Free printable list

50 Friday Quiz Questions for Work (With Answers)

Fifty fresh quiz questions for Friday stand-ups, team meetings and that quiet Teams or Slack channel that needs waking up. They cover office history, famous brands, words, space and more. The Sole has checked every answer, the Apple is already typing the wrong one into the chat, and the Wiper is ready to rule on any arguments. No tired trivia, so nobody gets to say 'I've heard that one before'.

Hide answers for quiz night

Hide answers (quiz-host mode)

In 1926, which car maker gave its factory workers a five-day, 40-hour week?FordFord's son Edsel argued that 'every man needs more than one day a week for rest and recreation', and other manufacturers soon copied the Monday-to-Friday schedule.
What was the first message ever sent as an SMS text, in December 1992?Merry ChristmasEngineer Neil Papworth typed it on a computer and sent it to a Vodafone director's Orbitel 901 phone.
Which Japanese company's 1999 phones carried the first widely used set of emoji?NTT DocomoDesigner Shigetaka Kurita created all 176 of them, and the original set is now in New York's Museum of Modern Art.
The word 'emoji' comes from Japanese words meaning what?Picture charactersEach of the 176 originals was drawn on a grid just 12 by 12 pixels.
Which computer scientist, working at Xerox's research lab in the 1970s, pioneered cut, copy and paste?Larry TeslerHe later moved to Apple, where he worked on the Lisa and the Macintosh.
What was 3M scientist Spencer Silver trying to make when he invented the glue for Post-it Notes?A super-strong adhesiveInstead he made a weak, removable one, and a colleague, Art Fry, eventually found a use for it as a bookmark that wouldn't fall out of his choir hymn book.
Why are classic Post-it Notes canary yellow?The lab next door only had yellow scrap paperPure chance chose the colour. The product was first test-marketed under the name Press 'n Peel.
Ctrl+Alt+Delete was created by an engineer at which company?IBMDavid Bradley added it to the original IBM PC as a quick reboot for testers. Bill Gates later admitted that making Windows users press it to log in was a mistake.
What is the official name of Microsoft Office's paperclip assistant, better known as 'Clippy'?ClippitUsers renamed it Clippy. It first popped up in Microsoft Office in the 1990s.
The tomato-shaped kitchen timer behind the Pomodoro Technique belonged to a student from which country?ItalyFrancesco Cirillo came up with it in the 1980s because he couldn't focus on his university study. 'Pomodoro' is Italian for tomato.
Which online giant was originally called Cadabra?AmazonJeff Bezos's first lawyer thought the magic reference was too obscure, and over the phone people kept hearing 'cadaver'.
What did Nokia start out as in 1865?A wood pulp millMining engineer Fredrik Idestam built it in south-west Finland. Rubber goods and, eventually, phones came much later.
Samsung began in 1938 by exporting what?Dried fish, vegetables and fruitIt was a small trading company in Daegu, Korea. 'Samsung' means 'three stars' in Korean.
Starbucks is named after a character in which novel?Moby-DickStarbuck is the first mate. The founders almost named it after the ship instead, the Pequod, until someone asked who would want a cup of 'Pee-quod'.
In its first year, about how many glasses of Coca-Cola were sold per day?About nineIt cost a nickel a glass at Jacobs' Pharmacy in Atlanta in 1886. The bookkeeper named it, reasoning that 'the two Cs would look well in advertising'.
Before cars, what did the Toyota family business make?Automatic loomsSakichi Toyoda invented an automatic loom. His son Kiichiro started the car side of the business, and Toyota Motor Company was born in 1937.
Tim Tam biscuits are named after what?A racehorseArnott's Ross Arnott, a keen racegoer, named them after Tim Tam, the horse that won the 1958 Kentucky Derby.
In which city was Häagen-Dazs ice cream founded?New York (the Bronx)Founder Reuben Mattus made up the Scandinavian-sounding name. It means nothing in Danish or any other language.
Who invented the ballpoint pen that people in Australia and the UK still call a 'biro'?László BíróHe was a Hungarian journalist who noticed that newspaper ink dried much faster than fountain pen ink.
Which company, better known for making guns, built the first QWERTY typewriter sold to the public in 1874?E. Remington and SonsThe Sholes and Glidden 'Type-Writer' introduced the QWERTY layout we still type on today.
What was the first electronic spreadsheet program for personal computers?VisiCalcDan Bricklin and Bob Frankston released it for the Apple II in 1979, and it became a reason in itself to buy a computer.
Microsoft Excel first came out in 1985 on which computer?The Apple MacintoshThe first Windows version didn't arrive until November 1987.
What was the first computer mouse made of?WoodDoug Engelbart came up with the idea, and engineer Bill English built the wooden prototype in the 1960s.
The name of the Xerox copier comes from the Greek word for what?DryThe copying process is called xerography, which literally means 'dry writing'.
Which came first: the fax machine or the telephone?The fax machineScottish inventor Alexander Bain patented a fax-like device in 1843, decades before the telephone was patented.

