Welcome, quiz fans. We all know the thrill of a tightly contested quiz, the intellectual struggle, and the quick thinking it requires.
But what happens when the competition is so fierce that there’s a tie at the top? That’s when the real nail-biting moment arrives – the tie-breaker!
A good tie-breaker question can turn the tides and crown a winner. It tests the depth of your knowledge, pushes your precision, and often decides whether you leave with the trophy or a pat on the back.
To assist quizmasters in crafting these decisive moments, we’ve compiled a list of 30 clever and challenging tie-breaker questions. Covering a diverse range of topics from science to history, from geography to literature, these questions are designed to separate the champions from the contenders.
What makes a good tie-breaker question?
A good tie-breaker question in a quiz contest typically has the following attributes:
- Precision: The question must have a clear, unambiguous answer to avoid further disputes.
- Difficulty: The question should ideally be more challenging than the regular questions, as its purpose is to separate individuals/teams that have performed equally well so far.
- Estimation or Exact knowledge: Depending on the type of your quiz, you might want a question that requires a specific numerical answer or estimate (like the year a historical event happened or the height of a certain mountain), which allows for close calls but still determines a clear winner.
- General Knowledge: The question should ideally be from general knowledge, so it’s fair to all the participants. It shouldn’t be so obscure that it becomes a matter of pure luck to get the answer right.
- No Guessing: The question should be framed in such a way that educated guesses are possible, but wild guessing isn’t encouraged. If the answers can be any number between one and a million, then the chance of getting the question right is more dependent on luck than on skill or knowledge.
- Engaging: A good tie-breaker question will engage the audience and maintain the suspense of the quiz. It is, after all, the climax of your event!
Remember, the goal of a tie-breaker is to determine a clear winner in the fairest way possible, so the perfect question will depend on your audience and the nature of the quiz.
Tie Breaker Questions and Answers30 Tie-Breaker Questions and Answers
Here are some tie-breaker questions for a general knowledge quiz along with their answers:
1. Question: Which country is brie cheese originally from?
Answer: France.
2. Question: How many elements are there in the periodic table as of 2021?
Answer: 118.
3. Question: Which novel begins with the line, “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife”?
Answer: “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen.
4. Question: In what year was the first Apple iPhone released?
Answer: 2007.
5. Question: Who was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize?
Answer: Marie Curie.
6. Question: How many countries are there in Africa?
Answer: 54.
7. Question: Who painted the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling?
Answer: Michelangelo.
8. Question: In what year did the United States land the first man on the moon?
Answer: 1969.
9. Question: What is the capital city of New Zealand?
Answer: Wellington.
10. Question: How many bones are there in an adult human body?
Answer: 206.
11. Question: Who wrote the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird”?
Answer: Harper Lee.
12. Question: What is the smallest planet in our solar system?
Answer: Mercury.
13. Question: Which country is the largest by land area?
Answer: Russia.
14. Question: Who composed the music for the opera “The Magic Flute”?
Answer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
15. Question: In what year was the World Health Organization (WHO) established?
Answer: 1948.
16. Question: What is the chemical symbol for gold?
Answer: Au.
17. Question: Which English city was once known as Duroliponte?
Answer: Cambridge.
18. Question: Who is the author of “A Brief History of Time”?
Answer: Stephen Hawking.
19. Question: What’s the world’s biggest island?
Answer: Greenland.
20. Question: Who was the first African American president of the United States?
Answer: Barack Obama.
21. Question: Which planet is known as the ‘Red Planet’?
Answer: Mars.
22. Question: What is the hardest natural substance on the Earth?
Answer: Diamond.
23. Question: In what year was the United Nations founded?
Answer: 1945.
24. Question: Who directed the movie “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial”?
Answer: Steven Spielberg.
25. Question: What’s the national flower of Japan?
Answer: Cherry Blossom (Sakura).
26. Question: Who discovered penicillin?
Answer: Alexander Fleming.
27. Question: What is the capital of Canada?
Answer: Ottawa.
28. Question: Who wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey?
Answer: Homer.
29. Question: What is the currency of Switzerland?
Answer: Swiss Franc.
30. Question: Which city is also known as the ‘City of Canals’?
Answer: Venice.
These questions should give you a good range of tie-breakers covering various topics. Remember, the success of these questions as tie-breakers can often depend on the difficulty level of the rest of your quiz, so choose accordingly.
More quizzes: