[Closed] Totally Random Trivia - 2025

Answers to Friday, December 5, 2025

1. Quit While You’re Ahead: Five countries border Argentina. Name as many of those countries as you can for one point each. Zero points total if you get any incorrect.

Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay

2. Liquors are differentiated by the mash used in the distilling process. Scotch uses barley as its main ingredient. What is the main ingredient in bourbon?

Corn

3. Louis Armstrong won his only Grammy Award in 1965 for singing the title song from what Broadway musical, starring Carol Channing as a cantankerous matchmaker?

“Hello, Dolly!”
(he was also in the 1969 movie with Barbra Streisand)

4. The Delmarva Peninsula separates Chesapeake Bay from the Atlantic Ocean and consists of portions of three states. Name all three.

Delaware, Maryland, Virginia
(that's what “Delmarva” stands for)

5. Today is December 5. On this day in 1890, Austrian film director Fritz Lang was born. His magnum opus is what 1927 silent film set in a futuristic city, sharply divided between the working class and its city planners?

“Metropolis”

Questions for
Monday, December 8, 2025

Five questions to wake up your noodle. Answers in tomorrow’s email. 

1. During the Time of Troubles in Russia, three different imposters claimed to be Dmitry Ivanovich, the son of which tsar?

2. Calvin Hill was one of the NFL Rookies of the Year in 1969. His son was one of the NBA Rookies of the Year in 1995. What is his son’s name? 

3. Anemia is a condition that results from the decrease of which type of blood cells in the body: red or white?

4. The word “ergometer” comes from the Greek for “work measurer.” In a gym, it usually refers specifically to what type of fitness machine?

5. Before Uncle Sam, the personification of the United States was what woman, who is now the namesake of a film studio, a sportswear company, and a Southeastern state capital?

2. Grant Hill.

3. Red

4. Rowing? nope

5. Columbia

4. Exercise bike or arm pedal thingys.  

1. Ivan IV (The Terrible)

Answers to Monday, December 8, 2025

1. During the Time of Troubles in Russia, three different imposters claimed to be Dmitry Ivanovich, the son of which tsar?

Ivan the Terrible (Tsar Ivan IV)

2. Calvin Hill was one of the NFL Rookies of the Year in 1969. His son was one of the NBA Rookies of the Year in 1995. What is his son’s name? 

Grant Hill

3. Anemia is a condition that results from the decrease of which type of blood cells in the body: red or white?

Red blood cells

4. The word “ergometer” comes from the Greek for “work measurer.” In a gym, it usually refers specifically to what type of fitness machine?

Rowing machine

5. Before Uncle Sam, the personification of the United States was what woman, who is now the namesake of a film studio, a sportswear company, and a Southeastern state capital?

Columbia

Questions for
Tuesday, December 9, 2025

Five questions to wake up your noodle. Answers in tomorrow’s email. 

1. Bad Bunny will be headlining the Super Bowl LX halftime show, making his second appearance at the event, the first coming as a guest of what two Latin pop stars?

2. What brand of Japanese biscuit sticks, celebrated on 11/11, was originally coated in chocolate, and later in strawberry, green tea, lychee, and other flavors?

3. “Lemniscate” is a word of Latin origin meaning “decorated with ribbons.” It describes a symbol associated with what mathematical concept?

4. The world’s smallest mammal by body length is a member of the order Chiroptera that weighs in at about two grams. It’s known as a bumblebee BLANK. Fill in that blank!

5. Lon Chaney Jr., Boris Karloff, and Bela Lugosi all played Frankenstein’s monster in the classic Universal monster movies. Which of those three is the only one who never played Count Dracula?

5 Boris Karloff

2. Pocky

4. Bat

Answers to Tuesday,
December 9, 2025

1. Bad Bunny will be headlining the Super Bowl LX halftime show, making his second appearance at the event, the first coming as a guest of what two Latin pop stars?

Jennifer Lopez, Shakira

2. What brand of Japanese biscuit sticks, celebrated on 11/11, was originally coated in chocolate, and later in strawberry, green tea, lychee, and other flavors?

Pocky 

3. “Lemniscate” is a word of Latin origin meaning “decorated with ribbons.” It describes a symbol associated with what mathematical concept?

