Trivia Tricks: The OFFICIAL Guide to Writing GREAT Trivia Questions!

Writing trivia questions is difficult, and writing great ones is even harder! While developing Trivia Tricks, we learned a lot about what makes a ‘good’ question and common pitfalls to avoid. Here are the four principles we focus on when writing questions for the base game.

For a step-by-step guide on creating a Workshop pack, click here!

We hope this guide inspires you to elevate your Workshop packs to the next level!

Players like feeling smart, but they absolutely hate feeling cheated by an unfair question! Plus, players want to feel smart for getting a question right, not that they ‘lucked’ into it.

Our first draft of a question is usually too tricky. These are some of the ways we make a question easier:

• Add a Joke Answer: Include a joke answer among the options to make players smile. If you can’t think of one, it’s okay to have just two or three choices.
• Include an Obviously Wrong Answer: For example, if the question is about the capital city of a European country, include ‘Beijing’ as an option. This helps players feel they got ‘closer’ to the right answer, even if they get it wrong.
• Provide a Range for Dates: Instead of asking for the exact year, use decades. For example, don’t make the answer choices 1985/1986/1987, make it 1965/1975/1985! There’s a significant cultural difference between decades that players can use when picking an answer.

When in doubt, make your questions easier. Players don’t complain about easy questions; they often find them refreshing!

A good trick is to play your own pack after a week. If you can’t answer one of your own questions correctly it’s either too hard or not memorable enough!

Which brings us to…

The most important aspect of a trivia question is its subject matter.

By our principles, the subject matter of a question should either be:

• Something the vast majority of players are already aware of.
• Something simple enough to be explained within the question.

For example, major historical events like the sinking of the RMS Titanic or the Great Fire of London need no introduction. These fall into category 1, so questions can focus on specific details. E.g., “Of 80,000 inhabitants, how many lost their homes in the Great Fire of London (1666)?”

Conversely, most people won’t know that Petrograd was renamed in 1914. This falls into category 2, a subject that needs to be explained within the question. “Why was Saint Petersburg renamed to Petrograd in 1914?” (Answer: “It sounded too German.”)

Awareness of the popularity of your subject matter is crucial when deciding the direction to take your question. Consider this anime question: “’Umamusume’ is a show about what kind of animal girls?” Not everyone will know the show, but once they see the answer is ‘horse girls,’ they won’t forget it!

If you’re creating a Workshop pack on a specific subject, like a show or game series, this rule still applies. Many players won’t be super-fans but instead have engaged with the series on a basic level. Focus most of your questions on particularly memorable episodes or best-selling entries.

Which brings us to our next topic…

The wording of a question is critical. We often tweak traditional grammar rules for better clarity, like in this example:

• In the 2009 film ‘Avatar’, what are the humans mining for?

We could have written, “What are the humans mining for in the 2009 film ‘Avatar’,” but we find that placing the subject first helps players immediately understand the context.

We also use punctuation liberally. Consider this:

• True or False: ‘Tatooine’ is a planet in the ‘Star Trek’ universe.

There’s no grammatical rule for putting the subject of a question in quotes, but it draws attention to the important parts – the series and the planet. In addition, always capitalise the word ‘NOT’ to avoid misleading your players!

A good test for clarity is to read your questions to someone unfamiliar with the subject matter; they should still understand what is being asked of them.

Now, for the final element that makes a good question, and it’s the most important part!

Earlier, we mentioned that players will always love getting questions right. So, when it comes to ‘fun,’ it’s more important to focus on the feelings players will have when they get your question wrong.

Our golden rule of question writing is:

• When the player gets this question wrong, will their reaction either be ‘I should have known that!’ or ‘I have to tell someone that!’

Most players come to Trivia Tricks seeking education. Think of trivia like jokes: you never forget the good ones. Most of your questions should either be things people should know or facts that will delight once learned.

For example:

• What is the 7th planet from the sun?

We all knew this at some point, but we’ve probably forgotten it. If you get this question wrong, you only have yourself to blame! ‘I should have known that!’.

Another example:

• Which of the following foods has more protein per calorie than steak? (Answer: Broccoli)

This is the sort of fact that sticks with you, and you’ll remember it the next time you’re eating broccoli. You probably won’t know it before playing, but learning it is a pleasant surprise! ‘I have to tell someone that!’.

The best way to see this rule in action is through playtesting. Have your friends play your Workshop packs and observe their reactions when they get a question wrong. Pay close attention to their feedback and if a question isn’t fun to get wrong then delete it. Always seek quality over quantity; a small batch of high-quality questions is preferred by players.

We hope this guide helps you with your trivia writing! If you have any other rules that helps you create great questions, share it in the comments! Thanks, and good luck taking your Workshop packs to the next level!