Free pub quiz: week of October 5, 2026

37 questions in 4 rounds and a tiebreaker, with answers. Free to use at your pub, club, school or party.

Present it or print the answer sheets Blank answer sheets

Round 1: General knowledge

Which ancient Greek sacred site was home to the Pythia, the major oracle consulted across the classical world?
Answer
Delphi
Also accept: Pytho, Delphoi, Oracle of Delphi
Delphi was the seat of Pythia, the major oracle of the ancient classical world. Greeks considered it the center of the world, marked by the Omphalos stone.
What is the Islamic oath and creed that forms one of the Five Pillars?
Answer
shahada
Also accept: shahadah, the Shahada, the Shahadah, profession of faith, testimony of faith, declaration of faith
The shahada is Islam’s oath and creed, affirming that there is no deity except God and that Muhammad is God’s messenger.
What nonfiction book by Michael Lewis examines the U.S. Housing bubble and investors who bet against it?
Answer
The Big Short
Also accept: The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine
Michael Lewis’s book follows investors who anticipated the housing bubble’s collapse and profited from the 2008 financial crisis. It was later adapted into a 2015 film.
Which Greek mountain was believed in mythology to be the home of the gods?
Answer
Mount Olympus
Also accept: Olympus, Mount Olympos, Olympos
In Greek mythology, Mount Olympus is the home of the Greek gods. It is also Greece’s highest mountain, with its summit at Mytikas.
What memorable phrase did Bill Monroe use to characterize bluegrass music’s distinctive vocal and emotional quality?
Answer
high lonesome sound
Also accept: the high lonesome sound, high, lonesome sound, the high, lonesome sound
Bill Monroe described bluegrass as having a “high lonesome sound,” a phrase closely associated with the genre’s vocal character.
Which work collects Marcus Aurelius’s private notes and reflections on Stoic philosophy?
Answer
Meditations
Also accept: Ta eis heauton, Things Unto Himself, Treatise to Himself, The Meditations, Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, Marcus Aurelius's Meditations
Meditations records Marcus Aurelius’s personal musings and Stoic reflections. The work was not originally intended for publication and has no official title.
What is the title of Calvin’s seminal theological work, first published in Basel in 1536?
Answer
Institutes of the Christian Religion
Also accept: Institutes, Calvin’s Institutes, Institutes of Christian Religion, Institutio Christianae Religionis
Calvin published the first edition in Basel in 1536 and later substantially expanded it. The work became foundational to Calvinist theology.

Round 2: History & geography

Which French heroine claimed divine guidance and helped lift the siege of Orléans during the Hundred Years' War?
Answer
Joan of Arc
Also accept: Jeanne d'Arc, Jehanne Darc, Joan, Jeanne d’Arc
Joan of Arc became a military leader and symbol of France after helping secure victories that led to Charles VII’s coronation.
What nickname is commonly used for the Great Bell of the clock tower at Westminster in London?
Answer
Big Ben
Also accept: Big Ben bell, Great Bell of Westminster
Big Ben properly refers to the Great Bell of the Great Clock of Westminster, though the nickname is also widely applied to the tower and clock.
What conflict pitted the Union against the Confederacy in the United States during the 1860s?
Answer
American Civil War
Also accept: Civil War, The Civil War, War Between the States, U.S. Civil War
The American Civil War was fought between the Union and the Confederacy, ending in Union victory and the abolition of slavery.
What term described the political division separating Soviet-controlled Eastern Europe from the Western bloc after World War II?
Answer
Iron Curtain
Also accept: the Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain referred to the political division between Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe and the Western bloc during the Cold War.
Which Turkish statesman founded the Republic of Turkey and served as its first president from 1923 until 1938?
Answer
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Also accept: Mustafa Kemal, Atatürk, Kemal Atatürk, Mustafa Kemal Pasha
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk founded the Republic of Turkey and led it as its first president until his death in 1938.
Which Cold War confrontation is widely considered the closest the superpowers came to full-scale nuclear war?
Answer
Cuban Missile Crisis
Also accept: October Crisis, Caribbean Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a 13-day confrontation between the United States and Soviet Union over nuclear missile deployments in Cuba. It lasted from October 16 to 28, 1962.
What is the capital and most populous city of Laos?
Answer
Vientiane
Also accept: Viangchan, Vieng Chan
Vientiane serves as both Laos's capital and its most populous city.
What 1993 historical drama follows a German industrialist who saves mostly Polish-Jewish refugees during World War II?
Answer
Schindler's List
Also accept: Schindler List
Schindler's List dramatizes Oskar Schindler's efforts to protect more than a thousand people by employing them in his factories. It was directed by Steven Spielberg and stars Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, and Ben Kingsley.
Which South African leader became the country’s first black head of state after leading the ANC to victory in 1994?
Answer
Nelson Mandela
Also accept: Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, Mandela, N. Mandela
Mandela served as South Africa’s president from 1994 to 1999 and led efforts to dismantle apartheid and promote racial reconciliation.
What Rachel Carson book explores the science and poetry of the sea, from primeval beginnings to modern research?
Answer
The Sea Around Us
Also accept: Sea Around Us
Rachel Carson’s second published book launched her into public prominence as a writer and conservationist. It was first published as a complete book by Oxford University Press in 1951.

