Ever wondered why there aren’t more numerical answers at trivia night? Whether you’re a master of remembering specific dates, or you just want a chance to flaunt your mental math skills in front of your friends or colleagues, we’re on the same page. There are plenty of trivia categories whose questions will beg for answers that are numbers, and we at Trivia Bliss made a list of our favorites below.
These categories are generally pretty self-explanatory, but we’ve provided a couple of example questions for each one so you can get a feel for them, anyway. We’ve got 28 categories for which an answer is a number for you to choose from, so feel free to refer to this list the next time you’re planning a trivia night with friends. Without further ado, let’s get to ‘em.
How Many Children Do They Have?
In this category, players must guess the number of kids that a certain famous individual had or currently has. There are plenty of well-known historical figures and celebrities with tons of children to choose from! Alternatively, you can try to trip up your trivia-playing pals by inquiring about individuals without any children. You can also go for lesser-known celebrities to make your questions harder. (PS: This is also a great category idea for baby shower Jeopardy!)
Question: How many children did Alexander Hamilton have?
Question: How many children does celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey have?
How Many Units Are in That Measurement?
These questions might require some arithmetic on the fly to convert a certain unit of measurement to another. If your friends are math whizzes, try asking for outlandish conversions, like half-inches to miles or minutes to decades.
Question: How many teaspoons are in a cup?
Question: How many yards are in a mile?
How Many Rooms Are in That Building?
There are plenty of iconic buildings that everyone has heard of—the Sydney Opera House, the Taj Mahal, Buckingham Palace—but do you know how many rooms those buildings contain? Time to find out!
Question: How many bathrooms are in the White House?
Question: How many rooms does the Palace of Versailles boast?
How Long is That Movie?
Any movie buffs out there? See how well your friends really know their favorite films by asking about the films’ run-times. For an extra challenge, ask players to only give answers in minutes.
Question: What is the run time of Gone With the Wind?
Question: What is the run time of The Wizard of Oz in minutes?
How Old Is That Celebrity?
Do you know how old Rihanna is? How about Harrison Ford? And what about Billie Eilish? Compile a list of your favorite (or least favorite) celebrities’ ages and write them into questions like the ones below. Obviously, these answers will change from year to year, so perform a quick Google search check before your game to make sure they’re up to date.
Question: How old is acclaimed actress Dame Maggie Smith?
Question: How old is influential American rapper Jay-Z?
When Were They Born?
Unlike the category above, this category’s answers won’t fluctuate depending on the year—duh!—so it’s a great option if you want to feature even more time-based questions about well-known public figures. You can also open it up to historical figures born centuries or even millennia ago.
Question: What year was reigning English monarch Queen Elizabeth II born in?
Question: What year was legendary English playwright William Shakespeare born in?
Question: What year was the 14th Dalai Lama born in?
When Did They Die?
An extension of the previous category, this category’s questions concern the death years of famous folks who have long since passed. Be sensitive with this one: consider avoiding asking about people who have died more recently and opt instead to remember those who passed away many years ago.
Question: In what year did the third Egyptian pharaoh, Ramses, pass away?
Question: In what year did renowned Italian Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi die?
How Long Is That Bridge?
Time for some architecture talk: do your friends know their bridges? There are plenty of notable bridges out there worth talking about. Even if players have no idea how long these bridges are, they’ll learn a lot playing this category.
Question: How many feet long is the Brooklyn Bridge?
Question: How many feet long is Jefferson Parish, Louisiana’s Huey P. Long Bridge?
How Old Was That President?
Your friends probably know the youngest and oldest United States presidents to be inaugurated (Theodore Roosevelt and Joe Biden, respectively), but do they know each president’s exact age at their inauguration? To make this category extra difficult, you can opt to ask for their ages down to the specific day.
Question: How old was George H.W. Bush when he was sworn into office as president of the United States?
Question: How old was Franklin D. Roosevelt when he was sworn into presidential office?
How Long Was Their Presidential Term?
Here’s another U.S. presidential category. This one asks how long each president served for. Usually these answers are pretty straightforward, as most have served for only one or two terms, but you can make it more challenging by including presidents who did not serve their entire terms or asking for day-by-day specificity.
Question: How many years was James Monroe in office as president of the United States?
Question: How many years was Herbert Hoover in presidential office?
When Was That Royal Crowned?
Do you know your royal history? This category asks players to recall when certain monarchs gained their crowns. Try to diversify this category by asking about individuals from different countries and historical eras.
Question: In what year was Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom crowned?
Question: What year was Louis XIV crowned the king of France?
What Was That Song’s Billboard Hot 100 Peak?
How much pop music do your friends listen to? Put them to the test with questions from this category. It’s a tough one, but true music fans will surely know the positions that their favorite songs peaked at!
Question: At what position on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart did Beyoncé’s hit “Love On Top” peak?
Question: On Billboard’s 2019 Year-End chart, what was the ranking of Ariana Grande’s “7 Rings”?
How Many Spouses Did They Have?
Whether they’ve been married once or ten times, any celebrity or well-known historical figure would be a good choice for this category. While it’s not appropriate for wedding shower trivia (you don’t want to jinx anyone’s engagement!), this is a funny category to whip out of your back pocket when with friends.
Question: How many wives did King Henry VIII have?
Question: American starlet Zsa Zsa Gábor had how many husbands throughout her lifetime?
