Think you know your Bowser from your Blinky? This quiz about gaming has 86 video game trivia questions split into four rounds, from super easy warm-ups to a hardest round that will sort the casual players from the people who still own a memory card for every console they have ever had.
Gaming is the rare subject almost every group shares: every week, 212.3 million Americans play video games, according to the Entertainment Software Association, so a gaming round has a ready-made audience. The retro questions go to whoever grew up with a Game Boy, and the modern ones to whoever was streaming last night's Fortnite match. Every answer follows its question, and each round is split into sets of about five so you can pick and mix.
How the rounds work
| Round | Questions | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|
| Super easy | 21 | Everyone, including non-gamers |
| Medium hard | 21 | Regular players |
| Hard | 22 | Dedicated fans |
| Hardest | 22 | Trivia sharks and industry nerds |
Super easy quiz about gaming
Set 15 questions
1What plumber brothers star in Nintendo's Super Mario franchise?
AnswerMario and Luigi.
2"Finish him!" is the iconic phrase from which fighting game series?
AnswerMortal Kombat.
3Which space horror game has players hiding from a single Xenomorph on the Sevastopol station?
AnswerAlien: Isolation.
4What kind of vehicle do players race in the Mario Kart games?
Answergo-karts.
5Which post-apocalyptic RPG series has players roaming the Wasteland and emerging from Vaults?
AnswerFallout.
Set 25 questions
6"I used to be an adventurer like you, then I took an arrow in the knee" comes from which Bethesda RPG?
AnswerThe Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
7Which horror game series has players surviving night shifts with killer animatronic animals?
AnswerFive Nights at Freddy's.
8Master Chief is the hero of which Microsoft series?
AnswerHalo.
9Who is the silent test subject armed with a portal gun in Valve's Portal?
AnswerChell.
10Which city-building game lets players unleash natural disasters on the city they have built?
AnswerSimCity.
Set 35 questions
11Which Nintendo villain keeps kidnapping Princess Peach?
AnswerBowser.
12In Fortnite, what is the shrinking danger zone that pushes players together called?
Answerthe Storm.
13Which super-fast blue hedgehog is SEGA's mascot?
AnswerSonic the Hedgehog.
14Naughty Dog, the studio behind The Last of Us, also made which treasure-hunting series starring Nathan Drake?
AnswerUncharted.
15Which Nintendo console popularised motion controls, with players swinging a remote to bowl and play tennis?
Answerthe Wii.
Set 46 questions
16In The Legend of Zelda series, what is the name of the hero players control?
AnswerLink (Zelda is the princess).
17In Pokémon Red and Blue, which three starter Pokémon can you choose from?
AnswerBulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle.
18Which sandbox game, created by Markus "Notch" Persson and fully released in 2011, is the best-selling video game of all time?
AnswerMinecraft.
19Which 1972 Atari arcade game, a simple table tennis simulation, was one of the first commercial video game hits?
AnswerPong.
20What is the name of Valve's PC gaming storefront, launched in 2003?
AnswerSteam.
21What does "NPC" stand for in gaming?
Answernon-player character.
Our pick: question 9. The Chell question, because the silent Portal hero is a name everyone half-remembers, which makes it fun to watch a room argue about.
Medium hard quiz about gaming
Set 15 questions
22Which hero wields the Keyblade in Kingdom Hearts?
AnswerSora.
23EA Sports' annual football series was called FIFA until 2023. What is it called now?
AnswerEA Sports FC.
24Which developer was at the centre of the "Hot Coffee" controversy over Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas?
AnswerRockstar Games.
25Which country created influential RPG series such as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest?
AnswerJapan.
26Doki Doki Literature Club and Steins;Gate belong to which story-driven, text-heavy genre?
Answervisual novel.
Set 25 questions
27Which 2015 CD Projekt Red RPG follows the monster hunter Geralt of Rivia?
AnswerThe Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
28Which fictional city, a parody of Los Angeles, is the setting of Grand Theft Auto V?
AnswerLos Santos.
29Which Blizzard MMORPG, released in 2004, is set in the world of Azeroth?
AnswerWorld of Warcraft.
30"Kept you waiting, huh?" is Snake's catchphrase in which stealth series?
AnswerMetal Gear Solid.
31Games like RollerCoaster Tycoon and Planet Coaster, where you build and run a theme park, belong to which genre?
Answermanagement simulation.
Set 35 questions
32Which Nintendo handheld, launched in 2004, had two screens, one of them a touch screen?
Answerthe Nintendo DS.
