100 Board Game Trivia Questions and Answers

Play 100 board game trivia questions in seven rounds, from familiar classics to modern strategy games.

Every question has a clear answer. We checked rule and award questions against publisher or organizer materials, and removed unsupported records, contradictory answers, and edition-dependent claims from the older list.

Table of Contents

Classics and Origins

Q: Which early Indian game is a precursor of modern chess?
A: Chaturanga.
Q: Monopoly’s streets are named after which U.S. city?
A: Atlantic City, New Jersey Source
Q: Which economist’s anti-monopoly ideas inspired Lizzie Magie’s The Landlord’s Game?
A: Henry George. Source
Q: The detective game Cluedo is known as what in North America?
A: Clue
Q: Scrabble inventor Alfred Butts originally titled the game what?
A: Lexiko
Q: Which family game challenges players to deduce their opponent’s secret character by asking yes/no questions?
A: Guess Who?
Q: Which ship-hunting game began as a pencil-and-paper game before becoming a plastic board game?
A: Battleship. Source
Q: How many checkers does each player start with in standard U.S. checkers?
A: 12
Q: Which game asks players to shout “Sorry!” after bumping rivals back to start?
A: Sorry!
Q: Which color peg in Mastermind indicates a correct color in the wrong position?
A: White Source
Q: Operation originally featured what goofy ailment involving a butterfly?
A: “Butterflies in the stomach”
Q: How many letters are on the Scrabble rack at one time?
A: 7 Source
Q: Which word game challenges players to build crossword grids with plastic tiles in a banana pouch?
A: Bananagrams
Q: In chess notation, what letter represents the knight?
A: N
Q: Connect Four requires how many same‑colored discs in a line to win?
A: Four Source
Q: The “pop‑omatic” dice bubble belongs to which roll‑and‑race game?
A: Trouble
Q: Which token was retired from Monopoly in 2013 and replaced by a cat?
A: Iron Source
Q: Chinese Checkers actually originated in which European country?
A: Germany
Q: The Royal Game of Ur boards were discovered in the excavation of which Mesopotamian city?
A: Ur
Q: Which Japanese game uses black and white stones on a 19×19 grid?
A: Go

Modern Games

Q: Which 1995 game has players trade resources and build settlements on a modular island?
A: Catan. Source
Q: Which bird‑themed engine builder won Kennerspiel des Jahres 2019?
A: Wingspan Source
Q: In the original Ticket to Ride, how many bonus points are awarded for the longest continuous path?
A: 10. Source
Q: Gloomhaven features a starting roster of how many playable mercenaries?
A: Six Source
Q: What anthropomorphic woodland wargame features factions like the Marquise de Cat?
A: Root Source
Q: Which Portuguese palace provides the setting for the tile-laying game Azul?
A: The Royal Palace of Évora. Source
Q: In 7 Wonders Duel, there are how many possible victory conditions?
A: Three (military, science, points) Source
Q: Which social deduction game centers on hidden roles of “Fascist” and “Liberal”?
A: Secret Hitler
Q: Terraforming Mars ends when oxygen, oceans, and what third parameter reach target?
A: Global temperature Source
Q: The Crew series is based on what traditional card‑game mechanism?
A: Trick‑taking
Q: In Betrayal at House on the Hill, the traitor reveal is called the what?
A: Haunt
Q: In Mysterium, what kind of cards does the ghost use to give the investigators clues?
A: Vision cards. Source
Q: Which deck-building game was designed by Donald X. Vaccarino?
A: Dominion.
Q: Splendor’s poker‑chip tokens represent what precious items?
A: Gems
Q: In Blood Rage, which event from Norse mythology destroys provinces as the game progresses?
A: Ragnarök.
Q: In Everdell, what massive 3‑D component dominates the table?
A: The Evertree
Q: Which Spirit Island expansion introduces new spirits and adversaries?
A: Jagged Earth. Source
Q: Which abstract game has a piece called a capstone?
A: Tak. Source
Q: In King of Tokyo, how many points do three dice showing 3 score before any additional matching dice?
A: Three points. Source

Designers and Creators

Q: Who designed Catan?
A: Klaus Teuber Source
Q: Elizabeth Hargrave drew inspiration from which real‑life hobby when crafting Wingspan?
A: Bird‑watching Source
Q: Jamey Stegmaier runs which St. Louis‑based publishing company?
A: Stonemaier Games Source
Q: Which Antoine Bauza game won the 2011 Kennerspiel des Jahres award?
A: 7 Wonders. Source
Q: Who designed Carcassonne?
A: Klaus-Jürgen Wrede. Source
Q: Which Eric M. Lang game completes the mythology trilogy with Blood Rage and Rising Sun?
A: Ankh: Gods of Egypt. Source
Q: Bruno Cathala co‑designed which two‑player 7 Wonders spin‑off?
A: 7 Wonders Duel Source
Q: In which year did Wolfgang Warsch receive Spiel des Jahres nominations for The Mind, That’s Pretty Clever, and The Quacks of Quedlinburg?
A: 2018. Source
Q: Which bomb-defusal game by Hisashi Hayashi won Spiel des Jahres in 2025?
A: Bomb Busters. Source
Q: Kevin Wilson helped design which horror hit set in H.P. Lovecraft’s Arkham?
A: Arkham Horror 2nd Edition
Q: Donald X. Vaccarino created which deck‑builder that coined the genre term?
A: Dominion Source
Q: Who designed the bag-building game Orléans?
A: Reiner Stockhausen.
Q: Which Stefan Feld strategy game is named after a city on China’s southern coast?
A: Macao.
Q: Jean‑Louis Roubira conceived Dixit while working as what profession?
A: Child psychiatrist
Q: Ryan Laukat both illustrates and designs for which self‑published label?
A: Red Raven Games
Q: Richard Garfield followed Magic: The Gathering with which monster‑battling dice game?
A: King of Tokyo
Q: Which real-time cooperative dice game sends players through a cursed temple?
A: Escape: The Curse of the Temple.
Q: Which Phil Walker-Harding card-drafting game features sushi dishes?
A: Sushi Go!
Q: Tak co-designer James Ernest founded which game publisher?
A: Cheapass Games.

