What makes a trivia question hard?

It needs specialist knowledge to answer at all, like naming a noble gas or a programming language. Few people can give more than a handful of answers.

How do I play hard questions?

Choose Hard in Free play to get seven random hard prompts from a topic.

Which topics have the hardest questions?

Computer Science, Geography and Chemistry have the most hard prompts. The counts by topic are on this page.

Trivia collection

Hard trivia questions

134 prompts that reward people who know a subject well. The tip of each list is what an enthusiast says first; the bottom is for specialists.

Hard prompts are specialist subjects: chemistry, computing, history, the geography of a single region. Many people will not find any answer at all, and that is fine. These are the prompts for the friend who always wins the pub quiz.

Even here, the list has a shape. A few answers are well known to anyone who follows the subject, and the long tail below them holds the names only real experts reach.

Geography (24)Nature (14)Food (9)Science (15)Computer Science (27)Chemistry (21)History (11)Culture (9)Screen (4)

Geography

Name a city in Romania22 answers in The Deep and The Abyss33
Name a capital city in Africa42 answers in The Deep and The Abyss56
Name a strait or sea channel22 answers in The Deep and The Abyss32
Name a bay or gulf21 answers in The Deep and The Abyss31
Name a river in Africa28 answers in The Deep and The Abyss37
Name a river in Europe37 answers in The Deep and The Abyss50
Name a city in Portugal55 answers in The Deep and The Abyss67
Name a city in Greece55 answers in The Deep and The Abyss65
Name a city in Turkey77 answers in The Deep and The Abyss89
Name a city in Argentina50 answers in The Deep and The Abyss59
Name a city in Egypt40 answers in The Deep and The Abyss49
Name a city in Morocco48 answers in The Deep and The Abyss57
Name a city in Sweden65 answers in The Deep and The Abyss74
Name a city in Poland67 answers in The Deep and The Abyss76
Name a city in the Netherlands70 answers in The Deep and The Abyss79
Name a city in Switzerland65 answers in The Deep and The Abyss78
Name a city in Norway54 answers in The Deep and The Abyss63
Name a city in South Africa68 answers in The Deep and The Abyss77
Name a landlocked country34 answers in The Deep and The Abyss43
Name a country whose land or territorial waters cross the Equator6 answers in The Deep and The Abyss13
Name a lake in Africa15 answers in The Deep and The Abyss24
Name an island group in Europe or the North Atlantic49 answers in The Deep and The Abyss58
Name a canal14 answers in The Deep and The Abyss23
Name a tectonic plate15 answers in The Deep and The Abyss24

All geography prompts

Nature

Name a type of owl38 answers in The Deep and The Abyss46
Name a type of parrot57 answers in The Deep and The Abyss66
Name a bird of prey other than an owl77 answers in The Deep and The Abyss89
Name a type of crab39 answers in The Deep and The Abyss48
Name a type of snake74 answers in The Deep and The Abyss85
Name a type of lizard54 answers in The Deep and The Abyss63
Name a type of frog or toad50 answers in The Deep and The Abyss59
Name a type of antelope46 answers in The Deep and The Abyss55
Name a rodent59 answers in The Deep and The Abyss68
Name a marsupial49 answers in The Deep and The Abyss57
Name a succulent or cactus52 answers in The Deep and The Abyss62
Name a conifer53 answers in The Deep and The Abyss62
Name an animal that pollinates flowers37 answers in The Deep and The Abyss46
Name a terrestrial biome or habitat54 answers in The Deep and The Abyss63

All nature prompts

Food

Name a type of dumpling51 answers in The Deep and The Abyss64
Name an edible grain or pseudocereal30 answers in The Deep and The Abyss40
Name a Turkish dish49 answers in The Deep and The Abyss59
Name a Korean dish48 answers in The Deep and The Abyss58
Name a Vietnamese dish37 answers in The Deep and The Abyss46
Name a Romanian dish62 answers in The Deep and The Abyss76
Name a Middle Eastern dish52 answers in The Deep and The Abyss62
Name a pastry51 answers in The Deep and The Abyss62
Name a fermented food or drink63 answers in The Deep and The Abyss73

All food prompts

Science

Name a constellation71 answers in The Deep and The Abyss89
Name a particle in physics63 answers in The Deep and The Abyss72
Name an astronomer58 answers in The Deep and The Abyss69
Name a space telescope or observatory45 answers in The Deep and The Abyss54
Name a nebula15 answers in The Deep and The Abyss24
Name a human muscle73 answers in The Deep and The Abyss85
Name a human hormone56 answers in The Deep and The Abyss68
Name a cell organelle or cellular structure54 answers in The Deep and The Abyss63
Name a scientific measuring instrument80 answers in The Deep and The Abyss93
Name a law or principle in physics58 answers in The Deep and The Abyss71
Name a form of energy24 answers in The Deep and The Abyss35
Name a mathematician78 answers in The Deep and The Abyss91
Name a mathematical theorem76 answers in The Deep and The Abyss85
Name a comet38 answers in The Deep and The Abyss46
Name a geological period, epoch or era79 answers in The Deep and The Abyss90

