Totally Random Trivia - 2026

Questions for Friday,
January 2, 2026

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

1. Quit While You’re Ahead: Just three states have no natural borders — i.e., each of their borders appears on the map as a perfectly straight line. Name as many of those states as you can for one point each. Zero points total if you get any incorrect. 

2. Crypto.com Arena used to be home to two NBA franchises, however, after the construction of the Intuit Dome in 2024, Crypto.com Arena became solely the home of what team?

3. What Japanese restaurant staple is referred to as “fur peas” in China?

4. What fictional horse — who debuted in a 1941 children’s novel by Mary O’Hara, which was adapted into a movie in 1943 and again in 2006 — gets her name from the Swedish for “young girl”?

5. Today is January 2. On this day in 1959, Russia launched a probe toward what celestial body, exactly 120 years after French artist Daguerre is believed to have taken the first photo of it?

4. Flicka

1. Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah

5. The moon

2. Los Angeles Lakers

3. Edamame

2.  LA Lakers

Answers to Friday, January 2, 2026

1. Quit While You’re Ahead: Just three states have no natural borders — i.e., each of their borders appears on the map as a perfectly straight line. Name as many of those states as you can for one point each. Zero points total if you get any incorrect.

Colorado, Utah, Wyoming

2. Crypto.com Arena used to be home to two NBA franchises, however, after the construction of the Intuit Dome in 2024, Crypto.com Arena became solely the home of what team?

Los Angeles Lakers
(the L.A. Clippers moved to the Intuit Dome)

3. What Japanese restaurant staple is referred to as “fur peas” in China?

Edamame

4. What fictional horse — who debuted in a 1941 children’s novel by Mary O’Hara, which was adapted into a movie in 1943 and again in 2006 — gets her name from the Swedish for “young girl”?

Flicka

5. Today is January 2. On this day in 1959, Russia launched a probe toward what celestial body, exactly 120 years after French artist Daguerre is believed to have taken the first photo of it?

The moon

Questions for
Monday, January 5, 2026

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

1. Babies are born with nearly 100 more bones than they will have as adults, but they’re missing the body’s largest sesamoid bone, which doesn’t fully ossify until around age 4. Name that bone.

2. In 1968, a Swedish clothing store called Hennes bought a hunting outfitter called Mauritz Widforss. What is that fast-fashion store called today?

3. The best-selling American author, and the best-selling living author globally, has published 200 books under her name. She is famously press-shy. Who is she? 

4. In 1999, Tariq and Kamran Farid founded the first location of what U.S. franchise, with the goal of combining the concepts of floral bouquets and fruit baskets?

5. “The BLANK as Wish-Fulfillment,” “The BLANK-Work,” and “The Psychology of the BLANK-Processes” are three chapters in the 1899 book “The Interpretation of BLANKs.” What word fills all those blanks?

2.  H&M

4. Edible Arrangements?

5. Dream

1. Kneecap

3. Danielle Steele

Answers to Monday,
January 5, 2026

1. Babies are born with nearly 100 more bones than they will have as adults, but they’re missing the body’s largest sesamoid bone, which doesn’t fully ossify until around age 4. Name that bone.

Patella (kneecap)

2. In 1968, a Swedish clothing store called Hennes bought a hunting outfitter called Mauritz Widforss. What is that fast-fashion store called today?

H&M
(for Hennes and Mauritz)

3. The best-selling American author, and the best-selling living author globally, has published 200 books under her name. She is famously press-shy. Who is she?

Danielle Steel

4. In 1999, Tariq and Kamran Farid founded the first location of what U.S. franchise, with the goal of combining the concepts of floral bouquets and fruit baskets?

Edible Arrangements
 
5. “The BLANK as Wish-Fulfillment,” “The BLANK-Work,” and “The Psychology of the BLANK-Processes” are three chapters in the 1899 book “The Interpretation of BLANKs.” What word fills all those blanks?

