# Seeking assistance constructing a trivia quiz
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-assistance-constructing-a-trivia-quiz/1018921
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [May 28, 2025, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-assistance-constructing-a-trivia-quiz/1018921 "2025-05-28T21:00:45Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 4
### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2025, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-assistance-constructing-a-trivia-quiz/1018921/61 "2025-05-29T17:36:49Z")
Then it should be specified that the 300 ly limit applies when measuring from the surface of the Earth. Beyond 300 ly, the angles are too small to measure easily.
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2025, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-assistance-constructing-a-trivia-quiz/1018921/62 "2025-05-29T17:55:26Z")
How many colors (“tinctures”) are normally used in West European heraldry?
Five are standard: Sable (black), Azure (blue), Gules (red), Vert (green), and Purpure (purple). Or (yellow) and Argent (white) represent gold and silver and are considered “metals.”
Two other colors are seldom used: Tenne (orange) and Sanguine (blood red). If a charge (e.g., a plant or an animal) is depicted in its natural colors, it’s described as “proper.”
“Furs” include Ermine (black flecks on a white background) and Verre (blue “pelts” on a white background).
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### Author:  [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2025, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-assistance-constructing-a-trivia-quiz/1018921/63 "2025-05-29T19:25:19Z")
> [@terentii](#):
>
> Aha. Jim Lovell went in Apollo 8 and 13. Who were the other two?
John Young on Apollo 10 and 16.
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### Author:  [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2025, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-assistance-constructing-a-trivia-quiz/1018921/64 "2025-05-29T19:35:08Z")
> [@N9IWP](#):
>
> Personally, I would just get a copy of Wits and Wagers and use those questions
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#):
>
> Ya know what? I own that game.
This was a good suggestion, I will definitely grab some from there.
mmm
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### Author:  [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2025, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-assistance-constructing-a-trivia-quiz/1018921/65 "2025-05-29T21:06:28Z")
…and Gene Cernan on 10 & 17.
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### Author:  [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2025, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-assistance-constructing-a-trivia-quiz/1018921/66 "2025-05-29T22:05:27Z")
How many Super Bowls have the New England Patriots _lost_?
(5)
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### Author:  [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2025, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-assistance-constructing-a-trivia-quiz/1018921/67 "2025-05-29T22:06:15Z")
Sounds to me as if you should get out your ouija board and contact Enrico?
‘[Fermi problem - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_problem)’
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2025, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-assistance-constructing-a-trivia-quiz/1018921/68 "2025-05-30T04:58:06Z")
How many times has the US had three different presidents in one year?
Twice, in 1841 and 1881. The incumbent on his way out (Van Buren and Hayes), his successor (Harrison and Garfield), and the VP (Tyler and Arthur) who assumed the office upon the new president’s death.
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### Author:  [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2025, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-assistance-constructing-a-trivia-quiz/1018921/69 "2025-05-30T14:04:51Z")
How many cells in the human body about 37 trillion
How many different types of brain cells about 3000
How many microbes in the human gut? up to 100 trillion
Number of sperm released to fertilize human egg? 40 to 150 million
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### Author:  [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2025, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-assistance-constructing-a-trivia-quiz/1018921/70 "2025-05-30T15:19:50Z")
The best trivia questions aren’t obscure ephemera, they’re things you probably ought to know but have forgotten.
What is the tallest mountain in Europe? What country is it in? (Mt. Elbrus, Russia, but it was considered Georgian until as recently as 2019.)
When George Washington was first inaugurated, how many states were in the union? (Eleven. Rhode Island and South Carolina had not yet ratified the Constitution.)
Three states straddle the Mississippi River: Minnesota, Louisiana, and one other. Which? (Illinois. Kaskaskia IL, since 1881. An earthquake changed the course of the river. The residents of this town went to sleep with the river to their south… and woke up with it on their north. They balked at the idea of becoming Missourians, carrying a cross-state rivalry to comical heights. Kaskaskia was the capital of Illinois 200 years ago, but now has a population of about 14.)
Frank Frazetta was the ghost artist on a famous comic strip until he demanded more money and his name in the credits. Which strip was it: Flash Gordon, Prince Valiant, Li’l Abner, or Buck Rogers? (Li’l Abner.)
1. Spain has land frontiers with five foreign lands (4 foreign countries and one foreign territory). Name them.
(France Portugal Andorra Gibraltar Morocco
Spain and Morocco have been taking bite-sized chunks out of each other since the 8th
Century. As a result, Spain has two cities on the North African coast, Melilla and Ceuta,
which Morocco would really like “back.” Anyway, Spain has a land border with Morocco.
