How to write good quiz questions

What makes a good question

A good quiz question ticks three boxes:

• it’s clear: everyone understands what’s being asked on the first read;
• it has only one right answer: no “it depends”;
• it teaches something: you learn a fact, or you think “oh, of course!”.

A bad question breaks the rhythm and sparks protests. The difference comes down to a few habits, and they’re quick to learn.

True or false questions

True or false keeps things moving: you read, you buzz, you answer in one word. It’s the format of the 240 ready-made questions on the Quiz questions page, and of the random questions in the quiz buzzer.

To make it work well:

• Write a statement, not a question: “Spiders are insects.” False: they’re arachnids.
• One idea per sentence: if half is true and half is false, nobody can answer correctly.
• Avoid double negatives: “It is not untrue that…” confuses everyone, including you.
• Balance the answers: roughly as many “true” as “false”, or players will spot the pattern.
• Look for surprise: the best statements sound false but are true, or the other way around.
• Add an explanation: one sentence after the answer, like in the ready-made questions. It turns a lost point into a small discovery.

Multiple choice questions

In Remote mode, when it’s your turn to ask, you can also write a question with 4 options. At a party, just read the four options out loud. This format takes a bit more work: you need three believable wrong answers.

Example: “What is the capital of Australia? Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra or Perth.” All four are well-known Australian cities, and many people think of Sydney first. The right answer is Canberra.

A few rules:

• Believable wrong answers: an absurd option eliminates itself, and your question is left with only three choices.
• The same format for all four: four cities, four years or four numbers.
• No accidental clues: the right answer shouldn’t be the only longer one, or the only more precise one.
• Move the right answer around from one question to the next.
• Skip “all of the above” and “none of the above”: they confuse more than they make people think.

What about open questions?

In Party mode, the host is the judge: the first player to buzz appears big on the TV, says their answer out loud, and the host clicks Correct or Wrong. So open questions work really well, for example: “In what year did a person first walk on the Moon?” (1969.)

Choose ones with a short, clear-cut answer: a name, a date, a number. If you have to think about whether an answer is right, your question is too vague.

Getting the difficulty right

A good quiz mixes levels, so everyone scores some points.

• Easy: almost everyone gets it. Example: “How many legs does a spider have?” (8.)
• Medium: about half the players get it, often after a moment’s hesitation.
• Hard: only the enthusiasts get it. One or two per round is plenty.

Start each round with an easy question to get things going. For younger players, keep questions short and about things they know: animals, school, cartoons. The kids topic is full of ideas, and the animals topic works for all ages.

The temptation of the trick question

In Remote mode, a question nobody gets right earns the point for the person who asked it: that’s the trick question. It’s tempting to write impossible ones… But a trick question must stay fair. Hard, yes. Ambiguous or uncheckable, no. Your group will forgive a tough question, not a twisted one.

Pitfalls to avoid

• Vague words: “the biggest”, by height, by area or by population? Always be specific.
• Questions with two right answers: “What is the largest desert in the world?” If you count cold deserts, it’s Antarctica; among hot deserts, it’s the Sahara. Write “the largest hot desert”, and the debate disappears.
• Facts that change: records, populations, current titles. Date them (“in 2024…”) or choose a stable fact.
• Questions that are too long: beyond two lines, players tune out.
• Topics that hurt: no mocking someone in the room, their looks or their background. Laugh with people, not at them.
• “Guess what I’m thinking”: if only the author can find the answer, it’s not a quiz anymore.

Writing for Remote mode

In Remote mode, each player sees your question on their screen right after buzzing, and has 20 seconds to answer. Too slow, and their answer counts as wrong. A few extra habits:

• Keep it short: the question and its options should be readable in a few seconds.
• Double-check the right answer before sending: it’s what everyone gets judged on. One wrong tap, and the point goes to the wrong person.
• No traps in the wording: the difficulty should come from the topic, not from a word slipped in to mislead.
• Play the group card: a question about a shared memory always gets the chat going.

For how a whole game works, our guide to the remote quiz on WhatsApp or Snapchat explains everything, from the invitation to the podium.

Check your sources

It’s the step everyone skips, and the one that prevents arguments.

• Check every answer in two reliable, independent sources: a well-known encyclopedia, an official website, a museum, a scientific organization, a reference book.
• Be wary of “facts” everyone knows: some myths are everywhere. You often read that the Great Wall of China can be seen with the naked eye from the Moon. It’s false: it’s far too narrow to be seen from that distance.
• Note the source next to the answer. If a player challenges it, you have what you need to settle it.
• Have someone who isn’t playing read your questions: they’ll spot the clumsy sentences.

A simple method for one round

1. Choose a topic. Can’t decide? Put several topics on the random wheel and let it decide.
2. Jot down 15 question ideas, in no particular order.
3. Keep the best 10.
4. Write them out, with the answer, a short explanation and the source.
5. Order them from easiest to hardest, with a surprise in the middle.
6. Read them out loud: if you stumble over a sentence, shorten it.

For a night of about an hour, plan 40 to 50 questions, plus a few in reserve. And nothing says you have to write them all yourself: draw a random order among your friends, and each person prepares and hosts a round on the topic of their choice.

Test your questions

Ready? Try them out at a party with our tips to host a quiz night, or add a music round with our guide to the music quiz. And if your friends are far away, create a Remote game on the buzzer: it handles the timer, the buzz order and the leaderboard. All you have to do is stump everyone.