33Which PlayStation platformer stars a bandicoot battling the evil Doctor Neo Cortex?
AnswerCrash Bandicoot.
34Candy Crush Saga and Farm Heroes Saga belong to which casual puzzle genre?
Answermatch-3.
35In which 1996 Nintendo 64 game does Mario jump into paintings to collect Power Stars?
AnswerSuper Mario 64.
36PUBG and Fortnite popularised which last-player-standing game format?
Answerbattle royale.
Set 46 questions
37Which Nintendo designer created Mario, Donkey Kong and The Legend of Zelda?
AnswerShigeru Miyamoto.
38Which 2020 Nintendo Switch game had players building a new life on a deserted island, and became a lockdown hit?
AnswerAnimal Crossing: New Horizons.
39Which British adventurer is the heroine of the Tomb Raider series?
AnswerLara Croft.
40The Gran Turismo racing series is exclusive to which console family?
AnswerPlayStation.
41What business model, where a game is free to download but sells in-app purchases, dominates mobile gaming?
Answerfree-to-play.
42Which Final Fantasy game introduced Cloud Strife and the city of Midgar?
AnswerFinal Fantasy VII.
Our pick: question 38. Animal Crossing, because the lockdown-hit answer sparks an instant round of "what were you playing in 2020?" stories.
Hard quiz about gaming
Set 15 questions
43Which company completed its purchase of Activision Blizzard in October 2023?
AnswerMicrosoft.
44Chris Redfield is a hero of which Capcom survival horror series?
AnswerResident Evil.
45"Good morning, and welcome to the Black Mesa Transit System" opens which classic first-person shooter?
AnswerHalf-Life.
46In God of War (2018), what is the name of Kratos's son?
AnswerAtreus.
47True or false: the Wii was Nintendo's first home console to ship with wireless controllers as standard.
AnswerTrue. The GameCube's wireless WaveBird controller was sold separately.
Set 25 questions
48Diablo, Overwatch and World of Warcraft all come from which company?
AnswerBlizzard Entertainment.
49Which Nintendo fighting series brings together Mario, Link, Pikachu and dozens of guest characters?
AnswerSuper Smash Bros.
50True or false: Atari's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) is remembered as one of gaming's biggest flops.
AnswerTrue.
51Which livestreaming platform, bought by Amazon in 2014, is best known for gaming streams?
AnswerTwitch.
52FromSoftware's famously punishing fantasy action RPGs, including Demon's Souls and Dark Souls, are known collectively as what?
Answerthe Souls series (or "Soulsborne" games).
Set 36 questions
53Which 2009 shooter sparked controversy over its "No Russian" airport mission?
AnswerCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
54Which Rockstar Western series follows outlaws John Marston and Arthur Morgan?
AnswerRed Dead Redemption.
55"Rip and tear" is the motto of which shotgun-wielding antihero?
Answerthe Doom Slayer (Doomguy).
56The "Red Ring of Death" was a notorious hardware failure on which console?
Answerthe Xbox 360.
57What are the names of Pac-Man's four ghost enemies?
AnswerBlinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde.
58Streamer Tyler Blevins is better known by which gaming handle?
AnswerNinja.
Set 46 questions
59Which falling-block puzzle game was created by Soviet engineer Alexey Pajitnov in 1984?
AnswerTetris.
60Which Xbox 360 camera accessory, launched in 2010, let players control games with their body and no controller?
AnswerKinect.
61Which Nintendo handheld, released in 1989, came bundled with Tetris in North America and Europe?
Answerthe Game Boy.
62Which mobile game did its Vietnamese creator, Dong Nguyen, pull from app stores in February 2014 at the height of its popularity?
AnswerFlappy Bird.
63Which Microsoft racing series, a rival to Gran Turismo, began on the original Xbox in 2005?
AnswerForza Motorsport.
64"The cake is a lie" comes from which 2007 puzzle game?
AnswerPortal.
Our pick: question 55. The "Rip and tear" quote, because it gets shouted across the room before anyone has finished reading it.
Hardest quiz about gaming
Set 15 questions
65The International is the annual world championship for which esports game?
AnswerDota 2.
66Star Wars Battlefront II (2017) sparked a backlash over which kind of monetisation?
Answerloot boxes and microtransactions.
67Which publisher has released the WWE wrestling games since WWE 2K14?
Answer2K.
68Which 1993 id Software shooter was released as shareware, with its first episode free to copy and share?
AnswerDoom.
