70 interesting fun facts to keep in mind for your next trivia night
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With the internet and A.I. services like ChatGPT and Bard at our fingertips, there’s no shortage of fascinating facts out there. Whether you’re curious to know if your favorite band has ever broken a record on StubHub or what, exactly, a lycanthrope is (see #55!), fun facts are a joy to have in your back pocket. Perhaps you want to jazz up a snoozy conversation. Maybe you’re hosting a trivia competition and want to add some fresh fodder to your questions lineup. Or maybe you're just a super curious person who loves learning new things. Whatever the case, having an arsenal of random facts will serve you well.
Interesting facts aren’t just nice to have in your own back pocket, but they can help foster a sense of connection with others, spark curiosity during a boring dinner conversation and even help you break past small talk on a first date. Get ready to show off your trivia prowess with one or more of the below fun facts across categories like food, travel, history, science, music and more. Be sure to bookmark this page for your next trivia night, and share it with your fellow fun fact obsessives.Dr Pepper was founded in Waco, Texas, by a pharmacist in Waco, Texas, in 1885, making it the oldest big soft drink brand in the country, per Southern Living.
According to Chess Journal, the world’s most expensive chess set, which includes diamonds and emeralds and was commissioned by Great Britain’s Royale Jewel Company, is valued at more than $9.8 million.
In the early 1900s, when Jewish people were banned from visiting beaches and certain hotels near New York City, they settled in New York’s Catskills Mountains and built a thriving resorts region in what was dubbed “The Borscht Belt” or “Yiddish Alps.”
The O&H Danish Bakery in Racine, Wisconsin, makes 7,000 Kringles a day during the holiday season and has made landfall in all seven continents. A Kringle is Wisconsin’s State Pastry, originally hails from Northern Europe and is a sweet variation on a pretzel.
Hearst Castle in San Simeon, California, was designed by female architect Julia Morgan. In 1919, she was hired by publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst to design a main building and guest houses for his ranch, but she ended up purchasing everything from Spanish antiquities to Icelandic moss to reindeer for the Castle’s zoo, which was once the world’s largest private zoo.
The building One Times Square was built in 1904 as the headquarters for the New York Times. It’s been home to the New Year’s Eve Ball Drop Celebration since 1907, when the first New Year’s Eve ball was made of iron and wood, one hundred 25-watt bulbs and weighed 700 pounds. Today’s ball is 12 feet in diameter and weighs almost six tons with 2,688 Waterford Crystal triangles bolted to 672 LED modules attached to the aluminum frame.
Recent research shows that exercise positively impacts nearly every cell in our bodies.
One World Trade Center in Manhattan is the tallest building in the western hemisphere, at 1,776 feet.
According to the New York Times, the Monterey Pop Festival in Monterey, California, was the first rock music festival.
Wonder Bread was created in Indianapolis in 1921 at the Taggart Baking Company. The owner of Taggart went to the first race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which was actually a hot air balloon race, and the view and “wonder” of the experience inspired the brand’s name and colorful circle design on its packaging.
In 1871, Potter Palmer, a Chicago businessman, built Palmer House, a Hilton Hotel, for a wedding gift for his wife, Bertha, who in 1893 asked the hotel’s pastry chef to make a chocolate cake-like treat that would be easy to transport for the World’s Columbian Exposition. The result of this request was the Palmer House Brownie, made of thick chocolate and topped with a walnut and apricot glaze and later published in a Sears Roebuck Catalog in 1898.
Nearest Green (“Uncle Nearest”), a formerly enslaved man, taught Jack Daniel as a young boy how to make whiskey, and served as the first master distiller for Jack’s Distillery No. 7 following abolition. While you may have heard of whiskey giant Jack Daniels, there is now a whiskey label called Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey, honoring Uncle Nearest, “the best whiskey maker the world never knew.”
When Swedish scientists and brothers Rickard and Björn Öste tried to sell oat milk to traditional milk makers, they were laughed out of the room. Now, the Oatly co-founders are having the last laugh, as oat milk has caught on at coffee shops and grocery stores all over the world.
Encompassing 38 miles along the Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay coastlines, Virginia Beach claims the Guinness World Record as the “world’s largest pleasure beach.”