Infinity

4. The world’s smallest mammal by body length is a member of the order Chiroptera that weighs in at about two grams. It’s known as a bumblebee BLANK. Fill in that blank!

Bat  

5. Lon Chaney Jr., Boris Karloff, and Bela Lugosi all played Frankenstein’s monster in the classic Universal monster movies. Which of those three is the only one who never played Count Dracula?

Boris Karloff

Questions for
Wednesday, December 10, 2025

Five questions to wake up your noodle. Answers in tomorrow’s email. 

1. Said once, it’s a song from “West Side Story.” Repeated, it’s a song by Smashing Pumpkins. And said thrice, it’s a song by Genesis. What word is it? 

2. The nictitating membrane is a protective sheath found on many animals who spend time underground or underwater. In humans, it’s a vestigial trait seen in a small fold next to what organs?

3. In 2022, LeBron James and Draymond Green became team owners in a professional league for what coed sport, which was the namesake of the family dog of the sport’s founder?

4. In physics, mass times acceleration equals force. What is obtained by multiplying mass times velocity?

5. Most famous for his rendition of “Misirlou,” which was used in the opening credits of “Pulp Fiction,” Dick Dale is the undisputed “King” of what guitar style?

3. Pickleball

5. Surf

1 Tonight

4 Momentum

2. Eyes

Answers to Wednesday,
December 10, 2025

1. Said once, it’s a song from “West Side Story.” Repeated, it’s a song by Smashing Pumpkins. And said thrice, it’s a song by Genesis. What word is it? 

“Tonight”

2. The nictitating membrane is a protective sheath found on many animals who spend time underground or underwater. In humans, it’s a vestigial trait seen in a small fold next to what organs?

Eyes

3. In 2022, LeBron James and Draymond Green became team owners in a professional league for what coed sport, which was the namesake of the family dog of the sport’s founder?

Pickleball

4. In physics, mass times acceleration equals force. What is obtained by multiplying mass times velocity?

Momentum

5. Most famous for his rendition of “Misirlou,” which was used in the opening credits of “Pulp Fiction,” Dick Dale is the undisputed “King” of what guitar style? 

Surf guitar

Questions for
Theme Thursday, December 11, 2025

Filmography Finales: Five questions about the final films of famous directors who have sadly passed.

Answers in tomorrow’s email.

1. The 2011 film “Abduction” is pretty much only notable for being the final film of what director, who in 1992 became the youngest person ever nominated for the Best Director Oscar, for “Boyz n the Hood”?

2. Stanley Kubrick only directed 13 full-length feature films. The final one was released in 1999, and heavily featured Venetian masks. What was it called?

3. Director Ivan Reitman made a cameo in what 2021 legacy sequel, after having directed the original film in the franchise almost 40 years prior?

4. “F for Fake” and “Filming Othello” were the final directing credits for Orson Welles while he was alive. His directorial debut premiered in 1941. What was the name of that movie?

5. The 2001 Drew Barrymore movie “Riding in Cars with Boys” was the final film from what director, whose earliest directing work came on the television show on which she co-starred with Cindy Williams in the late ’70s and early ’80s?

3. "Ghostbusters: Afterlife"

5. Penny Marshall

2. Eyes Wide Shut

4 Citizen Kane

1. John Singleton

Answers to Thursday,
December 11, 2025

Filmography Finales: Five questions about the final films of famous directors who have sadly passed. 

1. The 2011 film “Abduction” is pretty much only notable for being the final film of what director, who in 1992 became the youngest person ever nominated for the Best Director Oscar, for “Boyz n the Hood”?

John Singleton

2. Stanley Kubrick only directed 13 full-length feature films. The final one was released in 1999, and heavily featured Venetian masks. What was it called?

“Eyes Wide Shut”

3. Director Ivan Reitman made a cameo in what 2021 legacy sequel, after having directed the original film in the franchise almost 40 years prior?

“Ghostbusters: Afterlife”
 
4. “F for Fake” and “Filming Othello” were the final directing credits for Orson Welles while he was alive. His directorial debut premiered in 1941. What was the name of that movie?

