Twenty-five questions that cover a little of everything: geography, the human body, art, numbers and famous firsts. Play them here, or use them as a ready-made opening round.
Mercury orbits at about 58 million km from the Sun and takes only 88 Earth days to go around it.
Question 3
What is the chemical symbol for gold?
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Au
Au comes from aurum, the Latin word for gold. Ag (argentum) is silver.
Question 4
How many sides does a hexagon have?
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Six
Hex- is Greek for six. Honeycomb cells are the best-known natural hexagons.
Question 5
What is the capital of Australia?
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Canberra
Canberra was purpose-built as a compromise between rivals Sydney and Melbourne; Parliament first met there in 1927.
Question 6
Which language has the most native speakers?
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Mandarin Chinese
Mandarin has the most native speakers. English has the most speakers overall once second-language speakers are counted.
Question 7
What is the hardest naturally occurring mineral?
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Diamond
Diamond is a 10, the top of the Mohs hardness scale. Corundum, the mineral in rubies and sapphires, is a 9.
Question 8
How many strings does a standard guitar have?
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Six
A standard guitar has six strings, usually tuned E-A-D-G-B-E from lowest to highest. A standard bass has four.
Question 9
Which is the largest organ of the human body?
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Skin
The skin of an adult covers roughly 2 square meters. The liver is the largest internal organ.
Question 10
The Eiffel Tower was built for which event?
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The 1889 World's Fair in Paris
It was the entrance arch of the 1889 Exposition Universelle, which marked 100 years since the French Revolution.
Question 11
What does "www" stand for in a web address?
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World Wide Web
Tim Berners-Lee named his system the World Wide Web in 1989–90 while working at CERN.
Question 12
At what temperature does water freeze on the Fahrenheit scale?
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32°F
Water freezes at 32°F (0°C) and boils at 212°F (100°C) at sea level.
Question 13
Which color do you get by mixing blue and yellow paint?
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Green
Blue and yellow are two of the traditional painter's primaries, and together they make green.
Question 14
Who painted the Mona Lisa?
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Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo began it in the early 1500s. It has hung in the Louvre in Paris for most of the time since the French Revolution.
Question 15
Which is the longest bone in the human body?
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Femur
The femur, or thigh bone, is the longest and strongest bone in the body.
Question 16
Which gas makes up most of Earth's atmosphere?
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Nitrogen
Dry air is about 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen. Argon is close to 1%; carbon dioxide is far less.
Question 17
How many zeros are in one million?
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Six
One million is 1,000,000. A billion, in US usage, has nine zeros.
Question 18
Which country gave the Statue of Liberty to the United States?
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France
The statue was a gift from the people of France and was dedicated in New York Harbor in 1886.
Question 19
Which Roman numeral stands for 50?
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L
I = 1, V = 5, X = 10, L = 50, C = 100, D = 500, M = 1,000.
Question 20
Which month has the fewest days?
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February
February has 28 days, or 29 in a leap year. April, June, September and November have 30.
Question 21
How many cards are in a standard deck, not counting jokers?
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52
Four suits of 13 ranks make 52. Most decks add two jokers, which is where 54 comes from.
Question 22
How many keys does a standard modern piano have?
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88
52 white keys and 36 black keys, covering just over seven octaves.
Question 23
Which famous ship sank on its maiden voyage in April 1912?
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Titanic
Titanic struck an iceberg on the night of April 14 and sank early on April 15, 1912. The Lusitania was torpedoed in 1915.
Question 24
Which blood type is known as the universal donor for red blood cells?
Show answer
O negative
O negative red cells carry no A, B or Rh antigens, so they can be given to almost anyone in an emergency. AB positive patients are universal recipients.
Question 25
What is the tallest mountain in North America?
Show answer
Denali
Denali, in Alaska, rises to about 6,190 meters (20,310 feet). Mount Whitney is the tallest in the lower 48 states.
Key numbers
Questions
25
Format
Multiple choice, 4 options
Explanations
Every question
Answers
Hidden until you open them
What makes a good general knowledge question
General knowledge rounds work best when almost everyone in the room has a fair shot at most questions. That's why this set leans on things people met in school or see in daily life, such as the capital of Australia, the freezing point of water or the number of keys on a piano, rather than obscure specialist facts.
The wrong answers matter as much as the right one. Sydney is a better decoy for Australia's capital than Auckland, because many people really do believe it. Every explanation tells you why the right answer is right, and often why the tempting wrong one isn't.
How to run it as an opening round
Read the question, then the four options, then the question again. People mishear numbers in noisy rooms.
Give 20 to 30 seconds per question. If you're dropping the options for a harder round, give 45.
Read the one-line explanation after each answer. It turns a list of answers into conversation.
How many general knowledge questions should a trivia round have?
Ten is the usual round length for a pub quiz. This page has 25, so you can pick the ten that suit your group or split them into two rounds.
Are these general knowledge questions easy or hard?
Most are easy to medium. A score of 18 out of 25 is a good result; the questions about blood types, the Eiffel Tower and Denali catch the most people.
Can I print these general knowledge questions?
Yes. Every question, its answer and its explanation are on the page as text, so your browser's print function works. Answers are hidden until you open them.