What are good office trivia questions?

Good office trivia questions are about work itself, so everyone has a fair shot: where office supplies came from, how famous companies started, what work jargon really means and when workplace holidays fall. This page has 120 workplace trivia questions and answers, in eight categories.

What are some work trivia questions and answers?

Try these: Bubble Wrap was first invented as textured wallpaper. Nintendo started out in 1889 making playing cards. Slack's name is said to stand for Searchable Log of All Conversation and Knowledge. A ream of paper has 500 sheets.

How do you make trivia questions about your own company?

Start from fill-in templates like “Where does the name [Company] come from?” or “How many time zones does our team cover?”, then check each answer with a founder, HR or the team that owns the fact. Keep it about the company, never about one person's private life or pay.

How do you run an office trivia game?

Split into teams of four to six, play three short rounds with one point per right answer, and end with a closest-number tiebreaker. A full game fits in 30 minutes, and the run of show on this page lays it out minute by minute.

How many questions do you need for office trivia?

About 25 to 30 for a 30-minute game: three rounds of eight to ten, plus a tiebreaker. For an hour, plan five or six rounds of ten. The quiz at the top of this page runs rounds of ten.

Can you play office trivia on Zoom?

Yes. Read the questions on the call, send teams to breakout rooms to talk, and have each team send its answers to the host by private chat. Our Zoom trivia guide covers the setup step by step.

Can KraftyLab host custom corporate trivia?

Yes. Our hosts run virtual trivia nights on Zoom (Teams, Google Meet or Webex on request), and live trivia at your office in 17 US cities. Quiz Showdown! and Trivia with a Twist! can add your own questions and custom backgrounds; some requests cost extra, so allow at least 4 weeks.

120 office trivia questions and answers for work

Trivia about work itself, so everyone has a fair shot. Play a round of ten below, or read the full list with answers.

KraftyLab TeamUpdated Oct 202614 min read

Office inventionsQuestion 1 of 10 · Score 0

What was Bubble Wrap first invented as, in 1957?

Say your answer out loud, or write it down, then check it.

Coworkers crowd around a small whiteboard, cheering as one teammate writes their team's answer at office trivia.

The best office trivia questions are about work itself: the inventions on your desk, the companies everyone knows, the jargon everyone says and the holidays on the office calendar. Nobody needs to be a sports fan or a movie buff to score. These 120 questions come in eight categories with every answer checked, plus 25 fill-in templates for a round about your own company. Each question is marked easy, medium or hard, so you can balance a round.

Want general trivia for work instead? See our trivia questions or pick a theme from our trivia categories. None of the questions here repeat there.

Office inventions trivia

Where the stuff on your desk came from, from the ballpoint pen to the cubicle.

1. What was Bubble Wrap first invented as, in 1957?Medium
Show the answer
Textured wallpaper
2. Which 3M scientist created the weak, reusable adhesive that later made Post-it Notes possible?Hard
Show the answer
Spencer Silver (in 1968)
3. People in which country wore paper clips on their lapels during World War II as a quiet sign of resistance?Hard
Show the answer
Norway
4. Which 1999 comedy made a red Swingline stapler famous?Medium
Show the answer
Office Space
5. What was the first spreadsheet program for personal computers, released for the Apple II in 1979?Hard
Show the answer
VisiCalc
6. Which spreadsheet program became the hit business app on the IBM PC after its 1983 launch?Hard
Show the answer
Lotus 1-2-3
7. Which designer created Herman Miller's Action Office, the 1960s system that led to the cubicle?Hard
Show the answer
Robert Propst
8. Which inventor made the first photocopy in 1938, using a process later called xerography?Hard
Show the answer
Chester Carlson
9. Which company sold the Sholes and Glidden, the first commercially successful typewriter, starting in 1874?Hard
Show the answer
E. Remington and Sons
10. Who invented the computer mouse in the 1960s?Medium
Show the answer
Douglas Engelbart
11. Which Hungarian-born inventor patented a ballpoint pen in 1938, giving the British their word for a pen?Medium
Show the answer
László Bíró (a biro)
12. Before rubber erasers caught on in the 1770s, what did people use to rub out pencil marks?Medium
Show the answer
Bread (balled-up crumbs)
13. Who patented the rubber band in 1845?Hard
Show the answer
Stephen Perry
14. Which ink company sold the first highlighter, the Hi-Liter, in 1963?Hard
Show the answer
Carter's Ink Company
15. Which founding father had a chair adapted to swivel, an early ancestor of the office chair?Medium
Show the answer
Thomas Jefferson

Business history trivia

How famous companies started, and what some of them sold first.

