These New Year's Eve trivia questions travel from the Times Square ball drop to lucky foods, Scottish customs, calendar history and the first places on Earth to see midnight. They make a lively bar trivia round before the countdown, so read them aloud as pub quiz questions at your own party or trivia night, with a fun explanation ready for every answer.
Hosting a trivia night? Get the printable round with answer keyMarking a new year is one of the oldest human habits. Ancient Babylonians are often credited with making promises to their gods at the start of each year, an early ancestor of the modern resolution. Not every culture celebrates on January 1, either. Lunar New Year, Rosh Hashanah and Nowruz all fall at other times, so the same planet greets several new years every twelve months.
One fun thing to picture on December 31 is midnight sweeping around the globe one time zone at a time. The whole countdown takes more than a full day from the first celebration to the last, so Americans on the East Coast cheer hours after much of Europe and hours before Hawaii. Many cultures also share the idea that noise, fireworks, lucky foods and good company chase away bad luck and set the tone for the year ahead.
Trivia is a great way to fill the long hours before the countdown. Run this round around 11 p.m., hand out noisemakers to the winning team and save the final answer reveal for just before the clock strikes twelve.