Lockdown might feel like a lifetime ago, but a good quiz picture round on Zoom still goes down a treat. We had amazing fun with my family and co-workers on a number of hilarious quizzes but I did find myself Googling for ideas and themes.
Therefore I wanted to share a number of online quiz ideas you could try over Zoom. If you’ve not played this before, the quiz master arranges a number of pictures around a category, then shows each picture in order and the competing players have to write down what they believe the picture is.
1) Brand Logos
This concept is so popular, there is an entire board game around it. So many brands are instantly recognisable nowadays, such as the golden arches of McDonald’s, or the Nike tick.
Try to consider the ages of people playing and get some from brands popular in each era, so to make it all equal. Also, make sure to throw in some hard ones!
2) Superheroes
They might struggle a little if they haven’t kept up with the Marvel series, but remember you can be creative here.
Include old variations as well as new, so you could have multiple Batman actors, to really confuse and test people’s knowledge.
3) Quality Streets / Roses
Whichever chocolate brand you pick, you can play the tester of ‘what chocolate is this’. I would struggle, I know I love the strawberry dreams in Roses, which I always have to quickly grab before my big sister.
There is also Celebrations or Heroes, which both have a number of famous chocolate bars.
4) Capital Cities
Don’t just go for the big ones, like Paris and London. Really try to test out their travel knowledge. Include the likes of Beijing, Moscow, Seoul and Buenos Aires to see how good they really are.
You could even try to include a trick one, e.g. include Sydney (the capital of Australia is actually Canberra), a point for the first person who points it out.
5) Music Artist
Again, depending on the age of the players, you should try to blend different eras. You should also contemplate what type of music everyone listens to, so it’s equally fair.
We grew up playing a great game called HumBug, where you had to hum the tune to the other players for them to guess. My dad would know all the 1950’s songs, but we’d be staring blankly back at him, so it can be difficult with age gaps.
6) Famous Actors/Actresses
Ok, I’ll say famous with a twist. If you go for Will Smith, Brad Pitt and Meryl Streep, the scores will all be equal. Try to look just below that level of celebrity status, the ones that people will know but might not know the name of by heart.
These could include Amy Adams, Chadwick Boseman, Jennifer Garner, Joaquin Phoenix, Kathy Bates, Tommy Lee Jones, Jane Fonda, Christopher Walken etc.
7) Baby Photos
I love this one. Admittedly, I love it a little less when I’m competing, as I often mistake myself for my little sister in the baby pictures, as I had incredibly long hair! I also seemed to be blonde for the first 4 years of my life.
Anyway, if someone has access to baby pictures, this could be a great one to catch some people out.
8) Animals
Forget the obvious ones we’re used to seeing like cows, chickens and hamsters. Try to think of the more unique ones where people will drop points.
You could try a capybara, pangolin, Tasmanian devil, Japanese spider crab, blobfish or the vampire fish. If you don’t know any of these, you’re going to have fun researching them!
9) Celebrity Caricatures
Type in a celebrity name and then ‘caricatures’ on Google and you will find a picture available on Google Images. Compile a list and test out whether people can catch on to their facial features. If possible, try to go for a picture where it’s not completely obvious, the worst drawings tend to bring out the greatest laughs.
10) Comedians
Try to do a mix of UK and abroad. Some ideas could include Jack Whitehall, Kevin Bridges, Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, Eddie Murphy, Robin Williams, Jimmy Carr, Eddie Izzard, David Mitchell, Peter Kay etc.
11) Football Club Badges
Ok, I’d only include this one if everyone in the group is a football fan, otherwise you might get some groans from non-football fans, who feel left out of this round.
Having said that, they might surprise themselves. Look at the Wolves logo of a wolf and their guess might just come out right. But some are certainly harder than others. You’ll have to blur out any writing on a club badge of course.
12) UK Cities
I’m writing this as someone based in the UK, but if you’re reading this and based in another country, then you might want to adapt this for your own country.
