FITB at FT Trivia Quiz

Answer: It depends on the category

In the Brain Teasers category, it is often impossible to make a quiz without using all FITB, so that category will allow a completely FITB quiz. Most other categories have some limits - the most usual is two per quiz, or maybe 20% of the questions.

Even categories that have strict limits on number of FITB questions may allow all FITB quizzes in some instances - Wordplay quizzes, for example. Read category guidelines carefully, and check with an editor in the category before writing the quiz, if you aren't sure.

A good rule of thumb - if the quiz CAN be written in multiple choice, it should be.

Answer: Complete Juliet's phrase "A rose by any other name would ________" (three words)

"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet"

"Juliet says "____________" (ten words)" is a bad choice - Juliet says many ten word phrases in the play - how are players to know which one you mean?

"What did Juliet say about a name? "_____________" (ten words)" is a little better, but not much. The question is a bit narrower, but still easy to mistake. And there is another problem...

"Complete Juliet's phrase "A rose ____________" (eight words)" lets the player know exactly which phrase you are after, but the FITB is far too long. It would be very easy for your player to make a small typing error writing out eight or ten words. You are testing knowledge of trivia, not typing ability. Keep your FITBs short.

Most categories have word limits for FITB, varying from two words to five. At best, a FITB should have no more than three words.

Answer: No, because of the exclamation mark and comma

For technical reasons, punctuation is not allowed in FITBs at FT. Players using non-English keyboards may have their correct answers marked "wrong" because the system may not recognize their punctuation marks. It can also make for an unwieldy number of correct answer options, if all possible permutations of punctuation are included. Keep your FITBs clear and clean - no punctuation.

Although we certainly advise that you stay away from FITB for obscure questions, and use it for the easiest questions in your quiz, this is not an obscure quote.

If there is an established correct spelling for a word, you only have to include that spelling in your quiz. FITBs should not allow incorrect spellings of words as options.

Answer: No

Unless you are writing a spelling quiz (a tightly restricted category!), hard-to-spell words don't belong in a FITB. Keep your FITBs short and simple.

Answer: The spelling of the name has too many variations

Words and names from different languages, and especially from different alphabets, often have many spelling variations. In this case, the name has been translated from the Cyrillic alphabet, and there is no one definitive proper spelling - Dostoievsky, Dostoyevsky, Dostoyevski, Dostoievski - all could be considered correct.

Answer: four & 4

It is very important to allow all possible correct answers. If the answer is a number, you must accept both the numeral, and the number spelled out. For this reason, although small numbers work well as FITB, larger numbers are not really suitable. There are too many correct ways to write "1378" - "1,378", "one thousand three hundred seventy-eight" "one thousand, three hundred, and seventy eight", and on and on. Too many ways to write the answer mean that you are bound to miss out on some. A good rule of thumb - if you can think of three ways to write the answer correctly, some of your players will think of a fourth, and a fifth. If you need to include more than two correct options, it's a good idea to take a serious look at your question and see if it really is suitable for FITB.

At FunTrivia, the correct answer options MUST be separated by an ampersand (&). This is the only way for the system to recognize that they are valid options. If you use the word "and", or a comma, or any other method, your question will not work - all correct answers will be marked "incorrect".

Answer: Columbia Broadcasting System

FunTrivia is not case sensitive. No matter how your players capitalize their answers, as long as they are spelled right, the correct answer will be accepted.

We expect our authors to capitalize correctly, even though it will not affect what the player does. Always use correct capitalization as your answer.

Answer: Which character takes poison and dies?

No matter how you word a question about what Tom does, there are simply too many ways for players to word the answer. Of the three incorrect options, "What happens to Tom after he takes poison and has convulsions?" is the best, but it still doesn't work. Players could say "He dies" "Dies" "Expires" "It kills him" and so on. FITB questions must be constructed so that there is only one way to word a clear answer - in this case, the answer would be "Tom".

Answer: No

"World Health Organization" is indeed one of the correct answers to this question. However, "World Health Organisation" (the British spelling) is also correct. Your answer should read "World Health Organization & World Health Organisation".

FunTrivia accepts both British and American spelling. It's important, when constructing your FITB question, to check whether there is another accepted spelling of the word that you may not be aware of.

Answer: An easy question, where players would know the answer right away if it were presented to them as a multiple choice option

FITBs are by definition harder to answer than multiple choice. Therefore, it's best to make your 'gimmee' question FITB - one that would be just too easy if answer options were given. If, once the quiz is online, less than about 20% of your players are getting your FITB correct, you know that it was probably too hard - your players aren't even attempting to answer, and that means they are not enjoying your quiz to the fullest.

Questions about minor details are best given as multiple choice. Picky date questions and controversial questions are best not asked at all.