101 General Trivia Questions and Answers to Challenge Your Friends

Everyone enjoys a good challenge for their intellect. Here are 101 general trivia questions and answers that will provide hours of entertainment and mental stimulation. We’ve curated an extensive collection spanning multiple categories to ensure there’s something for everyone, from history buffs to pop culture enthusiasts.

What makes these trivia questions special? They combine the familiar with the unexpected, creating the perfect balance of “I know this!” moments and surprising revelations that make trivia truly engaging. So gather your friends, prepare your competitive spirit, and discover who among you possesses the most diverse knowledge. 

Let’s embark on this intellectual journey together!

Best General Trivia Questions and Answers 

1. What was the first MTV video played?

 Answer: Video Killed the Radio Star

2. Which band’s album cover features a baby swimming underwater, chasing a dollar bill?

Answer: Nirvana (Nevermind)

3.  What artist has won the most Grammy Awards in history?

 Answer: Beyoncé

4. Which movie features the quote, “Jack, I want you to draw me like one of your French girls”?

Answer: Titanic

5. What was the first feature-length animated film ever released?

 Answer: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

6. Which actor played Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? 

Answer: Robert Downey Jr. 

7. Who is known as “The Black Mamba” in basketball? 

Answer: Kobe Bryant 

8. Which gymnast is the most decorated Olympic gymnast of all time?

Answer: Simone Biles

9. What team broke the “Curse of the Bambino” by winning the World Series in 2004?

 Answer: Boston Red Sox

10. In what year did the Berlin Wall fall?

 Answer: 1989

11. Which ancient wonder was built as a tomb for an Egyptian pharaoh?

 Answer: The Great Pyramid of Giza

12. During which decade did the Chernobyl disaster occur?

 Answer: 1980

13. Which U.S. President founded NASA? 

Answer: Dwight D. Eisenhower

14. Who was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize?

 Answer: Marie Curie 

15. Which queen had the longest reign in British history? 

Answer: Queen Elizabeth II

16. Who wrote “The Communist Manifesto”? 

Answer: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

17. What is the capital city of Australia?

 Answer: Canberra 

18. Which European city is divided by the Danube River?

 Answer: Budapest (Hungary’s capital)

19. What’s the smallest country in the world by land area? 

Answer: Vatican City

20. Which country has the largest number of post offices?

 Answer: India 

21. Where was the fortune cookie invented?

 Answer: Japan

22. Which desert is the largest in the world? 

Answer: Antarctica

23. What is the only continent with no active volcanoes?

 Answer: Australia

24. Which country is the origin of the croissant?

 Answer: Austria

25. What grain was the first to be grown as a crop?

 Answer: Wheat

26. Which country consumes the most coffee per capita? 

Answer: Finland

27. What is the main ingredient in traditional Japanese miso soup?

 Answer: Miso paste

28.  What is the world’s most expensive spice by weight?

 Answer: Saffron 

29. Which popular bar drink originated as a medicinal tonic?

 Answer: Gin and tonic 

30. What fruit was once called a “Chinese gooseberry” before being renamed?

 Answer: Kiwifruit

31. How many hearts does an octopus have?

 Answer: Three hearts

32. What is the only food that never spoils?

 Answer: Honey

33. What percentage of the human body is water?

 Answer: About 60%

34. What is the most abundant gas in Earth’s atmosphere? 

Answer: Nitrogen

35. What metal is liquid at room temperature? 

Answer: Mercury

36. How many bones does an adult human have?

 Answer: 206 bones

37. What is the hardest natural substance on Earth?

 Answer: Diamond

38. Which sport is known as “the fastest game on ice”? 

Answer: Ice Hockey 

39. Who holds the record for the most Olympic medals?

 Answer: Michael Phelps 

40. In which sport would you perform a “Fosbury Flop”?

 Answer: High Jump

41. Which country has won the most FIFA World Cups? 

Answer: Brazil

42. What’s the national sport of Canada?

 Answer: Lacrosse 

43. Which tennis player has won the most Grand Slam titles?

 Answer: Novak Djokovic

44. In what year were the first modern Olympic Games held? 

Answer: 1896

45. Who wrote the novel “Pride and Prejudice”?

 Answer: Jane Austen 

46. What’s the best-selling book series of all time?

 Answer: Harry Potter

47. Which Shakespeare play features the line “To be, or not to be”?

 Answer: Hamlet

48. What is the term for a word that is spelled the same forwards and backwards?

 Answer: Palindrome 

49. What is the only letter that doesn’t appear in any U.S. state name?

 Answer: Letter Q

50. What’s the most widely spoken language in the world?

 Answer: English

51. What is the dot over the letter ‘i’ called?

 Answer: A tittle

52. What does “www” stand for in a website address?

 Answer: World Wide Web 

53. In what year was the first iPhone released? 

Answer: 2007

54. Who is considered the father of computer science?

 Answer: Alan Turing

55. Which company manufactures Barbie dolls?

 Answer: Mattel 

56. What is the name of the spacecraft NASA launched to study Jupiter’s moon Europa?

Answer: Europa Clipper

57. Which social media platform was originally called “Thefacebook”?

 Answer: Facebook

58. What company was originally called “Quantum Computer Services”? 

Answer: AOL (America Online)

