Hard Trivia Questions and Answers

Most pages promising hard trivia give you obscure trivia, which is not the same thing and is much easier to write. A question about a country nobody can place on a map is not difficult, it is unanswerable — and when the answer is read out, the room shrugs. These are the other kind.

74 questions with answers, 2 from each of 37 topics · free · no account needed

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What makes a question hard rather than just obscure

Every question below was written against one test, applied to the fact and never to the options: out of ten people at a table who like this subject, how many get it right? Eight or more and it is easy. About four and it is medium. One or two and it is hard.

The part that does the work is the second half of that rule. A hard question is a detail only a proper follower knows, about a subject everybody knows. Which club a famous footballer scored his 500th goal for is hard. The capital of a country most players could not find on a map is not hard, it is dead — nobody at the table had a route to it, and nobody learns anything when it is revealed.

The second rule is that difficulty never comes from the options. Four near-identical choices make a coin flip rather than a hard question, and three obscure options next to one household name hand the answer over. Every set below keeps the four clearly different and lets the fact carry the weight.

The test of whether it worked is what happens at the reveal. A good hard question gets an “ohhh, of course”. If it gets a shrug it was not hard, it was merely unknown, and it should not have been asked.

  1. 1. West Germany's shock 1954 final win is remembered in Germany as the Miracle of where?Football (Soccer)

    • Zurich
    • Basel
    • Bern ✓
    • Geneva

  2. 2. Which player scored in four different World Cup tournaments for Germany between 2002 and 2014?Football (Soccer)

    • Thomas Müller
    • Lukas Podolski
    • Miroslav Klose ✓
    • Bastian Schweinsteiger

  3. 3. Which actor voiced both Prince John and King Richard, portrayed as twin lion brothers, in Disney's "Robin Hood" (1973)?Animated Movies

    • Roger Miller
    • Brian Bedford
    • Peter Ustinov ✓
    • Phil Harris

  4. 4. In "Monsters University" (2013), which fraternity do Mike and Sulley join partway through the film?Animated Movies

    • Roar Omega Roar
    • Eta Hiss Hiss
    • Oozma Kappa ✓
    • Jaws Theta Chi

  5. 5. Avatar reclaimed the all-time box-office record from Avengers: Endgame in 2021 thanks to a theatrical re-release in which country?Blockbuster Movies

    • South Korea
    • Japan
    • China ✓
    • India

  6. 6. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial held the record for highest-grossing film of all time for how many years before Jurassic Park overtook it in 1993?Blockbuster Movies

    • 6 years
    • 11 years ✓
    • 14 years
    • 9 years

  7. 7. Who voices and performs the motion capture for Joel in The Last of Us video games?Blockbuster Video Games

    • Pedro Pascal
    • Troy Baker ✓
    • Ashley Johnson
    • Nolan North

  8. 8. Which studio primarily develops the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare sub-series?Blockbuster Video Games

    • Raven Software
    • Infinity Ward ✓
    • Sledgehammer Games
    • Treyarch

  9. 9. What is the capital of Bulgaria?Capital Cities

    • Sofia ✓
    • Plovdiv
    • Bucharest
    • Varna

  10. 10. Helsinki sits across the Gulf of Finland from the capital of which country?Capital Cities

    • Estonia ✓
    • Sweden
    • Denmark
    • Latvia

  11. 11. What is the collective name for Bowser's seven Koopa children who serve as bosses in Super Mario World?Video Game Characters

    • The Shell Squad
    • The Koopalings ✓
    • The Koopa Troop
    • The Bowser Brigade

  12. 12. What is the name of Donkey Kong's crocodilian arch-nemesis, king of the Kremlings?Video Game Characters

    • Bowser
    • King K. Rool ✓
    • Wart
    • Ganon

  13. 13. The Wii U is widely considered a commercial failure — approximately how many units did it sell worldwide?Consoles & Hardware

    • About 2 million
    • About 100 million
    • About 13.5 million ✓
    • About 45 million

  14. 14. In which year did Sega officially announce it would stop making home consoles and become a third-party publisher?Consoles & Hardware

    • 1998
    • 2001 ✓
    • 1995
    • 2004

  15. 15. As of the mid-2020s, which esports tournament has historically held the largest prize pool of any single esports event?Esports

