Trivia Night Ideas (Themes, Questions, How to Host in 2023)

Trivia games are a great way to build connections with teammates, friends, family, and more. Trivia night is enjoyed by most people across the United States. It's a universal way to have fun with a minimal amount of prepartion required.

Typically, the game host should decide on the trivia night theme, have the questions ready in advance, and get all of the game material together.

Here is how to host a great trivia night and theme ideas to choose from (with questions!).

How to host a trivia night?

Here are a few pointers to keep in mind when hosting trivia nights:

Have a well-planned list of questions: Make the questions list in advance. When deciding on the questions to ask in real-time, players can lose focus. Print the questions you want to ask and have them on hand.
Keep the answers ready: All the answers should be ready with the host along with questions. Just like having the questions ready. When the host has the answers on hand, the trivia game can move quickly.
Know your audience: The host should be aware of the audience. Find a theme that matches the trivia event. If the trivia night is in a school, try student trivia questions! Or geography trivia questions.
Have well-defined rules: The host should make the rules clear. And make sure each individual or team understands the rules before playing. To go an extra step, make sure to decide what happens when the rules are broken. And make that clear.
Create backup questions and bonus questions for bonus points: Have a backup list of questions to ask. And bonus questions to ask in the event of a tie.
Make a good prize at the end: The prizes will encourage and motivate contestants to stay focused. Make it something fun, like a gift card or a surprise grab bag gift. The winning team should take something home (like a trophy or award).
Make sure the trivia host is prepared: Not only the audience or contestants, but host themselves should be well-prepared. Since, they are the one who is organizing the event, they should have the night well planned out. Have the trivia categories and questions ready. And decide on the theme.

Ideas for trivia night (trivia night topics and games)

Trivia night is enjoyed in large gatherings. From students to adults (like pubs), everyone seems to love a good trivia night. However, to make trivia night more fun and interesting you might need some ideas for theme nights.

The list of a few ideas is available below, go make your trivia night more interesting with a lot of twists and turns:

A large number of people split into groups of equal numbers. Make it a team trivia night! Points can get rewarded to teams just like individuals.
All the questions that get asked should be straightforward and fun. That's the reason why everyone showed up for the trivia night. Have fun!
A handful of jokes in-between the game can good for the host as well. Look up a few puns or jokes to keep the game night interesting.
Follow the theme but keep it interesting. If you're having a movie trivia night, play movie clips and have the contestants guess which movie it's from. Playing sports trivia? Have sports fans answer bonus hard questions.

Backwards Trivia:

This is one of the most famous forms of trivia. In this game of trivia, questions are replaced with answers, and the host instead of speaking the questions, speaks the answer.

The audience has to guess the question which will in turn become the answer in backward trivia.

Cinema Trivia (Movie Trivia Night):

Movie fans usually know their stuff! In order to make it more interesting, have a focus on the type of movie trivia questions you want to ask. To host trivia nights that keep people coming back, it's always fun to keep the trivia players guessing.

Here are some great ways to make cintema trivia night more interesting:

Focus on awards.
Trivia questions only about actors.
Trivia questions only about directors.
Trivia questions only about remakes.
Music in movies, etc.

Triviopera:

Here is the interesting one. In triviopera the contestants are part trivia question contestants and karoke singers. The entire fun of the trivia answer is dependent on the contestants as they can sing the answer. Once the question is asked, the game players have to sing the answers.

Pub Trivia:

Pub trivia is the most commonly known trivia for adults. Pub trivia is enjoyed across the United States. To play trivia at a pub, make sure to have a microphone and audio equipment that the entire pub or bar can hear.

School trivia night ideas:

The school trivia night questions are constructed keeping in mind the audience, i.e., students. All the topics are related to students only. Below is the list of ideas for making the school trivia night cool and fun:

History
Geography
Maths
General Knowledge
Movies
Music
Science
Literature
Sports
Art

School trivia night can be a lot more exciting when there's a mix of topics and information. To host a great trivia night at school, try to combine multiple topics into one quiz. This will keep the gameplay fun, exciting, and throw the players off.

Trivia night theme ideas:

To make trivia night more interesting, use multiple themes. Try one of these tehems below to make it a lot more exciting:

Star Wars Trivia: This theme is popular among students since they're all are fans of Star Wars.
Avengers Trivia: Just like Star Wars, Avengers also become one of the favorite themes of children and adults. The questions based on the movie "Avengers" are asked through the introduction of this theme.
Birthday Trivia: Birthday trivia is one of the best and most interesting themes. In this theme, the questions revolve around the birthdays of famous personalities starting with everyday birthday-related questions. Choose celebrities and well-known figures.
Decades Trivia: This is a very popular theme. Every decade like the 70s, 80s, or 90s, marks off a different style and decade of information.
Harry Potter: This movie has a large fan base worldwide. The eight parts of this series have been seen across the world.