16. Which two Stanford graduates started a company in a Palo Alto garage in 1939, now called the birthplace of Silicon Valley?Medium
Show the answer
Bill Hewlett and David Packard (HP)
17. In 1926, which carmaker became one of the first big US employers to move factory workers to a five-day, 40-hour week?Medium
Show the answer
Ford Motor Company
18. Which video game company started out in 1889 making playing cards in Kyoto?Medium
Show the answer
Nintendo
19. Which company was founded in 1923 as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio?Easy
Show the answer
The Walt Disney Company
20. Nokia was founded in Finland in 1865. What did it make first?Hard
Show the answer
Wood pulp for paper (it began as a pulp mill)
21. Which brand was first sold in 1886 at the soda fountain of Jacobs' Pharmacy in Atlanta?Easy
Show the answer
Coca-Cola
22. What do the I and K in IKEA stand for?Medium
Show the answer
Ingvar Kamprad, the founder (E and A are his family farm and home village)
23. Which company did a candle maker and a soap maker start together in Cincinnati in 1837?Medium
Show the answer
Procter & Gamble
24. What did the company name 3M originally stand for?Medium
Show the answer
Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing
25. Which retailer did Sam Walton start with a store in Rogers, Arkansas, in 1962?Easy
Show the answer
Walmart
26. Which delivery company began in Seattle in 1907 as the American Messenger Company?Hard
Show the answer
UPS
27. Which streaming service started out renting DVDs by mail?Easy
Show the answer
Netflix
28. Which company sold the first commercial handheld cell phone, the DynaTAC, in 1983?Medium
Show the answer
Motorola
29. Which camera company did George Eastman found?Easy
Show the answer
Kodak
30. Which company released the first commercial microprocessor, the 4004, in 1971?Medium
Show the answer
Intel

Logos and brands trivia

Famous logos described in words, plus the stories behind some brand names.

31. Which tech company used a rainbow-striped logo from 1977 to 1998?Easy
Show the answer
Apple
32. Which carmaker's name is the Latin word for “listen”, a play on its founder's surname, Horch?Hard
Show the answer
Audi
33. In the FedEx logo, a hidden arrow sits in the white space between which two letters?Medium
Show the answer
The E and the x
34. In the Amazon logo, the curved arrow points from which letter to which?Easy
Show the answer
From a to z
35. Which carmaker's black prancing horse was first painted on the plane of an Italian World War I pilot?Medium
Show the answer
Ferrari
36. Which coffee chain's logo shows a green two-tailed siren?Easy
Show the answer
Starbucks
37. Which carmaker's logo is three overlapping ovals?Medium
Show the answer
Toyota
38. Which animal is on the Lacoste logo?Easy
Show the answer
A crocodile
39. The three points of the Mercedes-Benz star are said to stand for engines on what?Hard
Show the answer
Land, sea and air
40. What was the nickname of Twitter's blue bird logo?Hard
Show the answer
Larry (after basketball star Larry Bird)
41. What is the Michelin Man's official name?Hard
Show the answer
Bibendum
42. Which car brand's name is Latin for “I roll”?Medium
Show the answer
Volvo
43. Which Japanese company's name means “three diamonds”?Medium
Show the answer
Mitsubishi
44. Which ice cream brand, founded in the Bronx, has a made-up name chosen to sound Danish?Medium
Show the answer
Häagen-Dazs
45. Which retailer's logo is a red bullseye?Easy
Show the answer
Target

Work words and jargon trivia

The acronyms and phrases everyone says in meetings, and what they actually mean.

