Random Trivia Quiz
Chess, Morse code, Roman numerals, Sudoku: 15 questions pulled from every corner of the trivia universe.
How many sides does a hexagon have?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Six
A hexagon is a six-sided polygon, from the Greek hex meaning six. Regular hexagons tile a flat surface perfectly, which is why honeybees build their comb cells in that shape.
A pentagon has five sides, a heptagon has seven and an octagon has eight, the shape used for stop signs.
Which musical instrument has 88 keys in its standard modern form?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Piano
The standard modern piano has 88 keys, 52 white and 36 black, covering just over seven octaves from A0 to C8. The layout became the norm in the late nineteenth century.
Bartolomeo Cristofori built the first pianos in Florence around 1700, and his early instruments had only about four octaves.
How many players does each basketball team have on the court at one time?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Five
Each basketball team fields five players at a time, a number that became standard in the 1890s not long after James Naismith invented the game in 1891.
Volleyball and ice hockey use six a side, while water polo teams have seven players in the water.
Which chess piece can only ever move diagonally?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Bishop
The bishop moves any number of squares diagonally, so each bishop stays on the colour of square it started on for the whole game. Rooks move in straight lines and queens combine both.
The knight is the only piece that can jump over others, moving in an L shape of two squares one way and one square across.
Which country gave the Statue of Liberty to the United States?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
France
France presented the statue as a gift of friendship, with sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi designing it and Gustave Eiffel engineering its iron framework. It was dedicated in New York Harbor in October 1886.
The statue was shipped across the Atlantic in 350 pieces packed into 214 crates before being reassembled on its pedestal.
What is the collective noun for a group of crows?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
A murder
A group of crows is traditionally called a murder, a term that dates back to fifteenth-century English and probably reflects old superstitions about crows as omens of death.
A parliament is a group of owls, a gaggle is a group of geese on the ground and a charm is a group of goldfinches.
In which year did the Titanic sink on its maiden voyage?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
1912
RMS Titanic struck an iceberg late on 14 April 1912 and sank in the early hours of 15 April, with more than 1,500 people lost out of roughly 2,200 on board.
The wreck lay undiscovered on the Atlantic floor until September 1985, when a team led by Robert Ballard located it at a depth of about 3,800 metres (12,500 feet).
Which city hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Athens
Athens staged the first modern Olympics in April 1896, a nod to the ancient games held at Olympia in Greece. Fourteen nations and around 240 athletes, all men, took part.
Paris hosted the second Games in 1900, which were the first to include women competitors.
How many time zones does Russia span?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
11
Russia stretches across 11 time zones, from Kaliningrad in the west to Kamchatka in the far east, where the day begins nine hours before it does in Moscow.
France technically spans the most time zones of any country, 12, thanks to its overseas territories.
Which composer wrote the set of violin concertos known as The Four Seasons?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Vivaldi
Antonio Vivaldi composed The Four Seasons around 1720, four violin concertos that each depict a season, complete with musical birdsong, storms and shivering winter cold.
Vivaldi was a Catholic priest nicknamed the Red Priest for his red hair, and he taught music at an orphanage for girls in Venice.
Which is the only Grand Slam tennis tournament played on grass courts?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Wimbledon
Wimbledon is the only one of the four Grand Slam events still played on grass. The Australian and US Opens use hard courts and the French Open is played on clay.
The US Open was played on grass until 1974, then switched to clay for three years before moving to hard courts in 1978.
In poker, what is the name of the hand made up of the ten, jack, queen, king and ace of a single suit?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Royal flush
A royal flush is the highest hand in most forms of poker, an ace high straight flush running from ten to ace in one suit.
The odds of being dealt a royal flush in five cards are about 1 in 649,740.
In Morse code, which letter is represented by a single dot?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
E
The letter E is a single dot because it is the most common letter in English, so Samuel Morse gave it the shortest possible code. T, the next most common, is a single dash.
The famous distress signal SOS is three dots, three dashes, three dots, chosen because it is simple to send and recognise rather than as an abbreviation.
Which Roman numeral represents the number 500?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
D
In Roman numerals D stands for 500, so 1500 is written MD. C is 100, L is 50 and M is 1,000, and smaller numerals placed before larger ones are subtracted.
The symbol D probably comes from half of the old symbol for 1,000, which looked like a C, an I and a reversed C joined together.
In which country was the number puzzle now known as Sudoku given that name?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Japan
The puzzle company Nikoli introduced it in Japan in 1984, and its president Maki Kaji shortened the long Japanese title to sudoku, roughly meaning single numbers, in 1986.
The puzzle itself was most likely designed by retired American architect Howard Garns and published by Dell Magazines in 1979 as Number Place.
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All General Knowledge quizzes →About the Random Trivia Quiz
Nobody knows everything, which is exactly why a truly random quiz is so much fun. One moment you are counting the sides of a hexagon, the next you are remembering which chess piece only ever moves diagonally or which city staged the first modern Olympics back in 1896.
These 15 questions deliberately jump between subjects: the number of players on a basketball court, Russia's eleven time zones, the single dot of Morse code, the Roman numeral for 500 and the country that gave Sudoku its name. The opening questions are gentle, the last few will separate the casual players from the pub quiz regulars. Perfect for a quick warm up or a family showdown.