80s trivia:

How to play: Who doesn't love the 80s? Once trivia teams are decided, the host should start asking questions to the group. Correct answers should get the point. And incorrect answers are skipped. The game host should keep a scorecard handy.

Sample questions

Trivia Question: Which band released the song “What You Do to Me,” and “You Sure Fooled Me"?

Answer: The John Hall Band

Trivia Question: Back in Black album was released after the death of whom?

Answer: Bon Scott

Trivia Question: Who 8 kids by the end of the show 'Cheers'?

Answer: Carla

Trivia Question: Who acted as Antonio Salieri in the movie “Amadeus” and also won Oscar?

Answer: F. Murray Abraham

Trivia Question: Which film was written by John Hughes in just two days?

Answer: Sixteen Candles

90s trivia:

How to play: After making up teams, the host should set the game rules. Decide if there's a time limit. Or if the teams have unlimited time to answer. Then, one-by-one, the host should start asking questions and marking correct points on a scorecard.

Sample questions

Trivia Question: Who was Boris Yeltsin?

Answer: The first president of Russia

Trivia Question: Power Rangers were banned in New Zealand till which year?

Answer: 2011

Trivia Question: Which team of Canada won the MLB title multiple times?

Answer: Toronto Blue Jays

Trivia Question: The first rap song which got No. 1 position on Billboard Hot 100 was which song?

Answer: Ice Ice baby

Trivia Question: Which TV reality show was first launched on TV?

Answer: The Real World

Celebrity Trivia

How to play: Celebrity trivia is fun for team building exercises, family game night, or a fun virtual FaceTime game with friends.

Sample questions

Trivia Question: Robyn Fenty is the real name of which singer?

Answer: Rihanna

Trivia Question: 'Becoming' is the memoir of whom?

Answer: Michelle Obama

Trivia Question: In which movie based on Virginia Woolf's work did Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor work together?

Answer: Who's afraid

Trivia Question: Which actor used to perform professional wrestling before getting injured?

Answer: Tom Cruise

Trivia Question: In year 1993, Jerry Springer turned how many years old?

Answer: 50 years old

Science Trivia:

How to play: The basic steps like making up teams and deciding on team names should get done. Write points down on a piece of scratch paper. Once everyone is ready, start asking questions and mark the points on the paper.

Sample questions

Trivia Question: Mycology is the study of what?

Answer: Mushrooms

Trivia Question: In what sound travels faster than air or water?

Answer: Water

Trivia Question: Which effect is responsible for freezing hot water faster than cold water?

Answer: Mpemba effect

Trivia Question: Which star in the solar system is considered to be the largest star?

Answer: Sun

Harry Potter Trivia

How to play: Like other trivia, Harry Potter trivia also follow the same rules and the procedures for playing trivia night. Begin by setting the team up and making the rules clear to the contestants. After, the host should start asking trivia questions. The contestants have to answer the questions quickly before the other team.

Sample questions

Trivia Question: Who were James and Lily Potter?

Answer: Parents of Harry Potter

Trivia Question: To which house does Harry Potter belong?

Answer: Gryffindor

Trivia Question: Emma Watson played the role of which character?

Answer: Hermione Granger

Trivia Question: Who is Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy?

Answer: Son of Draco Malfoy

Math Trivia:

How to play: The host will make the contestants comfortable and ask mathematical questions. The contestants will then have to give the answer. Pencil and paper is helpful for solving math equations and questions.

Sample questions

Trivia Question: How many prime numbers are there below 10?

Answer: 5

Trivia Question: How many bananas are there in two dozen?

Answer: 24 bananas

Trivia Question: What is the area of the circle?

Answer: πr2

Trivia Question: What is the perimeter of the rectangle?

Answer: 2 ( l + b)

Trivia Question: The triangle with all sides equal is known as?

Answer: Equilateral triangle

Geography Trivia:

How to play: The host will prepare a list of questions related to geography and then ask the contestants to answer. The person with the most points wins!

Sample questions

Trivia Question: Which is the hottest planet in the solar system?

Answer: Venus

Trivia Question: Which planet is called the red planet?

Answer: Mars

Trivia Question: Which one out of five oceans is the largest one?

Answer: Pacific Ocean

Trivia Question: What is the other name of the Netherlands?

Answer: Holland

Trivia Question: What is the capital of the United States of America?

Answer: Washington, DC

Funny Trivia

How to play: Funny trivia night is best played in teams. The host should ask the questions to each team. The team who gets the most correct answers wins the game!

