The Ultimate Pub Quiz: 80 Questions and Answers
Trivia · 9 min read
Everyone has sat through a bad pub quiz. The questions are either impossible or insultingly easy, the host reads them twice as slowly as they need to, and by round three half the room is talking about something else. A good one is a different thing entirely — it moves, it mixes the gettable with the “oh, I should know this”, and it keeps every table in it right up to the last answer.
So here are 80 questions, sorted into eight proper rounds, with the answers hidden until you want them. Read them out at the pub, use them at a dinner, or steal the structure for your own. Underneath, there’s a short honest guide to hosting a night that actually lands — the part most quiz packs skip.
How to use this: tap Show answer under any question to reveal it. If you’re hosting, don’t — just read the question aloud and keep the answers to yourself.
🧠Round 1 — General Knowledge
1.What is the capital of Australia?
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Canberra
2.How many sides does a hexagon have?
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Six
3.Which planet is closest to the Sun?
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Mercury
4.What is the largest mammal in the world?
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The blue whale
5.What is the chemical symbol for gold?
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Au
6.How many players from one team are on a football pitch at kick-off?
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Eleven
7.What is the hardest natural substance on Earth?
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Diamond
8.What is the smallest country in the world by area?
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Vatican City
9.What colour are the stars on the flag of the United States?
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White
10.What is the name for a group of lions?
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A pride
🗺️Round 2 — Geography
1.What is the capital of Canada?
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Ottawa
2.Mount Everest sits on the border of Nepal and which other country?
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China (Tibet)
3.Which is the largest ocean on Earth?
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The Pacific Ocean
4.In which country are the Pyramids of Giza?
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Egypt
5.Which European city is home to the Colosseum?
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Rome
6.What is the capital of Japan?
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Tokyo
7.On which continent is the Sahara Desert?
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Africa
8.What is the tallest mountain in Africa?
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Kilimanjaro
9.Which country has the most natural lakes in the world?
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Canada
10.What is the longest wall in the world?
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The Great Wall of China
🎵Round 3 — Music
1.Which band released the album “Abbey Road”?
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The Beatles
2.How many strings does a standard guitar have?
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Six
3.Which instrument has 88 keys?
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The piano
4.Freddie Mercury was the lead singer of which band?
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Queen
5.Which US city is nicknamed “Music City”, the home of country music?
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Nashville
6.Who composed “The Four Seasons”?
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Antonio Vivaldi
7.What nationality was the composer Ludwig van Beethoven?
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German
8.Which pop star’s real name is Stefani Germanotta?
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Lady Gaga
9.Which singer is widely known as the “Queen of Pop”?
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Madonna
10.How many members were in the original line-up of The Beatles?
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Four
🎬Round 4 — Film & TV
1.Which film series features the line “May the Force be with you”?
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Star Wars
2.Who directed “Jaws” and “E.T.”?
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Steven Spielberg
3.Which animated film features a clownfish named Nemo?
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Finding Nemo
4.What is the name of the coffee shop in the sitcom “Friends”?
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Central Perk
5.Which actor played Jack in “Titanic”?
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Leonardo DiCaprio
6.In the Harry Potter films, what is the name of Harry’s pet owl?
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Hedwig
7.Which superhero is known as the “Caped Crusader”?
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Batman
8.In “The Lion King”, what is the name of Simba’s father?
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Mufasa
9.What colour are Dorothy’s slippers in the film “The Wizard of Oz”?
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Ruby red
10.Which streaming-era series is set in the fictional town of Hawkins?
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Stranger Things
🏛️Round 5 — History
1.In which year did the Second World War end?
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1945
2.Who was the first person to walk on the Moon?
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Neil Armstrong
3.Which ancient civilisation built the citadel of Machu Picchu?
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The Inca
4.Who was the British Prime Minister for most of the Second World War?
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Winston Churchill
5.In which year did the Titanic sink?
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1912
6.Which wall fell in 1989?
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The Berlin Wall
7.Who painted the Mona Lisa?
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Leonardo da Vinci
8.In which country did the ancient Olympic Games begin?
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Greece
9.Which Egyptian queen was famously linked with both Julius Caesar and Mark Antony?
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Cleopatra
10.What was the name of the ship on which Charles Darwin made his famous voyage?
