Round One — The Warm-Up: Pumpkins, Candy and Costumes
Start this round before the last teams have finished at the bar; it is designed so nobody feels stupid at the beginning of the evening. Read each question twice, leave about twenty seconds, and do not take questions from the floor. One point each, no half points, no bonus for spelling. A competent team should score seven or eight here — if the room is averaging four, you have a quiet crowd and should read more slowly for the rest of the night. Do not announce any scores until the end of Round Two, so the first standings you read out already have some spread in them.
Q1.Which vegetable was carved into lanterns in Ireland and Scotland before pumpkins were used?Tap to reveal
Answer: The turnip
Q2.Candy corn was sold in the 1880s under what original name?Tap to reveal
Answer: Chicken Feed
Though the documented "Chicken Feed" branding dates from the Goelitz era (1898 onward), not the 1880s; the 1880s is the invention date
Q3.Which confectionery company, known today as Jelly Belly, began mass-producing candy corn in 1898?Tap to reveal
Answer: The Goelitz Confectionery Company
Q4.What three colours make up a traditional piece of candy corn?Tap to reveal
Answer: White, orange and yellow
Q5.In which country was the phrase "trick or treat" first recorded in print?Tap to reveal
Answer: Canada
Q6.Which charity has been collecting coins from trick-or-treaters since 1950?Tap to reveal
Answer: UNICEF
Q7.What is the collective name for a group of witches?Tap to reveal
Answer: A coven
Round Two — Horror at the Movies
This is the round people cheat on, so say "phones away" once, clearly, before the first question. Collect sheets at the end and redistribute them so no team marks its own. Read each answer aloud slowly enough for the marker to keep up, and add one line of context to the ones people argue about — the Shatner mask and the Henry Selick credit both reliably start a row. Announce cumulative scores after this round; that is your first real leaderboard and it sets the mood for the break.
Q1.Who both directed and composed the score for the 1978 film Halloween?Tap to reveal
Answer: John Carpenter
Q2.Michael Myers' mask was made by modifying a shop-bought mask of which actor's face?Tap to reveal
Answer: William Shatner
Q3.Which actress played Laurie Strode in her film debut?Tap to reveal
Answer: Jamie Lee Curtis
Q4.Which 1991 film is the only horror film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture?Tap to reveal
Answer: The Silence of the Lambs
Q5.Who played the possessed girl Regan in The Exorcist?Tap to reveal
Answer: Linda Blair
Q6.Which actor made his film debut in A Nightmare on Elm Street in 1984?Tap to reveal
Answer: Johnny Depp
Q7.What is the name of the hotel in The Shining?Tap to reveal
Answer: The Overlook Hotel
Q8.What nickname is given to the killer's mask in the Scream films?Tap to reveal
Answer: Ghostface
Q9.What is the surname of the three witch sisters in Hocus Pocus?Tap to reveal
Answer: Sanderson
Q10.Which 1999 found-footage film was set in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland?Tap to reveal
Answer: The Blair Witch Project
Round Three — Where Halloween Actually Comes From
Run this one straight after the break, when people are back in their seats and slightly louder. The difficulty steps up, but the answers are short enough that partial knowledge still scores. Tell teams to spell phonetically and mean it — accept "sow-in" for Samhain, "ofrenda" spelt any way that is recognisable, and "barmbrack" mangled however they like. If your room includes anyone Irish or Scottish, expect them to clean up here, which is fine: it evens out against Round Five.
Q1."Halloween" is a contraction of which older name for 31 October?Tap to reveal
Answer: All Hallows' Eve
Q2.Which Christian feast day falls on 1 November?Tap to reveal
Answer: All Saints' Day
Q3.Which Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest is considered Halloween's ancestor?Tap to reveal
Answer: Samhain
Q4.In the medieval custom of "souling", what were the small cakes handed out called?Tap to reveal
Answer: Soul cakes
Q5.What is the Scottish and Irish term for going door to door in disguise?Tap to reveal
Answer: Guising
Q6.Apple bobbing is often linked to the festival of which Roman goddess of fruit and orchards?Tap to reveal
Answer: Pomona
Q7.What object hidden in an Irish Halloween barmbrack is said to predict marriage?Tap to reveal
Answer: A ring
Q8.Which two groups of 19th-century immigrants brought Halloween customs to North America?Tap to reveal
Answer: The Irish and the Scots
Q9.In Mexico's Day of the Dead, what is the household altar built for the dead called?Tap to reveal
Answer: An ofrenda
Q10.Which orange flower, known as cempasúchil, is used to guide the dead home?Tap to reveal
Answer: The marigold
Round Four — Monsters, Books and Legends
This is where you offer the joker if you are using one: each team may nominate a single round to be scored double, and it must be declared before the questions are read. Most teams will burn it here rather than risk the final round, which is exactly the decision you want them agonising over. Questions in this round reward one person at each table who read the books, so give a full thirty seconds — the tables will be arguing rather than guessing. Do not confirm or deny anything during the round, however loudly someone insists Frankenstein is the monster.
