Free sports quiz: clubs, players and competitions

Beyond the three sports everyone names

Football, tennis and basketball come first to almost everyone. A good sports quiz begins where those three answers stop.

Sport is one of the broadest themes there is. Between Olympic disciplines, team sports, individual sports and regional competitions, there is enough to ask questions for hours. Naming the most popular sport means giving the answer almost everyone gives.

What a good sports quiz covers

Four families of questions frame solid sports knowledge.

• Disciplines: Olympic sports, team sports, individual sports.
• Clubs, national squads and the great rivalries.
• Competitions: leagues, cups, landmark tournaments.
• Basic rules and the vocabulary specific to each sport.

The answers that score, the ones that sink you

On a sports question, a few heavily televised disciplines crush all the others among the answers given.

Naming an ultra-famous sport validates the question but scores little. A less exposed Olympic discipline, just as valid, is far rarer and pays more. The same gap exists for clubs: the current champion is expected, a club that won long ago much less so.

Three sports-quiz traps

Sport is full of false friends. Here are the ones that catch people out most often.

Each of these mix-ups turns a good hunch into a near miss. A glance at exactly what is asked settles it.

• Confusing a competition with its organiser: the tournament and the federation that runs it are not the same answer.
• Naming the reigning champion when the most decorated of all time is asked: they are rarely the same.
• Mixing up a discipline with one of its events: athletics is not the hundred metres.

Testing your sports knowledge in practice

In KRILLION, the Game On pack brings these questions in the game’s format: 7 questions per game, 25 seconds each, typed answers.

As everywhere, the obvious answer scores little and the rare answer goes deeper. A sports quiz then becomes a game where the breadth of your knowledge, beyond the headline sports, makes all the difference to the final score.

How to improve on sport

Sport is a theme where you gain quickly by widening your horizons a little.

Within a few weeks, your range of answers almost doubles with no effort. It is the kind of theme where a little curiosity quickly turns into points, and where watching a match becomes more interesting too.

• Follow a competition you never watch: a week is enough to pick up rare names.
• Remember two or three minor Olympic disciplines: they come up often and score big.
• Note the champion crowned each season in a sport you barely know.

Where to play

The sports theme plays straight in the browser, with no install.

The Game On pack is available in English and French. The first game of the day is playable without an account, enough to judge the format before going further.