Workplace Trivia Questions and Answers & Why They Work

I’ve been leading team building events for a long time now, and I keep coming back to trivia. Not because of the questions themselves, but because of what happens in the room when people start playing together.

Workplace trivia questions and answers give your team a shared challenge. For a few minutes, people stop thinking about email and deadlines. They lean in, argue (nicely) about who’s right, high-five a win, and laugh off a miss. That energy is what I’m always trying to create.

In this article, I want to show you how to use workplace trivia questions in a way that actually supports your culture, not just fills time. I’ll walk through why trivia works, how to use it in meetings, how to think about themes, and how company trivia questions can help people feel more connected to the work you do.

If you’re an HR leader, manager, or founder looking for simple ways to bring people together, trivia is one of the easiest tools you can keep in your back pocket.

Why trivia works so well at work 

Trivia works because it’s low-risk and high-engagement.

You’re not asking people to share something vulnerable or give a polished answer. You’re asking them to react to a question. That external focus makes it easier for quieter people to join in while still giving your outgoing folks room to shine.

I’ve watched workplace trivia questions and answers shift a group of strangers into a team in minutes. People walk in guarded. A few questions later, they’re leaning over the table, trading guesses, and cheering when someone pulls a wild fact out of nowhere.

There’s also a bit of healthy pressure. There’s a clock and a score. There’s something at stake, even if it’s just friendly bragging rights. That little jolt of competition, when you manage it well, turns a routine meeting into something people actually remember.

Simple ways to use trivia questions for work meetings

You don’t need a full game show to use trivia at work. Some of my favorite moments have come from a single, well-timed question.

Here are a few easy ways to bring trivia questions for work meetings into your routine:

• Start staff meetings with one quick question
• Use a short round of trivia questions for teams as a warm-up before strategy or training
• Close a long day with a fun trivia segment instead of more slides
• Run a weekly “trivia of the day” in Slack or Teams
• Build a short trivia round into all-hands meetings to bring departments together

The key is consistency. When trivia shows up regularly, it stops feeling like a random add-on and starts feeling like a natural part of your culture.

If your team is remote or hybrid, trivia fits nicely alongside other virtual team building activities. A five- or ten-minute round can restore energy to a video call, just as a longer virtual event can.

Choosing the right trivia themes

Over time, I’ve found that the best work trivia questions fit into a few core themes. You don’t need to use all of them. Pick what fits your goals.

Company and industry trivia

This is where I usually start. Company trivia questions reinforce the story you want people to know and repeat.

You might build questions around:

• Key milestones in your company’s history
• Your mission, values, or purpose
• Flagship products or services
• Big wins, awards, or customer impact stories
• Interesting facts about your industry or market

When people nail these, they’re not just “right.” They’re showing shared knowledge and pride in what you do.

Staff trivia questions that are about your people

Personal trivia questions help people see one another as people, not just roles. You can collect fun facts through a quick survey, then turn them into questions like:

• Who on our team once worked as a [job]?
• Who speaks three languages?
• Who has been with the company the longest?

I love watching the moment when someone realizes they have something unexpected in common with a coworker they barely knew.

Broader themes you can layer in

Once you have your company and staff trivia set, you can mix in broader themes to keep things fresh:

• Locations where you have offices or customers
• The history of your field or technology
• Seasonal topics like year-end highlights or “this year in review”
• Light pop culture or general knowledge that doesn’t require niche expertise

The goal isn’t to chase every set of fun trivia topics for work. It’s to build themes that make people say, “This feels like us.”

Writing strong company trivia questions and answers

You don’t have to be a writer to create good company trivia. You just need to be clear on what you want people to walk away with.

I usually start by asking myself three things:

• What do I want people to remember after this round?
• How challenging should it feel for this group?
• Is the question phrased clearly so there’s no confusion?

From there, you can build questions like:

• In what year did our company launch its first product?
• Which of these values appears in our official company values?
• How many countries are our clients or customers based in today?
• Which department won last year’s internal award or challenge?

You can turn some into multiple-choice questions if you want to make your work trivia questions more approachable, especially for new hires.

I also like including a few “teaching” questions that introduce new information:

• What percentage of our revenue last year came from new products or services?
• Which of these causes did we support through volunteering or donations this year?

Those questions do double duty. They make the game more interesting and help you share updates about impact, strategy, or growth in a more engaging way.

Setting up teams and roles

Small groups usually work best. Teams of four to six people are large enough to include diverse perspectives but small enough that everyone can be heard. You can mix departments, locations, and seniority levels so people connect across the usual boundaries.

A few simple roles help things run smoothly:

• A captain who shares the final answer
• A scribe who writes or types answers
• A timekeeper who keeps an eye on the clock

In virtual settings, breakout rooms are your best friend. Send each team into a room with the same question or round, then bring everyone back together to reveal answers and scores. It’s a simple format that works well for trivia questions in larger online meetings.

And as you design your workplace trivia questions and answers, it’s worth checking for inclusion. Mix easier and harder questions. Avoid topics that only one small group would know. Keep it fun, not stressful.

When it makes sense to host a full trivia event

Sometimes, a quick trivia question at the top of a meeting is all you need. Other times, you want something bigger: a shared experience with real structure, energy, and production value.

That’s when a dedicated trivia program really makes sense. If you’re trying to bring multiple departments together, celebrate a milestone, kick off a retreat, or re-energize a remote team, a full event gives you a live host, thoughtful pacing, and a format that keeps everyone engaged from start to finish.

You can also think beyond a single trivia game. Trivia works beautifully alongside other game show-style programs and virtual team building events when you want a full day or series. Mixing formats lets different personalities shine in different ways.

As a facilitator, I love seeing people surprise themselves at these events. The person who swears they “hate games” ends up shouting answers. The senior leader who’s usually in control steps back and lets others take the lead. Those moments stick around.

Bringing trivia into your workplace

Ready to move beyond DIY trivia questions for work and give your team a full experience?  

For in-person and hybrid groups, Corporate Quiz Bowl is our live, game-show-style trivia event. Teams compete through multiple themed rounds featuring customized company content and interactive scoring.

For remote and fully distributed teams, Almost Anything Goes Trivia is our virtual trivia experience built for online groups. We combine a wide range of topics with professional hosting to keep people engaged on-screen, whether you have ten people or hundreds.

Both events can be tailored with your own company trivia questions, industry content, and inside jokes. Your trivia questions will feel uniquely yours, not something pulled off a shelf.

And if you decide you want to go beyond trivia altogether, we’ve got plenty of other fun programs, too! Whatever direction you choose, we’ll help you design an experience that fits your team, your goals, and your culture.