Q1.What nationality was Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula?Tap to reveal
Answer: Irish
Q2.What is the name of the ship that carries Dracula to England?Tap to reveal
Answer: The Demeter
Q3.At which Yorkshire seaside town does that ship run aground?Tap to reveal
Answer: Whitby
Q4.Who leads the group of vampire hunters pursuing Count Dracula?Tap to reveal
Answer: Abraham Van Helsing
Q5.Which asylum inmate in Dracula eats insects to absorb their life?Tap to reveal
Answer: Renfield
Q6.What is the subtitle of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein?Tap to reveal
Answer: The Modern Prometheus
Q7.How old was Mary Shelley when she began writing Frankenstein?Tap to reveal
Answer: 18
Q8.In the novel, what name does Victor Frankenstein give his creature?Tap to reveal
Answer: None — the creature is never named
Q9.Who wrote The Legend of Sleepy Hollow?Tap to reveal
Answer: Washington Irving
Q10.In Slavic folklore, which witch lives in a hut that stands on chicken legs?Tap to reveal
Answer: Baba Yaga
Round Five — The Killer Round
Announce this one by name and warn the room that it is meant to hurt: a leading team scoring five out of ten here is doing well, and a table that scores seven has almost certainly won the night. Because scores are low, this round is where positions actually change, so mark it yourself at the front rather than trusting swapped sheets. Hold one question in reserve as a tiebreaker and use nearest-without-going-over: "In what year was Bram Stoker's Dracula published?" The answer is 1897, and it settles a two-way tie in about fifteen seconds.
Q1.What is the name of the vampire in the 1922 German film Nosferatu?Tap to reveal
Answer: Count Orlok
Q2.Vlad the Impaler, an inspiration for Dracula, ruled which principality?Tap to reveal
Answer: Wallachia
Q3.In which year did the Salem witch trials take place?Tap to reveal
Answer: 1692–1693
The trials ran from February 1692 to May 1693, though all 20 executions took place in 1692
Q4.How many people were executed by hanging as a result of those trials?Tap to reveal
Answer: 19
Q5.Which Salem defendant was pressed to death under stones for refusing to enter a plea?Tap to reveal
Answer: Giles Corey
Q6.Which famous escapologist died on 31 October 1926?Tap to reveal
Answer: Harry Houdini
Q7.Who spoke the closing narration on Michael Jackson's "Thriller"?Tap to reveal
Answer: Vincent Price
Q8.Which word is never actually used to describe the undead in Night of the Living Dead?Tap to reveal
Answer: Zombie
Q9.In which year did "Monster Mash" reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100?Tap to reveal
Answer: 1962
Q10.Which horror actor was Bobby "Boris" Pickett impersonating on that record?Tap to reveal
Answer: Boris Karloff
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does this Halloween quiz take to run?
Budget 75 to 90 minutes. The fifty questions themselves take about 45 minutes at a sensible reading pace, marking between rounds adds roughly five minutes each, and a break after Round Three adds ten to fifteen. If you need it shorter, cut Round Four entirely rather than trimming questions from every round — losing a whole round keeps the difficulty curve intact, while thinning each round flattens it.
How do I score it, and what happens if two teams tie?
One point per question, fifty available, no half points and no marks for spelling. Have teams swap sheets so nobody marks their own, and read standings after Rounds Two, Three and Five only. For ties, use a nearest-without-going-over question: "In what year was Bram Stoker's Dracula published?" (1897) or "How many people were hanged in the Salem witch trials?" (19). Both are settled instantly and neither needs a judgement call.
What team size works best, and who does the marking?
Four to six people. Below four and the specialist rounds feel unfair; above six and half the table stops contributing. Teams mark each other's sheets — pass them one table to the left after each round and collect them at the end so you can check the running total yourself before announcing a winner. You need nothing printed: teams need paper and a pen, and you read everything, including the answers, from a phone.
Can I adjust the difficulty for a mixed crowd?
Yes, and the round structure is built for it. If the crowd is casual, move four questions from Round Five into Round Two and replace them with easier ones from Round One — the night still escalates, just from a lower base. If the crowd is competitive, swap Rounds Three and Four so the history round comes later, and keep the joker offer, which forces teams to gamble on where their knowledge actually is. Avoid adding a picture or music round unless you have a projector and speakers already set up, since a failed audio round kills the room faster than a hard question ever will.
