Round 1: Halloween Warm-Up
Open with this round while people are still finding seats and filling in team names. Every question here is answerable by most adults, which matters on a printed sheet — a team that scores 2/9 in the first ten minutes usually stops writing. If you are running this for a mixed-age room, this is also the round to read aloud rather than hand out, so latecomers can join mid-question.
Q1.On what date is Halloween celebrated each year?Tap to reveal
Answer: 31 October
Q2.Halloween grew out of which ancient Celtic festival marking the end of harvest?Tap to reveal
Answer: Samhain
Q3.The word "Halloween" is a contraction of what older name for the night?Tap to reveal
Answer: All Hallows' Eve
Q4.Which Christian feast day falls on 1 November, the day after Halloween?Tap to reveal
Answer: All Saints' Day
Q5.What is the collective noun for a group of witches?Tap to reveal
Answer: A coven
Q6.In the older Scottish and Irish custom, costumed children had to perform a song, poem or joke before receiving a treat. What is that custom called?Tap to reveal
Answer: Guising
Q7.Which children's charity has run a Halloween coin-collection drive for trick-or-treaters since 1950?Tap to reveal
Answer: UNICEF
Q8.What is the collective noun for a group of crows?Tap to reveal
Answer: A murder
Q9.Which city in Minnesota bills itself as the Halloween Capital of the World, having held one of the first Halloween parades in 1920?Tap to reveal
Answer: Anoka
Round 2: Pumpkins and Jack-o'-Lanterns
This round splits neatly into folklore and botany, and that split is deliberate — the first half rewards people who know the Irish origin story, the second rewards gardeners and science teachers. Questions 4 to 6 are the hardest on the whole sheet, so if you are scoring, consider making them worth double. Teams that enjoy this round usually want the pumpkin-carving and autumn-tradition questions in our other Halloween sets next.
Q1.Before pumpkins were used, which vegetable was hollowed out and carved for lanterns in Ireland and Scotland?Tap to reveal
Answer: The turnip
Q2.Besides the turnip, which large root vegetable was also carved into lanterns in 19th-century Britain and Ireland?Tap to reveal
Answer: The mangel wurzel (a type of beet)
Q3.The jack-o'-lantern takes its name from an Irish folk tale about a man denied entry to both Heaven and Hell. What is he known as?Tap to reveal
Answer: Stingy Jack
But the premise is folk etymology, not fact: "jack-o'-lantern" is attested in English from the 1660s meaning a night watchman with a lantern, and then the ignis fatuus / will-o'-the-wisp. The Stingy Jack legend is the later folk explanation attached to the name, not its documented source. Reword as "which folk-tale character is the jack-o'-lantern popularly named after?"
Q4.Botanists classify the pumpkin as a specific type of berry. What is it called?Tap to reveal
Answer: A pepo
Q5.Pumpkins belong to the same plant family as cucumbers, melons and squash. What is that family commonly called?Tap to reveal
Answer: The gourd family (Cucurbitaceae)
Q6.Which US state grows more pumpkins than any other, producing roughly 40% of the national crop?Tap to reveal
Answer: Illinois
Q7.Hulled, roasted pumpkin seeds are sold under what Spanish-derived name?Tap to reveal
Answer: Pepitas
Q8.The beta-carotene that gives pumpkin flesh its orange colour is converted by the body into which vitamin?Tap to reveal
Answer: Vitamin A
Q9.In which decade was the term "jack-o'-lantern" first recorded in American English as the name for a carved pumpkin?Tap to reveal
Answer: The 1830s (1837)
Round 3: The Candy Bowl
Candy history is where confidently wrong answers live, so every date and name in this round is drawn from the manufacturers' own documented histories rather than party-blog folklore. It is the strongest round for an office party because almost everyone has an opinion about candy corn, and the arguing is half the point. Put a bowl of the actual sweets on the table and the guessing improves noticeably.
Q1.What are the three colours of a classic piece of candy corn, from the wide end to the tip?Tap to reveal
Answer: Yellow, orange and white
Q2.When candy corn first went on sale in the late 1880s, what was it called?Tap to reveal
Answer: "Chicken Feed"
But the date in the question is wrong. The only documented "Chicken Feed" branding (rooster box, slogan "Something worth crowing for") belongs to the Goelitz Confectionery Company from 1898 onward. The late-1880s original by George Renninger of Wunderle is not attested under that name; the 1880s attribution is repeated candy-industry lore. Ask instead: "Under what brand name did Goelitz sell candy corn from 1898?"
