Halloween trivia questions

Ten spooky prompts

The first seven suit children; villains and horror films are for older players. Under each are the answers people give first, the ones everybody will think of.

1. Name a famous wizard or witch 226 answers

   Said first

   • Merlin
   • Gandalf
   • Harry Potter
   • Dumbledore

   All answers A–Z

2. Name a mythical creature 162 answers

   Said first

   • Dragon
   • Unicorn
   • Mermaid

   All answers A–Z

3. Name a nocturnal animal 182 answers

   Said first

   • Owl
   • Bat
   • Fox
   • Raccoon

   All answers A–Z

4. Name an arachnid 65 answers

   Said first

   • Spider
   • Scorpion
   • Tarantula

   All answers A–Z

5. Name a candy or sweet 197 answers

   Said first

   • Chocolate
   • Gummy bear
   • Lollipop
   • Skittles

   All answers A–Z

6. Name a famous fictional cat 182 answers

   Said first

   • Garfield
   • Tom
   • Cheshire Cat
   • Puss in Boots

   All answers A–Z

7. Name something that glows 190 answers

   Said first

   • Firefly
   • Glow stick
   • Light bulb
   • Moon

   All answers A–Z

8. Name a famous castle 125 answers

   Said first

   • Windsor Castle
   • Neuschwanstein Castle
   • Edinburgh Castle
   • Bran Castle

   All answers A–Z

9. Name a villain from a film or TV show 114 answers

   Said first

   • Darth Vader
   • Joker
   • Voldemort
   • The Wicked Witch of the West

   All answers A–Z

10. Name a horror film 116 answers

    Said first

    • Psycho
    • The Exorcist
    • Halloween
    • The Shining

    All answers A–Z

How to run a Halloween quiz

1. Read a prompt and give every team a minute to write three answers.
2. Read the answers out. An answer no other team wrote scores 3, one another team also wrote scores 1.
3. The answers listed above score 1 at most, even when they are unique: nobody wins with a vampire.
4. For a tie-break, each team names a monster nobody has said yet, until one runs out.

The full format, with ten more rounds, is in how to host a trivia night. If your group is not in one room, Seal Circle plays the same idea online.

Where Halloween comes from

Halloween grew out of Samhain, the Gaelic festival at the start of November that marked the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter, when the boundary with the world of the dead was said to be thin. The name is short for All Hallows’ Eve, the evening before All Saints’ Day on 1 November.

In Ireland and Scotland people carved faces into turnips to keep spirits away. Emigrants took the custom to North America, where the pumpkin took over and the jack-o’-lantern got its famous face.

Questions

What are good Halloween trivia questions for kids?

Open prompts every child can answer: a witch or wizard, a mythical creature, a nocturnal animal, a sweet. Nobody is stuck, and the rare answers make the round.

How many questions does a Halloween quiz need?

Ten prompts make about an hour: a minute to answer each, then a few minutes to read the answers out and score them.

Can we play a Halloween quiz online?

Yes. In Seal Circle two to twelve players join a room with a code and take turns, and every answer can only be said once.