Best 50 Free General Knowledge Quiz

It rained for three days straight in the last school holidays, which is about two days longer than my kids can survive on iPads before the arguing starts. By day three I’d run out of puzzles, run out of patience, and was one “I’m bored” away from just handing over the remote and calling it a loss.

Instead I dug out an old notebook, made a pot of tea, and told the kids we were having a quiz night. Not a fancy one — no buzzers, no prizes, just me reading out questions at the kitchen table while everyone shouted answers over the top of each other. It worked far better than it had any right to. My youngest got weirdly competitive over a question about elephants, my eldest is now insisting she knew France has more time zones than any other country “the whole time,” and somehow an hour disappeared without anyone mentioning a screen.

I’ve since gone back and rebuilt the whole thing properly, because the questions I scribbled down that night were a mixed bag and a few of them turned out to be wrong when I checked (sorry, kids — Vatican City is definitely not the same size as Monaco). This version is fact-checked, bigger, and I’ve deliberately left out the trivia everyone’s answered a hundred times before. No “what’s the capital of France,” no “which planet is known as the Red Planet.” If you’ve done a few of these quizzes already, this one should still catch you out a bit.

Ten rounds, one hundred questions, a genuine mix of easy warm-ups and proper stumpers. Answers are all at the bottom, grouped by round.

Before you start: if you’d rather get everyone out of the house instead, our things to do with kids directory is worth a browse, and it’s worth checking the current school holiday dates for your state before you plan anything. If you get through all 100 of these and want more, we’ve also got a second 100-question quiz with a completely different set of questions.

Round 1: Quickfire & Curious

Which country has more time zones than any other in the world?
What is the only mammal that’s widely said to be unable to jump?
Which country’s national flag is the only one in the world that isn’t rectangular?
What is a baby kangaroo called?
Which planet in our solar system spins almost completely on its side?
What is the collective noun for a group of crows?
Which country gifted the Statue of Liberty to the United States?
What is the name of the smallest bone in the human body?
Which fruit is unusual for carrying its seeds on the outside rather than the inside?
Which continent has no native snakes or reptiles at all?

Round 2: Geography Curveballs

Which two countries share the longest international land border in the world?
Which African country is widely cited as the only one never fully colonised by a European power?
What is the smallest country in the world by area?
What is the world’s largest island that isn’t classified as its own continent?
Which country has more pyramids than Egypt?
What is the name of the sea with no coastline at all, bordered entirely by ocean currents rather than land?
Alongside Queensland, which two Australian states or territories don’t observe daylight saving?
What is the name of the imaginary line at 0 degrees longitude that runs through Greenwich, London?
Which country is the only nation that is also an entire continent?
Which inhabited continent is the driest on Earth, behind only uninhabited Antarctica?

Round 3: History Beyond the Obvious

The Hundred Years’ War between England and France actually lasted how many years?
Which empire is generally recognised as the largest contiguous land empire in history?
In which year did the Commonwealth Franchise Act give many Australian women the right to vote in federal elections?
Which conflict is recorded as the shortest war in history, lasting under an hour?
Which ancient wonder of the world is the only one of the original seven still standing today?
In which century did the Black Death sweep through Europe?
Which city served as Australia’s first seat of federal government and parliament, before Canberra was built?
In what year did the Berlin Wall fall?
Which two explorers led the first expedition to cross Australia from south to north, though both died on the return journey?
In which decade was the Apple II released, one of the first widely popular home computers?

Round 4: Science & the Human Body

Which human organ can regenerate itself even after up to 70% of it is removed?
What is the only type of rock that can float on water?
What is the name of the effect that causes the sky to appear blue?
How many hearts does an octopus have?
What is the name of the scientific theory that explains how continents slowly move across Earth’s surface?
What is the only mammal capable of sustained, powered flight?
Which vitamin does the human body produce when the skin is exposed to sunlight?
What word describes an animal that is mainly active at night?
What force keeps the planets in orbit around the sun?
Which organ in the human body produces insulin?

Round 5: Sport Beyond the Basics

Which country has won the most Olympic gold medals of all time?
In which sport did the term “hat-trick” originate, long before it was used in football or hockey?
How many players does each team have on the field in Australian Rules Football?
What is the maximum possible score in a single game of ten-pin bowling?
Which country hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896?
In a typical professional championship boxing match, how many rounds are scheduled?
Which sport is traditionally nicknamed “the gentleman’s game”?
What is the term for three consecutive strikes in ten-pin bowling?
In which country was the game of golf invented?
How many players are on the field for each team in rugby union?

Round 6: Movies, TV & Pop Culture

Which was the first entirely computer-animated feature film ever released?
Which country produces the highest number of feature films per year of any nation in the world?
Which actor holds the record for the most Academy Award acting nominations in history?
What is the best-selling video game of all time?
In “The Simpsons,” what is the name of the fictional town the family lives in?
Which Australian actor played Wolverine across the X-Men film franchise?
Which long-running British science fiction series features a time-travelling alien known only as “the Doctor”?
Which streaming service originally began as a DVD-by-mail rental company in the US?
Which classic children’s TV show features puppets named Bert and Ernie?
In filmmaking, what does the abbreviation “CGI” stand for?

Round 7: Music

Which famous composer continued writing music even after losing his hearing completely?
Which is the best-selling music album of all time worldwide?
What is the largest string instrument in a standard orchestra?
In which decade was the Sony Walkman first released?
Which music genre originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s?
Which composer wrote the ballet “Swan Lake”?
What was the first music video ever played on MTV, in 1981?
Which composer wrote the famous set of violin concertos known as “The Four Seasons”?
What does the musical term “a cappella” mean?
Which Australian band had a global hit with “Never Tear Us Apart”?

