Sports Trivia Questions and Answers
One sports question on the card, everyone’s best call, and the answer one tap away.
- Time
- 10–45 min
- Players
- Two or more people
- Best for
- Game days on the couch, team socials and waiting in line
- Deck
- 100 questions in 5 categories
How to use these sports trivia questions
- Pick a category from the menu under the card, or keep “All categories”.
- Read the question on the top card aloud and let everyone call out or write down an answer.
- Tap “Show answer”, then “Next question”, or swipe the card away, for another. Questions do not repeat until you have seen the whole category.
- Tap the heart to save a question on this device, or tap “Make a 10-question list” to copy questions with their answers.
When to play sports trivia
A sports question needs one reader and anyone willing to call out an answer, so it fits the slow minutes around a game or a long wait. Every card carries its answer, so nobody has to settle an argument from memory.
In line for tickets
Waiting to get into a stadium or a show, hand the phone across and take turns. Equipment and fields works well here, from the 90 feet between bases to the house in curling.
A game on TV
Play during timeouts and halftime. Rules and scoring fits the mood, with free throws, deuce and the perfect 300 in bowling.
During the Olympics
When the Games are on, draw from The Olympics between events. The flame at Olympia and the first Winter Games at Chamonix make good talking points.
Ways to play sports trivia
Halftime quiz
Keep the phone on the coffee table during a game on TV. At halftime or a long break, one person reads five questions from a single category and everyone calls out answers. The best score picks the category for the next break.
Pick your sport
Each player names a sport they know well, then the reader draws cards until one comes up about that sport. Get it right and you keep going; miss it and the next player takes over. The golf fan may find out they know less about cricket than they thought.
Two teams, five categories
Split into two teams and play one card from each category per round, alternating teams. A right answer scores a point, and a miss can be stolen by the other side. After five rounds every team has faced Rules and scoring, The Olympics and the rest.
Tips for a good sports trivia round
- Mix sports in every round. A tennis player may be stuck on a baseball diamond, and the curling and cricket questions catch out almost everyone.
- Start with Words and terms. Birdies, hat tricks and a turkey in bowling are words most people have heard, so the first answers come fast.
- Agree on close answers before you start: “a shuttlecock” and “a birdie” should both count, and so should “three feet” for the height of a tennis net.
All 100 sports trivia by category
The complete list, grouped by category. The cards above draw from the same list, so you can read ahead here and play there.
Rules and scoring
Free throws, strikes and balls, deuce in tennis, red cards, rugby tries and the perfect bowling game.
- In basketball, how many points is a basket made from behind the arc worth?Answer: three
- In basketball, how many points is a single free throw worth?Answer: one
- In cricket, how many runs does a hit that clears the boundary without bouncing score?Answer: six
- In baseball, how many strikes make a batter out?Answer: three
- In baseball, how many balls earn the batter a walk to first base?Answer: four
- How many innings are in a standard professional baseball game?Answer: nine
- In a tennis game, which score comes after 15 and 30?Answer: 40
- In tennis, what is the score called when both players have 40?Answer: deuce
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- In tennis, how many games does a player usually need to win a set?Answer: six
- In golf, does the lowest or the highest total score win?Answer: the lowest
- A full soccer side on the field is how many players, goalkeeper included?Answer: eleven
- In soccer, which player may handle the ball inside their own penalty area?Answer: the goalkeeper
- What color card does a soccer referee show to send a player off?Answer: red
- How long is each half of a standard soccer match?Answer: 45 minutes
- How many points is a try worth in rugby union?Answer: five
- In volleyball, how many hits may a team use to get the ball back over the net?Answer: three
- What is the highest possible score in one game of ten-pin bowling?Answer: 300
- How many periods are in a regulation ice hockey game?Answer: three
- In table tennis, how many points does a player need to win a game?Answer: eleven
- A badminton game is usually won by the first player to reach how many points?Answer: 21
Equipment and fields
Hoop heights, baseball diamonds, grass and clay courts, cricket bails, curling houses and golf tees.
- How high above the floor is a regulation basketball hoop?Answer: 10 feet
- How many holes are on a standard full-size golf course?Answer: 18
- In ten-pin bowling, the pins are set up in what shape?Answer: a triangle
- How far apart are the bases on a professional baseball diamond?Answer: 90 feet
- Home plate in baseball has how many sides?Answer: five
- What is the hard rubber disc used in ice hockey called?Answer: a puck
- What is the feathered object hit back and forth in badminton called?Answer: a shuttlecock
- Tennis at Wimbledon is played on which surface?Answer: grass
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- The French Open is famous for tennis courts made of what?Answer: clay
- About how high is a tennis net at the center?Answer: 3 feet
- What is the small peg a golfer sets the ball on for the first shot of a hole?Answer: a tee
- In golf, what is the short, smooth grass around the hole called?Answer: the green
- On an Olympic archery target, what color is the center?Answer: gold (yellow)
- In cricket, how many stumps make up one wicket?Answer: three
- In cricket, what are the two small pieces of wood resting on top of the stumps?Answer: the bails
- How long is a cricket pitch from one wicket to the other?Answer: 22 yards
- From how many yards out is a soccer penalty kick taken?Answer: 12 yards
- In curling, what is the round target painted on the ice called?Answer: the house
- How long is an Olympic-size swimming pool?Answer: 50 meters
- What are sports shoes with studs on the soles, worn on grass fields, called in the US?Answer: cleats
The Olympics
The five rings, the flame at Olympia, the motto, the decathlon, the marathon and the first Winter Games.
