50 best pub quiz questions to steal for your next quiz night

Finding good pub quiz questions is harder than it looks. You want questions that make people think, spark a bit of debate, and give everyone a chance to contribute. After running dozens of quiz nights (and attending even more), here's a list of 50 questions that consistently work well.

These aren't trick questions or obscure facts that only one person in the room might know. They're proper quiz questions that reward general knowledge while keeping things fun.

General Knowledge Round

Let's start with the bread and butter of any quiz night.

Q1: What is the capital city of Australia?

Ans: Canberra (not Sydney)

Q2: How many sides does a heptagon have?

Ans: Seven

Q3: In what year did the Titanic sink?

Ans: 1912

Q4: What is the chemical symbol for gold?

Ans: Au

Q5: Which planet is known as the Red Planet?

Ans: Mars

Q6: What is the largest ocean on Earth?

Ans: Pacific Ocean

Q7: Who wrote the Harry Potter series?

Ans: J.K. Rowling

Q8: What is the smallest country in the world by area?

Ans: Vatican City

Q9: How many players are on a football team on the pitch?

Ans: 11

Q10: What year did the Berlin Wall fall?

Ans: 1989

Geography Round

Geography questions are brilliant because they often trigger memories of holidays, documentaries, or that one fact someone learned years ago and has been waiting to use.

Q11: What is the longest river in the world?

Ans: The Nile (though the Amazon is close)

Q12: Which country has the most natural lakes?

Ans: Canada

Q13: In which city would you find the Sagrada Familia?

Ans: Barcelona

Q14: What is the driest continent on Earth?

Ans: Antarctica (surprisingly)

Q15: Which two countries share the longest international border?

Ans: Canada and the United States

Q16: What is the capital of New Zealand?

Ans: Wellington (not Auckland)

Q17: The Great Barrier Reef is located off the coast of which country?

Ans: Australia

Q18: What is the smallest US state by area?

Ans: Rhode Island

Q19: Which European country has the longest coastline?

Ans: Norway (thanks to all those fjords)

Q20: What is the only country to border both the Atlantic and Indian Oceans?

Ans: South Africa

Entertainment Round

This is where your younger and older team members can both shine. Mix up the decades and you'll see different people contributing.

Q21: What was the first feature-length animated film ever released?

Ans: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

Q22: Which band had members called John, Paul, George and Ringo?

Ans: The Beatles

Q23: In the TV show Friends, what is the name of Ross's first wife?

Ans: Carol

Q24: What 1994 film stars Tom Hanks as a man who accidentally influences several historical events?

Ans: Forrest Gump

Q25: Which artist painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel?

Ans: Michelangelo

Q26: What is the highest-grossing film of all time (not adjusted for inflation)?

Ans: Avatar (2009)

Q27: In what year was the first iPhone released?

Ans: 2007

Q28: Who played Jack in the 1997 film Titanic?

Ans: Leonardo DiCaprio

Q29: What Netflix series features a character called Eleven?

Ans: Stranger Things

Q30: Which British band released the album 'A Rush of Blood to the Head'?

Ans: Coldplay

Science and Nature Round

Science questions can be tricky to pitch right. Too easy and they're boring, too hard and you lose everyone. These hit the sweet spot.

Q31: What is the hardest natural substance on Earth?

Ans: Diamond

Q32: How many bones are in the adult human body?

Ans: 206

Q33: What gas do plants absorb from the atmosphere?

Ans: Carbon dioxide

Q34: What is the largest mammal in the world?

Ans: Blue whale

Q35: At what temperature are Celsius and Fahrenheit equal?

Ans: -40 degrees

Q36: What is the powerhouse of the cell?

Ans: Mitochondria (yes, everyone remembers this one)

Q37: How long does it take for light from the Sun to reach Earth?

Ans: About 8 minutes

Q38: What is the most abundant gas in Earth's atmosphere?

Ans: Nitrogen (about 78%)

Q39: Which organ in the human body produces insulin?

Ans: Pancreas

Q40: What is the chemical formula for water?

Ans: H2O

History Round

History questions work best when they connect to things people have actually heard of.

Q41: In what century did Christopher Columbus first voyage to the Americas?

Ans: 15th century (1492)

Q42: Who was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize?

Ans: Marie Curie (1903)

Q43: Which war was fought between the North and South regions of the United States?

Ans: The American Civil War

Q44: In what year did World War II end?

Ans: 1945

Q45: Who was the first person to set foot on the Moon?

Ans: Neil Armstrong

Q46: What ship carried the Pilgrims to America in 1620?

Ans: The Mayflower

Q47: Which empire was ruled by Genghis Khan?

Ans: The Mongol Empire

Q48: In what decade did women gain equal voting rights in the UK?

Ans: 1920s (1928 specifically)

Q49: Who was the British Prime Minister at the start of World War II?

Ans: Neville Chamberlain (not Churchill, who took over in 1940)

Q50: What ancient wonder was located in Alexandria, Egypt?

Ans: The Lighthouse of Alexandria (or Pharos)

Using These Questions

Feel free to mix and match these questions into your own rounds. A few suggestions:

Don't read them in order. Mix up the difficulty so teams don't get discouraged by a run of tough questions or bored by easy ones.

Add some local flavour. Throw in a question or two about your town, your venue, or something topical that week. It makes the quiz feel personal.

Watch the room. If everyone's struggling, maybe throw in an easier bonus question. If they're flying through, add a tiebreaker.

The best quiz hosts adapt to their audience. These 50 questions are a solid foundation, but the magic happens when you make it your own.