Round 3: Screen, stage & page

Which city is the capital of New Zealand?
Answer
Wellington
Also accept: Wellington City, Wellington, New Zealand
Wellington is New Zealand’s capital city, while Auckland is its most populous city.
Which city is the most populous of the cities on the Danube and Austria’s capital?
Answer
Vienna
Also accept: Wien
Vienna is Austria’s capital and the most populous city on the Danube. Its German name is Wien.
In what city did Charlotte Brontë study and later teach at the Pensionnat Heger?
Answer
Brussels
Also accept: Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium, Bruxelles, Belgium
Charlotte and Emily Brontë attended the Pensionnat Heger, where Charlotte studied and later taught English. Her experiences there influenced The Professor and Villette.
What fictional town is home to the Simpson family in the long-running animated television series?
Answer
Springfield
Also accept: Springfield (the fictional town in The Simpsons)
Springfield is the hometown of the Simpson family in The Simpsons. Its deliberately ambiguous location is part of the series’ running joke.
Which 1969 music festival drew more than 460,000 people to a New York dairy farm?
Answer
Woodstock
Also accept: Woodstock Music and Art Fair, Woodstock Festival, Woodstock Music Festival, The Woodstock Festival
Woodstock was held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur’s dairy farm in Bethel, New York. It became a defining event of 1960s counterculture.
Which 1931 Salvador Dalí painting became famous for its soft, melting pocket watches and now hangs at MoMA?
Answer
The Persistence of Memory
Also accept: La persistència de la memòria, La persistencia de la memoria, The Melting Clocks, The Soft Watches, The Melting Watches, Persistence of Memory
Salvador Dalí’s surrealist painting was donated to New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1934, where it remains. Its melting watches are among the most recognizable images in modern art.
What novel follows Amir's attempt to atone after failing to prevent an assault on his friend Hassan?
Answer
The Kite Runner
Also accept: Pattam Parathunnavar, Rodef Ha'Afifonim, Kite Runner
The novel centers on Amir's guilt and later efforts to redeem himself by rescuing Hassan's son. It was adapted into a 2007 film.
In what year was the original Jaws film directed by Steven Spielberg released?
Answer
1975
Also accept: 1975 film
Jaws is a 1975 American film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley’s novel.
Which broadcaster narrated every episode of the BBC One wildlife series Wildlife on One during its 253-episode run?
Answer
David Attenborough
Also accept: Sir David Attenborough, David Frederick Attenborough, Attenborough
David Attenborough narrated all 253 episodes of Wildlife on One, which aired from 1977 to 2005. He is also renowned for presenting and narrating major natural-history series.
Which Hieronymus Bosch triptych has been housed in Madrid’s Museo del Prado since 1939?
Answer
The Garden of Earthly Delights
Also accept: De tuin der lusten, Garden of Earthly Delights, El jardín de las delicias, The Garden of Delights
This Early Netherlandish masterpiece by Hieronymus Bosch is a five-panel triptych whose intricate symbolism has inspired competing interpretations.

Round 4: Science, sport & food

What telecommunications device lets people converse when they are too far apart to be heard directly?
Answer
telephone
Also accept: phone
A telephone converts sound into electronic signals, transmits them through communication channels, and reproduces the sound for another user.
What puzzle video game has players arrange falling four-block pieces to complete and clear horizontal lines?
Answer
Tetris
Also accept: Тетрис
Tetris was created by Alexey Pajitnov and centers on arranging tetrominoes into completed horizontal lines that disappear.
Which novel features the Mad Hatter’s eternal tea time and Alice’s famously chaotic tea-party encounter?
Answer
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Also accept: Alice in Wonderland
The Mad Hatter’s tea party is one of the novel’s best-known episodes. The book was written by Lewis Carroll and first published in 1865.
Which documentary follows Morgan Spurlock’s 30-day experiment eating only food from one fast-food chain?
Answer
Super Size Me
Also accept: Supersize Me
Super Size Me documents Morgan Spurlock’s physical and psychological changes while eating at McDonald’s three times daily for 30 days.
What term describes axolotls reaching sexual maturity while retaining aquatic, juvenile features such as external gills?
Answer
neotenic
Also accept: neotenic development, neoteny, paedomorphosis, paedomorphic
Axolotls are neotenic: they reach sexual maturity without metamorphosis and remain fully aquatic with obvious external gills.
Which FromSoftware game released in 2011 takes players through the cursed kingdom of Lordran?
Answer
Dark Souls
Also accept: Dark Souls 1, Dark Souls I
Dark Souls is the first game in the series and a spiritual successor to Demon's Souls. Its story unfolds in the kingdom of Lordran.
In what year did ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment end Prohibition in the United States?
Answer
1933
The Twenty-first Amendment, ratified on December 5, 1933, repealed the Eighteenth Amendment and ended Prohibition.
In what city did Jesse Owens achieve international fame by winning four gold medals at the 1936 Summer Olympics?
Answer
Berlin
Also accept: Berlin, Germany
Jesse Owens became internationally famous at the 1936 Summer Olympics, held in Berlin, Germany, where he won four gold medals.
What phrase is sometimes used to describe Einstein’s year of four groundbreaking papers?
Answer
annus mirabilis
Also accept: miracle year, year of miracles, Einstein’s miraculous year
Einstein’s four major papers published in 1905 led that year to be called his annus mirabilis, or “miracle year.”
Which Adirondack village hosted the Winter Olympics in both 1932 and 1980?
Answer
Lake Placid
Also accept: Lake Placid, New York, Lake Placid, NY
Lake Placid is one of only four sites to have hosted the Winter Olympic Games twice. It also hosted the famous 1980 “Miracle on Ice” hockey game.

Tiebreaker: closest answer wins

How many times may a person be elected to the presidency under the Twenty-second Amendment?
Answer
2 times
Also accept: two, twice, two times
The Twenty-second Amendment limits election to the presidency to two times. It also addresses successors who serve more than two years of another president’s term.
Roughly how many kilometres long is a marathon?
Answer
42 kilometres
Also accept: 26.22, 26.2, 42.2, 42.195, 42 km, forty-two kilometres
A marathon covers 42.195 kilometres, or approximately 26.22 miles. It became one of the original modern Olympic events in 1896.