Hard quiz questions and answers

30 free hard quiz questions and tie-breakers, for round three and the end of a night. Difficult without being unfair, a narrower target than it sounds.

Last reviewed 14 September 2026

Hard is not the same as obscure

The difference matters more than any question on this page. A hard question is one most tables will not know but will enjoy hearing the answer to. An obscure question is one nobody knows, nobody cares about, and nobody learns anything from.

The test is the reaction when you read the answer out. 'Oh, of course' is a hard question. Silence is an obscure one.

Two of these in a round of ten is the right dose. A round of ten hard questions is not a hard round, it is a round where every table scores two and the standings do not move.

Hard, and satisfying

The answer is the kind of thing a table says 'of course' to. These are the ones to use in a normal round.

1
What is the only even prime number?
Answer: Two
2
Which country has the longest coastline in the world?
Answer: Canada
3
What is the term for a word that reads the same backwards?
Answer: A palindrome
4
Which planet takes the longest to orbit the Sun of the classical eight?
Answer: Neptune
5
How many time zones does Russia span?
Answer: Eleven
6
What is the collective noun for a group of owls?
Answer: A parliament
7
Which is the only US state with a one-syllable name?
Answer: Maine
8
What is the largest internal organ of the human body?
Answer: The liver
9
Which metal is liquid at room temperature?
Answer: Mercury
10
What is the name of the study of word origins?
Answer: Etymology
11
Which country is home to the world's oldest continuously operating brewery?
Answer: Germany
12
How many sides does a dodecagon have?
Answer: Twelve

Harder still

One of these late in a round, or as a tie-break. Fair, but a table needs a specialist or a good guess.

13
What is the SI unit of pressure?
Answer: The pascal
14
Which gas is the second most abundant in the Earth's atmosphere?
Answer: Oxygen
15
What is the name of the longest bone in the human body?
Answer: The femur
16
Which river flows through the most countries?
Answer: The Danube
17
What does the 'S' stand for in the middle of Harry S. Truman's name?
Answer: Nothing, it is not an abbreviation
18
How many hearts does an octopus have?
Answer: Three
19
Which is the only mammal that lays eggs, along with the echidna?
Answer: The platypus
20
What is the term for a shape with ten sides?
Answer: A decagon
21
Which chemical element is named after the Greek word for 'lazy'?
Answer: Argon
22
What is the name of the point in an orbit closest to the Sun?
Answer: Perihelion

Nearest-wins tie-breakers

Numerical answers, scored by whoever is closest. The best way to settle a tie, because it cannot itself tie.

23
How many steps are there to the top of the Eiffel Tower's second floor?
Answer: 674
24
How many bones are in the adult human foot?
Answer: 26
25
How many countries border Brazil?
Answer: Ten
26
How many keys are on a standard full-size piano?
Answer: 88
27
How many episodes of Fawlty Towers were made?
Answer: Twelve
28
How many stars are on the flag of the United States?
Answer: Fifty
29
How many players start a game of polo per team?
Answer: Four
30
How many minutes are there in a week?
Answer: 10,080

Where to put a hard round

Round three or four, before the break. The room is warmed up, still concentrating, and not yet tired. A hard round at the end is a hard round nobody enjoys, and a hard round at the start loses tables before they have committed.

And announce it. 'This one is the hard round' takes two seconds and completely changes how a table feels about scoring four.

Using these as tie-breaks

A nearest-wins numerical question is the cleanest way to break a tie, because it always produces a winner and it is more fun than counting back through rounds.

Keep one in your pocket every week. You will need it about one night in four, and inventing one on the spot in front of a room never goes as well as you hope.

Weight the hard ones

Questions carry their own point value, from 10 to 1,000, so a hard closer can genuinely be worth five times an opener.

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