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50 free 2018 trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
2018 was the year Hawaii got a false missile alert, a Tesla went to space on a Falcon Heavy, a backup quarterback caught a touchdown in the Super Bowl, and a 15-year-old sat outside the Swedish parliament instead of going to school. This quiz walks through the whole year: the news (the Skripal poisoning, the Singapore summit, GDPR, Eswatini, cannabis in Canada, the longest US shutdown), the science (InSight on Mars, Parker Solar Probe, Voyager 2 leaving the solar system, the gene-edited babies) and the pop culture (Infinity War, Black Panther, the royal wedding, Red Dead Redemption 2, KSI vs Logan Paul). Every answer has a short explanation, so it works as a recap of a year that already feels a long way away.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which US state received a false ballistic missile alert on January 13, 2018?
Hawaii
It took 38 minutes for officials to confirm the alert was a mistake, blamed on a miscommunicated drill.
Q 02Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua, announced in January 2018, were the first cloned what?
Monkeys
Chinese scientists used the same somatic cell nuclear transfer technique that produced Dolly the sheep in 1996.
Q 03Which company flew its Falcon Heavy rocket for the first time on February 6, 2018?
SpaceX
It launched from the same Kennedy Space Center pad as the Apollo missions, with Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster as the test payload.
Q 04The 2018 Winter Olympics were held in Pyeongchang in which country?
South Korea
Norway topped the medal table with 39, and its 14 golds tied with Germany for the most.
Q 05Which country won the most medals at the 2018 Winter Olympics, with 39?
Norway
Germany was second with 31 and Canada third with 29. It was Norway's best-ever Winter Games haul.
Q 06Jacob Zuma resigned as president of which country in February 2018?
South Africa
After nine years in power he was replaced by his deputy, Cyril Ramaphosa, amid corruption allegations.
Q 07Sergei and Yulia Skripal were poisoned with Novichok in which English city in March 2018?
Salisbury
More than 20 countries expelled over 100 Russian diplomats in response.
Q 08In March 2018, China removed term limits for its leader, benefiting whom?
Xi Jinping
The constitutional change allowed him to serve beyond the two five-year terms previously permitted.
Q 09The world's last male northern white rhinoceros died in March 2018 in which country?
Kenya
Sudan, aged 45, left only two females at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy, making the subspecies functionally extinct.
Q 10Which airline launched the first non-stop flights between Australia and the UK in March 2018?
Qantas
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner route from Perth to Heathrow takes about 17 hours.
Q 11Which film was the first shown when cinemas reopened in Saudi Arabia in April 2018 after 35 years?
Black Panther
Cinemas had been banned in the kingdom since 1983. Women were permitted to drive for the first time two months later.
Q 12Miguel Díaz-Canel replaced Raúl Castro as president of which country in April 2018?
Cuba
It was the first time since 1959 that Cuba was not led by a Castro, though Raúl stayed on as Communist Party first secretary.
Q 13Which African kingdom officially changed its English name to Eswatini in April 2018?
Swaziland
King Mswati III announced the change on the 50th anniversary of independence, partly to stop confusion with Switzerland.
Q 21Which country voted by 66.4% in May 2018 to repeal its constitutional ban on abortion?
Ireland
The vote repealed the Eighth Amendment, adopted in 1983. Northern Ireland decriminalised abortion the following year.
Q 22Real Madrid beat which club 3–1 in the 2018 Champions League final in Kyiv?
Liverpool
Gareth Bale's overhead kick and two Loris Karius errors decided Madrid's third straight European title.
Q 23Which team won the 2018 Stanley Cup, beating the expansion Vegas Golden Knights?
Washington Capitals
It was the Capitals' first Cup in 44 seasons, and Alexander Ovechkin was named playoff MVP.
Q 14In April 2018, Kim Jong Un crossed the DMZ to meet which South Korean president?
Moon Jae-in
No North Korean leader had crossed the line since the zone was created in 1953.
Q 15Which separatist group in Spain announced its final dissolution in May 2018 after 40 years?
ETA
The Basque group had been blamed for more than 800 deaths since the late 1960s.
Q 16NASA's InSight probe, launched in May 2018, landed on which planet that November?
Mars
It carried a seismometer and a heat probe to study the planet's interior, and recorded the first 'marsquakes'.
Q 17Netta Barzilai won the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest with 'Toy' for which country?
Israel
The contest was held in Lisbon. Israel's win brought the 2019 edition to Tel Aviv.
Q 18Mahathir Mohamad's coalition ended 61 years of one-party rule in which country in May 2018?
Malaysia
At 92, he became the world's oldest serving head of government, returning to a job he had held from 1981 to 2003.
Q 19Prince Harry and Meghan Markle married on May 19, 2018, at which venue?
St George's Chapel, Windsor
An estimated 1.9 billion people watched worldwide. The couple became the Duke and Duchess of Sussex that morning.
Q 20Which EU privacy law took effect on May 25, 2018, prompting a flood of policy-update emails?
GDPR
The General Data Protection Regulation applies to any company handling EU citizens' data, wherever it is based.
Q 24The first summit between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader was held where in 2018?
Singapore
Trump and Kim met at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa Island. A second summit in Hanoi in 2019 ended without a deal.
Q 25A June 2018 deal with Greece ended a 27-year naming dispute with which country?
Macedonia
The 27-year naming dispute had blocked the country's path into NATO and the EU.
Q 26France beat which country 4–2 in the 2018 FIFA World Cup final in Moscow?
Croatia
It was Croatia's first World Cup final. Kylian Mbappé became the first teenager to score in a final since Pelé in 1958.
Q 27Canada became the second country to legalise recreational cannabis in 2018, after which nation?
Uruguay
Uruguay legalised it in 2013. Canada was the first G7 country to do so.
Q 28Eritrea formally ended a 20-year conflict with which neighbour in July 2018?
Ethiopia
Ethiopian prime minister Abiy Ahmed won the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize largely for the rapprochement.
Q 29In July 2018, scientists reported the first known body of liquid water on which planet?
Mars
The subglacial lake lies 1.5 km beneath the southern polar ice cap and stretches about 20 km across.
Q 30Which company became the first public firm worth $1 trillion, on August 2, 2018?
Apple
Amazon crossed the line a month later. Apple would reach $2 trillion just two years on, in August 2020.