- How many rings are on the Olympic flag?Answer: five
- The Olympic rings are blue, yellow, black, green and which other color?Answer: red
- What color is the background of the Olympic flag?Answer: white
- The Olympic motto begins with three Latin words. What do they mean?Answer: faster, higher, stronger
- Which French educator founded the modern Olympic movement?Answer: Pierre de Coubertin
- At which site in ancient Greece were the original Olympic Games held?Answer: Olympia
- The Olympic flame is lit from the sun’s rays using what kind of mirror?Answer: a curved (parabolic) mirror
- What is the four-year span between one Summer Games and the next called?Answer: an Olympiad
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- How many events make up a decathlon?Answer: ten
- How long is a marathon, in miles?Answer: 26.2 miles
- The marathon race takes its name from which place in Greece?Answer: Marathon
- Which metal is the Olympic medal for third place?Answer: bronze
- Which French mountain town hosted the first Winter Olympics, in 1924?Answer: Chamonix
- Which Olympic event combines swimming, cycling and running in one race?Answer: the triathlon
- On which gymnastics apparatus do athletes flip and leap along a strip about four inches wide?Answer: the balance beam
- In the individual medley swimming race, which stroke comes first?Answer: butterfly
- Which Olympic jump is made of a hop, a step and a jump?Answer: the triple jump
- How many hurdles does a runner clear in the 110-meter hurdles?Answer: ten
- Which horse riding event is sometimes called horse ballet?Answer: dressage
- What do runners hand to each other in a relay race?Answer: a baton
Words and terms
Birdies and bogeys, love in tennis, hat tricks, grand slams, a duck in cricket and a turkey in bowling.
- In golf, what is a score of one under par on a hole called?Answer: a birdie
- What do golfers call taking one stroke more than par on a hole?Answer: a bogey
- What do golfers shout to warn people that a ball is heading their way?Answer: fore
- In tennis, which word means a score of zero?Answer: love
- In tennis, what is a serve the receiver cannot even touch called?Answer: an ace
- In tennis, what is a shot hit before the ball bounces called?Answer: a volley
- What is it called when one player scores three goals in a single game?Answer: a hat trick
- In soccer, what is it called when a player sends the ball into their own net?Answer: an own goal
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- In soccer, what is a game in which a goalkeeper lets in no goals often called?Answer: a clean sheet
- In bowling, what do you call clearing all ten pins with the two balls of one frame?Answer: a spare
- In bowling, what do you call three strikes in a row?Answer: a turkey
- In baseball, what is a home run hit with the bases loaded called?Answer: a grand slam
- In baseball, what is it called when the batter taps the ball softly instead of swinging?Answer: a bunt
- In baseball, what is a game in which one team gets no hits at all called?Answer: a no-hitter
- What sports nickname is given to a left-handed player, especially a pitcher?Answer: a southpaw
- In basketball, what is a shot pushed straight down through the hoop from above called?Answer: a dunk
- In basketball, what is it called when a player takes steps without dribbling?Answer: traveling
- In cricket, what is a batter’s score of zero called?Answer: a duck
- What is the ski race that zigzags between gates down a slope called?Answer: slalom
- What is the track race over barriers and a water jump called?Answer: the steeplechase
Origins and history
Peach baskets, St Andrews, the first Wimbledon, the four-minute mile and the 1930 World Cup.
- What did the first basketball games use as hoops?Answer: peach baskets
- Which sport did William G. Morgan invent in 1895 as a gentler indoor game?Answer: volleyball
- Which Scottish town is known as the home of golf?Answer: St Andrews
- In which country did the sport of curling begin?Answer: Scotland
- Rugby takes its name from a school in which English town?Answer: Rugby
- In which country did the game of cricket begin?Answer: England
- In what year did England’s Football Association write down soccer’s first shared rules?Answer: 1863
- In what year was the first Wimbledon tennis championship played?Answer: 1877
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- Which country hosted and won the first soccer World Cup, in 1930?Answer: Uruguay
- In what year was the first Tour de France bicycle race held?Answer: 1903
- In what year was the first Boston Marathon run?Answer: 1897
- In which Canadian city was the first organized indoor ice hockey game played, in 1875?Answer: Montreal
- The Stanley Cup, first awarded in 1893, is the trophy for which sport?Answer: ice hockey
- Crews have raced for the America’s Cup since 1851. In which sport?Answer: sailing
- Lacrosse grew out of a ball game first played by which peoples?Answer: Native American peoples
- Which sport did ancient Hawaiians practice on long wooden boards?Answer: surfing
- Polo, played on horseback, began in which ancient land?Answer: Persia
- Which bat-and-ball sport was invented indoors in Chicago on Thanksgiving Day, 1887?Answer: softball
- In 1954, who became the first person to run a mile in under four minutes?Answer: Roger Bannister
- Which two climbers first stood on the summit of Mount Everest, in 1953?Answer: Hillary and Tenzing
Frequently asked questions
How many sports trivia questions are there?
There are 100 questions, 20 in each of five categories: rules and scoring, equipment and fields, the Olympics, words and terms, and origins and history. Every question has a short answer, shown on the card when you tap “Show answer” and printed under it in the list on this page.
Do you need to be a big sports fan to play?
No. The questions cover rules, gear, words and history that stay the same from season to season, like the height of a basketball hoop or the score called deuce in tennis. Someone who only watches the Olympics can still answer the five rings and the marathon.
Will the answers go out of date?
They should not. There are no current champions, records, team standings or player stats here, only settled facts such as the first Wimbledon in 1877, Roger Bannister’s mile in 1954 and the 22 yards of a cricket pitch.
What other trivia can we play?
For general knowledge, try trivia questions, with geography, science, food and inventions. Geography trivia covers capitals, rivers and mountains, and movie trivia suits a night in front of the screen.