You will find 15 multiple choice questions here, each with four options. Difficulty: Medium. Most people finish in about 6 minutes, and every answer comes with a short explanation and one extra fact worth keeping.
How to play
Read the question and pick one of the four answers. The correct answer is revealed straight away with a short explanation, then press Next question to keep going. At the end you get your score out of 15 and a full review of your round. Play again any time and the questions arrive in a fresh order. There is no timer and no account.
Good to know before you play
How hard is the Random Trivia Quiz?
It is rated Medium. The first few questions are easy warm ups, the middle is classic pub quiz territory and the last three reward a little deeper knowledge.
What subjects does the quiz cover?
Everything: geometry, animals, chess, history, music, sport, Morse code, Roman numerals and puzzles. No two questions come from the same corner.
Do I get explanations for the answers?
Yes. Every answer comes with an instant explanation and a bonus fact, so you learn something whether you get it right or wrong.
Answer key: all 15 questions with explanations
- How many sides does a hexagon have?
Six A hexagon is a six-sided polygon, from the Greek hex meaning six. Regular hexagons tile a flat surface perfectly, which is why honeybees build their comb cells in that shape. A pentagon has five sides, a heptagon has seven and an octagon has eight, the shape used for stop signs. - Which musical instrument has 88 keys in its standard modern form?
Piano The standard modern piano has 88 keys, 52 white and 36 black, covering just over seven octaves from A0 to C8. The layout became the norm in the late nineteenth century. Bartolomeo Cristofori built the first pianos in Florence around 1700, and his early instruments had only about four octaves. - How many players does each basketball team have on the court at one time?
Five Each basketball team fields five players at a time, a number that became standard in the 1890s not long after James Naismith invented the game in 1891. Volleyball and ice hockey use six a side, while water polo teams have seven players in the water. - Which chess piece can only ever move diagonally?
Bishop The bishop moves any number of squares diagonally, so each bishop stays on the colour of square it started on for the whole game. Rooks move in straight lines and queens combine both. The knight is the only piece that can jump over others, moving in an L shape of two squares one way and one square across. - Which country gave the Statue of Liberty to the United States?
France France presented the statue as a gift of friendship, with sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi designing it and Gustave Eiffel engineering its iron framework. It was dedicated in New York Harbor in October 1886. The statue was shipped across the Atlantic in 350 pieces packed into 214 crates before being reassembled on its pedestal. - What is the collective noun for a group of crows?
A murder A group of crows is traditionally called a murder, a term that dates back to fifteenth-century English and probably reflects old superstitions about crows as omens of death. A parliament is a group of owls, a gaggle is a group of geese on the ground and a charm is a group of goldfinches. - In which year did the Titanic sink on its maiden voyage?
1912 RMS Titanic struck an iceberg late on 14 April 1912 and sank in the early hours of 15 April, with more than 1,500 people lost out of roughly 2,200 on board. The wreck lay undiscovered on the Atlantic floor until September 1985, when a team led by Robert Ballard located it at a depth of about 3,800 metres (12,500 feet). - Which city hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896?
Athens Athens staged the first modern Olympics in April 1896, a nod to the ancient games held at Olympia in Greece. Fourteen nations and around 240 athletes, all men, took part. Paris hosted the second Games in 1900, which were the first to include women competitors. - How many time zones does Russia span?
11 Russia stretches across 11 time zones, from Kaliningrad in the west to Kamchatka in the far east, where the day begins nine hours before it does in Moscow. France technically spans the most time zones of any country, 12, thanks to its overseas territories. - Which composer wrote the set of violin concertos known as The Four Seasons?
Vivaldi Antonio Vivaldi composed The Four Seasons around 1720, four violin concertos that each depict a season, complete with musical birdsong, storms and shivering winter cold. Vivaldi was a Catholic priest nicknamed the Red Priest for his red hair, and he taught music at an orphanage for girls in Venice. - Which is the only Grand Slam tennis tournament played on grass courts?
Wimbledon Wimbledon is the only one of the four Grand Slam events still played on grass. The Australian and US Opens use hard courts and the French Open is played on clay. The US Open was played on grass until 1974, then switched to clay for three years before moving to hard courts in 1978. - In poker, what is the name of the hand made up of the ten, jack, queen, king and ace of a single suit?
Royal flush A royal flush is the highest hand in most forms of poker, an ace high straight flush running from ten to ace in one suit. The odds of being dealt a royal flush in five cards are about 1 in 649,740. - In Morse code, which letter is represented by a single dot?
E The letter E is a single dot because it is the most common letter in English, so Samuel Morse gave it the shortest possible code. T, the next most common, is a single dash. The famous distress signal SOS is three dots, three dashes, three dots, chosen because it is simple to send and recognise rather than as an abbreviation. - Which Roman numeral represents the number 500?
D In Roman numerals D stands for 500, so 1500 is written MD. C is 100, L is 50 and M is 1,000, and smaller numerals placed before larger ones are subtracted. The symbol D probably comes from half of the old symbol for 1,000, which looked like a C, an I and a reversed C joined together. - In which country was the number puzzle now known as Sudoku given that name?
Japan The puzzle company Nikoli introduced it in Japan in 1984, and its president Maki Kaji shortened the long Japanese title to sudoku, roughly meaning single numbers, in 1986. The puzzle itself was most likely designed by retired American architect Howard Garns and published by Dell Magazines in 1979 as Number Place.
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