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HMS Beagle
🔬Round 6 — Science & Nature
1.What gas do plants absorb from the air to make food?
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Carbon dioxide
2.How many bones are there in the adult human body?
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206
3.Which part of the cell is often called its “powerhouse”?
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The mitochondria
4.Which planet is known as the Red Planet?
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Mars
5.What is the fastest land animal?
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The cheetah
6.At what temperature does water boil at sea level, in Celsius?
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100°C
7.What is the largest organ in the human body?
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The skin
8.How many legs does a spider have?
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Eight
9.Which blood type is known as the universal donor?
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O negative
10.What is the chemical formula for water?
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H₂O
⚽Round 7 — Sport
1.How often are the Summer Olympic Games held?
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Every four years
2.In which sport would you perform a “slam dunk”?
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Basketball
3.How many points is a try worth in rugby union?
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Five
4.Which country has won the most men’s FIFA World Cups?
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Brazil (five)
5.In tennis, what is the term for a score of zero?
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Love
6.How many holes are played in a full round of golf?
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Eighteen
7.In which sport is “the Ashes” contested?
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Cricket
8.How many players from one team are on a basketball court at a time?
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Five
9.Which Japanese sport involves two wrestlers in a circular ring?
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Sumo
10.Which Grand Slam tennis tournament is played on grass in London?
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Wimbledon
🍕Round 8 — Food & Drink
1.Which country is credited with inventing pizza?
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Italy
2.What is the main ingredient in guacamole?
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Avocado
3.Which spice is the most expensive by weight?
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Saffron
4.What type of pastry is used to make profiteroles?
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Choux pastry
5.What is the main ingredient in traditional hummus?
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Chickpeas
6.Which fruit is traditionally used to make cider?
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Apples
7.What is the Japanese dish of vinegared rice with raw fish called?
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Sushi
8.From which beans is chocolate made?
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Cacao (cocoa) beans
9.After water, what is the most consumed drink in the world?
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Tea
10.Which nut is the main ingredient in marzipan?
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Almonds
The tie-breaker
When two tables finish level, you need a “nearest wins” question with a number for an answer — no arguing, closest guess takes it:
How many countries are there in the world (UN members)?
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193 member states of the United Nations.
How to host a pub quiz that doesn’t drag
The questions are only half of it. A brilliant set can still die in the hands of a slow host, and a modest set can fly with a good one. A few things that actually make the difference:
1. Keep the rounds short
Eight to ten questions a round is the sweet spot. Long rounds sag, and people lose track of the score. Shorter rounds mean more moments where the marks come in, the leaderboard shifts, and the room reacts — and that reaction is the whole point.
2. Mix the difficulty on purpose
Every round wants a couple of gimmes, a few solid middle ones, and one that only a specialist gets. If everything is hard, teams give up; if everything is easy, it’s dull. The magic question is the one where someone at the table says “wait — I actually know this”.
3. Read each question twice, then move on
Say it once for the gist, once for the writers, then go. Don’t wait for the slowest table or you’ll lose the fast ones. Pace is a host’s single biggest lever, and almost everyone errs too slow.
4. Have teams swap sheets to mark
Reading out the answers while each table marks another’s sheet does two jobs at once: it’s the fun bit (the groans, the near-misses), and it clears your marking so the next round starts straight away. It also quietly keeps everyone honest.
5. Save a picture round for the lull
Energy dips in the middle of any quiz. A picture round — logos, flags, famous faces, landmarks — is the reset: it’s visual, it’s social, and every table can have a go at every one. Drop it in around the halfway mark and the second half feels fresh.
Turn any of this into a live game
Reading questions off a page works. But if you want the scoreboard, the buzz of everyone answering on their phones, and the marking done for you, that’s exactly what Yippito is for. Paste in a topic — or these very questions — and it builds a live quiz your friends join from a PIN, no app to install. Scores update in real time, and the awkward “whose turn is it to mark” moment just disappears.
However you run it, the recipe is the same: short rounds, a fair spread of difficulty, a bit of pace, and one genuinely hard question per round to argue about on the way home.
Host your own quiz night in minutes.
Everyone plays from their phone. Scores keep themselves.
Try it free