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50 free Counter-Strike trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Counter-Strike began in 1999 as a Half-Life mod built by two people who met over IRC, and within two years it was the most played online shooter in the world. Valve bought the rights, shipped it as a retail box, followed it with Condition Zero, the Source-engine remake, Global Offensive and finally Counter-Strike 2 — and along the way the series invented the weapon-skin economy, the Valve-sponsored Major, and a map called Dust II that has outlived three game engines. These 50 questions run the whole timeline: the beta builds and the films that inspired the gun list, the starting pistols and round economy, the Asian arcade and free-to-play spin-offs, CS:GO's game modes, operations and scandals, and the changes Counter-Strike 2 made to smokes, loadouts and ranks. Easy questions cover the teams, the engine and the bomb; the hard tier gets into Podbot, Rogue Entertainment and dynamic weapon pricing. Every answer is cited to a page we checked, with a short explanation so you pick something up even on a miss. Play it solo, or print it for a LAN-party round.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which programmer, nicknamed 'Gooseman', co-created the original mod?
Minh Le
Le had previously worked on the Navy SEALs mod for Quake and on Action Quake 2 before starting his own project.
Q 02Counter-Strike began as a mod for which game?
Half-Life
Gabe Newell later credited the mod with an unusual year-over-year rise in Half-Life's own sales.
Q 03In what year did Valve release the first Counter-Strike as a retail product?
2000
The retail box was branded Half-Life: Counter-Strike because, Jess Cliffe said, the game lacked a strong identity of its own.
Q 04Which studio developed Condition Zero, the follow-up released in March 2004?
Turtle Rock Studios
Turtle Rock later built the bot AI that became a precursor to the systems in Left 4 Dead.
Q 05Ritual Entertainment's earlier version of Condition Zero shipped alongside it under what name?
Deleted Scenes
It is a linear single-player campaign with briefings, a blowtorch, a fiber-optic camera and remote-controlled bombs.
Q 06Which 2004 title was the first game Valve publicly released on its then-new engine?
Counter-Strike: Source
It reached Steam on October 7, 2004, more than a month before Half-Life 2 itself.
Q 07In what year did CS:GO launch on Windows, OS X, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3?
2012
The Linux version did not arrive until September 2014, and the whole game went free-to-play in December 2018.
Q 08Which studio co-developed CS:GO with Valve?
Hidden Path Entertainment
The project began as Hidden Path's attempt to port Counter-Strike: Source to consoles before Valve expanded it into a full game.
Q 09On what date in 2023 did Counter-Strike 2 publicly replace CS:GO?
Sept. 27
March 22 was the announcement and the start of the Limited Test; September 1 opened that beta to most former CS:GO buyers.
Q 10Which game engine powers Counter-Strike 2?
Source 2
Valve sorted the old maps into 'Touchstone', 'Upgrades' and 'Overhauls' tiers when porting them to the new engine.
Q 11Which Japanese arcade adaptation did Namco publish for Linux-based cabinets?
Counter-Strike Neo
It was set in a futuristic version of the game with anime-styled characters, plus single-player missions and seasonal events.
Q 12Which company developed the free-to-play Counter-Strike Online for eastern Asia?
Nexon
It runs on a micropayment model managed by a custom version of the Steam back-end, with Valve oversight.
Q 13Which organisation hosted the first major Counter-Strike tournament in 2001?
Cyberathlete Professional League
The CPL Winter Championship in Dallas drew 48 teams and over 800 attendees, and had switched from Quake III Arena to Counter-Strike.
Q 21The terrorists-versus-counter-terrorists theme was inspired by which game?
Rainbow Six
Le picked the GoldSrc engine because Half-Life's realistic setting suited that concept better than Quake's.
Q 22The first beta on June 18, 1999 shipped with which single scenario?
Hostage rescue
It came with 9 weapons, 4 maps and one player model per side; the bomb did not arrive until Beta 4.
Q 23Which early release introduced the bomb defusal scenario?
Beta 4
Beta 3 had controversially removed kill counts from the scoreboard, a change that was later reversed.
Q 14How much money does each player start with in the original Counter-Strike?
$800
That buys little more than armor or a better pistol, which is why first rounds are nicknamed 'pistol rounds'.
Q 15What is the maximum amount of money a player can hold in the original Counter-Strike?
$16,000
Round wins pay $3,500, losses $1,500 and enemy kills $300, so the cap can be reached in a few dominant rounds.
Q 16Which handgun do Counter-Terrorists start with in the original game?
USP
Terrorists get the Glock 18c instead, and every player also spawns with a knife and two magazines of ammo.
Q 17Bomb defusal maps carry which filename prefix?
de_
Hostage maps use cs_ and the old VIP assassination maps used as_, which is how de_dust2 and cs_office got their names.
Q 18In the Assassination scenario, what role did one Counter-Terrorist take on?
VIP
The VIP got 200 armor, 150% movement speed and a unique skin, and could pick up no dropped gun but his own USP.
Q 19The mod got its name on March 15, 1999 after a chat on which messaging service?
ICQ
Rejected candidates included Counterrorism, Frag Heads, Terror-Force and Counter Force.
Q 20Which 1998 film inspired the inclusion of the Krieg 552 and M249?
Ronin
Air Force One and Léon: The Professional also shaped the weapon list, alongside gun magazines and the internet.
Q 24Which studio handled most of Beta 5 while Minh Le finished his studies?
Barking Dog Studios
Valve had learned Le was working at Barking Dog and offered to finance the beta and buy the game's intellectual property.
Q 25Which post-release version introduced voice chat?
1.3
Version 1.1 added a spectator mode and 1.4 brought anti-cheat measures; 1.5 in June 2002 was the last pre-Steam update.
Q 26Counter-Strike 1.6 launched in September 2003 alongside which new platform?
Steam
Demand for the January 2003 beta was so heavy that the servers ran out of bandwidth and admissions were suspended the same day.
Q 27A federal judge in which country ordered a ban on the game's sale in 2007?
Brazil
EverQuest was banned in the same order; a regional court lifted the Counter-Strike prohibition in June 2009.
Q 28In which month did CS:GO switch to a free-to-play model?
December 2018
Existing owners were upgraded to Prime status, and the same update introduced the Panorama interface.
Q 29What was CS:GO's battle-royale mode called?
Danger Zone
It arrived with the free-to-play switch in late 2018 and was dropped when Counter-Strike 2 launched.
Q 30Which August 2013 update added weapon skins to CS:GO?
Arms Deal
Skins came in cases opened with purchased keys, seeding the trading and gambling economy that later drew lawsuits.