Blog/
100 General Knowledge Questions to Test Your Friends (2025 Edition)
Whether you are hosting a trivia night, looking for questions to play online, or just want to test how much you actually know about the world, this list has you covered. We have pulled together 100 questions across ten rounds — from history and geography to music, science, and pop culture — with a note on how each round tends to play, so you can actually run this as a session instead of just reading down a list.
Round 1: History
Dates trip people up more than the events themselves — if your group finds pure years too punishing, ask "what happened" instead of "which year" and accept the era as close enough.
1. In which year did the Berlin Wall fall?
1989
2. Who was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize?
Marie Curie
3. Which ancient wonder of the world is the only one still standing?
The Great Pyramid of Giza
4. What was the name of the ship on which the Pilgrim Fathers sailed to America in 1620?
The Mayflower
5. Which Roman emperor made Christianity the empire's official religion?
Constantine
6. In which year did World War II end?
1945
7. Who was the first person to walk on the Moon?
Neil Armstrong
8. What ancient trade route connected China to the Mediterranean?
The Silk Road
9. Which country was the first to give women the right to vote?
New Zealand (1893)
10. Who led the Cuban Revolution that brought him to power in 1959?
Fidel Castro
Round 2: Geography
A fast, forgiving round — most people have an instinct even when they're not certain, so it plays well as a quick warm-up or a palate-cleanser between harder rounds.
1. What is the capital of Australia?
Canberra
2. Which is the longest river in the world?
The Nile
3. What country has the most natural lakes in the world?
Canada
4. Which ocean is the largest?
The Pacific Ocean
5. What is the smallest country in the world?
Vatican City
6. Which African country has the most pyramids?
Sudan
7. What is the highest mountain in Africa?
Mount Kilimanjaro
8. Which country is home to the ancient city of Petra?
Jordan
9. What is the capital of Canada?
Ottawa
10. Which sea lies between Greece and Turkey?
The Aegean Sea
Round 3: Science
This is where scores spread out. Read stems slowly — a lot of these are things people technically know but need a second to retrieve under pressure.
1. What is the chemical symbol for gold?
Au
2. How many bones are in the adult human body?
206
3. What planet is closest to the Sun?
Mercury
4. What is the world's fastest land animal?
The cheetah
5. Which scientist developed the theory of general relativity?
Albert Einstein
6. What is the most abundant gas in Earth's atmosphere?
Nitrogen
7. What organ produces insulin?
The pancreas
8. What is the approximate speed of light?
300,000 km/s
9. Which planet has the most moons?
Saturn
10. What is the hardest natural substance on Earth?
Diamond
Round 4: Music
Skews toward whoever in the room grew up on classic rock and pop radio — balance it with the movies and pop culture rounds later so no single generation dominates the whole session.
1. Which artist released the 1982 album Thriller?
Michael Jackson
2. Who is known as the Queen of Pop?
Madonna
3. Which classical composer wrote The Four Seasons?
Antonio Vivaldi
4. What nationality is the singer Shakira?
Colombian
5. Which British band performed Don't You (Forget About Me) for The Breakfast Club?
Simple Minds
6. Who holds the record for the most Grammy wins of all time?
Beyoncé
7. Which singer was known as the King of Rock and Roll?
Elvis Presley
8. Which composer wrote the Ninth Symphony while deaf?
Ludwig van Beethoven
9. Which Afrobeats artist released the global hit Calm Down in 2022?
Rema
10. What instrument does a pianist play?
Piano
Round 5: Movies
Usually the most competitive round in a mixed-age group — everyone has seen at least a few of these, which means near-misses and confident wrong answers both happen a lot.
1. Which film won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1994?
Forrest Gump
2. Who directed Inception?
Christopher Nolan
3. What is the highest-grossing film of all time?
Avatar
4. Which actor played Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
Robert Downey Jr.
5. Which 2019 film became the first South Korean film to win the Palme d'Or?
Parasite
6. What fictional African nation appears in Black Panther?
Wakanda
7. Who played the Joker in The Dark Knight?
Heath Ledger
8. Which animated Pixar film features a rat who dreams of becoming a chef?
Ratatouille
9. In which film does the character Jack Sparrow first appear?
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
10. Who directed Schindler's List?
Steven Spielberg
Round 6: Sports
Runs hot or cold depending entirely on whether your group follows sport — if it's a mixed crowd, warn people this round exists so nobody feels blindsided by a wall of unfamiliar names.