How Deep Is That Body of Water?
Marine experts, this one’s for you. Questions can concern small, local lakes or vast oceans. Choose a variety of bodies of water to quiz your friends upon.
Question: What is the maximum depth of the Dead Sea?
Question: How deep is the deepest part of Lake Erie?
What’s the Lifespan of That Animal?
If your friends are big on watching Animal Planet, they’ll have no problems with this category. Other players can take their best guesses at the lifespans of various animals, too. You can gear your questions towards domesticated animal lifespans or ask exclusively about wild animals.
Question: What is the median life expectancy for a cheetah?
Question: What is the average lifespan of a female North Pacific right whale?
What Year Did That Event Take Place?
To make this category more difficult and get everyone’s brains in gear, alternate between dates of ancient events and present-day happenings.
Question: In what year did the Rams move from St. Louis to Los Angeles?
Question: In what year did Indonesia gain its independence from the Netherlands?
How Long Was That War?
War isn’t a pretty topic, but it can make for a pretty good trivia category. Ask about how long various famous wars lasted.
Question: How many years did the Trojan War last?
Question: Between which years did the Seven Years’ War take place?
How Tall is That Building?
Lo and behold, it’s another architectural category. This one asks how tall certain famous buildings are. Perhaps ask about many different types of buildings, such as palaces, commercial buildings, and office spaces, to keep it interesting.
Question: How tall is the Chrysler Building in Manhattan?
Question: How tall is the Taj Mahal?
When Was That Book Published?
If your crowd is full of literature fans, this is a great category for you. Choose questions about books published across the centuries, or limit yourself to books written by a single author.
Question: Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations was first published in what year?
Question: When was James Baldwin’s nonfiction classic The Fire Next Time published?
What Year Was That Movie Released?
This category will show who’s been to the box office the most over the years. You can pick films from a single genre or just choose some of your favorites to ask about.
Question: What year was Disney’s animated Beauty and the Beast in theaters?
Question: What year was the classic black and white film It Happened One Night released?
How Many Years Between Those Two Events?
If players know the dates of important historical events, this category should be a piece of cake. You can also choose to opt for less crucial facts, like the time between albums released by the same artist or two movies from the same franchise. If your trivia night is following a theme, this is an easily changeable category for you to mold to your liking.
Question: How many years passed between the beginning of the Revolutionary War and the end of the American Civil War?
Question: How many years took place between the release of the film adaptation of Little Women starring Winona Ryder and its remake directed by Greta Gerwig?
How Many Are In Your Body?
Did you pay attention in anatomy class? A physical therapist would surely excel at this category.
Question: How many joints are in each adult human’s foot?
Question: How many major organ systems are in the human body?
How Many Were Made or Sold?
This category could get very obscure very quickly, so try to choose famous products whose production history is easily accessible. Allow players to round their answers to the nearest large numerical unit (thousand, million, or billion) if it’s a huge quantity, too.
Question: How many Ford Model T cars were produced during their peak production year, 1923?
Question: How many Popsicle ice pops are sold per year, on average?
How Many Wins Did They Have?
If you want to appease your sports-loving friends, go with this category. You can choose to ask about more recent seasons for those who may not be knowledgeable about sports throughout history, or you can make this category harder by only including stats from the early 20th century.
Question: How many wins did the Cincinnati Bengals have in 2021?
Question: How many wins did the Yankees have in 1975?
How Many Times Was That Word Said?
This category will be favored by those who are familiar with plenty of popular media: famous plays, musicals, songs, et cetera. Choose iconic works for a greater chance that one or two players will know these fun facts off the top of their heads already.
Question: How many times is the word “blood” spoken in Shakespeare’s classic play Macbeth?
Question: How many times is the word “food” sung in “Food, Glorious Food,” the opening number of Lionel Bart’s stage musical Oliver!?
How Many Seconds Are in That Length of Time?
Here’s another mathematical conversion category! This time, it’s from seconds to any other time measurement. If your players aren’t armed with calculators (or if you prohibit their use), this category might take a while to complete. Must be time to practice that mental math, huh?
Question: How many seconds are in 35 minutes?
Question: How many seconds are in three years?
How Many Pages Are in That Book?
This category might be harder to answer for classic books that have been reprinted many times, so stick to newer favorites or mention the edition of the book you’re asking about. Perhaps award points for guessing within 50 or 100 pages of the correct answer, as this is quite a difficult category, even if your players are big readers.
Question: How many pages are in the Harry Potter series’ fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix?
Question: How many pages are in Michelle Obama’s memoir Becoming?
How Many Episodes Are In That Season?
This last category is for all the notorious binge-watchers out there. Ask the game players how many episodes were in a certain season of a television show. You can stick to well-known classic TV programs, defer to today’s popular shows, or tailor the questions to the preferences of your friends.
Question: How many episodes were there in the first season of beloved 1990s sitcom Friends?
Question: How many episodes were released during Euphoria’s second season?
If you want even more trivia questions that have numerical answers, check out our trivia tie breaker article. In it, we highlight plenty of options for tricky questions with answers that are numbers. Looking for more trivia question inspiration or just questions in general? Check out our lists of super hard trivia questions, 105 sample Jeopardy! questions, 75 weird trivia questions, and tips for writing great trivia questions.
Got another category idea featuring questions where the answer is a number? Let us know down below in the comments.
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