We often think of trivia as having a very simple format: a host or fellow player asks a question that begs a specific and clear answer, and another player fills the void by uttering a single simple (yet not obvious!) fact in response. These questions aren’t open-ended, but they bear a resemblance to them, because they rarely give players any hints as to what their answers could be. Trivia enthusiasts can be pretty nerdy—they often like to follow exact procedures and hold proper gameplay in high esteem. In other words, they LOVE this traditional trivia question format. So, what happens when multiple choice questions get thrown in the mix?
Multiple choice questions are a well-known staple of quiz and test taking, so we won’t patronize you by going into too much detail about them. But, just in case you’ve been living under a rock and need an explanation, these are questions that are read alongside a slew of potential answers, usually arranged in an alphabetized list (i.e. A, B, C, and D for four potential answers). On certain occasions, these types of questions are used in trivia competitions, and they don’t always go over so well. People are attached to their customs and are often surprised when trivia competitions list a question’s potential answers. Sometimes, trivia-loving folks don’t even regard multiple choice questions as real trivia, as they might find these too easy for their liking.
Now, as we alluded to earlier, trivia questions are usually asked in the simplest possible format—we’ll refer to this call and response type of question as Q & A throughout the rest of the article. Sometimes, trivia games feature questions for which you must fill in the blank, and those tend not to rock the boat. But multiple choice questions are rarer, and there’s been plenty of debate over the years as to whether they should be used in casual trivia games and formal competitions alike. The time has come to answer the question: do multiple choice questions really count as trivia?
We at Trivia Bliss strongly believe that the answer to that question is yes, and below, we’ll tell you why. Plus, we’ve included a myriad of sample multiple choice trivia questions at the end for good measure. Read on and prepare to change your mind about multiple choice trivia questions.
Multiple Choice Doesn’t Always Mean Easy
A major complaint from trivia lovers regarding multiple choice questions is that they’re too easy. After all, a question without answers listed after it has more margin for error, and in no way does it feed the answer to game players. However, contrary to popular opinion, multiple choice questions can be very difficult! For example, try your hand at the following question and see if you can single out its one correct answer:
Question: Founded as an imperial menagerie in 1752, the Tiergarten Schonbrunn is the oldest zoo in the world. Where is it located?
A. Vienna
B. Munich
C. Frankfurt
D. Stuttgart
That wasn’t so easy, right? Though the correct answer was nestled in with the three incorrect ones, the options didn’t give players any inkling as to what the answer could be. Extensive background knowledge is needed to answer a question like that correctly, and only an expert could weed out the incorrect answers from the right one.
Some people argue that dumb luck is too prevalent when using multiple choice questions. After all, a player could have extremely good luck and continually guess the correct answers, even if they weren’t answers they’d previously known. But how likely is that, really? It’s very rare for someone to have more than one or two lucky multiple choice guesses, let alone several. To be honest, that’s a feat of lucky coincidence that deserves praise, even if not that of the academic sort.
In school exams and standardized tests, multiple choice questions can sometimes be perceived (and, unfortunately, occasionally used) as cheating devices. Luckily, that’s not a super feasible scenario during a trivia competition. It’s not like anyone’s going to read answers over someone else’s shoulder, or signal answers to one another across the room—everyone’s in a competition! Because of this, multiple choice questions are almost more preferable for trivia nights than they are for school tests.
Why Trivia Doesn’t Have to Be “Pure”
Some trivia fanatics may object to multiple choice questions being classified as trivia because they like to think of themselves as purists. Trivia purists like to ask and discuss questions in their traditional trivia form: a question with one clear, though not obvious, answer is asked, and a player answers it quickly and simply, a.k.a. the Q & A format we talked about earlier. Trivia purists sometimes look down upon other types of questions and believe that Q & A is the only way to go when it comes to a trivia competition.
However, there’s no need to stick to tradition. Trivia lovers are adaptable humans, too, and a new question format won’t derail an entire game.
Yes, a multiple choice question means there’ll be extra time spent reading out answers, but so what? Unless you’re playing the fastest ever game of trivia, it’s not like you don’t have a few extra seconds to spare per question to go over the multiple choices.
What About Trivial Pursuit?
You’re simply not a trivia enthusiast if you haven’t played at least one game of Trivial Pursuit in your day. It’s debatably the most well-known trivia board game franchise in existence. Since its original Canadian release in 1981, Trivial Pursuit has brought countless games of fun to friends and family around the world.
While some Trivial Pursuit versions feature traditional Q & A style questions, others have multiple choice cards. Variations like Trivial Pursuit: Team have cards of many playing categories, including multiple choice! If the greatest trivia board game franchise asks its players multiple choice questions, well, who are we to argue with that?
Sample Multiple Choice Trivia Questions
Now, try your hand at some multiple choice trivia questions yourself. We dare you to answer these questions without believing that they’re truly trivia!
Question: What name of a fruit is used as a term for a small and unstable country dependent on agriculture, first made up by O. Henry in reference to Honduras?
- Kumquat
- Banana
- Cherry
- Cranberry
Question: Who composed the foreboding score for the 1975 hit film Jaws?