1. Which country has won the most FIFA World Cup titles?
Brazil (5 times)
2. How long is a standard marathon?
42.195 kilometres
3. Which sport uses a shuttlecock?
Badminton
4. Who holds the record for the most Grand Slam titles in men's tennis?
Novak Djokovic
5. In which city was the 2010 FIFA World Cup final held?
Johannesburg
6. Which country is home to the Springboks rugby team?
South Africa
7. Who was the first person to run a mile in under four minutes?
Roger Bannister
8. What sport is played at Wimbledon?
Tennis
9. Which country invented the sport of cricket?
England
10. How many players are on a standard football team?
11
Round 7: Food and Culture
A good round to slow the pace down on — a lot of these have a short 'why' behind them worth mentioning after the answer, which keeps the session feeling like more than a quiz.
1. Which country invented pizza?
Italy
2. Which country is the world's largest producer of coffee?
Brazil
3. What is the traditional Japanese art of paper folding called?
Origami
4. Which country invented champagne?
France
5. What is the traditional South African barbecue called?
Braai
6. What fermented Korean dish is made from cabbage?
Kimchi
7. Which country is famous for its Carnival celebration?
Brazil
8. What is the name of the Mexican Day of the Dead festival?
Día de los Muertos
9. Which spice is the most expensive in the world by weight?
Saffron
10. What is the traditional drink of Argentina made from dried herbs?
Mate (yerba mate)
Round 8: Literature
Skews toward readers, which makes it a good leveller in a room where the sports and pop-culture rounds went one way — different people tend to shine here.
1. Who wrote the Harry Potter series?
J.K. Rowling
2. Which author created the detective Hercule Poirot?
Agatha Christie
3. What is the name of the hobbit in Tolkien's The Hobbit?
Bilbo Baggins
4. Which Shakespeare play features the line "To be or not to be"?
Hamlet
5. Who wrote Les Misérables?
Victor Hugo
6. What is the world's oldest surviving work of literature?
The Epic of Gilgamesh
7. Which Nigerian author wrote Things Fall Apart?
Chinua Achebe
8. Who wrote Pride and Prejudice?
Jane Austen
9. What dystopian novel features the character Winston Smith?
1984 by George Orwell
10. Which Colombian author won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982?
Gabriel García Márquez
Round 9: Technology
The youngest round in the set by subject matter, but not necessarily the easiest for younger players — a lot of these are about when things happened, not just what they are.
1. What does WWW stand for?
World Wide Web
2. Which company created the Android operating system?
Google
3. In which year was the first iPhone released?
2007
4. What does CPU stand for?
Central Processing Unit
5. Which social media platform popularised the hashtag?
Twitter (now X)
6. What is the name of Elon Musk's space company?
SpaceX
7. What does AI stand for?
Artificial Intelligence
8. In which year was YouTube founded?
2005
9. Which programming language was named after a British comedy group?
Python (named after Monty Python)
10. What is the world's most visited website?
Google
Bonus Round: Wild Cards
Save this for last — it's the hardest round in the set by a distance, deliberately, so the session ends on the questions people actually talk about afterward.
1. How many time zones does Russia span?
11
2. What is the world's largest living structure?
The Great Barrier Reef
3. Which country has the most UNESCO World Heritage Sites?
Italy
4. What is the only planet in our solar system that rotates on its side?
Uranus
5. Who was the first woman to travel to space?
Valentina Tereshkova
6. What is the world's deepest lake?
Lake Baikal
7. How many sides does a hexagon have?
6
8. Which country is known as the Rainbow Nation?
South Africa
9. What is the smallest bone in the human body?
The stapes (stirrup bone in the ear)
10. Which country hosted the very first FIFA World Cup in 1930?
Uruguay
How did you score? 90–100: You are a trivia genius — join ChaTrivia and dominate the leaderboards. 70–89: Impressive knowledge across the board. A few gaps, but you would hold your own in any trivia room. 50–69: Solid foundation. The categories where you struggled are where ChaTrivia can help the most — you will be surprised how quickly competitive play fills those gaps. Under 50: Do not be discouraged. Everyone starts somewhere. The best thing about trivia is that every question you get wrong once, you tend to remember forever. That is the magic of it.
These questions are just a taste of what waits in ChaTrivia — Skilmore's free live trivia game where you compete against real players from around the world in real time. New questions fire every few seconds. The fastest correct answer wins the points. It is addictive, it is free, and it will teach you something new every single session. Play free at skilmore.com/chatrivia.
Related: How it works · Education · Corporate & Labs · Contact
← All articles