46. What does KPI stand for?Easy
Show the answer
Key performance indicator
47. What does OKR stand for?Medium
Show the answer
Objectives and key results
48. What does TL;DR stand for at the top of a long message?Easy
Show the answer
Too long; didn't read
49. A deadline marked EOD is due by when?Easy
Show the answer
End of day
50. What does OOO mean in a calendar or an email status?Easy
Show the answer
Out of office
51. In office speak, what is “low-hanging fruit”?Easy
Show the answer
The easiest wins, worth doing first
52. What does it mean to “boil the ocean”?Medium
Show the answer
To take on a task far too big to finish
53. Why is slow, fussy paperwork called “red tape”?Medium
Show the answer
Official documents used to be tied with red ribbon
54. What does the Latin phrase “ad hoc” literally mean?Medium
Show the answer
For this (set up for one purpose)
55. What is “scope creep” on a project?Easy
Show the answer
When the work keeps growing past the original plan
56. What does B2B stand for?Easy
Show the answer
Business to business
57. The word “synergy” comes from a Greek word meaning what?Medium
Show the answer
Working together
58. What do the four letters in a SWOT analysis stand for?Medium
Show the answer
Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats
59. What does NDA stand for?Easy
Show the answer
Non-disclosure agreement
60. Why is a short sales pitch called an “elevator pitch”?Easy
Show the answer
It should fit in the length of an elevator ride

A silver desk bell, a stack of blank question cards and a notepad for scores on a meeting table.

Tech and remote work trivia

The apps, acronyms and odd bits of internet history behind the modern workday.

61. What does WFH stand for?Easy
Show the answer
Working from home
62. Which video meeting app did Eric Yuan found in 2011?Easy
Show the answer
Zoom
63. Slack's name is said to be an acronym. What does it stand for?Hard
Show the answer
Searchable Log of All Conversation and Knowledge
64. What does PDF stand for?Medium
Show the answer
Portable Document Format
65. What does VPN stand for?Medium
Show the answer
Virtual private network
66. What does Wi-Fi stand for?Hard
Show the answer
Nothing (it's a made-up brand name, not short for “wireless fidelity”)
67. Bluetooth is named after a king of which country?Medium
Show the answer
Denmark (Harald Bluetooth)
68. What is a CAPTCHA test trying to prove?Easy
Show the answer
That you're a human, not a bot
69. On a Mac, which keyboard shortcut saves a screenshot of the whole screen?Medium
Show the answer
Command + Shift + 3
70. What does CSV stand for, as in a CSV file?Medium
Show the answer
Comma-separated values
71. Junk email is called spam after a sketch by which British comedy group?Medium
Show the answer
Monty Python
72. Which emoji did Oxford Dictionaries pick as its 2015 Word of the Year?Medium
Show the answer
Face with Tears of Joy (😂)
73. Microsoft Excel first came out in 1985 for which computer?Hard
Show the answer
The Apple Macintosh
74. What does SaaS stand for?Medium
Show the answer
Software as a service
75. One of the first webcams, set up at the University of Cambridge in 1991, watched what?Hard
Show the answer
A coffee pot (so people knew if it was empty before walking over)

Playing with a remote team? Our Zoom trivia game guide covers teams, breakout rooms and scoring on a video call.

Holidays at work trivia

The workplace holidays and fun days on the office calendar.

76. National Boss's Day in the US falls on or near which date?Medium
Show the answer
October 16
77. Administrative Professionals Day falls in which month?Medium
Show the answer
April
78. In which year did Labor Day become a federal holiday in the US?Hard
Show the answer
1894
79. On which date do many countries mark International Workers' Day?Medium
Show the answer
May 1
80. Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day falls in which month?Hard
Show the answer
April (the fourth Thursday)
81. Employee Appreciation Day falls on the first Friday of which month?Hard
Show the answer
March
82. World Emoji Day falls on the date shown on the calendar emoji. Which date is it?Medium
Show the answer
July 17
83. On which date does the US celebrate National Coffee Day?Hard
Show the answer
September 29
84. Pi Day falls on which date?Easy
Show the answer
March 14 (3.14)
85. World Mental Health Day falls on which date?Hard
Show the answer
October 10
86. International Women's Day falls on which date?Easy
Show the answer
March 8
87. Which date do fans call Star Wars Day?Easy
Show the answer
May 4 (“May the Fourth be with you”)
88. International Talk Like a Pirate Day falls on which date?Hard
Show the answer
September 19
89. National Donut Day in the US falls on the first Friday of which month?Medium
Show the answer
June
90. World Kindness Day falls on which date?Hard
Show the answer
November 13

Numbers at work trivia

Paper sizes, time blocks and the numbers hiding in an ordinary workday.