As Food52 reported, the San Francisco syrup company Torani is said to have invented the flavored latte in 1982. Its origin story alleges that the retired coffee industry veteran LC “Brandy” Brandenburg created a flavored latte out of steamed milk, espresso and Torani’s vanilla and orange syrups, which he dubbed “Fantasia.”
As CNBC noted, more than 60% of Fortune 500 companies are incorporated in Delaware because of its favorable business climate, specifically its Court of Chancery, a designated court system designed only for handling corporate cases.
Apollo 11 astronauts spent weeks in quarantine at Nasa HQ following their landmark trip to and from the moon, where they dined on a range of Stouffer’s entrées, sides and desserts.
According to Pollstar’s 40th anniversary edition in 2022, the top three touring acts by number of tickets sold in those 40 years of charting the live entertainment industry are U2, the Dave Matthews Band and The Rolling Stones, in that order.
M&M’S Chocolate Candies were introduced in 1941, and one selling point is that they wouldn’t melt in warm weather. In 1950, a black “M” was added to the candy so consumers could tell the difference between the real deal and imitations. The "M" was changed to white in 1954.
A cumulus cloud weighs an estimated 1.1 million pounds, according to the United States Geological Survey.
As of December 2023, the most popular boy baby name of the year is Noah and the most popular girl baby name of the year is Olivia, based on names registered with BabyCenter.com.
The Antarctic blue whale is the largest animal on the planet, weighing up to 440,000 pounds, per the World Wildlife Fund.
Pumpkins, avocados and tomatoes are technically fruits.
In 2023, Louisiana broke ground on a restoration project that will reconnect the Mississippi River with its wetlands, the single-largest ecosystem restoration project in U.S. history to date, per a National Audobon Society press release.
To determine how far away a lightning storm is from you, National Geographic Kids says you can count the seconds between the flash and the crack and watch for the flash of lightning from a safe location. Time how many seconds elapse before you hear thunder. Divide the number of seconds by five and the answer is the approximate number of miles away.
Flamingos are pink from the high amounts of beta-carotene in their diets.
In the Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes, the individual dancers kick nearly 200 times per show.
Water is the only substance on earth that exists naturally in three forms: solid, liquid and gas as ice; water; and water vapor, respectively.
NASA believes liquid water flows intermittently on present-day Mars.
Honey doesn’t “expire” due to a variety of factors, including its moisture content and acidity.
Mark Twain was the first author to use typewriter write a manuscript.
Red, blue and yellow are the only primary colors.
Richard Nixon was the first U.S. President to visit all 50 states.
Ostriches are the largest bird.
The soles of your feet have no hair follicles, according to Stanford Medicine Children’s Health.
We don’t know why, but research shows that in the days leading up to a full moon, people go to bed later and sleep less, reports Cleveland Clinic Health Essentials.
Despite the name, Thomas’ Breads English Muffins aren’t British; the product was invented in the U.S.
A recent Opendoor survey found that 59% of American homeowners plan to remodel in the year ahead.
Metals are highly recyclable and save natural resources.
The first Barbie doll was released in 1959.
Sorghum fields are ideal habitats for many bird, pollinator and soil microbe species, per the Sorgo Squad book series.
It takes sunlight eight minutes and 20 seconds to travel from the sun to earth.
Beyoncé’s concert in Paris on May 26, 2023, had more sales from U.S. buyers on Stubhub than any other single night of an international concert in 2023.
Milk that is used for Le Gruyère AOP cheese can travel no more than 12 miles from cow to production facility, and factors like what wildflowers the cow ate can change the taste of the cheese.
National Puzzle Day, which takes place on January 29, was started by puzzle enthusiast Jodi Jill over 25 years ago. In 2023, over seven million people around the world shared their love of puzzles online.
The book 3 SHADES OF BLUE: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and the Lost Empire of Cool by James Kaplan notes that when Miles Davis moved to New York City at 18, he spent his first few weeks attending classes at Julliard and going to Harlem to see performances at Minton’s Playhouse and the Savoy Ballroom, as well as clubs on 52nd Street.
