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150 free The 80s trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
102 free the 80s trivia questions with answers. The 1980s gave us MTV, the Macintosh, Michael Jackson's Thriller, and the fall of the Berlin Wall. From neon leg warmers to Nintendo, this decade transformed music, movies, technology, and world politics. The set runs from easy eighties pop culture to proper 80s history trivia on the politics and news events of the decade. Think you know the 80s? Prove it with 150 questions spanning every corner of this unforgettable decade.
30 of 150 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What year did MTV first go on the air?
1981
MTV launched at 12:01 a.m. on August 1, 1981, as a 24-hour cable channel devoted to music videos, with its first VJs including Martha Quinn and Mark Goodman.
Q 02Which Michael Jackson album became the best-selling album of all time?
Thriller
Thriller, released in 1982, has sold an estimated 70 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling album of all time.
Q 03What was the first music video played on MTV?
Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles
The Buggles' 'Video Killed the Radio Star' was the very first music video aired on MTV when the channel launched on August 1, 1981.
Q 04In 'Back to the Future,' what speed must the DeLorean reach to travel through time?
88 mph
The DeLorean time machine needed to reach 88 miles per hour to activate the flux capacitor and travel through time.
Q 05Who directed the 1982 film 'E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'?
Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg directed E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, which became the highest-grossing film of the 1980s upon its release.
Q 06Which actor starred as the Ghostbusters' Peter Venkman?
Bill Murray
Bill Murray played Dr. Peter Venkman, the wisecracking leader of the Ghostbusters team in the 1984 film.
Q 07What portable music device did Sony introduce in 1979 that defined 80s culture?
Walkman
The Sony Walkman, introduced in 1979, became a cultural icon of the 1980s, revolutionizing how people listened to music on the go.
Q 08What year did the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) launch in North America?
1985
The NES launched in North America in October 1985, helping to revive the video game industry after the crash of 1983.
Q 09Before entering politics, the president who served for most of the 1980s twice led which organisation?
Screen Actors Guild
Ronald Reagan led the Screen Actors Guild twice: elected in a March 1947 special election after Robert Montgomery resigned, he served until 1952, then returned as president in 1959-60.
Q 10In what year did the Berlin Wall fall?
1989
The Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989, marking the symbolic end of the Cold War and leading to German reunification in 1990.
Q 11Which pop star was known as the 'Material Girl'?
Madonna
Madonna earned the nickname 'Material Girl' from her 1984 hit single of the same name, and it became synonymous with her persona throughout the decade.
Q 12What was the name of the 1986 nuclear disaster in the Soviet Union?
Chernobyl
The Chernobyl disaster occurred on April 26, 1986, in the Ukrainian SSR. It remains the worst nuclear power plant accident in history.
Q 13'Don't Stop Believin'' was an 80s hit for which band?
Journey
Journey released it in 1981; it became one of the defining rock anthems of the 1980s.
Q 21Which 1985 charity single featured dozens of artists singing 'We Are the World'?
USA for Africa
'We Are the World' was recorded in January 1985 by USA for Africa, written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and produced by Quincy Jones; it raised more than $60 million for African famine relief.
Q 22Which 80s hairstyle trend relied on teasing and copious hairspray for maximum volume?
Big hair
Big hair was a defining fashion trend of the 1980s, with both men and women teasing and spraying their hair to achieve maximum volume.
Q 23Which 1984 Eddie Murphy film briefly overtook Ghostbusters as the highest-grossing comedy ever?
Beverly Hills Cop
Q 14What Apple product was famously introduced with a '1984' Super Bowl commercial?
Macintosh
The original Macintosh was introduced on January 24, 1984, with a Ridley Scott-directed Super Bowl commercial referencing George Orwell's novel.
Q 15Which TV show featured the Huxtable family?
The Cosby Show
The Cosby Show (1984-1992) followed the Huxtable family and was the #1 rated show in America for five consecutive seasons.
Q 16What was the name of the Space Shuttle that tragically exploded in January 1986?
Challenger
The Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after launch on January 28, 1986, killing all seven crew members including teacher Christa McAuliffe.
Q 17Which 1984 Prince album, also the soundtrack to his film of the same name, included 'When Doves Cry' and 'Let's Go Crazy'?
Purple Rain
Purple Rain spent 24 consecutive weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200, doing double duty as film and soundtrack.
Q 18Which 80s toy craze had children 'adopt' dolls that came with birth certificates?
Cabbage Patch Kids
Xavier Roberts borrowed the round faces and adoption gimmick from Kentucky folk artist Martha Nelson Thomas's 'Little People' dolls, then made his own version a nationwide craze.
Q 19Which movie featured the quote 'I'll be back'?
The Terminator
Schwarzenegger says 'I'll be back' at the police station in The Terminator (1984); he had asked to say 'I will be back' instead, and the AFI later ranked the line the 37th-greatest movie quote.
Q 20Unsold cartridges of Atari's notorious 1982 E.T. game were buried in a landfill in which US state?
New Mexico
Atari trucked the cartridges to a landfill in Alamogordo, New Mexico, in September 1983; the game had been built in about five weeks, and a 2014 excavation confirmed the long-rumoured burial.
Beverly Hills Cop, released in December 1984, passed Ghostbusters at the North American box office in early 1985; an August 1985 Ghostbusters re-release then edged the ghost-catchers back ahead domestically.
Q 24Which encouraging shout from Jane Fonda's workout videos became a common 80s saying?
'Feel the burn!'
'Feel the burn!' was Jane Fonda's signature exhortation in her Workout tapes, which sold some 17 million copies from 1982; she had hesitated at first because she knew nobody who owned a VCR.
Q 25Which iconic 80s movie featured a group of kids searching for pirate treasure?
The Goonies
The Goonies (1985), directed by Richard Donner and produced by Steven Spielberg, followed a group of kids on an adventure to find One-Eyed Willy's pirate treasure.
Q 26Which agreement signed on January 19, 1981, resolved the Iran hostage crisis?
Algiers Accords
The Algiers Accords, mediated by Algeria, were signed on January 19, 1981; the 52 hostages were released the next day, minutes after Ronald Reagan's inauguration, ending 444 days in captivity.
Q 27Which band released the hit 'Sweet Child O' Mine' in 1987?
Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses released 'Sweet Child O' Mine' on their debut album Appetite for Destruction (1987). It reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Q 28In Spielberg's 1982 alien blockbuster, Elliott lures the visitor with a trail of which candy?
Reese's Pieces
Elliott's trail of Reese's Pieces was a Hershey tie-in; E.T. went on to pass Star Wars as the highest-grossing film ever, a record it held until Jurassic Park in 1993.
Q 29Which 1980s TV show featured a talking car named KITT?
Knight Rider
Knight Rider (1982-1986) starred David Hasselhoff as Michael Knight, who fought crime with the help of KITT, an advanced artificially intelligent car.
Q 30Before Ideal Toy renamed it after its Hungarian inventor in 1980, the Rubik's Cube was sold under what name?
Magic Cube
Magic Cube was the name in Hungary; Ideal wanted a distinctive, trademarkable name, which put Rubik himself in the spotlight. The first branded batch left Hungary in May 1980.