of a sovereign state?

    1. A.Reykjavík
    2. B.Stockholm
    3. C.Helsinki
    4. D.Oslo
    Show answerHide answer

    Answer: A. Reykjavík

    Reykjavík sits at 64°08′ N. Nuuk is slightly farther north, but Greenland is not an independent state.

    Source

  2. 22. Which architect designed the Guggenheim Museum in New York City?

    1. A.Le Corbusier
    2. B.Mies van der Rohe
    3. C.Frank Lloyd Wright
    4. D.Frank Gehry
    Show answerHide answer

    Answer: C. Frank Lloyd Wright

    The spiral building took 15 years to design and build and was completed in 1959.

    Source

  3. 23. Who painted the 1656 masterpiece 'Las Meninas'?

    1. A.Bartolomé Murillo
    2. B.Diego Velázquez
    3. C.Francisco Goya
    4. D.El Greco
    Show answerHide answer

    Answer: B. Diego Velázquez

    The painting hangs in the Prado in Madrid; Velázquez even portrays himself at work on a large canvas inside it.

    Source

  4. 24. Who wrote the modernist poem 'The Waste Land', published in 1922?

    1. A.Ezra Pound
    2. B.T. S. Eliot
    3. C.W. B. Yeats
    4. D.W. H. Auden
    Show answerHide answer

    Answer: B. T. S. Eliot

    The 434-line poem first appeared in Eliot's magazine The Criterion in October 1922.

    Source

  5. 25. Mansa Musa, famed for his vast wealth, ruled which West African empire?

    1. A.Ghana Empire
    2. B.Songhai Empire
    3. C.Mali Empire
    4. D.Kanem-Bornu Empire
    Show answerHide answer

    Answer: C. Mali Empire

    Musa was the ninth Mansa of Mali, which reached its territorial peak during his reign.

    Source

Ready for 20 more?

Quick play deals 20 fresh pub quiz questions: 5 easy, 10 medium, 4 hard and a Last Call. Points for speed, and the house crew (badged AI regulars) will race you.

Pub Quiz Night episodes

Roxy Midnight hosts each night on YouTube. Play the same 20 questions here first, then watch her reveal the answers.

Shorts

  • Capital

    What's the Capital of Australia? 5 Seconds. #trivia #pubquiz

  • 3 in 15

    3 Quiz Questions, 5 Seconds Each. Can You Get All 3? #pubquiz #trivia

  • Last Call

    Who Ruled the Longest? 5 Seconds, No Mercy #trivia

Questions about playing

How does scoring work?
Every question has a ten-second countdown. A right answer scores its round's points (100 in the Warm-Up Round, 150 in the Main Stage, 250 in the Hard Round, and 500 in the Last Call), and the faster you answer, the more you keep: an instant answer earns them all, one at the buzzer about half. Wrong answers and timeouts score nothing. Your tier comes from how many you get right: Newcomer (0 to 5), Regular (6 to 10), VIP (11 to 15), and Headliner (16 to 20). A perfect 20 earns the Perfect Night badge.
Is Trivia Night HQ free?
Yes. The sample questions, every quick play and every night are free to play, and you can play as a guest. A free account keeps your scores and puts you on the leaderboard.
How often are there new Pub Quiz nights?
Roxy Midnight hosts new themed nights on the Trivia Night HQ YouTube channel every week. Each night premieres there, then you can play its exact 20 questions here. Quick play deals fresh questions any time.
Are these the questions from the show?
No. The sample questions on this page are never used in a night or a quick play, so practising here won't spoil a night. Each night's 20 questions stay secret until you play it.