91. How many sheets of paper are in a ream?Medium
Show the answer
500
92. What size is a sheet of standard US letter paper, in inches?Easy
Show the answer
8.5 by 11
93. A sheet of A4 paper measures how many millimeters on each side?Hard
Show the answer
210 by 297
94. In the Pomodoro Technique, how many minutes is one focus session?Medium
Show the answer
25
95. In a calendar-year business, which three months make up Q3?Easy
Show the answer
July, August and September
96. About how many weekdays are in a year?Medium
Show the answer
About 260 (52 weeks of 5 days, plus up to two more)
97. The 80/20 rule is named after which economist?Medium
Show the answer
Vilfredo Pareto
98. Which singer wrote and sang the 1980 hit “9 to 5”?Easy
Show the answer
Dolly Parton
99. Which company made the “two-pizza rule” for team size famous?Hard
Show the answer
Amazon (if two pizzas can't feed the team, it's too big)
100. Office supplies are sometimes sold by the gross. How many items is a gross?Medium
Show the answer
144 (12 dozen)
101. How many digits are in a US phone number, area code included?Easy
Show the answer
10
102. What size is a standard US business card, in inches?Hard
Show the answer
3.5 by 2
103. How many rows can one Excel worksheet hold, since Excel 2007?Hard
Show the answer
1,048,576
104. In Scrum, the daily stand-up is capped at how many minutes?Medium
Show the answer
15
105. Dunbar's number says a person can keep stable relationships with about how many people?Hard
Show the answer
150

Want a game board instead of a list? Put these questions on our online Jeopardy game for work, with points for harder questions.

Jobs and job titles trivia

Where job titles come from, and what some unusual jobs actually involve.

106. What does the C stand for in titles like CEO, CFO and CTO?Easy
Show the answer
Chief
107. Before machines took the name, what was a “computer”?Medium
Show the answer
A person who did calculations by hand
108. The job title “secretary” comes from a Latin word for someone trusted with what?Medium
Show the answer
Secrets
109. The job title “chef” comes from a French word meaning what?Medium
Show the answer
Head (as in head of the kitchen)
110. What does a horologist make or repair?Medium
Show the answer
Clocks and watches
111. What does an actuary measure for a living?Medium
Show the answer
Risk (usually for insurers and pension funds)
112. What does a cartographer make?Easy
Show the answer
Maps
113. What does a lexicographer write?Medium
Show the answer
Dictionaries
114. The word “plumber” comes from the Latin for which metal?Medium
Show the answer
Lead (plumbum)
115. On a film set, what is the gaffer in charge of?Medium
Show the answer
Lighting and electrics
116. What does a Foley artist do?Medium
Show the answer
Performs sound effects, like footsteps, for film and TV
117. The job title “ombudsman” comes from which language?Hard
Show the answer
Swedish
118. What did a cooper make?Medium
Show the answer
Barrels
119. What did a chandler traditionally make or sell?Hard
Show the answer
Candles
120. Which job title comes from the ancient Greek for “master builder”?Medium
Show the answer
Architect

25 office trivia questions about your own company

Custom corporate trivia doesn't need a vendor. Swap your company's name in for [Company], look up each answer before the game, and you have the round people will talk about afterward.

Origins

1. Where does the name [Company] come from?
Where to find it: A founder; the story is often better than people expect
2. What problem did [Company]'s founders set out to solve, in one sentence?
Where to find it: A founder, or the About page
3. What was [Company]'s first slogan or tagline?
Where to find it: Marketing, or an old copy of the website
4. What color was [Company]'s first logo?
Where to find it: The brand team, or an archived copy of the website
5. In which year did [Company] reach 100 people?
Where to find it: HR or a founder