69Which 16-bit SEGA console, sold as the Genesis in North America, took on Nintendo's SNES in the 1990s console wars?
Answerthe Mega Drive.
Set 25 questions
70Ghost of Tsushima is set during which historical event?
Answerthe first Mongol invasion of Japan, in 1274.
71The Nemesis system, which lets orc enemies remember and adapt to you, debuted in which open-world action game?
AnswerMiddle-earth: Shadow of Mordor.
72Which 1997 Rare shooter for the Nintendo 64 was based on a James Bond film?
AnswerGoldenEye 007.
73Hello Games faced a backlash over missing features at the 2016 launch of which space exploration game?
AnswerNo Man's Sky.
74Which Bandai Namco fighting series features Ivy Valentine and her whip-like snake sword?
AnswerSoulcalibur.
Set 36 questions
75Solidus Snake, a former US President, is the main villain of which Metal Gear game?
AnswerMetal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.
76Which Halo game was the first to let four players team up online for the campaign?
AnswerHalo 3.
77Space Invaders came from Taito. Which company made Pac-Man?
AnswerNamco.
78Which Hideo Kojima game from 2019 casts Norman Reedus as a courier crossing a ruined America?
AnswerDeath Stranding.
79Which Dark Souls knight is famous for the "Praise the Sun" gesture?
AnswerSolaire of Astora.
80Michael Pachter, long a well-known games industry analyst, worked at which firm?
AnswerWedbush Securities.
Set 46 questions
81Hiroshi Yamauchi and Satoru Iwata were both presidents of which company?
AnswerNintendo.
82"A man chooses, a slave obeys" is the philosophy of which BioShock character?
AnswerAndrew Ryan.
83In which year was the original PlayStation first released in Japan?
Answer1994.
84What was SEGA's final home console, discontinued in 2001?
Answerthe Dreamcast.
85Which Vocaloid virtual singer, produced by Crypton Future Media, stars in her own rhythm games?
AnswerHatsune Miku.
86Which Capcom defence attorney shouts "Objection!" in the Ace Attorney series?
AnswerPhoenix Wright.
Our pick: question 75. Solidus Snake, because a former US President as a video game villain is a sentence only Metal Gear fans will answer without blinking.
Ways to host this gaming quiz for a group
Reading 86 questions off a phone works for two people on a sofa, but a group needs scoring. Build the quiz in AhaSlides' live quiz maker, share a join code, and everyone answers from their own phone. Different slide types suit different parts of the night:
- Pick Answer for the multiple-choice questions, with the leaderboard between rounds.
- Type Answer for the hard and hardest rounds, so nobody can guess "Nintendo" and get lucky.
- True or False for the true-or-false questions, such as the Wii wireless controller one.
- Word Cloud as an icebreaker: ask everyone to type the first console they ever owned.
- Rating Scale after the final round: how hard was the quiz, from 1 to 5?
- Open Ended to collect "best game of all time" arguments before the winner is announced.
Tips for running a gaming quiz
- Lean on the big audience. With 212.3 million Americans playing every week (Entertainment Software Association), most groups have at least one expert and a few curious beginners, so mix the eras.
- Alternate retro and modern. No single age group should run away with it.
- Save the hardest round for last. A tight leaderboard going into round four makes for a better finish.
- Use the sets. Pick two or three sets of five from each round for a shorter night.
If you would rather not build it from scratch, the AhaSlides template library has ready-made quizzes you can duplicate and edit. For more pop-culture rounds, try our Harry Potter quiz or Marvel quiz.
Frequently asked questions
What are good quiz questions about gaming?
Good gaming quiz questions mix eras and platforms. Console history, famous characters, iconic quotes, developers and esports all work, and a good set rewards both retro knowledge (Pong, the Game Boy, Pac-Man) and modern gaming (Fortnite, Elden Ring, Twitch), so everyone in the room can score.
How many questions should a gaming quiz have?
Around 20 to 25 questions per round is plenty. Two or three rounds fit a typical evening, and this quiz's sets of five let you shorten any round.
What was the first video game?
Tennis for Two is widely cited as one of the first video games. Physicist William Higinbotham created it and first showed it on 18 October 1958 at a visitors' day at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Two players used separate controllers connected to an analogue computer, with an oscilloscope as the screen.
Who invented the home video game console?
Engineer Ralph Baer, often called the father of the video game. His "Brown Box" prototype, built in 1967-68 and now held by the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, was licensed to Magnavox and released in 1972 as the Magnavox Odyssey, the first home video game console.