“Dream”
(by Sigmund Freud)

Questions for
Tuesday, January 6, 2026

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

1. In 2024, 3.72 million people visited the monument where the poem “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus is displayed. What is that monument?

2. In French, it is known as “hen’s foot.” In Chinese, it is called “thousand-bird pattern.” What is this tessellating pattern commonly known as in English?

3. There are four types of tonsils in the human body: the palatine tonsils (in the back of the throat), the lingual tonsils (at the base of your tongue), the tubal tonsils (near your ears), and the pharyngeal tonsil (behind your nasal cavity). This last one is also known by what name, from the Greek for “gland-like”?

4. Of the National Football League, Major League Baseball, and the National Basketball Association: which league has the most active teams?

5. You might think a certain four-word phrase has something to do with school, thanks to a Saturday-morning NBC sitcom. It actually has its origins in boxing. What is that phrase?

1.  Statue of Liberty

4. NFL

5. Saved by the bell.

3) Adenoid?

2. Houndstooth

Answers to Tuesday,
January 6, 2026

1. In 2024, 3.72 million people visited the monument where the poem “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus is displayed. What is that monument?

The Statue of Liberty

2. In French, it is known as “hen’s foot.” In Chinese, it is called “thousand-bird pattern.” What is this tessellating pattern commonly known as in English?

Houndstooth (or dogstooth)

3. There are four types of tonsils in the human body: the palatine tonsils (in the back of the throat), the lingual tonsils (at the base of your tongue), the tubal tonsils (near your ears), and the pharyngeal tonsil (behind your nasal cavity). This last one is also known by what name, from the Greek for “gland-like”?

Adenoid

4. Of the National Football League, Major League Baseball, and the National Basketball Association: which league has the most active teams?

NFL
(it has 32, MLB and NBA have 30)

5. You might think a certain four-word phrase has something to do with school, thanks to a Saturday-morning NBC sitcom. It actually has its origins in boxing. What is that phrase?

“Saved by the Bell”

Questions for
Wednesday, January 7, 2026

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

1. The score to John Carpenter's 1978 movie “Halloween” topped Rolling Stone magazine's list of the greatest horror soundtracks of all time. Who composed that score?

2. With a population of about 40,000, Charlottetown is both the smallest provincial capital in Canada and the largest city in which province?

3. What popular piece of classical music — composed in Russia in 1899 and typically played between 180 and 200 BPM — was used, appropriately enough, as the theme music for the 1960s TV show “The Green Hornet”?

4. There are two landlocked countries in South America. Name either one. 

5. What is the proper term for water that is more salinated than freshwater, but not as salty as seawater… and which might make you think of the cartoon “Space Ghost”?

2. Prince Edward Island

1. John Carpenter 😆 

3. Flight of the Bumblebee

4 Paraguay, Bolivia

5 Brackish 

Answers to Wednesday,
January 7, 2026

1. The score to John Carpenter's 1978 movie “Halloween” topped Rolling Stone magazine's list of the greatest horror soundtracks of all time. Who composed that score?

John Carpenter

2. With a population of about 40,000, Charlottetown is both the smallest provincial capital in Canada and the largest city in which province?

Prince Edward Island

3. What popular piece of classical music — composed in Russia in 1899 and typically played between 180 and 200 BPM — was used, appropriately enough, as the theme music for the 1960s TV show “The Green Hornet”?

“Flight of the Bumblebee”

4. There are two landlocked countries in South America. Name either one. 

Bolivia, Paraguay

5. What is the proper term for water that is more salinated than freshwater, but not as salty as seawater… and which might make you think of the cartoon “Space Ghost”? 

Brackish
(“Brak” was a character on the show)

Questions for
Theme Thursday, January 8, 2026

To Coldly Go: Five questions about some of the chilliest locales in the known universe.

Answers in tomorrow’s email. 

1. The coldest planetary temperature ever recorded in our Solar System is negative 371 degrees Fahrenheit. It was recorded on what ice giant — the only planet named for a Greek deity?