“Citizen Kane”

5. The 2001 Drew Barrymore movie “Riding in Cars with Boys” was the final film from what director, whose earliest directing work came on the television show on which she co-starred with Cindy Williams in the late ’70s and early ’80s?

Penny Marshall
(“Laverne & Shirley”)

Questions for
Friday, December 12, 2025

Five questions to wake up your noodle. Answers in Monday’s email. 

1. Quit While You’re Ahead: Joe Pesci has appeared in four films directed by Martin Scorsese. Name as many of those films as you can for one point each. Zero points total if you get any incorrect.

2. Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, and Tim Raines are the only players whose Baseball Hall of Fame plaques depict them wearing a cap from what team that hasn't existed since 2004?

3. The Fertile Crescent contains the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. What is the most populous city located on either of those rivers?

4. The first time a baseball team issued free tickets to spectators who missed a game due to poor weather conditions occurred sometime in the 1870s. What were those tickets called?

5. Today is December 12. Happy 55th birthday to actor Mädchen Amick! She’s best known for playing Shelly Johnson, a waitress at the Double R Diner in what fictional Pacific Northwest town?

2) Montreal Expos 

4) Rain check

1. Casino, Goodfellas, The Irishman, Raging Bull. 

3 Baghdad

5 Twin Peaks

Answers to Friday, December 12, 2025

1. Quit While You’re Ahead: Joe Pesci has appeared in four films directed by Martin Scorsese. Name as many of them as you can for one point each. Zero points total if you get any incorrect.

“Raging Bull,” “Goodfellas,” “Casino,” “The Irishman”

2. Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, and Tim Raines are the only players whose Baseball Hall of Fame plaques depict them wearing a cap from what team that hasn't existed since 2004?

Montreal Expos

3. The Fertile Crescent contains the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. What is the most populous city located on either of those rivers?

Baghdad

4. The first time a baseball team issued free tickets to spectators who missed a game due to poor weather conditions occurred sometime in the 1870s. What were these tickets called?

Rain checks

5. Today is December 12. Happy 55th birthday to actor Mädchen Amick! She’s best known for playing Shelly Johnson, a waitress at the Double R Diner in what fictional Pacific Northwest town?

Twin Peaks

Questions for
Monday, December 15, 2025

Five questions to wake up your noodle. Answers in tomorrow’s email. 

1. In foodie circles, December 14 is a national day honoring what French fish-based stew, whose name comes from an Occitan phrase meaning “to boil and to simmer”?

2. A term for a level of hell in Buddhism and Hinduism inspired the stage name used by what late Swedish electronic musician, known for songs like “Wake Me Up” and “Hey Brother”?

3. Carly Simon isn't only a world-renowned musician. She's also the daughter of the co-founder of what publishing company — the first to publish crossword puzzle books?

4. When a Celsius thermometer reads 40 degrees, a Fahrenheit thermometer reads 104. When a Celsius thermometer reads negative 40 degrees, what does the Fahrenheit thermometer say?

5. “The Barber of Seville” is a play first performed in 1775, which was turned into an opera 40 years later by Rossini. What is the name of that titular barber?

1. Bouillabaisse

4. -40°

2 Avicii

4 -40

3. Simon & Shuster

5. Figaro 

(Thank you Bugs Bunny & Elmer Fudd)

5. Figaro

Answers to Monday,
December 15, 2025
1. In foodie circles, December 14 is a national day honoring what French fish-based stew, whose name comes from an Occitan phrase meaning “to boil and to simmer”?

Bouillabaisse 

2. A term for a level of hell in Buddhism and Hinduism inspired the stage name used by what late Swedish electronic musician, known for songs like “Wake Me Up” and “Hey Brother”?

Avicii

3. Carly Simon isn't only a world-renowned musician. She's also the daughter of the co-founder of what publishing company — the first to publish crossword puzzle books?

Simon & Schuster

4. When a Celsius thermometer reads 40 degrees, a Fahrenheit thermometer reads 104. When a Celsius thermometer reads negative 40 degrees, what does the Fahrenheit thermometer say?

Negative 40
(that’s where the systems overlap!)