While there are many celebrity tequila brands from public figures like George Clooney (Casamigos) to Kendall Jenner (818 Tequila) currently on the market, Vinepair reports that Cabo Wabo Tequila by former Van Halen frontman Sammy Hagar was the original celebrity tequila, launched in 1996.
You’re likely familiar with the concept of fingerprints, but people also have a “noseprint,” a set of distinct and unique impressions on the inside of your nose.
The first college chartered in the United States was done so in 1782, with 50 guineas (a type of coin) donated by George Washington toward its founding. Washington College is still open today.
Claude Monet painted nearly 300 water lily paintings from the late 1890s until his death in 1926.
Vanilla is a member of the orchid family. This means “those little brown flecks in your vanilla bean ice cream are vanilla orchid seeds,” per the Smithsonian Institute.
The children’s fictional book Heidi is inspired by the village of Maienfeld in the Bündner Herrschaft of Graubünden, Switzerland. Published in the early 1880s by author Johanna Spyri, you can now visit the Heidi Village above Maienfeld to tour a replica of the protagonist character Heidi’s home, cottage and school.
2024 marks 25 years of the Pokémon trading card game. Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) said it’s seen a spike in demand across sports cards and all categories of collectibles, so it might be a timely moment to sell your Pokémon collection.
The earliest evidence of humans eating oatmeal dates to more than 30,000 years ago, according to Britannica.
A werewolf also goes by the name “lycanthrope,” and you can learn more about werewolves here.
In the 1932 World Series, Babe Ruth famously gestured toward center field before hitting a home run in that precise direction.
Hummingbirds are believed to be the only animal that can truly hover, says the National Audubon Society. They can do so by flapping their wings 20 to 80 times a second.
Las Vegas’s new, 900-square-foot entertainment venue, Sphere, is the largest spherical structure in the world, said CNN. The structure was designed by architecture firm Populous and innovation firm ICRAVE.
You can visit or stay in the “Scandal Room” (originally room 214) at The Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C., where E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy communicated with burglars via radio during the 1972 Watergate break-in.
The notorious Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker (a.k.a. “Bonnie and Clyde”) stayed at The Stockyards Hotel in 1933, per Texas Highways. Now, you can stay in the room they occupied, which currently goes by the Bonnie and Clyde Junior Suite and features memorabilia about the duo, including a poem Bonnie wrote Clyde.
Kennedy Space Center, dubbed Florida’s Space Coast, is the only travel destination with a beach that doubles as a launch pad. Artemis 3 is currently planning a lunar landing mission to put the first woman and person of color on the moon, with an estimated launch date in 2025.
The Singapore Sling cocktail was created in 1915 in Singapore by Raffles Hotel bartender Ngiam Tong Boon. It’s typically made with gin, pineapple juice, grenadine, lime juice and cherry brandy, among other ingredients.
The YMCA was founded in London in 1844 by George Williams, and its first U.S. outpost opened in Boston in 1851.
According to Instacart data, the growth in order share for non-alcoholic cocktails grew 666% in 2023.
Stillwater, Minnesota, formerly a big player in the lumber industry, hosts the World Snow Sculpting Championships, sanctioned by the Association Internationale de Sculpture sur Neige et Glace (International Association of Ice and Snow Sculpture) based in Finland. For the event, teams travel from around the world to make intricate snow sculptures.
Troy, New York, served as a backdrop for the HBO series The Gilded Age. The Capital District city, known for its Victorian architecture, is said to have more Tiffany windows per square mile than anywhere else in the world.
Merriam-Webster named “authentic” the word of the year for 2023, which saw a notable uptick in lookups compared to previous years.
After 1988’s Big, actor Tom Hanks and director Penny Marshall worked together again in baseball movie A League of Their Own in 1992.
Kelley Blue Book data revealed that the average price paid for a new electric vehicle (EV) in November 2023 was $52,345. Industry experts state that EV price parity is approaching as EV transaction prices in November 2023 were only 8.5% higher than the industry average price of $48,247.
According to a OnePoll study commissioned by IHG in 2023, 71% of travelers said they’d likely need a separate vacation after their trip home from the holidays to unwind and relax.
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
