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Hard 80s Trivia Questions
The hard questions from our 80s set, 15 of them, each with the answer and an explanation below the game.
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Keys 1-4 pick an answer, Enter moves on. Nothing is saved to an account.
The hard set goes past the obvious into the second layer: which company built the ZX Spectrum, which stadium hosted the American half of Live Aid, which planet Voyager 2 reached in 1989. Nothing here is obscure trivia for its own sake, but each one needs real recall.
15 hard 80s trivia questions with answers
Which pop duo behind the 1985 hit Take On Me came from Norway?
Answer: a-ha a-ha were a trio from Oslo, and the song's video mixed pencil animation with live action.
Ridley Scott's 1982 science fiction film Blade Runner was adapted from a novel by which author?
Answer: Philip K. Dick The source book was Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, published in 1968.
The ZX Spectrum home computer was made by which British company?
Answer: Sinclair Research Clive Sinclair's cheap machine helped create a generation of British bedroom coders.
Besides Wembley Stadium in London, Live Aid was staged in which American city?
Answer: Philadelphia The US leg took place at John F. Kennedy Stadium.
Which Soviet leader took power in 1985 and introduced glasnost and perestroika?
Answer: Mikhail Gorbachev The two policies translate roughly as openness and restructuring.
Robert Redford's directing debut, which won Best Picture for 1980, carried which title?
Answer: Ordinary People Redford also took the Best Director award for it.
The 1987 global stock market crash is remembered by which nickname?
Answer: Black Monday The Dow Jones fell more than twenty percent in a single session on 19 October.
Who directed the 1980 film adaptation of The Shining?
Answer: Stanley Kubrick Stephen King famously disliked Kubrick's departures from his novel.
Which Space Shuttle orbiter flew the programme's first mission in April 1981?
Answer: Columbia Enterprise never flew in space; it was used only for atmospheric glide tests.
The board game Trivial Pursuit was invented by two journalists from which country?
Answer: Canada Chris Haney and Scott Abbott devised it in Montreal after a missing Scrabble tile.
IBM released its first personal computer, the model 5150, in which year?
Answer: 1981 Its open architecture invited the clone industry that followed.
Mr. T played which character in the television series The A-Team?
Answer: B. A. Baracus The initials stood for Bad Attitude, and the character famously refused to fly.
Voyager 2 made its closest approach to which planet in 1989?
Answer: Neptune It remains the only spacecraft to have visited Neptune up close.
The 1989 film Batman starring Michael Keaton was directed by whom?
Answer: Tim Burton Fans objected loudly to Keaton's casting before the film opened to huge business.
Halley's Comet made its most recent pass close to the Sun in which year?
Answer: 1986 Several probes, including Europe's Giotto, flew out to study it.
Answer key
- a-ha
- Philip K. Dick
- Sinclair Research
- Philadelphia
- Mikhail Gorbachev
- Ordinary People
- Black Monday
- Stanley Kubrick
- Columbia
- Canada
- 1981
- B. A. Baracus
- Neptune
- Tim Burton
- 1986
How to play
- Pick a mode: multiple choice, true or false, a 60-second sprint, or the daily quiz.
- Answer with a tap, or press 1 to 4 on a keyboard. The right answer appears straight away with a line explaining it.
- Finish the round to see your score, copy the result grid, and step up a difficulty.
- Hosting a night? The full 80s list and a separate answer key are printed below, and the print layout drops the game and keeps the paper.
Not in a quiz mood?
The question games are a different kind of round: no right answers, just prompts you read out and argue about. Would You RatherNever Have I EverTruth or DareThis or That