80 Best Video Game Trivia Questions & Answers

Video game culture is a media-based subculture that has exploded in popularity since the invention of the first video game. Video gaming has evolved into handheld and computer-based gaming. It includes a variety of independent and group play scenarios thanks to the capabilities of the internet.

Modern gamers tend to be fully immersed in the world of video gaming, from social networks to out-of-game entertainment, the trends of the sub-culture have a strong influence on many areas of their lives. If you are one of the many so-called gamers, then it’s time to test your knowledge with some video game trivia.

History of Video Games Trivia

From the release of Pong in 1972 to the latest Playstation 5 that is coming at the end of 2020, gamers have seen the rise of empires built around game franchises and specific characters. Test your knowledge of video game history and learn about the roots that modern gaming was built on.

Questions:

1. What was the first commercially successful video game?
   Show answer
   Pong
2. What is the best selling videogame of all time?
   Show answer
   Minecraft
3. What year was the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) released?
   Show answer
   1991
4. What is the highest-selling gaming console to date?
   Show answer
   Playstation 2
5. What year was Nintendo founded?
   Show answer
   1889
6. Blizzard Entertainment is most well known for what video game franchise?
   Show answer
   World of Warcraft
7. What video game company collaborated with SONY on the Playstation?
   Show answer
   Nintendo originally intended to be an add-on to the SNES until the deal fell apart, and the companies parted ways.
8. What product did Nintendo first release before taking on the world of video games?
   Show answer
   Playing Cards
9. The United States Air Force used what gaming console to create a cluster supercomputer?
   Show answer
   The Playstation 3 (PS3) was actually quite powerful at computing at the time.
10. What food was the character Pac Man modeled after?
    Show answer
    Pac Man creator Toru Iwatani was eating pizza when he came up with the idea for this beloved character.
11. In the original arcade version of Donkey Kong, what was the name of the character that would later be known as Mario?
    Show answer
    Jump Man
12. What is the best-selling handheld gaming system to date?
    Show answer
    Nintendo DS
13. What was the first video game character to have a balloon featured in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade?
    Show answer
    Sonic the Hedgehog
14. What is the most expensive video game made to date?
    Show answer
    Grand Theft Auto V (although Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 earns an honorable mention in this category)
15. What year was the first virtual reality headset created?
    Show answer
    1995
16. What crowdsource funding platform is responsible for the success of the Oculus Rift?
    Show answer
    A Kickstarter campaign that raised $250,000 for a once-dead technology
17. How much did a virtual reality device cost in 1980?
    Show answer
    The Eyephone 1 was priced at $49,000 in the 1980s
18. What is the name of the science fiction writer from the 1930s that predicted virtual reality?
    Show answer
    Stanley Weinbaum, in a short story titled “Pygmalions Spectacles.”
19. What year was the first prototype for a home-based video game console developed?
    Show answer
    In 1967, developers at Sanders Associates created the first prototype.
20. Who released the first flight simulator game?
    Show answer
    Microsoft
21. What popular dining franchise is the founder of Atari also responsible for?
    Show answer
    Chuck E Cheese
22. What position did the creator of the Game Boy have at Nintendo?
    Show answer
    A janitor

Easy Video Game Trivia

If you are interested in the world of video-gaming but don’t consider yourself a trivia buff, then these softball questions make a good starting point. Easy video game trivia questions also provide for a good warm-up for more skilled trivia players to get the juices flowing and loosen up.

Questions:

