What is a pub quiz and how do you participate in one?

Trivia games have been around for a very long time. The pub quiz as we know it today, originated in the 1970s in the United Kingdom and its popularity grew enormously since then. Pub quiz questions are often drawn from general knowledge trivia. They range from topics taken from TV, movies, pop-culture, food, sport, history, geography, politics, math, science and more! However, pub quiz questions can also take the form of “Who am I?”, “True or False” and sometimes even require the contestants to identify a sound or a picture!

pub quiz

Some pubs may decide to have bonus rounds, offer their players a cash jackpot or simply get creative with their prizes. Other pubs like gifting the winners free drinks, vouchers and promotional items like t-shirts or mugs. We’ve prepared some general knowledge trivia quizzes for you below. How well can you score? Test your knowledge then challenge your friends!

General Knowledge Trivia

Did you know that a company called Burns and Porter organized and distributed pub quizzes to pubs as a marketing tactic to get more people to come to bars? Soon enough, pub trivia became very popular and the pub quiz was the new “darts” for which people formed teams to participate.

General Knowledge Trivia

There is nothing more daunting than participating in general knowledge trivia in front of a room full of dedicated pub quizzers. If you want to get your general knowledge up to scratch, test yourself in our pub quiz below! (Answers are at the end!)

Most commonly-asked pub quiz questions!

Easy

  1. Which river flows through Paris?
  2. In the Stars Wars film franchise, which character famously says “I am your father”?
  3. In the bible, who lead the Israelites out of Egypt and across the Red Sea?
  4. In what year was the first Woodstock festival held?
  5. What is this?
trivia games

Medium

  1. The Great Barrier Reef is off the coast of which Australian state?
  2. What is the main ingredient of meringue?
  3. What is the capital of Brazil?
  4. “Heart of Darkness” is a novel written by which author?
  5. Who is this?
#

Hard

  1. What is the highest active volcano in Europe?
  2. What is gianduja?
  3. Who was Henry VIII’s last wife?
  4. “Times Square” in Manhattan had another name. What was it?
  5. Which country is pictured here?
#

Extremely Hard

  1. What year did Vincent Van Gogh die?
  2. Who won the booker prize in 2010?
  3. Which Disney Princess has the least amount of screen time?
  4. What is Shakespeare’s longest play?
  5. Which animal is this?
#

Let’s see how many pub quiz questions you got right!

Quiz Answers

Easy:

  1. Seine River
  2. Darth Vader
  3. Moses
  4. 1969
  5. Persimmon / Kaki

Medium:

  1. Queensland
  2. Egg whites
  3. Brasilia
  4. Joseph Conrad
  5. Joan Baez

Hard:

  1. Mount Etna Sicily
  2. Spread made of chocolate and hazelnuts
  3. Catherine Parr
  4. Longacre Square
  5. Cyprus

Extremely Hard

  1. 1890
  2. Howard Jacobson
  3. Aurora from Sleeping Beauty
  4. Hamlet
  5. Tasmanian Devil