General Knowledge Quiz Questions and Answers

General knowledge is the round that sets the tone. Start easy - the first three questions should be answered by everyone in the room - then step up.

How to use these: read each question twice, ask for answer sheets at the end of the round, mark another team's paper, and never let the quizmaster play.

Round 1: Easy

• What is the capital of France? Answer: Paris.
• How many days are there in a leap year? Answer: 366.
• What is the chemical symbol for water? Answer: H2O.
• How many sides does a hexagon have? Answer: Six.
• What is the largest ocean on Earth? Answer: The Pacific.
• Which planet is known as the Red Planet? Answer: Mars.
• How many minutes are in three hours? Answer: 180.
• What is the currency of Japan? Answer: The yen.
• Which animal is known as the ship of the desert? Answer: The camel.
• What colour do you get mixing blue and yellow? Answer: Green.

Round 2: Medium

• What is the hardest natural substance on Earth? Answer: Diamond.
• Who wrote Pride and Prejudice? Answer: Jane Austen.
• How many bones are in the adult human body? Answer: 206.
• What is the chemical symbol for gold? Answer: Au.
• Which gas do plants absorb from the atmosphere? Answer: Carbon dioxide.
• What is the longest river in the United Kingdom? Answer: The River Severn.
• How many strings does a violin have? Answer: Four.
• In which year did the Titanic sink? Answer: 1912.
• What does the 'www' stand for in a web address? Answer: World Wide Web.
• Which vitamin is produced by the skin in sunlight? Answer: Vitamin D.

Round 3: Hard

• What is the smallest country in the world by area? Answer: Vatican City.
• Who painted The Persistence of Memory? Answer: Salvador Dalí.
• What is the study of fungi called? Answer: Mycology.
• Which element has the atomic number 1? Answer: Hydrogen.
• What is the collective noun for a group of crows? Answer: A murder.
• How many time zones does Russia span? Answer: Eleven.
• What is the largest internal organ in the human body? Answer: The liver.
• Which Shakespeare play features the character Iago? Answer: Othello.
• What is the SI unit of force? Answer: The newton.
• Which sea is the saltiest of the major open seas? Answer: The Red Sea.

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How to write it so it lands

• Write the answer sheet before the question sheet - it catches the vague ones.
• Number every question and repeat the number when you read it out.
• Keep one spare round in your pocket for when the night runs short.

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Frequently asked questions

What are good general knowledge quiz questions?

A graded set: three that everyone can answer, five that take a moment, and two that only one team will get. That spread keeps every table in the game without making it pointless.

How many rounds should a quiz night have?

Six rounds of ten, with a break after round three. About ninety minutes including marking, which is as long as most people want to sit still.

How hard should a pub quiz be?

Aim for a winning score of around seventy per cent. If teams are scoring nine or ten out of ten every round, the questions are too easy to separate anyone.

What is a good example of general knowledge quiz questions?

"What is the capital of France? Answer: Paris." is one of 30 examples on this page. Pick the one closest to the tone you want, then add a specific detail of your own - a shared memory, a date, a name - so it reads as yours rather than copied.