Round 8: Food & Drink

The sandwich is said to be named after an English Earl from which country?
What is the world’s most expensive spice by weight?
What is the main ingredient in traditional Japanese miso soup?
Botanically speaking, which of these is technically classed as a berry — the banana or the strawberry?
Which chilli pepper held the Guinness World Record for the world’s hottest pepper for over a decade after 2013?
Which country is consistently ranked among the highest per-capita coffee consumers in the world?
What is the name of the spongy Ethiopian flatbread made from teff flour?
Which Australian city is widely considered the country’s coffee capital?
What is the name of the traditional Māori underground earth oven, used for slow-cooking food?
What is the name of the spicy, fermented Korean cabbage dish?

Round 9: Australian Icons

Which Australian scientist is credited with inventing the “black box” flight recorder?
What is the title of Australia’s national anthem?
Alongside the echidna, which is the only other mammal in the world that lays eggs?
What is the term commonly used for the vast, remote interior regions of Australia?
Which South Australian wine region is internationally famous, particularly for Shiraz?
Which traditional Aboriginal art style uses intricate dot patterns, often depicting Dreamtime stories?
What is the name of the annual day Australians observe to commemorate the 1915 landing at Gallipoli?
Which venomous spider, native to the Sydney region, is considered one of the most dangerous in the world?
What food makes up almost the entire diet of a koala?
Which Victorian coastal road is home to the Twelve Apostles rock formations?

Round 10: Wildcard & Brain Teasers

What do you call a person who was born on the 29th of February?
Which country’s national anthem, “Marcha Real,” is one of very few in the world with no official lyrics?
What is the term for a word that reads the same forwards and backwards, such as “kayak”?
Which popular children’s modelling toy was originally invented and sold as a wallpaper cleaner?
What is the only number in the English language that has the same number of letters as its value?
How many pairs of “hearts” (aortic arches) does an earthworm have?
What is the informal, deliberately long name for the fear of long words?
Which everyday sticky-note product was invented by accident by a 3M scientist trying to create a strong adhesive?
Which food, if stored properly, is the only one known to never spoil?
At which research laboratory, and in which country, was the World Wide Web invented?

Answers

Round 1: 1. France — 2. The elephant — 3. Nepal — 4. A joey — 5. Uranus — 6. A murder — 7. France — 8. The stapes — 9. The strawberry — 10. Antarctica

Round 2: 11. Canada and the United States — 12. Ethiopia — 13. Vatican City — 14. Greenland — 15. Sudan — 16. The Sargasso Sea — 17. Western Australia and the Northern Territory — 18. The Prime Meridian — 19. Australia — 20. Australia

Round 3: 21. 116 years (1337–1453) — 22. The Mongol Empire — 23. 1902 — 24. The Anglo-Zanzibar War of 1896 (around 38–45 minutes) — 25. The Great Pyramid of Giza — 26. The 14th century — 27. Melbourne — 28. 1989 — 29. Robert O’Hara Burke and William John Wills — 30. The 1970s (1977)

Round 4: 31. The liver — 32. Pumice — 33. Rayleigh scattering — 34. Three — 35. Plate tectonics — 36. The bat — 37. Vitamin D — 38. Nocturnal — 39. Gravity — 40. The pancreas

Round 5: 41. The United States — 42. Cricket — 43. 18 — 44. 300 — 45. Greece — 46. 12 — 47. Cricket — 48. A turkey — 49. Scotland — 50. 15

Round 6: 51. Toy Story (1995) — 52. India — 53. Meryl Streep — 54. Minecraft — 55. Springfield — 56. Hugh Jackman — 57. Doctor Who — 58. Netflix — 59. Sesame Street — 60. Computer-Generated Imagery

Round 7: 61. Ludwig van Beethoven — 62. “Thriller” by Michael Jackson — 63. The double bass — 64. The 1970s (1979) — 65. Reggae — 66. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky — 67. “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles — 68. Antonio Vivaldi — 69. Singing without instrumental accompaniment — 70. INXS

Round 8: 71. England — 72. Saffron — 73. Fermented soybean paste (miso) — 74. The banana — 75. The Carolina Reaper — 76. Finland — 77. Injera — 78. Melbourne — 79. A hangi — 80. Kimchi

Round 9: 81. David Warren — 82. “Advance Australia Fair” — 83. The platypus — 84. The Outback — 85. The Barossa Valley — 86. Dot painting — 87. Anzac Day — 88. The Sydney funnel-web spider — 89. Eucalyptus leaves — 90. The Great Ocean Road

Round 10: 91. A “leapling” — 92. Spain — 93. A palindrome — 94. Play-Doh — 95. Four — 96. Five — 97. Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia — 98. The Post-it Note — 99. Honey — 100. CERN, in Switzerland

A handful of these are worth knowing the fine print on. Ethiopia’s “never colonised” status usually comes with an asterisk for the brief Italian occupation from 1936–41. The Carolina Reaper has held the official Guinness World Record since 2013 and remains the certified holder, though a newer pepper bred by the same grower has posted hotter unofficial lab results that Guinness hasn’t certified. And Australia’s spot as driest inhabited continent is one it’s held for a very long time and isn’t going anywhere.

We’ve played this twice now, and the round that caused the most genuine shouting both times was Round 2 — nobody could believe Sudan has more pyramids than Egypt until we looked it up mid-game. If you run it yourselves, I’d love to know which one gets your table arguing.

School Holidays Australia

Best 50 Free General Knowledge Quiz – With Answers