2. A large network of railways travels through some of the coldest regions of Russia, crossing eight time zones between Moscow and the Sea of Japan. What is that railway called?

3. According to Guinness World Records, the lowest temperature ever recorded in the world's coldest desert is negative 128.6 degrees Fahrenheit. It was logged in 1983 at a research station on what continent?

4. International Falls, Minnesota, holds the trademark for the term “Icebox of the Nation.” It’s also the inspiration for the fictional town of Frostbite Falls, which is home to what cartoon duo?  

5. The coldest country in Africa gets down to zero degrees Fahrenheit in winter. Name that country, which is landlocked by South Africa.

2. The Trans-Siberian Railway

3. Antarctica

4. Rocky/Bullwinkle

1. Neptune

5. Lesotho

Posted by: @viking

↑

1. Neptune

5. Lesotho

Neptune is a Roman god, not Greek.

1 Uranus

Answers to Thursday,
January 8, 2026

To Coldly Go: Five questions about some of the chilliest locales in the known universe.

1. The coldest planetary temperature ever recorded in our Solar System is negative 371 degrees Fahrenheit. It was recorded on what ice giant — the only planet named for a Greek deity?

Uranus

2. A large network of railways travels through some of the coldest regions of Russia, crossing eight time zones between Moscow and the Sea of Japan. What is that railway called?

Trans-Siberian Railway

3. According to Guinness World Records, the lowest temperature ever recorded in the world's coldest desert is negative 128.6 degrees Fahrenheit. It was logged in 1983 at a research station on what continent?

Antarctica

4. International Falls, Minnesota, holds the trademark for the term “Icebox of the Nation.” It’s also the inspiration for the fictional town of Frostbite Falls, which is home to what cartoon duo?

Rocky and Bullwinkle

5. The coldest country in Africa gets down to zero degrees Fahrenheit in winter. Name that country, which is landlocked by South Africa.

Lesotho

Questions for
Friday, January 9, 2026

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

1. Quit While You’re Ahead: Former “The Office” writer Michael Schur has created or co-created five comedy TV shows. The first premiered in 2009, while the most recent began airing in 2024. Name as many of those TV series as you can for one point each. Zero points total if you get any incorrect.

2. Coordinated Universal Time, or UTC, is the successor to GMT, which is no longer observed by the scientific community. What does “GMT” stand for?

3. What folktale character’s name is Italian for “eye of pine”?

4. In the standard U.S. version of Monopoly, there are only two improvable properties without "Place" or "Avenue" in their name. Name both of them.

5. Today is January 9. Happy 72nd birthday to Philippa Gregory, whose 2001 Tudor-era novel was adapted into what film of the same name, starring Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman?

2. Greenwich Mean Time

4. Marvin Gardens and Boardwalk

3. Pinocchio

1. Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Good Place, A Man on the Inside, ???

Answers to Friday, January 9, 2026

1. Quit While You’re Ahead: Former “The Office” writer Michael Schur has created or co-created five comedy TV shows. The first premiered in 2009, while the most recent began airing in 2024. Name as many of those TV series as you can for one point each. Zero points total if you get any incorrect.

“Parks and Recreation,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” “The Good Place,” “Rutherford Falls,” “A Man on the Inside”
(Love “The Good Place”? Come to our theme nights all month long!)

2. Coordinated Universal Time, or UTC, is the successor to GMT, which is no longer observed by the scientific community. What does “GMT” stand for?

Greenwich Mean (or Meridian) Time

3. What folktale character’s name is Italian for “eye of pine”?

Pinocchio

4. In the standard U.S. version of Monopoly, there are only two improvable properties without "Place" or "Avenue" in their name. Name both of them.

Marvin Gardens, Boardwalk

5. Today is January 9. Happy 72nd birthday to Philippa Gregory, whose 2001 Tudor-era novel was adapted into what film of the same name, starring Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman?

