Cash Cab Trivia
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
7correct to beat the crowd
84 free Cash Cab trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Cash Cab turned an ordinary taxi ride into a game show: climb in, name your destination, and answer general knowledge questions for cash until you arrive or strike out. This quiz is about the show itself. It covers the rules (strikes, the Red Light Challenge, Shout-Outs and the double-or-nothing Video Bonus), the money values, the record-breaking rides, and how the production actually works, from the ten hidden cameras to the prop cash handed over at the end. There are questions about host Ben Bailey, his other shows and his Daytime Emmys, plus the versions most Americans never saw: the original British series on ITV, the Canadian edition with Adam Growe, and Montreal's Taxi Payant. It is a good round for a game-show themed trivia night or for anyone who watched Discovery on a loop. Every answer is checked against a reference page and the explanations add a detail from the show's history.
30 of 84 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which stand-up comedian and licensed New York City taxi driver hosted the American Cash Cab?
Ben Bailey
Ben Bailey says early riders took him for a crazy cabbie and climbed straight out; once the show caught on, fans began chasing the taxi instead.
Q 02On which network did the American Cash Cab originally premiere in 2005?
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel cancelled the taxi quiz in 2012, then brought it back five years later with the same comedian at the wheel.
Q 03The American Cash Cab was adapted from a show that began in which country?
United Kingdom
United Kingdom: the ITV original fizzled out within a year or so, yet the format was licensed to some 25 countries and thrived abroad long after.
Q 04How many wrong answers get contestants thrown out of the Cash Cab with nothing?
Three
Three strikes and the ride is over: the host pulls over at once, wherever the cab happens to be, and the losers are put out on the street even in pouring rain.
Q 05What sets a Red Light Challenge apart from Cash Cab's regular questions?
It has several correct answers
It has several correct answers: riders get 30 seconds to name the answers asked for while the cab waits at the light, and success earns a $250 bonus.
Q 06What does failing a Red Light Challenge cost Cash Cab passengers?
No penalty at all
No penalty at all: a miss brings no strike and no deduction, and wrong guesses along the way are free, so riders blurt out every answer they can think of.
Q 07What are the two lifelines available to Cash Cab contestants called?
Shout-Outs
Shout-Outs let a stumped rider phone a friend or ask a stranger at the curb; one passenger was so sure the strangers were planted by the show that he walked out mid-game.
Q 08The Cash Cab host jokes that New York has only two free rides: his taxi and which other?
The Staten Island Ferry
The Staten Island Ferry dropped its fare in 1997; in the Cash Cab even losers ride free, although a bad run can leave them on the curb well short of where they were going.
Q 09When Cash Cab returned in 2017, stumped passengers could poll viewers through a live stream on which platform?
Facebook Live
Facebook Live: the host goes live from the driver's seat and puts the question to viewers, a lifeline that replaced the old phone call to a friend.
Q 10What deal does the Video Bonus question offer Cash Cab passengers who reach their destination?
Double or nothing
Double or nothing: a video clip plays, and one question about it either doubles the total or wipes it out, so riders must choose between walking away and gambling the lot.
Q 11What must surprised Cash Cab passengers do before their game can go ahead?
Sign release forms
Sign release forms: the paperwork takes about 15 minutes, which is why New Yorkers in a hurry often turn the game down and climb back out.
Q 12Cash Cab rides cost passengers nothing, yet city rules still require which piece of taxi equipment to run?
The fare meter
The fare meter: New York's taxi commission wants a record of every trip, so the meter still runs although nobody is ever charged.
Q 13What first tells unsuspecting passengers that they have climbed into the Cash Cab?
Flashing lights and music
Q 21Where are some of the Cash Cab's cameras hidden on the outside of the taxi?
In the rooftop advertising sign
In the rooftop advertising sign: cameras there film the passing streets while others inside watch the driver and riders, so the taxi looks ordinary until the game begins.
Q 22How does the Cash Cab host receive each question during a ride?
Through a radio earpiece
Through a radio earpiece: a producer feeds him each question, so he can keep his hands on the wheel and his eyes on Manhattan traffic.
Q 23Which minivan served as the New York Cash Cab during the show's original run?
Toyota Sienna
Flashing lights and music: colored ceiling lights and a fanfare erupt once the doors shut, and only then does the driver turn around and reveal the game.
Q 14What did the 2007 spin-off Cash Cab: After Dark do to the value of every question?
Doubled it
Doubled it: the spin-off's $50, $100 and $200 questions were no one-off, because the same richer scale became standard on the regular show from its third season.
Q 15How did one stubborn Cash Cab passenger try to avoid being put out on the street?
Buckled in with every seat belt
Buckled in with every seat belt: the host recalls a drunk rider who slid to the middle seat, strapped himself in with both belts and announced he was not getting out.
Q 16Which city hosted a special run of Cash Cab episodes filmed during the fifth season?
Las Vegas
Las Vegas. Filmed in May 2010, the episodes had celebrities like Penn & Teller playing for charity.
Q 17The previous winnings record, $4,100, was set by two New York City workers in what job?
Tour guides
Sean Devney and Steve Irolla reached their destination with two strikes and then nailed the Video Bonus.
Q 18Which reality show's boat crews rode in a special 2009 episode of Cash Cab?
Deadliest Catch
Deadliest Catch: its crab-boat captains took questions in the cab in April 2009, and two months later the Cash Cab host fronted the fishermen's own round-table series, After the Catch.
Q 19A special episode themed on which 2008 film was driven by the host of Cash Cab: Canada?
Frost/Nixon
Adam Growe took the wheel for the promotional episode aired December 23, 2008.
Q 20Which city got its own Cash Cab spin-off in 2011, hosted by comedian Beth Melewski?
Chicago
Chicago: the spin-off kept the New York rules but was cancelled after a single season, and within months the original was off the air as well.
Toyota Sienna: the host stands 6 feet 6, so every shift began with the towering comic folding himself into its driver's seat.
Q 24What happens to the cash handed to a winning Cash Cab passenger?
It goes back to the crew
It goes back to the crew: the bills are a prop for the cameras, and the real winnings arrive weeks later as a check so that the money can be taxed.
Q 25Who rides up front to keep score during a Cash Cab game?
A production assistant
A production assistant: one hops into the passenger seat once the game is on, runs the in-cab effects and keeps a running total while the host drives.
Q 26What are Cash Cab passengers who were recruited in advance told they are being cast for?
A different TV show
A different TV show: recruits hear about a made-up travel series, then are sent to a pickup spot where the ride to the shoot turns out to be the game itself.
Q 27Which award for best game show did Cash Cab win every year from 2008 to 2010?
Daytime Emmy
Daytime Emmy: the taxi quiz beat veterans such as Jeopardy! and The Price Is Right, and its host later won the game show host award himself, more than once.
Q 28After its 2019 move to a new network, Cash Cab promised more questions about what?
Pop culture
Pop culture: the new network pitched the reboot at fans of it, a shift from the general-knowledge mix of the original run.
Q 29Which annual event did Cash Cab's Season 8 premiere tie into in July 2018?
Shark Week
Shark Week: the episode marked the programming block's 30th anniversary and worked in clips from divers and photographers featured in earlier years.
Q 30To which network did Cash Cab move for its ninth season in October 2019?
Bravo
Bravo revived the quiz in 2019 with its original host, an upgraded cab and higher stakes, but the new run was over by August 2020.