1. What inspired game maker Satoshi Tajiri to create the character Pokemon?
   Show answer
   Butterflies
2. What is a ‘frag’?
   Show answer
   A hand grenade
3. The Umbrella Corporation is a fictitious pharmaceutical company in what game?
   Show answer
   Resident Evil
4. Mario first appeared in what video game?
   Show answer
   Donkey Kong
5. What is the name of Mario’s dinosaur sidekick?
   Show answer
   Yoshi
6. Nintendo owns two of the most popular gaming franchises ever. The net worth of these 2 franchises equals the combined total of the remaining eight franchises in the top 10. What are they?
   Show answer
   Mario and Pokemon
7. How many American households play video games?
   Show answer
   Approximately two-thirds with a distribution of 60% male and 40% female
8. In Minecraft, what typically results from setting an Enderman on fire?
   Show answer
   Endermen usually teleport to water for safety when set on fire, but then drown. So setting endermen on fire effectively results in their suicide.
9. What are the paintings in Minecraft modeled after?
   Show answer
   Counterstrike maps
10. In Minecraft, what real-life animals portrayed the sound effects of the ghast enemies?
    Show answer
    The sound composers pet cat
11. In Minecraft, what is a group of Endermen called?
    Show answer
    A haunting of Endermen
12. Who is the Nintendo character Mario’s namesake?
    Show answer
    Nintendo landlord Mario Segale
13. What is the name of the first video game to be played in outer space?
    Show answer
    Starcraft
14. What video game franchise has racked up over 1 Billion dollars in lawsuits?
    Show answer
    Grand Theft Auto
15. What organization hosts a bi-annual charity event on twitch revolving around speedruns on popular video games?
    Show answer
    Games Done Quick
16. What is the average of gamers in the United States?
    Show answer
    35
17. What United States president was asked (and declined) to voice the in-game president character in Fallout 3?
    Show answer
    Bill Clinton
18. What world market generates the most revenue in the video game industry?
    Show answer
    China
19. What problem plagues up to 40% of virtual reality users?
    Show answer
    Motion sickness, luckily VR developers are actively working on solutions.
20. What gaming console was largely considered a ‘flop’ and ‘before its time’ and effectively ended Sega’s console efforts in 2001?
    Show answer
    The Dreamcast
21. What percentage of gamers consider online gaming a family-bonding activity?
    Show answer
    33% of adult gamers play online with their children at least once per week.
22. What country tried to put a ban on midnight gaming?
    Show answer
    South Korea once passed a law that prohibited minors under 16 from gaming during the late hours of the night.
23. What popular video game character inspired the name of a human gene?
    Show answer
    Sonic the Hedgehog inspired the name of the SHH gene, which makes sure our limbs grow where they are supposed to.
24. What was Steve Wozniak (co-founder of Apple’s) favorite game?
    Show answer
    Tetris
25. What games did the famous actor Robin Williams reportedly name his children after?
    Show answer
    Zelda (Legend of Zelda) and Cody (Final Flight)

Hard Video Game Trivia Questions

If you found the last section to be a bit too easy, we ramp up the difficulty level with some more detailed questions in this section. Hard video game trivia questions focus less on well-known facts and more on interesting details about popular games.

Questions:

1. In the original “Legend of Zelda” game, why was the maximum amount of Rupees set at 255?
   Show answer
   Capacity restraints of integer values in an 8-bit system.
2. What was the first gaming console to have internal memory?
   Show answer
   The SEGA Saturn shipped with 1 MB of internal memory.
3. What game did the character Sonic first appear in?
   Show answer
   Sonic first appeared as an air freshener in the 1991 Sega release, “Red Mobile.”
4. The reference to a “stolen sweettroll” has been a running gag with what game developer?
   Show answer
   Bethesda Software: Edler Scrolls and Skyrim”
5. In the game “Bioshock,” what was the original name for the gene bank?
   Show answer
   Plasmi-Quick
6. What is the name of the planet that is home to the game “Gears of War?”
   Show answer
   Sera
7. What was weapon choice nearly cut from “Gears of War” over creative differences?
   Show answer
   The Chainsaw Gun
8. What time period was L.A. Noire modeled after?
   Show answer
   1940s Los Angeles, many of the cases are inspired by real crimes that occurred in the area in the 1940s
9. What is the name of the Siren character in “Borderlands?”
   Show answer
   Lillith
10. In “Alan Wake” what is unique about the creative process for the game enemies?
    Show answer
    Enemy characters were created by pouring water over the original artwork for a smeared look.
11. What country refused to provide a rating for Fallout 3 due to Morphine use in the game?
    Show answer
    Australia
12. What American car manufacturer inspired the cars in Fallout 3?
    Show answer
    Ford Motor Company’s nuclear power concept
13. In 2011, an online puzzle gamer solved what biochemical mystery?
    Show answer
    Identified the crystal structure of the AIDS virus that had previously been unsolved by scientists for at least 15 years.
14. What band has made more sales off of its Guitar Hero album than any of its actual recorded albums?
    Show answer
    Arrowsmith
15. What classic video game was named because the creator misunderstood a translation?
    Show answer
    Donkey Kong was named because the creator thought that “Donkey” meant “Stupid” in English.
16. What game franchise did the creator pay to have negative press coverage to promote the game?
    Show answer
    Rockstar Games – Grand Theft Auto
17. What is the name of the video game designed to treat depression?
    Show answer
    SPARX
18. Why does Brazil charge 120% on video games?
    Show answer
    An old law on the books in Brazil classifies video games as gambling, resulting in the extraordinary tax rate.
19. What ailment was Nintendo sued (and lost) for, resulting in payouts?
    Show answer
    Blisters on the thumbs of children for playing too much Mario Party.
20. How many people sing in the opening song to Skyrim?
    Show answer
    Only 30, but recording and layering make the end result sound like 90.
21. What planet is most similar to the scalable size of the Minecraft world?
    Show answer
    Neptune
22. What was the original intent of the Sims?
    Show answer
    The Sims was originally created as an architecture simulator. The sims were only created to evaluate the architecture designs.