This will test out their domestic travel knowledge. Try to include some key landmarks and monuments to give the clue. You might want to include Edinburgh, Manchester, Liverpool, Cardiff, Nottingham, Glasgow, Newcastle, Leeds, Sheffield, York and Cambridge, but to name a few.
13) British Foods
Again, if you’re from a different country, you might want to adapt this to your own country.
Some examples could be a beef wellington, Eton mess, Cornish pasty, jellied eels, spotted dick, black pudding, haggis, battered mars bar and toad in the hole. As you’ll notice from this list, most may guess them, but some will fall short.
You don’t want to go for the obvious ones like a roast dinner or fish and chips, as everyone will guess it straight away. Try to make them work for their answer.
14) Celebrity Chefs
Let’s test how much they’ve been keeping up with their cooking shows. I have to admit, I love every show Gordon Ramsay is part of!
Some example chefs you could include are Jamie Oliver, Wolfgang Puck, Delia Smith, Heston Blumenthal, Nigella Lawson, Ainsley Harriott, Paul Hollywood and Rick Stein.
15) Famous Movie Scene
There are some classic moments in a movie that you can recognise straight away, such as Neo from the Matrix bending backwards to dodge the bullets. One image and you should instantly guess it.
So try to collect famous images from movies. Some examples could be Hannibal Lecter rolling up with the mouth guard on, Tom Hanks sitting on the bench in Forrest Gump, the woman screaming while holding the phone in Scream, the Joker going down the steps or Macaulay Culkin screaming while holding his face in Home Alone.
16) Who Said That
You can look at famous quotes, or you could look at notorious Tweets, both would work equally well, especially following the years of Trump, where almost anything was Tweeted without filtering.
You could blend the areas you get this from, such as famous people from history or funny quotes at celebrity awards.
17) Cereal Boxes
You may need to blur out the writing on the box so this may test your Photoshop skills, or you can find a free website online to blur out sections of images. Or you may simply want to crop an image so the brand name is missing, just showing the box colours and characters on the front.
18) Name The Dog Breed
This will suit dog lovers to a T, but you can catch everyone out with some more unique ones.
Some example dog breeds you may want to include are Pomeranian, Dobermann, Shiba Inu, rottweiler, shih tzu, Maltese, Chow Chow, mountain Bernese, border collie, boxer, great Dane, Samoyed and a Yorkshire terrier.
19) Name That Cake
How much of a sweet tooth do the players have? Test their culinary knowledge with pictures of mouth-watering cakes.
Some you could include are the Victoria sponge, black forest gateau, molten chocolate cake, Sernik, Pound cake, sticky toffee pudding, pavlova, Cremeschnitte, Battenburg cake, scones, Bakewell tart, Dundee cake, Eccles cake, shortbread or a Chelsea bun.
20) Famous Politicians
This might not work if you have young people playing, but you could try famous politician faces, to test their knowledge of the political world.
There are a number of famous British politicians which you could include, such as Tony Blair, Boris Johnson, Ed Balls, Theresa May, Gordon Brown, Nicola Sturgeon, John Prescott, Sadiq Khan, Dominic Raab, Caroline Lucas, Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott, Priti Patel, John Major, Vinca Cable, Hilary Benn and Keir Starmer.
It doesn’t matter what side of politics your family or friends sit on, you can pick a complete blend so everyone stands a chance.
21) Tall Buildings
It seems to be a constant race for countries around the world to have the tallest building, this is another one where you’ll be testing their travel knowledge, so it may favour the nomad of the group who jumps on a plane regularly.
Some you could include are Burj Khalifa, Shanghai Tower, Petronas Towers or the Makkah Royal Clock Tower. Despite being a big traveller, I think I’d drop a lot of points on this round!
22) Personal Drawing
This one is especially fun to prepare! Draw something or someone, whatever you want to draw, this is your choice. They then have to guess what the drawing is.
It could be animals, celebrities or people who are playing, don’t consign yourself to one category.
23) Celebrity Yearbook Photos
Yearbook or childhood photos, either will work fine, let’s see how well everyone can guess who these little kids grew up to be!