All science prompts

Computer Science

Name a data structure27 answers in The Deep and The Abyss38
Name a sorting algorithm21 answers in The Deep and The Abyss31
Name a networking protocol38 answers in The Deep and The Abyss51
Name a database system30 answers in The Deep and The Abyss40
Name a file format42 answers in The Deep and The Abyss56
Name a processor instruction set architecture26 answers in The Deep and The Abyss36
Name a computer or network hardware component28 answers in The Deep and The Abyss41
Name a graph algorithm23 answers in The Deep and The Abyss33
Name a software design pattern27 answers in The Deep and The Abyss37
Name a programming paradigm19 answers in The Deep and The Abyss29
Name a markup or document typesetting language22 answers in The Deep and The Abyss31
Name an integrated development environment59 answers in The Deep and The Abyss69
Name a version control system28 answers in The Deep and The Abyss37
Name a Git subcommand25 answers in The Deep and The Abyss35
Name a Python library or framework25 answers in The Deep and The Abyss35
Name a JavaScript framework or UI library21 answers in The Deep and The Abyss31
Name a software package manager24 answers in The Deep and The Abyss34
Name a compression format or algorithm19 answers in The Deep and The Abyss28
Name a hash function or hash family21 answers in The Deep and The Abyss30
Name an encryption algorithm or cipher22 answers in The Deep and The Abyss31
Name a CPU scheduling algorithm24 answers in The Deep and The Abyss31
Name a network topology31 answers in The Deep and The Abyss39
Name an SQL keyword or clause23 answers in The Deep and The Abyss33
Name a search algorithm16 answers in The Deep and The Abyss24
Name a software license15 answers in The Deep and The Abyss24
Name a computing standards organization53 answers in The Deep and The Abyss62
Name a character encoding or character set47 answers in The Deep and The Abyss56

All computer science prompts

Chemistry

Name a chemical base22 answers in The Deep and The Abyss30
Name a chemical compound28 answers in The Deep and The Abyss39
Name a polymer24 answers in The Deep and The Abyss34
Name a piece of chemistry laboratory equipment28 answers in The Deep and The Abyss39
Name a chemical analysis or separation technique25 answers in The Deep and The Abyss35
Name an organic functional group28 answers in The Deep and The Abyss38
Name a type of chemical reaction27 answers in The Deep and The Abyss37
Name a named chemical reaction30 answers in The Deep and The Abyss40
Name a solvent27 answers in The Deep and The Abyss37
Name an amino acid23 answers in The Deep and The Abyss34
Name an element in periodic-table group 17 or 186 answers in The Deep and The Abyss13
Name a lanthanide7 answers in The Deep and The Abyss15
Name an actinide7 answers in The Deep and The Abyss15
Name a hydrocarbon21 answers in The Deep and The Abyss30
Name an alcohol compound22 answers in The Deep and The Abyss31
Name a fatty acid37 answers in The Deep and The Abyss46
Name a chemical indicator37 answers in The Deep and The Abyss45
Name an inorganic salt60 answers in The Deep and The Abyss69
Name a chemical bonding or intermolecular interaction type37 answers in The Deep and The Abyss48
Name a chemist76 answers in The Deep and The Abyss87
Name a group or family of the periodic table52 answers in The Deep and The Abyss63

All chemistry prompts

History

Name a writing system or script21 answers in The Deep and The Abyss32
Name an ancient Greek historical figure66 answers in The Deep and The Abyss75
Name a historical figure from ancient Rome68 answers in The Deep and The Abyss81
Name a medieval historical figure84 answers in The Deep and The Abyss94
Name an Ottoman sultan27 answers in The Deep and The Abyss36
Name a French monarch35 answers in The Deep and The Abyss44
Name a Russian tsar or emperor17 answers in The Deep and The Abyss26
Name a historical treaty or peace agreement80 answers in The Deep and The Abyss89
Name an archaeological site98 answers in The Deep and The Abyss111
Name a historical trade route or trade network30 answers in The Deep and The Abyss38
Name a famous historical document52 answers in The Deep and The Abyss65

All history prompts

Culture

Name an architectural style75 answers in The Deep and The Abyss91
Name a sculptor59 answers in The Deep and The Abyss68
Name an architect78 answers in The Deep and The Abyss89
Name an art movement76 answers in The Deep and The Abyss87
Name an opera76 answers in The Deep and The Abyss100
Name a ballet47 answers in The Deep and The Abyss56
Name a stage musical60 answers in The Deep and The Abyss78
Name a textile fabric79 answers in The Deep and The Abyss92
Name a painting72 answers in The Deep and The Abyss85

All culture prompts

Screen

Name a Sonic franchise character50 answers in The Deep and The Abyss61
Name a Street Fighter character22 answers in The Deep and The Abyss31
Name a Mortal Kombat character67 answers in The Deep and The Abyss76
Name a Portal or Half-Life character31 answers in The Deep and The Abyss40

All screen prompts

Questions about these prompts

What makes a trivia question hard?: It needs specialist knowledge to answer at all, like naming a noble gas or a programming language. Few people can give more than a handful of answers.
How do I play hard questions?: Choose Hard in Free play to get seven random hard prompts from a topic.
Which topics have the hardest questions?: Computer Science, Geography and Chemistry have the most hard prompts. The counts by topic are on this page.

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