59. How long can a snail sleep in one go?

 Answer: Up to three years 

60. What animal has the longest lifespan?

 Answer: Antarctica glass sponge

61. How many stomachs does a cow have? 

Answer: One

62. What is the only fruit that has its seeds on the outside?

 Answer: Strawberry 

63. What natural disaster is measured using the Richter scale?

 Answer: Earthquakes

64. How many taste buds does the average human tongue have?

 Answer:  10,000

65. What percentage of our brains do humans use?

 Answer: 100% (the “10% myth” is false)

66. Who was the first person to circumnavigate the globe?

 Answer: Juan Sebastián Elcano

67. What year did the Titanic sink?

 Answer: 1912

68. Which U.S. president appears on the dime?

 Answer: Franklin D. Roosevelt

69. Who painted “Starry Night”?

 Answer: Vincent van Gogh

70. What was the first feature-length film to be completely computer-animated?

 Answer: Toy Story

71. Which actor played Wolverine in the X-Men film series?

 Answer: Hugh Jackman

72. What is the smallest bone in the human body?

 Answer: The stapes

73. Which planet has the most moons?

 Answer: Saturn

74. What element does the chemical symbol “Au” stand for? 

Answer: Gold

75. What is the largest ocean on Earth?

 Answer: Pacific Ocean

76. Which country is home to the Great Barrier Reef? 

Answer: Australia

77. What is the official language of Brazil?

 Answer: Portuguese

78. What does the “SOS” distress signal stand for?

 Answer: Nothing

79. What is the longest word in the English language with no repeated letters?

 Answer: subdermatoglyphic, dermatoglyphics, and uncopyrightable.

80. What language has the most words?

 Answer: English

81. Which ancient civilization built Machu Picchu?

Answer: The Inca civilization

82. What is the capital of Canada?

Answer: Ottawa

83. What is the chemical symbol for gold?

Answer: Au

84. Which planet is closest to the sun?

Answer: Mercury

85. Who wrote the Harry Potter series?

Answer: J.K. Rowling

86. Which band performed “Bohemian Rhapsody”?

Answer: Queen

87. What was the first toy to be advertised on television?

 Answer: Mr. Potato Head

88. Which ancient civilization invented the concept of zero?

 Answer: The Mayans 

89. What was the first country to give women the right to vote?

 Answer: New Zealand

90. Who is the only person to win both an Oscar and a Nobel Prize?

 Answer: George Bernard Shaw

91. What is the best-selling novel of all time?

 Answer: Don Quixote

92. Which famous author wrote under the pen name “Mark Twain”? 

Answer: Samuel Clemens

93. What’s the largest internal organ in the human body?

 Answer: The liver

94. How many chromosomes do humans have?

 Answer: 46

95. Which animal can change its gender?

 Answer: Clownfish

96. What is the national dish of Spain? 

 Answer: Paella

97. Which fruit contains the most protein per 100 calories?

 Answer: Guava

98. What is the only vegetable or fruit that is never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form except fresh? 

Answer: Lettuce

99. What common household item was originally invented as a drug to treat heart conditions?

Answer: Aspirin

100. What animal has fingerprints nearly identical to humans?

 Answer: Koalas

101. Which famous scientist was also an accomplished musician who played the violin?

Answer: Albert Einstein

What is a Trivia Game?

A trivia game is an entertaining activity where players answer questions about random facts, history, science, sports, and other topics. Think of it as a friendly test of your general knowledge, but without the pressure of school exams.

These games work by presenting questions of varying difficulty levels to individual players or teams. The questions might cover anything from “What’s the capital of France?” to “Which movie won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1994?” Players earn points for correct answers, and the person or team with the most points wins.

Trivia games come in many forms. You might find them at local pubs during weekly trivia nights, as board games for family gatherings, or as mobile apps you can play anywhere. Popular examples include Trivial Pursuit, Jeopardy, and countless smartphone apps.

What makes trivia games special is how they bring people together while celebrating the random bits of knowledge we collect throughout life. 

How Did You Score?

Congratulations on completing all of our general trivia questions and answers! 

You aced the quiz or discovered new areas to explore, We hope you enjoyed this journey through various knowledge domains. 

How many questions did you answer correctly?