National Trivia Day

All those facts you picked up through daytime game shows can finally be put to good use when you astound your friends with your general knowledge! National Trivia Day is the perfect day to share all of those silly little facts that almost nobody knows, making this day a fun and interesting one to spend with friends or family.

Learn About National Trivia Day

Individuals, families, groups of people and entire cultures have become a bit obsessed with trivia in the past many decaides. For instance, in Britain, you only have to turn on the television in the afternoon and you’re bound to stumble across a quiz show. And almost every corner pub or cafe has a quiz night that the community is invited to participate in.

It is not hard to see why trivia has become so popular. As humans, we are naturally social and competitive, and with trivia, these two qualities are blended together perfectly. So, if you’re someone who likes to wow others with random facts, or you enjoy learning about new things, National Trivia Day is the perfect day for you. You can indulge this guilty pleasure while also broadening your knowledge in the process.

How to Celebrate National Trivia Day

Learn Some Trivial Facts

Now that you’re in the mood for some trivia fun, why not spend the day researching some more facts of your own? If you don’t own any home trivia games, National Trivia Day can be a great time to crack open the encyclopedia and spend some family time around the dinner table quizzing each other and discussing little known interesting facts.

Play Trivia Games

You could share this day with friends playing Trivial Pursuit or other games, though some might want to steer clear of the competitive types! Arguments over whether the answers to trivia questions are 100% correct can get extremely fierce, especially near the end of the game when the most is at stake!

Join a Quiz Night

Head out to a pub quiz or a trivia night that is being hosted in your local area. A lot of establishments host weekly quiz nights, which can be a lot of fun. Not only do they present you with the opportunity to test your knowledge against others, but you are also going to have a great laugh with friends and meet new people in the process.

Remember to choose your teammates carefully, otherwise you could find yourself doing all of the work. Also, try to avoid having too much alcohol; save this for celebrating once you’ve won. Not only does alcohol inhibit our ability to think clearly, but a lot of people have a tendency to speak loudly when they have had a bit to drink, and this could result in you giving the answers to another team!

Host a Quiz Night

Get some of your loved ones to come around and have fun crowning the champion quizzer! It is easy to put together a quiz night today, as you can find good quiz questions online. The key is to make sure that you have a good variation of questions. Cover a wide range of genres, and make sure you cover different time frames as well.

If you are young yourself, it can be tempting to incorporate questions relating to the past decade or so. However, it is important to cover a number of different periods in time. Also, make sure that you have plenty of snacks and drinks for everyone to enjoy! You could ask everyone to bring a dish with them.

History of National Trivia Day

The world-famous trivia game, Trivial Pursuit, is thought to have sparked people’s fascination with trivia and competing to see who knows more odd facts about geography, history, art, science, sports and entertainment.

Trivial Pursuit was first created in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 1979 by two men named Chris Haney and Scott Abbott, who had become frustrated to find pieces of their Scrabble game had gone missing, thus inspiring them to create their own game. Trivial Pursuit became an almost instant hit and worldwide phenomenon, and the trivia craze began.

While Trivial Pursuit is thought to have been one of the major turning points in the world of trivia, it’s not the first example of trivia as we know it today. In fact, some might attribute this phenomenon to “Take It or Leave It” – a radio program from the ‘40s. It was not long after this that one of America’s most iconic quiz shows came onto the screens. Of course, we’re talking about Jeopardy!, which first came about in 1964.

At the same time, trivia nights started to become a common feature across campuses in U.S. colleges. Pub quizzes then made their way to the UK, where they are still very much popular today.

Around this same time, National Trivia Day was founded by Robert L. Birch in 1980. Birch was a librarian who wanted to encourage people to honor this day and the fun facts that go along with it!

So what are you waiting for? Order a pizza or two and let the knowledge competition begin! Here are some unusual facts to get you started:

Bonus: Fun Trivia Facts

• In the Victorian era, special teacups were produced to protect the mustache from being inadvertently dipped in tea
• Hallmark now produces cards for those who have been made redundant.
• On Venus, it snows metal
• Dr. Dre has made more money from the “Beats” headphones franchise than he made over his entire musical career
• Cuba is the only Caribbean Island with a railway
• 19 of the 25 of the highest peak in the world are in the Himalayas
• 99% of Glaciers are in the Arctic and Antarctic
• There are 17 active volcanoes in Japan
• Several building in New York have their own zip code
• There are no rivers in Saudi Arabia
• Ethiopia has never been a European colony
• In 2006, over 2 billion people lived on less than $2 a day
• The country Brazil was named after the Brazil nut, and not the other way around
• Spain means “the land of rabbits”
• Rome was the first city to reach a million people
• The entire population of the Earth would fit in Texas
• Fredric Baur invented the Pringles can, and when he died in 2008, his ashes were buried in one
• Only female mosquitoes bite
• Captain Morgan rum was named after a Welsh pirate who later became the lieutenant governor of Jamaica
• The Vatican Bank is the world’s only bank that allows ATM users to perform their transactions in Latin
• Jacuzzi is a brand name, and the company also produces toilets and mattresses
• Failed PEZ flavors include coffee, eucalyptus, menthol, and flower