A. Hans Zimmer
B. Alexandre Desplat
C. John Williams
D. Michael Giacchino
Question: What is the name of the eponymous Beatles’ song character who “picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been”?
A. Eleanor Rigby
B. Lucy
C. Lady Madonna
D. Dear Prudence
Question: Below are the names of four fictional cats. Three of the cats are animated. Which is the sole real live action cat?
A. Lucifer
B. Felix
C. Sylvester
D. Snowbell
Question: Christmas is the biggest candy-selling holiday season in the United States. Which holiday comes in second?
A. Halloween
B. Valentine’s Day
C. Easter
D. Independence Day
Question: MTV’s Video Jockeys, or VJs, were popular hosts live on-air around the network’s inception. Who of the following VJs was NOT an original member?
A. Martha Quinn
B. J. J. Jackson
C. Ashlee Simpson
D. Nina Blackwood
Question: The United States eats the most ice cream per capita compared to the rest of the world. Which country comes in second?
A. New Zealand
B. United Kingdom
C. Italy
D. Japan
Question: From which classic Paramount Pictures musical does the song “The Best Things Happen While You’re Dancing” come from?
A. Funny Face
B. Funny Girl
C. Holiday Inn
D. White Christmas
Question: What is the name of Microsoft’s free email service?
A. Outlook
B. Hotmail
C. ProtonMail
D. AOL
Question: According to the song made famous by Judy Garland, where does “The Boy Next Door” reside?
A. 5133 Kensington Avenue
B. 2120 South Michigan Avenue
C. Kentucky Avenue
D. Across the alley from the Alamo
Question: Although never part of international maritime law, which phrase was popularized by its usage on the RMS Titanic as a consequence of which 74% of the women and 52% of the children were saved but only 20% of the men?
A. Save our families
B. Kids come first
C. Women and children first
D. Men must protect
Question: What famous country singer is the subject of more than a dozen musical tributes, including “Singing Teacher,” “The Long Gone Lonesome Blues,” “Midnight in Montgomery” and “The Ride”?
A. Dolly Parton
B. Hank Williams
C. Jimmie Rodgers
D. Merle Haggard
Question: What American film classic did actor John Wayne call “the most un-American thing I’ve ever seen in my whole life”?
A. El Dorado
B. Brokeback Mountain
C. High Noon
D. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
Question: Which 1914 history classic that describes the events of the first month of World War I was recommended by JFK to members of his cabinet to help in dealing with the Cuban Missile Crisis?
A. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
B. The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman
C. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
D. Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain
Question: In the world of pop, what’s the name of the group made up by Julia Volkova and Lena Katina?
A. Shakespear’s Sister
B. Salt ‘N Pepa
C. Atomic Kitten
D. Tatu
Question: The German pedagogue Friedrich Frobel who recognized that children have unique needs and capabilities introduced what concept of modern education?
A. Kindergarten
B. Pre-school
C. Universal childcare
D. Time-outs
Question: What appeared on British roads for the first time in 1956?
A. Parking meters
B. Yellow lines
C. Cat’s eyes
D. Traffic wardens
Question: What is the name of Glasgow’s main railway station?
A. Prince Street
B. Duke Street
C. King Street
D. Queen Street
Question: As of May 2022, how many original studio albums does Taylor Swift have?
A. 8 original studio albums
B. 9 original studio albums
C. 10 original studio albums
D. 11 original studio albums
Question: What river did artist Emanuel Leutze use as a model for the Delaware when he painted his famous historical work “Washington Crossing the Delaware” in 1851?
A. The Rhine River
B. The Danube Riber
C. The Seine River
D. The Volga River
Question: What movie did Apple use to hype its new QuickTime format, sparking a net-clogging 25 million downloads of the trailer?
A. Sleepless in Seattle
B. 10 Things I Hate About You
C. Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
D. The Matrix
Question: What world-famous French modernist artist painted the historic Civil War sea battle between the Union sloop Kearsage and the Confederacy’s corvette Alabama?
A. Edouard Manet
B. Edgar Degas
C. Pierre-Auguste Renoir
D. Henri Matisse
Question: Under the rules outlined in the charter of the International Olympic Committee, how much pure gold must there be in each gold medal awarded to first-place winners?
A. Four grams of pure gold
B. Six grams of pure gold
C. Ten grams of pure gold
D. Twenty grams of pure gold
Question: A Norwegian member of the Nobel Committee resigned in 1994 in protest at the awarding of the Peace Prize to Yasser Arafat, whom he labeled a terrorist. What was the Nobel Committee member’s name?
A. Anne Enger
B. Gunnar Berge
C. Kare Kristiansen
D. Egil Arvik
Question: Ken Edwards from Derbyshire holds the record for the most cockroaches eaten in one minute. How many cockroaches did he eat?
A. 24 cockroaches
B. 28 cockroaches
C. 32 cockroaches
D. 36 cockroaches
Thanks for reading our defense as to why multiple choice questions are valid as trivia. We hope the points we made and the questions you tried above helped you to understand that multiple choice questions can make for fun and effective trivia. Even if we didn’t change your mind, hopefully you learned something new and we picked your brain a little.
What’s your favorite trivia fact of the ones mentioned above? Let us know down below!
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