Some will look immaculately like their adult versions, while others went through a serious change in look. Just look for ‘*celebrity name* childhood photos’ on Google and you’ll find plenty.
24) Country Shapes
This is another geographical option, testing out their knowledge of the map. You can find individual images of the country shape, with no writing on the top via Google images, which will work to see if they can guess which country it is.
The United Kingdom is way too easy, but some others are achievable to guess yet remain just hard enough. I’m thinking the Italian boot shape, Chile, Russia, Cyprus, Japan, Philippines, Thailand, Mexico, Canada, Iceland, India, Australia and the USA.
25) Cheese
Damn I love cheese! But I’m quite a boring sod when it comes to cheese, I love my mild ones, like Double Gloucester and Red Leicester, or maybe some cheddar. However, I still think I could guess the images of a fair few cheeses.
Some you may want to include are mozzarella, parmesan, gouda, brie, camembert, gorgonzola, ricotta and feta.
My dad is hooked to every cheese in the world, so I’m pretty certain he’d get 100% on this round!
26) Name That Tree
Alright, this one sounds a little boring, but you need to catch people out on certain rounds and make sure people drop some points.
Some you might want to include are the major oak tree, weeping willow, dragon tree, beech tree, apple, maple, sycamore, pine, fir, elm, magnolia, tulip, cedar and the butternut tree.
27) TV Series
With Netflix launching shows on a daily basis, it seems like there is a neverending list to catch up with.
Some shows you might want to include a picture of are the Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Planet Earth, Breaking Bad, Band of Brothers, Chernobyl, Sherlock, Friends, Dexter, Fawlty Towers, Narcos, Blackadder or the Peaky Blinders.
If you want some motivation, I’d recommend going to the IMDB top 250 TV shows, there are so many classics to pick from.
Like with the music options, try to blend different eras, so everyone stands a chance. Someone 70 years old might not know Rick and Morty, while an 18 year old might not know the Twilight Zone.
28) Famous Dogs
There are a number of dogs that have become famous for starring in a movie or a TV show, or even ones that have become famous for looking unique, such as Tunameltsmyheart (if you don’t know, go have a look on Instagram now).
Some you could include are Toto from the Wizard of Oz, Lassie, Beethoven, the Jack Russell Terrier from Frasier or Hooch from Turner and Hooch.
29) Famous Skylines
With the number of skyscrapers being built in some cities, it is becoming easy to guess a city from a far away image due to the skyline.
Some of the most iconic skylines that you could show a picture of are Chicago, Dubai, Sydney, Shanghai, New York (obviously), Kuala Lumpur, San Francisco, London, Singapore and Bangkok.
30) Extreme Close-up
I love this one, as I think it’s hilarious watching people try to guess. You can either pick a celebrity, or someone everyone in the group knows, but get a picture and then zoom in very close in the face, so it becomes hard to guess who it is.
The picture needs to have some kind of distinguishable feature which still makes it achievable.
31) Cartoon Characters
As mentioned with other rounds, if the age gap of the players varies, then you will need characters from different eras, or one that had longevity, showing on TV throughout.
Some you may want to try are Charlie Brown, Homer Simpson, Fred Flinstone, Popeye, Cartman, Squidward, Top Cat, Beavis, Yogi Bear, Hank Hill and Speedy Gonzales.
If there are parents in the group, then you could try some modern options, but it will be harsh on those that don’t have kids. Also, it doesn’t have to be kids cartoons, you can try adult cartoons such as Family Guy, American Dad and South Park.
32) Album Covers
It seems a thing of the past to know what album covers look like, so if there are players who are 24 or under, this round might be best to avoid.
Some album covers are instantly recognisable, partly as they’re great music and the albums sold well, but also because the album cover itself has gathered attention.
Some include Pink Floyd: The dark side of the moon, David Bowie: Aladdin Sane, Prince: Purple Rain, Bruce Springsteen: Born in the USA, NWA: Straight Outta Compton, Nirvana: Nevermind, Blink 182: Enema of the state and The Strokes: Is this it.