Q3.The Goelitz Confectionery Company began making candy corn in 1898. By what name is that company known today?Tap to reveal
Answer: Jelly Belly
Q4.Snickers, launched in 1930, was named after what?Tap to reveal
Answer: The Mars family's favourite horse
Q5.Which former dairy farmer created the peanut butter cup in 1928 and gave it his surname?Tap to reveal
Answer: H. B. Reese
Q6.Before starting his own candy business, H. B. Reese worked for which famous chocolate maker?Tap to reveal
Answer: Milton Hershey
Q7.The two Ms in M&M's stand for the surnames of the two men behind the company. What are they?Tap to reveal
Answer: Mars and Murrie
Q8.Which German confectionery company's name is built from its founder Hans Riegel's name and his home city of Bonn?Tap to reveal
Answer: Haribo
Q9.Launched by Rowntree's in 1935, which four-fingered bar was originally sold as "Chocolate Crisp"?Tap to reveal
Answer: Kit Kat
Q10.Tootsie Rolls are named after the childhood nickname of whose daughter?Tap to reveal
Answer: The inventor's
Leo Hirshfield's daughter Clara
Round 4: Screen and Soundtrack
Twelve questions covering the four films that show up on almost every Halloween watchlist, plus the two pieces of music that get played to death every October. The spread runs from 1962 to 1993 on purpose, so a room with a wide age range has something for everyone rather than skewing to one decade. This is the round most likely to spark a rewatch, so it is worth pointing teams at our dedicated Halloween movie questions afterwards.
Q1.Who directed the 1978 slasher film Halloween?Tap to reveal
Answer: John Carpenter
Q2.Michael Myers's mask in the 1978 film was a modified store-bought mask of which actor, playing Captain Kirk?Tap to reveal
Answer: William Shatner
Q3.Which actress played Laurie Strode in the original Halloween?Tap to reveal
Answer: Jamie Lee Curtis
Q4.Bette Midler played which of the three Sanderson sisters in Hocus Pocus (1993)?Tap to reveal
Answer: Winifred (Winnie) Sanderson
Q5.Tim Burton wrote the original poem, but who actually directed The Nightmare Before Christmas?Tap to reveal
Answer: Henry Selick
Q6.Jack Skellington rules Halloween Town under what nickname?Tap to reveal
Answer: The Pumpkin King
Q7.Who wrote the songs for The Nightmare Before Christmas and also provided Jack's singing voice?Tap to reveal
Answer: Danny Elfman
Q8.In Beetlejuice (1988), how many times must you say his name to summon him?Tap to reveal
Answer: Three
Q9.Which giant marshmallow mascot becomes the final monster in Ghostbusters (1984)?Tap to reveal
Answer: The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man
Q10.Who recorded the 1962 novelty hit "Monster Mash", performing it as an impression of Boris Karloff?Tap to reveal
Answer: Bobby "Boris" Pickett
Q11.Which horror actor delivered the spoken-word section at the end of Michael Jackson's "Thriller"?Tap to reveal
Answer: Vincent Price
Round 5: Ghost Stories and Old Traditions
A closing round drawn from books and from the traditions Halloween sits alongside, which makes it the least Americanised set on the sheet and the best one for a classroom. The two Día de los Muertos questions are there because the holidays get conflated constantly and a trivia sheet is a painless place to correct it. Keep this round for last: it produces the longest tie-break arguments.
Q1.Who wrote the 1897 novel Dracula?Tap to reveal
Answer: Bram Stoker
Q2.Which author wrote Frankenstein, published in 1818?Tap to reveal
Answer: Mary Shelley
Q3.What is the first name of the scientist in Frankenstein — the man, not the monster?Tap to reveal
Answer: Victor
Q4.In which year did the Salem witch trials begin in Massachusetts?Tap to reveal
Answer: 1692
Q5.Who wrote "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", published in 1820?Tap to reveal
Answer: Washington Irving
Q6.In that story, the Headless Horseman is said to be the ghost of a soldier from which war?Tap to reveal
Answer: The American Revolutionary War
Q7.What single word does the bird repeat in Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Raven"?Tap to reveal
Answer: Nevermore
Q8.What is the name of the home altar built for Día de los Muertos, holding photos and the favourite foods of the dead?Tap to reveal
Answer: An ofrenda
Q9.Which bright orange flower, known in Spanish as cempasúchil, is used to guide spirits home during Día de los Muertos?Tap to reveal
Answer: The marigold
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I print the questions without the answers showing?
The answer key is a separate block at the end of this page rather than an answer printed under each question, so printing pages 1-2 gives you a clean question sheet and the final page gives you the key. Print one question sheet per team and keep a single key for the host. If your browser's print preview splits a round across two pages, set margins to "minimum" or scale to 90% — each round is sized to sit on one page at standard scaling.
How many rounds do I need for a one-hour party?
Three rounds of 9-12 questions fills an hour comfortably with teams of four: roughly 10 minutes of play per round, plus a few minutes to swap sheets and mark. Five rounds runs closer to 90-100 minutes and works better as the whole evening's entertainment. If you are short on time, cut Round 2 rather than shortening every round — half-rounds make scoring awkward.
Are these suitable for a senior centre or a care home?
Rounds 3, 4 and 5 are the best fit: the candy, film and book questions cover the 1920s to the early 1990s, so they reward long memories rather than recent pop culture. Round 4 in particular spans 1962 to 1993. For large-print handouts, print at 150% scale and use one round per sheet — no question on this page depends on an image, so nothing is lost when the layout is enlarged.
Can I use these at a school, church or workplace event?
Yes — print and hand them out freely for classroom, party or fundraiser use. Every answer here is a checkable fact rather than a matter of opinion, which matters if you are scoring competitively and someone challenges a result. If you want a second set so the same crowd can play again, our general 50-question Halloween page uses an entirely different question pool with no overlap with this one.