Sample questions

Trivia Question: How is the fear of long words spelled?

Answer: Hippopotomostrosesquippedaliophobia

Trivia Question: The contest of Eurovision Song 2017 was won by which country?

Answer: Portugal

Trivia Question: Which sport according to you, is played on the moon?

Answer: Golf

Trivia Question: How many got dogs were eaten by a person in one sitting and it marked a world record?

Answer: 74 hot dogs

Movie Trivia

How to play: In the movie night trivia, there is no hard and fast rule. The host will simply set the questions and ask the contestants the same. The contestants will now have to answer. Any person who gets the answer correct gets a point.

Sample questions

Trivia Question: Which role did Anne Bancroft play in 'The Graduate'?

Answer: Mrs. Robinson

Trivia Question: In which movie did Kathleen Turner voiced Jessica Rabbit?

Answer: Who's Afraid of Roger Rabbit

Trivia Question: Jack Ryan was played by which actor on the screen for the first time?

Answer: Alec Baldwin

Trivia Question: For which film by Tim Burton did Danny Elfman (film composer) write the music?

Answer: Batman 1989

Music Trivia:

How to play: The host has to make the rules clear to the contestants and then began asking answers one by one.

Sample questions

Trivia Question: Farrokh Bulsara is the real name of which singer?

Answer: Freddie Mercury

Trivia Question: What is the name of the records which Berry Gordy found?

Answer: Motown Records

Trivia Question: Who was the duet partner of Tammi Terrell?

Answer: Marvin Gaye

Trivia Question: What is the name of the first lead guitarist of Metallica?

Answer: Dave Mustaine

Disney Trivia

How to play: The host will set up the questions related to Disney movies or shows. Afterward, the host will tell everyone the rules and begin asking questions.

Sample questions:

Trivia Question: In which movie does the character Doc, Happy, Dopey Sleepy, Grumpy, Sneezy, and Bashful are available?

Answer: Snow White

Trivia Question: Which place is named Al's Toy Barn in Toy Story 2?

Answer: Toy store

Trivia Question: How were Anastasia and Drizella related to Cinderella?

Answer: They were Cinderella's stepsister

Trivia Question: What is the role of Edna Mode in 'The Incredibles'?

Answer: She was a fashion designer

Trivia Question: Eugene Fitzherbert is the real name of which character in the movie Tangled?

Answer: Flynn Rider

Bible Trivia:

How to play: Play bible trivia like any other trivia night!

Sample questions

Trivia Question: In which language is the old testament of the Bible is written?

Answer: In Hebrew

Trivia Question: After how many days of resurrection did Jesus go to heaven?

Answer: After 40 days

Trivia Question: In which river was Jesus baptized?

Answer: River Jordan

Trivia Question: After the last supper, where did Jesus go for his prayer?

Answer: Garden of Gethsemane

Trivia Question: Who were Peter and Andrew in the old testament of the Bible?

Answer: Apostles who followed Jesus

Sports Trivia

How to play: The host will put questions to the contestants regarding sports, the person who gets the answer correct gets a point. Use answer sheets to make the game easier.

Sample questions:

Trivia Question: To which game does David Warner belong?

Answer: Cricket

Trivia Question: After how many years do the Olympic games take place?

Answer: 4 years

Trivia Question: Which ball has 336 dimples on average?

Answer: A golf ball

Trivia Question: What is the other name of 'The New York Jets' which is an NFL team?

Answer: New York Titans

Trivia Question: What is the full form of NBA and with which sport is this association renowned for?

Answer: Full form of NBA is National Basketball Association, it is renowned for basketball.

Trivia games and questions

Want to play more trivia question games? Our creations can help you have a fun night with family, friends, colleagues, and more. Each game guide includes instructions on how to play and specific questions that fit a genre you'll enjoy playing. Browse our extensive library of trivia questions below:

About the author

Patrick Algrim is a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW), NCDA Certified Career Counselor (CCC), and general career expert. Patrick has completed the NACE Coaching Certification Program (CCP). And has been published as a career expert on Forbes, Glassdoor, American Express, Reader's Digest, LiveCareer, Zety, Yahoo, Recruiter.com, SparkHire, SHRM.org, Process.st, FairyGodBoss, HRCI.org, St. Edwards University, NC State University, IBTimes.com, Thrive Global, TMCnet.com, Work It Daily, Workology, Career Guide, MyPerfectResume, College Career Life, The HR Digest, WorkWise, Career Cast, Elite Staffing, Women in HR, All About Careers, Upstart HR, The Street, Monster, The Ladders, Introvert Whisperer, and many more. Find him on LinkedIn.

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Trivia Night Ideas (Themes, Questions, How to Host in 2023)

How to host a trivia night?