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.
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
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