    • The Fortnite World Cup
    • The League of Legends World Championship
    • EVO
    • The International (Dota 2) ✓

  16. 16. Which former CS:GO pro, known as "shroud," became a top variety streamer after retiring from competition?Esports

    • Guy Beahm
    • Michael Grzesiek ✓
    • Tyler Blevins
    • Félix Lengyel

  17. 17. Which African country's flag features a grey crowned crane?Flags

    • Uganda ✓
    • Rwanda
    • Kenya
    • Tanzania

  18. 18. Which African country's flag features an orange eagle in flight?Flags

    • Botswana
    • Zambia ✓
    • Malawi
    • Zimbabwe

  19. 19. Which record label, founded by Suge Knight, was home to Tupac Shakur and Dr. Dre in the early-to-mid 1990s?Hip-Hop

    • Bad Boy Records
    • Death Row Records ✓
    • Aftermath Entertainment
    • Ruthless Records

  20. 20. Which 2001 Jay-Z album, widely considered one of the greatest hip-hop records, features "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)"?Hip-Hop

    • The Black Album
    • The Blueprint ✓
    • 4:44
    • Reasonable Doubt

  21. 21. In which decade was the New7Wonders of the World list, chosen by public vote, first announced?Landmarks

    • 2000s ✓
    • 1980s
    • 1990s
    • 2010s

  22. 22. How many years has construction of the Sagrada Família been ongoing, since it began in 1882?Landmarks

    • Over 140 years ✓
    • Over 200 years
    • About 50 years
    • About 75 years

  23. 23. Which song held the Billboard Hot 100 number-one spot for 19 consecutive weeks, a record as of the mid-2020s?Pop Music

    • "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X ✓
    • "Shape of You" by Ed Sheeran
    • "One Sweet Day" by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men
    • "Despacito" by Luis Fonsi

  24. 24. Which South Korean girl group, known for "Gee" and later hits, is among K-pop's most influential early global acts?Pop Music

    • Blackpink
    • Girls' Generation ✓
    • Twice
    • Red Velvet

  25. 25. In the 1981 arcade version of Donkey Kong, what was Mario originally called?Retro Video Games

    • Plumber Joe
    • Marco
    • Jumpman ✓
    • Mr. Video

  26. 26. In which country was Tetris originally developed, behind the Iron Curtain?Retro Video Games

    • Poland
    • East Germany
    • Czechoslovakia
    • The Soviet Union ✓

  27. 27. Which 2018 biopic, starring Rami Malek, dramatized Freddie Mercury and Queen's rise to fame?Rock Music

    • Walk the Line
    • Straight Outta Compton
    • Rocketman
    • Bohemian Rhapsody ✓

  28. 28. Which grunge frontman, having led both Soundgarden and Audioslave, died by suicide in 2017?Rock Music

    • Kurt Cobain
    • Eddie Vedder
    • Layne Staley
    • Chris Cornell ✓

  29. 29. In which year was "Safety Dance" by Men Without Hats released?One-Hit Wonders

    • 1982 ✓
    • 1986
    • 1980
    • 1984

  30. 30. In which year was "867-5309/Jenny" by Tommy Tutone released?One-Hit Wonders

    • 1983
    • 1985
    • 1981 ✓
    • 1979

  31. 31. Which captain lifted India's first World Cup in 1983?Cricket

    • Ravi Shastri
    • Mohinder Amarnath
    • Sunil Gavaskar
    • Kapil Dev ✓

  32. 32. How many World Cups in a row did Australia win from 1999?Cricket

    • Five
    • Four
    • Three ✓
    • Two

  33. 33. Which rapper headlined the 2022 halftime show alongside Snoop Dogg and Eminem?NFL & American Football

    • Dr. Dre ✓
    • 50 Cent
    • Ice Cube
    • Jay-Z

  34. 34. Which team did Tom Brady beat for his first Super Bowl ring?NFL & American Football

    • Oakland Raiders
    • Philadelphia Eagles
    • Carolina Panthers
    • St. Louis Rams ✓

  35. 35. Which former Ali sparring partner beat him in 1980 as champion?Boxing

    • Michael Spinks
    • Trevor Berbick
    • Leon Spinks
    • Larry Holmes ✓

  36. 36. What is the name for a bout agreed at a weight between two official divisions?Boxing