Two of them, actually.)
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### Author:  [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2025, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-assistance-constructing-a-trivia-quiz/1018921/71 "2025-05-30T16:19:56Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#):
>
> Three states straddle the Mississippi River: Minnesota, Louisiana, and one other.
Arguable, depending on how you define “straddle”. Lake Itasca, in northern Minnesota, is considered the source of the Mississippi River. I’ve been there, you can cross the River on stepping stones. That means that the Mississippi does not divide the state in two. It may take a while, but you can travel from anywhere Minnesota to anywhere else in Minnesota without crossing the river (or leaving the state). Whether that counts as straddling is debatable.
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### Author:  [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2025, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-assistance-constructing-a-trivia-quiz/1018921/72 "2025-05-30T16:35:54Z")
> [@terentii](#):
>
> They’ll hit the ground at exactly the same moment, since gravity affects them equally.
Is that true? Because the fired shot has the earth ‘dropping away’ under it, due to the curvature of the earth. Surely it takes some extra time to fall down that added height.
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### Author:  [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2025, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-assistance-constructing-a-trivia-quiz/1018921/73 "2025-05-30T16:44:29Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#):
>
> > [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#):
> >
> > Three states straddle the Mississippi River: Minnesota, Louisiana, and one other.
>
> Arguable, depending on how you define “straddle”. Lake Itasca, in northern Minnesota, is considered the source of the Mississippi River. I’ve been there, you can cross the River on stepping stones. That means that the Mississippi does not divide the state in two. It may take a while, but you can travel from anywhere Minnesota to anywhere else in Minnesota without crossing the river (or leaving the state). Whether that counts as straddling is debatable.
Aren’t there also a few small pockets of one state that now have a land border with the state that used to be across the river, but are now on the other side due to the meanderings of the Mississippi over the years?
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### Author:  [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2025, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-assistance-constructing-a-trivia-quiz/1018921/74 "2025-05-30T20:27:17Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#):
>
> The best trivia questions aren’t obscure ephemera, they’re things you probably ought to know but have forgotten.
You are answering the question you want to answer rather than the question that was asked.
mmm
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2025, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-assistance-constructing-a-trivia-quiz/1018921/75 "2025-05-30T23:04:15Z")
As mentioned above, you have to assume a perfectly flat Earth. If the Earth curves, the fired shell could theoretically orbit it.
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### Author:  [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2025, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-assistance-constructing-a-trivia-quiz/1018921/76 "2025-05-30T23:15:29Z")
> Mean\_Mr.Mustard
>
> You are answering the question you want to answer rather than the question that was asked.
>
> mmm
A great trivia question would be something maddeningly on the tip of your tongue, something you have been told at some point but probably forgotten, like “What was Moe Howard’s real name?” Alternately, there’s bullshit ephemera, like “During the Kirk/Uhura kiss in ‘Plato’s Stepchildren,’ what brand of footwear was Shatner wearing?” There’s a difference.
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### Author:  [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2025, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-assistance-constructing-a-trivia-quiz/1018921/77 "2025-05-30T23:29:57Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#):
>
> A great trivia question would be something maddeningly on the tip of your tongue, something you have been told at some point but probably forgotten, like “What was Moe Howard’s real name?” Alternately, there’s bullshit ephemera, like “During the Kirk/Uhura kiss in ‘Plato’s Stepchildren,’ what brand of footwear was Shatner wearing?” There’s a difference.
Trust me, I understand that.
I also understand that you either did not read the OP or simply chose to ignore it.
mmm
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### Author:  [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2025, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-assistance-constructing-a-trivia-quiz/1018921/78 "2025-05-30T23:39:27Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#):
>
> Three states straddle the Mississippi River: Minnesota, Louisiana, and one other. Which? (Illinois. Kaskaskia IL, since 1881.
There are more. For example Hickman County, KY
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### Author:  [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2025, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-assistance-constructing-a-trivia-quiz/1018921/79 "2025-05-30T23:41:38Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#):
>
> A great trivia question would be something maddeningly on the tip of your tongue, something you have been told at some point but probably forgotten,
How many states have their official name “The State of …”
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### Author:  [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2025, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-assistance-constructing-a-trivia-quiz/1018921/80 "2025-05-30T23:57:59Z")
I would love a trivia game like this. The game plays to one of my biggest obsessions.
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