Every year since 2003, the umbrella organization for quizzing outfits around the globe has put on the granddaddy of knowledge competitions. Nothing in the tiny, nerdy world of trivia confers more authority than winning the World Quizzing Championships.
Competitors must attempt to answer 240 questions, such as the following, from 2022: “Playing for Bangalore against Pune in the IPL in April 2013, who set a new record for the fastest century in professional cricket by reaching 100 off 30 balls?”
If it makes you feel better, the median number of correct answers the year of that test was 64. Then again, the following was a question in that championship too: “What is the seven-letter name of the signature burger that can be ordered in every Burger King?”
The next contest is this summer, but in the meantime, you have a few whoppers waiting for you in this week’s Atlantic Trivia. Consider them training.
Find previous questions here, and to get Atlantic Trivia in your inbox every day, sign up for The Atlantic Daily.
Monday, February 2, 2026
- The character Eponine “smiled a little, and died” in Marius’s arms in what book that follows her demise with pages and pages describing Paris’s 19th-century sewer system?
— From Walt Hunter’s essay on assigning students long, difficult books - Stephen Fishbach, the author of a new novel about reality TV, appears on what long-running show for two seasons—one set in Cambodia and the other in Brazil’s Tocantins highlands?
— From Julie Beck’s review of Fishbach’s book - Chile, Argentina, South Africa, and New Zealand are among the 29 countries that share decision-making power over what internationally administered geographic area?
— From Christian Elliott’s article on the risk and promise of geoengineering
And by the way, did you know that since going up in the late 1880s, the Eiffel Tower has been painted more than half a dozen different colors? The structure was “Venetian red” at its construction and over the years has been brown, “yellow-brown,” “brownish-red,” and “reddish brown,” according to the monument’s official website.
All right, so not that different on the colors. However, each hue is really three shades apiece; the bottom third of the tower is painted darker than the middle third, and the middle darker than the top so that the paint job looks uniform against the gradient of the blue(ish) sky.
See you tomorrow!
Answers:
- Les Misèrables. Hunter, a professor, writes that all of Victor Hugo’s sewer talk, frankly, bored him when he read the book as a kid, but that a lot of the reward of something like Les Mis comes from its length. Educators should trust that today’s students can still dive into a complicated, hefty book and end up finding it worthwhile, he says. Read more.
- Survivor. Everything on Survivor (and the many shows like it) comes down to “The Edit”—the way editors package a competitor’s appearance into a tidy narrative of the producers’ choosing—Julie writes. Fishbach’s new book, she says, thoughtfully explores what happens when we get lost in The Edit of our own lives. Read more.
- Antarctica. Those four countries are closest to the icy continent, which is governed by far fewer parties than the 193 members of the United Nations. The smaller number of Antarctic Treaty nations might make building a 50-mile underwater seawall to protect a melting glacier a little more feasible to coordinate than geoengineering measures that would require UN buy-in, Elliott writes. Read more.
How did you do? Come back tomorrow for more questions, and if you think up a great question after reading an Atlantic story—or simply want to share a fact—send it my way at trivia@theatlantic.com.