    • An open weight
    • A split weight
    • A catchweight ✓
    • A crossweight

  37. 37. Which driver became the youngest ever world champion in 2010?Formula 1

    • Sebastian Vettel ✓
    • Fernando Alonso
    • Max Verstappen
    • Lewis Hamilton

  38. 38. Which Brazilian won three titles in the 1980s and 90s before his death at Imola?Formula 1

    • Ayrton Senna ✓
    • Rubens Barrichello
    • Nelson Piquet
    • Emerson Fittipaldi

  39. 39. Until 1987 the Australian Open was played on which surface?Tennis

    • Wood
    • Carpet
    • Clay
    • Grass ✓

  40. 40. What is it called when a player wins all four majors in the same calendar year?Tennis

    • A super slam
    • A career slam
    • A golden slam
    • A Grand Slam ✓

  41. 41. Which French town hosted the very first Winter Olympics in 1924?The Olympics

    • Annecy
    • Chamonix ✓
    • Grenoble
    • Albertville

  42. 42. Which apparatus is contested by men but not women in Olympic gymnastics?The Olympics

    • The uneven bars
    • The pommel horse ✓
    • The vault
    • The balance beam

  43. 43. Which team blew a 3-1 Finals lead in 2016?Basketball

    • Oklahoma City Thunder
    • Golden State Warriors ✓
    • San Antonio Spurs
    • Cleveland Cavaliers

  44. 44. Which team did the Detroit Pistons upset in the 2004 NBA Finals?Basketball

    • San Antonio Spurs
    • Indiana Pacers
    • Los Angeles Lakers ✓
    • New Jersey Nets

  45. 45. Which fictional holiday, invented on Seinfeld, involves an aluminum pole and the "Airing of Grievances"?Sitcoms

    • Yada Yada Day
    • Serenity Now
    • Festivus ✓
    • The Bro

  46. 46. Which 30 Rock character, played by Alec Baldwin, is the eccentric, conservative network executive?Sitcoms

    • Jack Donaghy ✓
    • Pete Hornberger
    • Tracy Jordan
    • Kenneth Parcell

  47. 47. Which MTV reality competition show sends young adults on road trips in an RV to complete challenges?Reality TV

    • The Challenge
    • The Real World
    • Road Rules ✓
    • Jersey Shore

  48. 48. Which Jersey Shore cast member, known for his gym-tanning-laundry routine, uses the nickname "The Situation"?Reality TV

    • Ronnie Ortiz-Magro
    • Mike Sorrentino ✓
    • Vinny Guadagnino
    • Pauly D

  49. 49. Which Studio Ghibli film, set during World War II, follows two siblings struggling to survive in wartime Japan?Anime

    • The Wind Rises
    • Grave of the Fireflies ✓
    • My Neighbor Totoro
    • Spirited Away

  50. 50. Which sports anime follows a figure skater inspired to return after a Russian skater becomes his coach?Anime

    • Ace of Diamond
    • Free!
    • Yuri!!! on Ice ✓
    • Haikyu!!

  51. 51. Which animated spin-off of Beavis and Butt-Head follows a sarcastic, deadpan teenage girl navigating high school?Cartoons

    • As Told by Ginger
    • My Life as a Teenage Robot
    • Daria ✓
    • Clueless

  52. 52. Which cartoon follows two farm siblings, one a bovine and one a poultry, who face bizarre adventures together?Cartoons

    • Johnny Bravo
    • I Am Weasel
    • Dexter's Laboratory
    • Cow and Chicken ✓

  53. 53. Which stone, discovered in 1799, allowed scholars to finally decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics?The Ancient World

    • The Narmer Palette
    • The Behistun Inscription
    • The Rosetta Stone ✓
    • The Palermo Stone

  54. 54. Which sea did the Romans famously call "Mare Nostrum," meaning "our sea," reflecting their control over it?The Ancient World

    • The Black Sea
    • The Mediterranean Sea ✓
    • The Adriatic Sea
    • The Aegean Sea

  55. 55. Which country was Archduke Franz Ferdinand visiting when he was assassinated in 1914?The World Wars