“The Other Boleyn Girl”

Questions for
Monday, January 12, 2026

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

1. If you go to zero longitude and zero latitude on a world map, you’ll be in which ocean?

2. “The game’s afoot” is a line coined by Shakespeare, who used it to describe greyhounds chasing a rabbit. It later became a favorite catchphrase of what fictional character?

3. What mass media company, named for its founder, publishes such magazines as Vogue, Vanity Fair, and Bon Appétit?

4. A student-funded initiative in 2016 made what Rhode Island university the first Ivy League school to distribute free tampons to its students?

5. Director Rob Cohen has said that a 1998 Vibe magazine article titled “Racer X” inspired him to make what movie?

1. Atlantic Ocean

2. Sherlock Holmes

4 Brown

3. Condé Nast

5. "The Fast and the Furious"?

Answers to Monday,
January 12, 2026

1. If you go to zero longitude and zero latitude on a world map, you’ll be in which ocean?

Atlantic

2. “The game’s afoot” is a line coined by Shakespeare, who used it to describe greyhounds chasing a rabbit. It later became a favorite catchphrase of what fictional character?

Sherlock Holmes

3. What mass media company, named for its founder, publishes such magazines as Vogue, Vanity Fair, and Bon Appétit?

Condé Nast

4. A student-funded initiative in 2016 made what Rhode Island university the first Ivy League school to distribute free tampons to its students?

Brown University

5. Director Rob Cohen has said that a 1998 Vibe magazine article titled “Racer X” inspired him to make what movie?

“The Fast and the Furious”

Questions for
Tuesday, January 13, 2026

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

1. Which planet do the Galilean moons orbit?

2. “Fleabag,” “Stomp,” and “Six the Musical” are among the shows that premiered at the original Fringe Festival, which occurs annually in what European city?

3. What 19th-century novelist created a controversy in both the scientific and legal communities with his novel “Bleak House,” which dramatized spontaneous combustion and the problem of conflicting wills?

4. The “Montauk Project” is a conspiracy theory about U.S. government experiments in time travel, psychic abilities, and teleportation. It was the inspiration for what recently completed series, whose working title was “Montauk”?

5. Chairman Mao, Jawaharlal Nehru, Queen Elizabeth, and Peter Pan all lend their names to types of what, which you may find on a garment?

1 Jupiter 

3.  Charles Dickens

5. Collars 

4. Stranger Things

Answers to Tuesday,
January 13, 2026

1. Which planet do the Galilean moons orbit?

Jupiter

2. “Fleabag,” “Stomp,” and “Six the Musical” are among the shows that premiered at the original Fringe Festival, which occurs annually in what European city?

Edinburgh

3. What 19th-century novelist created a controversy in both the scientific and legal communities with his novel “Bleak House,” which dramatized spontaneous combustion and the problem of conflicting wills?

Charles Dickens

4. The “Montauk Project” is a conspiracy theory about U.S. government experiments in time travel, psychic abilities, and teleportation. It was the inspiration for what recently completed series, whose working title was “Montauk”?

“Stranger Things”

5. Chairman Mao, Jawaharlal Nehru, Queen Elizabeth, and Peter Pan all lend their names to types of what, which you may find on a garment?

Collar

Questions for
Wednesday, January 14, 2026

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

1. It’s either a Chevrolet model manufactured from 1987 to 1996, or it’s the island birthplace of Napoleon. What is it?

2. I’d like to eat a gross of donuts. How many donuts is that?

3. Donald Duck’s voice is very specific, but in a 2018 episode of the “DuckTales” revival series, his familiar vocal affect is missing. What actor, known for his questionable English accent in “Ocean’s Eleven,” voices Donald Duck in that episode?

4. In the 1970s, Coca-Cola released what less-academic soda brand to compete with Dr Pepper? 

5. What shade of blue — which gets its name from the Latin for “sky” — is the subject of a memorable Miranda Priestly monologue in “The Devil Wears Prada”

1. Corsica

4. Mr. Pibb

2 144

3 Don Cheadle