Game Mechanics

Q: A “meeple” is a mash‑up of which two words?
A: My + people
Q: In deck‑builders, removing weak cards is called what?
A: Trashing or culling
Q: How can a legacy game permanently change its own components?
A: By adding stickers, writing on components, or removing cards as its rules direct.
Q: In Catan, the robber begins on which tile?
A: Desert Source
Q: “Analysis paralysis” refers to players doing what?
A: Overthinking their turn
Q: “Take that” mechanics encourage what interaction style?
A: Direct attacks/negative effects on others
Q: A polyomino piece shaped like a “T” in 5 squares is called?
A: T‑pentomino
Q: “Bag‑building” replaces decks with bags; name one famous example.
A: Quacks of Quedlinburg
Q: A “roundel” mechanism forces turn order movement on what shape?
A: Circular track
Q: A “chit‑pull” system draws cardboard tokens from where?
A: Cup or opaque container
Q: What makes a game board modular?
A: It is assembled from separate pieces rather than being one fixed board.
Q: In minis games, LoS stands for what?
A: Line of sight

Awards

Q: Which game won the first official Spiel des Jahres award in 1979?
A: Hare & Tortoise (Hase und Igel). Source
Q: The Kennerspiel des Jahres recognizes what type of game?
A: “Connoisseur/Expert” games Source
Q: Which tile‑laying game won Spiel des Jahres 2001?
A: Carcassonne Source
Q: Ticket to Ride snagged SdJ in what year?
A: 2004 Source
Q: Which cake-themed game won Kinderspiel des Jahres in 2025?
A: Topp die Torte! Source
Q: Spiel des Jahres jury is based in which country?
A: Germany
Q: How many word cards form the standard Codenames grid?
A: 25. Source
Q: Who designed Mage Knight Board Game?
A: Vlaada Chvátil.
Q: Designer Wolfgang Warsch had how many SdJ nominations in 2018 alone?
A: Three Source

Strategy and Rules

Q: In chess, how many unique opening moves does White have?
A: 20 Source
Q: In Catan, how many dice-result combinations in 36 produce a 6, 5, or 9 in total?
A: 13 combinations (5 for a 6, 4 for a 5, and 4 for a 9). Source
Q: With five fair six-sided dice, about how often does a Yahtzee occur on a single roll?
A: 1 in 1,296 rolls.
Q: Solving Connect Four perfectly results in a forced win for which player?
A: First Source
Q: A maximum 29-point cribbage hand contains three fives and which other card when the cut card is the fourth five?
A: A jack matching the cut five’s suit. Source
Q: What does the Road Building development card let you build for free in base Catan?
A: Two roads. Source
Q: How many cards are in a Commander deck, including its commander?
A: Exactly 100. Source
Q: Fool’s Mate can end a standard chess game on which player’s second move?
A: Black’s.
Q: What is the highest value printed on Scythe’s power track?
A: 16. Source
Q: Perfect information games feature no hidden data—name one example besides chess.
A: Go
Q: Dice distribution “bell curve” makes rolling 7 most common in which two‑dice game?
A: Catan
Q: In Sequence, how many two-eyed jacks act as wild cards in the two-deck game?
A: Four. Source

Quick Finish

Q: Which singer made her film debut in the 2012 Battleship movie?
A: Rihanna. Source
Q: In a correctly oriented chessboard, what color is the corner square on each player’s right?
A: Light. Source
Q: Name one kind of Monopoly property outside the colored street groups.
A: A railroad or a utility.
Q: What is the maximum player count in Love Letter Premium Edition?
A: Eight. Source
Q: In the original Azul, what is the largest floor-line penalty in one round?
A: 14 points. Source
Q: In Sequence, how many spaces on the board show each ordinary playing card?
A: Two. Source
Q: In Hive, how many sides of the opposing queen must be occupied to win?
A: All six. Source
Q: How many Wild Draw Four cards are in a standard classic UNO deck?
A: Four. Source
Q: How many legal starting arrangements of the back-rank pieces does Chess960 allow?
A: 960. Source

Ellie Simons

Ellie Simons creates and edits Random Trivia. She researches trivia using primary and authoritative sources whenever possible and is currently reviewing the site's older trivia library for accuracy, clarity, and playability. Read more on the About page.

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Site editor: Ellie Simons. Read our Trivia Methodology to learn how questions are researched and updated. Page last updated: September 26, 2026. Report an error.