QR codes were invented in 1994 to track what?Car partsDenso engineer Masahiro Hara got the idea from the black and white stones of the board game Go. QR stands for 'Quick Response'.
When Ray Tomlinson sent the first networked email in 1971, how far apart were the two computers?Side by side, in the same roomHe picked the @ symbol for addresses, and he says the first message was 'something like QWERTYUIOP'.
What did the very first tweet, sent in March 2006, say?just setting up my twttrJack Dorsey sent it, and 'twttr' was the code name for the project before it became Twitter.
What was the name of Herman Miller's 1960s office system that led to the cubicle?The Action OfficeDesigner Robert Propst meant it to free workers. Later, he complained that companies used it to make 'barren, rathole places'.
In 1856, stonemasons in which Australian city walked off the job and won an eight-hour working day?MelbourneThey got eight hours of work for their old 10-hour pay, the first win in Australia's long fight for the eight-hour day.
Casual Friday grew out of 'Aloha Friday', which started in which US state?HawaiiBill Foster of the Hawaiian Fashion Guild promoted it in the 1960s, and it took off in 1966.
Friday is named after a goddess from which mythology?Norse (Germanic) mythologyMost sources say it was Frigg, though some point to Freyja, and the two may originally have been the same goddess.
The word 'company' comes from Latin words meaning someone you share what with?BreadA companion was literally a 'bread fellow', from the Latin com (with) and panis (bread).
The word 'freelance' first appears in which 1819 novel?Ivanhoe, by Walter ScottIt described a medieval mercenary, a 'free lance' who fought for whichever lord paid him.
The word 'boss' comes from which language?DutchIt's from baas, meaning 'master'. American English adopted it in the 1600s, possibly because it sounded less grand than 'master'.
Junk email is called 'spam' because of what?A Monty Python sketchIn the sketch, set in a cafe, the word 'spam' takes over every item on the menu, much like junk mail takes over an inbox.
Volleyball was invented in 1895 as a gentler alternative to which sport?BasketballWilliam G. Morgan, a YMCA instructor, thought basketball was too strenuous for older men. He first called his new game 'Mintonette'.
What is the medical name for 'brain freeze'?Sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgiaOne quick fix is to press your tongue against the roof of your mouth to warm it up.
In 1884, the Washington Monument was topped with a tip made of which then-precious metal?AluminiumAt the time it cost about the same as silver, at $1.10 an ounce.
About how many sunrises do astronauts on the International Space Station see each day?16The station circles the Earth so fast that its crew sees a sunrise or sunset every 45 minutes or so.
How long is a year on Mars, in Earth days?687 daysThat's almost two Earth years, so a Martian would only get a birthday about every 23 months.
Which astronaut hit golf balls on the Moon in 1971?Alan ShepardOn Apollo 14 he attached a 6-iron head to a tool meant for collecting lunar samples.
In 1984, who became the first Australian-born person to fly in space?Paul Scully-PowerHe flew on Space Shuttle Challenger as an oceanographer and saw about three-quarters of the world's oceans from orbit.
Who paid to develop the Fisher Space Pen that works in zero gravity?Paul Fisher's pen company, not NASAThe story that NASA spent millions on it is a myth. NASA ended up paying $2.39 a pen, and the Soviets bought them too.
Roughly how long is Australia's Dingo Fence, the longest fence in the world?About 5,600 kmThe Queensland section alone runs for about 2,500 km.
Brazil borders every South American country except which two?Chile and EcuadorIts land borders add up to more than 15,700 km.
The dessert peach Melba is named after an opera singer from which country?AustraliaChef Auguste Escoffier created it for Nellie Melba at London's Savoy Hotel, and served it on a swan carved from ice.
How long did the longest professional tennis match in history last?11 hours 5 minutesJohn Isner beat Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon in 2010, in a match that ran over three days.
How old was Frank Epperson when he accidentally invented the ice block on a stick (the Popsicle) in 1905?11He left a soda drink outside overnight with the stirrer still in it. He called it the 'Epsicle' until his kids renamed it.
During World War II, people in which country wore paper clips on their clothes as a silent protest against the occupation?NorwayPins showing King Haakon VII were banned, so Norwegians wore paper clips instead, even though wearing one could get you arrested.

Sources

Fact-checked 31 Oct 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us and we'll fix it in public.

More free lists

Free listOffice Christmas Quiz 2026: 40 Questions and Answers for Work40 questionsSee the list →Free list50 Christmas Trivia Questions and Answers50 questionsSee the list →Free list40 Pub Quiz Questions and Answers40 questionsSee the list →