Christmas Quiz

2024 Christmas Quiz

Round 1 - Wordies

Santa Claws

Wordie #1

Wordie #2

Wordie #3

Wordie #4

Wordie #5

Wordie #6

Wordie #7

Wordie #8

Wordie #9

Wordie #10

Wordie #11

Round 2 - Paper Planes

Rules

  • Two sheets of A4 per team
  • Two planes per team - write name on plane
  • Team to nominate thrower(s)
    • Can be one person for both darts or two different people
  • Throw from outside seminar room, down corridor (one each side)
  • 10 points for team with best throw, 7 for runner up, 4 for third
  • 2 point bonus for a team that has no darts going down the stairs or into areas below

Round 3 - Dates and Events

Rules

  • First five: Identify the month of year for each event in 2024
  • Next five: Events in 2024
  • Finally: December 11th in history

Question #1

Ireland’s Bambie Thug came sixth place in the Eurovision Song Contest, marking the country’s first top-ten finish since 2011.

Question #2

Cillian Murphy became the first Irish-born actor to win the best actor award at the Oscar ceremony for his leading performance in the film Oppenheimer.

Question #3

Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary criticised teachers at a Fine Gael party gathering saying, “The Dáil is full of teachers … but I wouldn’t generally employ a lot of teachers to go out and get things done.”

Question #4

Incumbent United States President Joe Biden ends his candidacy in the 2024 United States presidential election.

Question #5

Sir Keir Starmer leads the Labour Party to a landslide victory in the UK general election, returning the party to government for the first time in 14 years.

Question #6 - Events of 2024

How many gold medals did Ireland win in the 2024 Summer Olympics?

Question #7

Which country won the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest?

Question #8

Which country’s Supreme Court upheld a decision to block the social media platform X (also known as Twitter)?

Question #9

John J. Hopfield and Geoffrey E. Hinton won the Nobel Prize for Physics, but what was the subject matter?

Question #10

Which country hosted EUFA Euro 2024?

Bonus point - where was the final held?

Question #11 - December 11th in History

Match the years to the events - 1 point for each correct one.

  • Apollo 17 becomes the sixth and final Apollo mission to land on the Moon
  • Demonstrations by students and workers across Albania begin, which eventually trigger the fall of communism in Albania.
  • Finnish game developer Rovio Entertainment releases the hit mobile game Angry Birds internationally on iOS.
  • Indiana becomes the 19th U.S. state.
  • Bernie Madoff is arrested and charged with securities fraud in a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.
  • Years are 1980, 2009, 2008, 1972, 2007, 1976, 1816, 1850 (some years are dummies)

Round 4 - Throwing Sprouts into a bucket

Rules

  • NB. Exact sprout receptacle undecided at time of writing this
  • Go into the kitchen
  • Each team take in turns to stand behind chair
  • One team member is nominated to have fish hands
  • Throw sprouts into the bucket (or whatever) on the other chair
  • You have 30 seconds to throw as many sprouts into the bucket as you can
  • Winner 10 pts, runner up 7, third place 4

Round 5 - General Knowledge and Puzzles

Question #1 - Puzzles

I asked this question several times yesterday, but always got different answers, and yet all the answers were correct. What was the question?

Question #2

What word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?

Question #3

Five sisters, Anne, Brenda, Carol, Denise and Emma are alone together in a room. Anne is reading, Brenda is playing table tennis, Carol is painting and Denise is looking at her phone. What is Emma doing?

Question #4

A pizza take away has a deal that if you bring back four empty pizza boxes from the same place, you get a free pizza. If Bob buys 16 pizzas from here, how many free ones does he get?

Question #5

You approach two magic talking doors. One door leads to the Chamber of Truth, while the other door leads to the Chamber of Lies. You do not know which door is which. You are able to ask only one question to determine which door is which. The door that leads to the Chamber of Lies always speaks lies, while the door that leads to the Chamber of Truth always speaks the truth. You want to go to the Chamber of Truth. What question do you ask to determine which door leads to the Chamber of Truth?

Question #6 - Lucky dip

Name the only nation to appear at every single FIFA World Cup?

Question #7

What is the most abundant gas in the Earth’s atmosphere?

Question #8

Which country drinks the most coffee per capita?

Question #9

Which of these companies was formed first?

  • Bing
  • Facebook
  • Netflix
  • Google

Question #10

What is the title of this painting?

Bonus - who is the artist

Question #11

What is Elton John’s real name?

Question #12

Acceleration is the term for the rate of change of velocity - but what is the term for the rate of change of acceleration?

Round 6 - Cracker Eating

Rules

  • Each team nominates two members to eat a cream cracker each
  • When done they have to shout ‘finished!’
  • Water available after
  • Fastest team to eat both crackers
  • Winner 10 pts, 2nd 7 points, third 4 points
  • 2 point bonus for eating both crackers in under 25 seconds