Internet Entertainment Influencers in Gaming Trivia

The world of social media and ease of content creation has given rise to a new era of entertainment. From entertainment channels like “Rooster Teeth” to popular streamers on social media gaming platforms, gamers have developed their own channels for industry news and entertainment. How much do you know about the social influence on video games?

Questions:

1. What video game franchise does Rooster Teeth use for their show “Red vs. Blue?”
   Show answer
   Halo
2. What popular streaming service launched in June 2011, allows content creators to stream video games while chatting with viewers?
   Show answer
   Twitch
3. When Google created a playable Pac Man game for its homepage in 2010, how many hours of gameplay did it see from the collective internet?
   Show answer
   Almost 5 million hours
4. What video game is taken so seriously in South Korea it is officially recognized as an e-Sport?
   Show answer
   StarCraft
5. The Obama campaign paid for in-game advertising in what game?
   Show answer
   Burnout Paradise

Movies Based on Video Games Trivia

In a “chicken or the egg” scenario, there are many popular video games derived from popular movie franchises. But you may not know that there are also movies based on popular video game characters. Answer some trivia questions to find out which characters got their start in the gaming world.

Questions:

1. What is the highest-grossing movie based on a video game?
   Show answer
   Detective Pikachu (Pokemon)
2. John Leguizamo and Bob Hoskins portrayed which video game brothers?
   Show answer
   Mario and Luigi
3. What movie franchise influenced the creation of the game “Doom?”
   Show answer
   Aliens
4. Mortal Kombat was originally developed as a licensed game version of what popular movie before the licensing deal fell through, and the game was released independently?
   Show answer
   Jean Claude Van Damme’s Bloodsport
5. What Mortal Kombat character was created based off of widely circulated rumors, but was actually an unintentional error code in the original arcade version?
   Show answer
   The red scorpion named Ermac (ERMAC5 was an abbreviation for ‘Error Macro Code 5’)
6. What Vin Diesel film was sued for its original title Diablo by Blizzard Entertainment, who already had a game by the same name?
   Show answer
   A Man Apart

The Takeaway on Video Gaming Trivia

The world of video gaming is a large sub-culture that exists around the globe. From the first arcade machines featuring Pong and Pac Man to the home-console boom launching characters like Mario and Sonic, video games have remained a popular pastime.

As with any activity that draws a large crowd, there is a history rich in details to be explored. How game characters and gameplay ideas originated and were executed are details that are of great interest to many gamers. No round of video game trivia would be complete without exploring popular game titles, history, and pop-culture references.

Susan Box Mann

Susan majored in English with a double minor in Humanities and Business at Arizona State University and earned a Master’s degree in Educational Administration from Liberty University. She taught grades four through twelve in both public and private schools. Subjects included English, U.S. and world history and geography, math, earth and physical science, Bible, information technologies, and creative writing.

Susan has been freelance writing for over ten years, during which time she has written and edited books, newspaper articles, biographies, book reviews, guidelines, neighborhood descriptions for realtors, Power Point presentations, resumes, and numerous other projects.

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