    • Austria
    • Bosnia (in Sarajevo) ✓
    • Hungary
    • Serbia

  56. 56. Which beach codenames, used during the D-Day landings, included Omaha and Utah for American forces?The World Wars

    • The three Pacific landing zones
    • The five Normandy landing beaches ✓
    • The four African landing sites
    • The Sicily landing points

  57. 57. Which German physicist first proved the existence of electromagnetic waves, work that later enabled radio technology?Inventions & Discoveries

    • Guglielmo Marconi
    • Heinrich Hertz ✓
    • James Clerk Maxwell
    • Nikola Tesla

  58. 58. Which French brothers are credited with inventing an early motion picture camera and projector in the 1890s?Inventions & Discoveries

    • The Curie brothers
    • The Lumière brothers ✓
    • The Wright brothers
    • The Montgolfier brothers

  59. 59. How many years did Louis XIV reign as King of France, making his the longest verified reign of any European monarch?Royals & Rulers

    • 62 years
    • 82 years
    • 52 years
    • 72 years ✓

  60. 60. To which remote South Atlantic island was Napoleon exiled after his final defeat, where he died in 1821?Royals & Rulers

    • Elba
    • Saint Helena ✓
    • Corsica
    • Malta

  61. 61. What is the name for the layer of the atmosphere that contains most of the ozone?Science

    • The troposphere
    • The stratosphere ✓
    • The mesosphere
    • The thermosphere

  62. 62. Which part of the cell is often called the powerhouse for producing energy?Science

    • The mitochondria ✓
    • The cytoplasm
    • The nucleus
    • The ribosome

  63. 63. What colour results from mixing all paint colours together in theory?General Knowledge

    • Brown
    • Black ✓
    • Grey
    • White

  64. 64. What are colours next to each other on the colour wheel called?General Knowledge

    • Neutral colours
    • Analogous colours ✓
    • Complementary colours
    • Primary colours

  65. 65. Which subspecies of tiger is the largest, found in eastern Russia?Animals & Nature

    • The Siberian tiger ✓
    • The Bengal tiger
    • The Sumatran tiger
    • The Malayan tiger

  66. 66. Which octopus species is one of the most venomous animals in the ocean despite its tiny size?Animals & Nature

    • The common octopus
    • The mimic octopus
    • The blue-ringed octopus ✓
    • The giant Pacific octopus

  67. 67. What was the real name of the meme known as Grumpy Cat?Internet & Memes

    • Colonel Meow
    • Tardar Sauce ✓
    • Maru
    • Lil Bub

  68. 68. What breed was the cat behind the animated Nyan Cat meme?Internet & Memes

    • It was a video game sprite
    • It was a stuffed toy
    • It was purely computer generated
    • It was a real cat named Marty ✓

  69. 69. Complete Norma Desmond's line in "Sunset Boulevard": "I am big! It's the ___ that got small"?Famous Movie Quotes

    • Pictures ✓
    • World
    • Stars
    • Studios

  70. 70. In "The Maltese Falcon" (1941), Sam Spade calls the statuette "the stuff that ___ are made of"?Famous Movie Quotes

    • Legends
    • Nightmares
    • Fortunes
    • Dreams ✓

  71. 71. Which 1932 Best Picture winner remains the only film in Oscar history to win with no other nominations at all?The Oscars

    • Wings
    • Cavalcade
    • Cimarron
    • Grand Hotel ✓

  72. 72. Which 1931 western was the only one of its genre to win Best Picture for nearly six decades, until "Dances with Wolves"?The Oscars

    • Cimarron ✓
    • Billy the Kid
    • The Big Trail
    • Cavalcade

  73. 73. Which HBO series uses a different cover of "Way Down in the Hole" for each season?TV Theme Tunes

    • The Sopranos
    • True Detective
    • Deadwood
    • The Wire ✓

  74. 74. Which Radiophonic Workshop engineer realised the original Doctor Who theme?TV Theme Tunes

    • Daphne Oram
    • Brian Hodgson
    • Delia Derbyshire ✓
    • Dick Mills

Where the rest of them are

These 74 are a cross-section: two from every topic, out of 481 published at this level. Each question above links to the topic page it came from, and every one of those carries a full set at all three levels. The index of all 37 topics is the place to start if you want a round on one subject rather than a spread.

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