33) Famous Landmarks
You need to make sure to use some that haven’t been featured in any other geographical based round.
Obviously, skip ones like the Eiffel Tower and Big Ben, as this will be too easy. If you need some inspiration, you can check out my article on famous landmarks in Brazil.
Some of the most recognisable landmarks that you could go for are Sydney opera house, Kremlin, Taj Mahal or the Golden Gate Bridge.
34) Name The Connection
You will have to give people a bit of time to work these out in their heads, as it isn’t always obvious.
You need to find two people with connections that people MAY know. It could be that both actors has been the Dr in Doctor Who, or that two actresses have been ‘Bond girls’, or maybe that two actors are related that people don’t commonly know about.
35) Horror Movie Characters
My little sister would win this round easily. Despite being scared of every evil character, she loves a horror.
I only got into horrors a couple of years ago, but I’ve slowly been ticking them all off.
Some of the horror movie characters you could include a picture of are Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers, It, Hannibal Lecter, Chucky, Carrie, Patrick Bateman or Norman Bates.
36) British Soap TV Sets
Whether it’s an image of Albert Square or Coronation Street, you can find images of the sets on Google without the actors in place, which could really rack their brains to remember which show it’s from.
37) Famous Straplines
You could go several ways with this. You could go with brand advertising slogans, such as Nike’s ‘just do it’ and Marmite’s ‘love it or hate it’, or you could go for famous movie excerpts that have been used to sell the movie.
I think some of these can catch people out, such as Disneyland’s ‘the happiest place on earth’ or Old Spice’s ‘ the original. If your grandfather hadn’t worn it, you wouldn’t exist’, genius!
38) What Year Was It?
You can gather a selection of images that will hint at the year.
For example, if you chose 1999, you could have the impeachment of Bill Clinton, the release of the Matrix, or a pic of Eminem’s video for My Name Is.
39) Who Won The Oscar?
This is great when it is a year where it’s highly dubious. The one that always comes to mind is the 1995 Oscars.
Going for best picture, you had Pulp Fiction, Quiz Show, The Shawshank Redemption, Four Weddings And A Funeral and Forrest Gump. That must have been the greatest year in movie history! For the record, Forrest Gump won, but my vote would have been for Shawshank Redemption.
40) Blurred Face
Get some pictures of famous people, whether actors, singers or people from history and then blur the image. This can easily be done online if you just type in ‘blur an image’.
The best part is hearing people’s wrong guesses, the more bizarre the better!
41) Childhood Foods
If you were brought up in the UK, then the likes of potato smiley faces, fish fingers, custard creams and Babybel’s should be instantly recognisable.
Of course, you have to be aware of where people were brought up in the group, this might not be favourable for an office if people grew up in different countries. I don’t expect everyone to have eaten a turkey dinosaur on a Sunday morning.
42) Country Customs
Did you know that people point with their thumbs in Malaysia? Or that slurping up your food is a compliment in Japan? If you ask for the salt when being served food in Egypt it’s seen as a huge insult of their cooking. When a child loses their tooth in Greece, they throw it on the roof.
All of these interesting cultural differences make for a great quiz round, but you might need to combine this with an image and a description.
43) Guess The Planet
How good is everyone’s astronomy? I would do terrible at this, or I presume I would, it’s all a childhood blur. But the planets in our solar system do look quite unique from each other, so some in the group should get pretty high scores. The real question is whether you include Pluto!
44) Oscar Awards
You could show Leonardo Di Caprio finally winning his Oscar, or when the wrong winner was announced with La La Land over Moonlight. How about the infamous scene when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock.
But some may be harder to remember (or you may be less aware of), like Martin Scorsese finally winning his long overdue directing Oscar for The Departed on his sixth attempt.
45) Face Merge
This one isn’t an idea I came up with, it’s actually from the Game Show activity we tried in Brighton, where you and your mates are on a mock game show. They got pictures of people within the room and merged them with a celebrity face and everyone had to guess the two people.
Some were harder than others, it’s a really creative idea and it will have everyone laughing (my mate being merged with the Queen was particularly hilarious).