Places

6. How many offices does [Company] have today?
Where to find it: Facilities, or the careers page
7. In how many countries do our people work?
Where to find it: HR, as one total for the whole company
8. How many time zones does our team cover?
Where to find it: Your calendar tool or HR
9. Which of our offices opened most recently?
Where to find it: Facilities or the leadership team
10. Which city has the most [Company] people?
Where to find it: HR, as a city total

People and teams

11. Roughly how many people work at [Company] today?
Where to find it: HR or the latest all-hands deck
12. How many teams or departments are on our org chart?
Where to find it: The org chart
13. Which team at [Company] has grown the most this year?
Where to find it: HR or the leadership team
14. How many people joined [Company] in the past 12 months?
Where to find it: HR or the recruiting team
15. How many languages can our team speak between us?
Where to find it: A one-question survey before the game

Products and customers

16. How many products or services does [Company] offer today?
Where to find it: The website or the product team
17. Which of our products or features launched most recently?
Where to find it: The changelog or the product team
18. In which country does [Company] have the most customers, outside its home country?
Where to find it: Sales or customer success
19. What was the code name of one of our products before launch?
Where to find it: Engineering or the product team
20. Which award or milestone is [Company] proudest of?
Where to find it: Marketing, or the press page

Culture and lore

21. Can you name all of [Company]'s values, word for word?
Where to find it: The handbook or the careers page
22. Which emoji gets used most in our team chat?
Where to find it: Your chat app's admin stats
23. What's the name of our office plant, mascot or team pet?
Where to find it: Whoever named it
24. Which yearly tradition has run the longest at [Company]?
Where to find it: The longest-serving team members
25. What does the acronym we use most around here actually stand for?
Where to find it: Whoever wrote it first

Keep the company round fair

Check every answer with someone who knows, and write down where it came from before the game.
Include a few questions new hires can answer, like the team chat emoji or the newest office, so it isn't only a test of tenure.
Keep it about the company, not individuals: no questions about anyone's private life, pay or performance.
Ask before featuring a colleague by name, even for something nice.
Leave out anything confidential, like revenue or unreleased products, and anything sore, like layoffs or a reorganization.

How to host office trivia in 30 minutes

An office trivia game needs a reader, a scorekeeper, teams and a plan. Here's one that fits in a lunch break or the end of a team meeting.

A 30-minute run of show

Minutes 0 to 3: teams. Split into teams of four to six, mixing departments so nobody plays only with their own desk neighbors. Each team picks a name and one person to write answers.
Minutes 3 to 10: round one. Read eight questions from one category on this page, such as office inventions. Give 30 seconds per question and read each one twice.
Minutes 10 to 13: answers and scores. Read the answers out, one point each. Teams swap sheets and mark each other's, which is faster and settles arguments.
Minutes 13 to 21: the company round. Eight questions about your own company from the templates above. This is the round people talk about afterward, so save your best facts for it.
Minutes 21 to 27: lightning round. Ten quick questions, 15 seconds each, worth two points apiece. Work words and numbers at work are ideal: short questions, short answers.
Minutes 27 to 30: final question and winner. One closest-number question breaks any tie, like “How many rows can one Excel worksheet hold, since Excel 2007?” Announce the winner and give the team something small, even just bragging rights.

House rules

Keep the reader and the scorekeeper as two different people. Reading and adding at the same time slows everything down.
Accept close spellings and obvious short forms. Trivia at work is about the fact, not the spelling bee.
Mix the difficulty within each round: two easy questions, four medium and two hard keeps every team in it.
No phones during a round. Say it once at the start, with a smile.
On a video call, teams talk in breakout rooms and send answers to the host by private chat.

Planning a longer evening? See how to host a trivia night for a full run of show and a printable score sheet. For a quick warm-up round, try our true or false questions.

Want custom corporate trivia games, hosted for you?

A live host brings the questions, the slides, the scoring and the banter, so you get to play too. Quiz Showdown! and Trivia with a Twist! can add your own questions and custom backgrounds, so a round about your company is possible; some requests cost extra, so allow at least 4 weeks. Otherwise book about 2 weeks ahead. Prefer a game at your office? See in-person team building in 17 US cities, or get a free quote.

Hosted trivia, two ways: on Zoom for remote teams, or live at your office in 17 US cities. Live prices below, or see every virtual trivia night.