5. “The Barber of Seville” is a play first performed in 1775, which was turned into an opera 40 years later by Rossini. What is the name of that titular barber?

Figaro

Questions for
Tuesday, December 16, 2025

Five questions to wake up your noodle. Answers in tomorrow’s email. 

1. U.S. Secretary of Defense Charles Erwin Wilson popularized what phrase in 1954 to describe a new military policy that relied on the use of nuclear weapons, rather than a large standing army to protect the country? We now know it as a phrase to mean “worth of one's money.”

2. What Connecticut-based tea company shares its name with a famous Massachusetts carpet mill, as well as the first woman to win an Academy Award for Best Director?

3. What phrase means “good” in Tahitian, and is most likely to be seen on a list that includes Scorpion, Three Dots and a Dash, and Blue Hawaiian?

4. Before appearing as Barbara Howard in “Abbott Elementary,” Sheryl Lee Ralph originated the role of Deena Jones in what Broadway musical, starring alongside Jennifer Holliday and Loretta Devine?

5. With more than 79,000 enrolled, Texas A&M University is the largest on-campus student body in the United States. What did “A&M” originally stand for?

5. Agriculture & Mechanical

5.  Agricultural & Mechanical 

2. Bigelow

3. Mai Tai

4. Dreamgirls

1. More Bang for the Buck?

Answers to Tuesday,
December 16, 2025

1. U.S. Secretary of Defense Charles Erwin Wilson popularized what phrase in 1954 to describe a new military policy that relied on the use of nuclear weapons, rather than a large standing army to protect the country? We now know it as a phrase to mean “worth of one's money.”

“More bang for the buck”

2. What Connecticut-based tea company shares its name with a famous Massachusetts carpet mill, as well as the first woman to win an Academy Award for Best Director?

Bigelow
(Kathryn Bigelow won for “The Hurt Locker”)

3. What phrase means “good” in Tahitian, and is most likely to be seen on a list that includes Scorpion, Three Dots and a Dash, and Blue Hawaiian?

Mai tai (maita’i)

4. Before appearing as Barbara Howard in “Abbott Elementary,” Sheryl Lee Ralph originated the role of Deena Jones in what Broadway musical, starring alongside Jennifer Holliday and Loretta Devine?

“Dreamgirls”

5. With more than 79,000 enrolled, Texas A&M University is the largest on-campus student body in the United States. What did “A&M” originally stand for?

Agricultural and Mechanical
(now they officially no longer stand for anything)

Questions for
Wednesday, December 17, 2025

Five questions to wake up your noodle. Answers in tomorrow’s email. 

1. What actor and singer is the only artist to have a No. 1 album in each of the last six decades, starting with the 1964 album “People” and ending with the 2014 album “Partners”?

2. Kermit the Frog wasn’t Jim Henson’s first Muppet to make it big. What floppy-eared canine had a regular spot on “The Jimmy Dean Show” in the 1960s?

3. The principle of parsimony states that most things in nature operate in the simplest or most economical way possible. It has a more common name, which comes from a 14th-century Franciscan friar. What is it?

4. In 1974, the first ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction surgery was performed on what baseball player, after whom the procedure is informally named?

5. Linus and Lucy are siblings in the “Peanuts” universe. What is their surname?

1 Barbara Streisand 

4 Tommy John

3. Occam's Razor

5. Van Pelt

2. Rolf?

Answers to Wednesday,
December 17, 2025

1. What actor and singer is the only artist to have a No. 1 album in each of the last six decades, starting with the 1964 album “People” and ending with the 2014 album “Partners”?

Barbra Streisand

2. Kermit the Frog wasn’t Jim Henson’s first Muppet to make it big. What floppy-eared canine had a regular spot on “The Jimmy Dean Show” in the 1960s?

Rowlf

3. The principle of parsimony states that most things in nature operate in the simplest or most economical way possible. It has a more common name, which comes from a 14th-century Franciscan friar. What is it?

Occam’s razor

4. In 1974, the first ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction surgery was performed on what baseball player, after whom the procedure is informally named?

Tommy John

5. Linus and Lucy are siblings in the “Peanuts” universe. What is their surname?

Van Pelt