Friday the 13th
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149 free Friday the 13th trivia questions with answers — pop culture quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
42 free Friday the 13th trivia questions with answers. These Friday the 13th trivia questions cover both halves of the phenomenon. The superstition side takes in the Knights Templar arrests of 1307, the Last Supper, the phobia with the unpronounceable name, how many Fridays the 13th a year can hold, buildings that skip the 13th floor, the countries that fear Tuesday the 13th or Friday the 17th instead, and the events that really did happen on the date. The movie side runs through all twelve films, from Sean Cunningham's 1980 original and Betsy Palmer's Mrs. Voorhees to the burlap sack, the hockey mask, Jason in space and Freddy vs. Jason. It works as a party round for the next unlucky Friday, a horror-night warm-up or a quick self-test, with easy openers for everyone and hard questions for people who know how many seconds were cut from Part 2. Every answer has been checked against a reliable source and each question shows its citation once you have answered.
30 of 149 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which tongue-twisting word names the fear of Friday the 13th?
Paraskevidekatriaphobia
Paraskevidekatriaphobia is built from the Greek words for Friday and thirteen; fear of the number 13 alone is triskaidekaphobia.
Q 02One origin story for the Friday the 13th superstition is King Philip IV's mass arrest of which order in October 1307?
The Knights Templar
The Knights Templar were seized in their hundreds on Friday 13 October 1307 by a king who coveted their wealth; Grand Master Jacques de Molay was burned at the stake in 1314.
Q 03Which poet's 14th-century tale laments that 'on a Friday fell all this mischance', early evidence of the day's bad name?
Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer wrote the line in The Canterbury Tales, more than four centuries before anyone is recorded pairing unlucky Friday with the number 13.
Q 04One telling of the unlucky-13 superstition casts which disciple as the 13th guest at the Last Supper?
Judas
Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus, is cast as the 13th guest in this telling, though the Bible says nothing about the seating order.
Q 05Which Italian opera composer died on Friday 13 November 1868, prompting an early English mention of the unlucky date?
Gioachino Rossini
Gioachino Rossini's 1869 biographer wrote that if he, like many Italians, thought Fridays and the number 13 unlucky, it was remarkable that he died on Friday 13 November.
Q 06In the 1907 novel Friday, the Thirteenth, a broker picks the date to cause what?
A market panic
A market panic: Thomas Lawson's broker plays on the superstition to set off a Wall Street panic, and some credit the popular novel with spreading the fear of Friday the 13th.
Q 07Which asteroid is due to pass closer to Earth than many satellites on Friday 13 April 2029?
Apophis
Apophis was briefly given a 2.7 percent chance of hitting Earth on that date when it was found in 2004; later tracking ruled an impact out, so it will be a close flyby instead.
Q 08A month contains a Friday the 13th whenever it starts on which day of the week?
Sunday
A month has a Friday the 13th exactly when it begins on a Sunday, because the 13th falls twelve days after the 1st; every calendar year has at least one.
Q 09Which jazz pianist wrote the tune 'Friday the 13th' in the studio at a session held on that date in 1953?
Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Monk wrote it on the spot at a Friday 13 November 1953 session with Sonny Rollins, and the ten-minute jam was used to fill out an album.
Q 10The Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute estimates US businesses lose roughly how much every Friday the 13th?
$800-900 million
Donald Dossey's Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute put the loss at $800-900 million per Friday the 13th, claiming 17 to 21 million Americans are affected by the fear.
Q 11In Spanish-speaking countries and Greece, the unlucky 13th falls on which day of the week?
Tuesday
Tuesday the 13th is 'martes trece' in Spanish, and Greeks recall that Constantinople fell to the Fourth Crusade on Tuesday 13 April 1204.
Q 12Italians traditionally fear Friday falling on which date of the month instead of the 13th?
The 17th
The 17th: one explanation is that its Roman numeral XVII can be rearranged to VIXI, Latin for 'I have lived', which is to say 'I am dead'.
Q 13Which elevator maker reported in 2002 that 85 percent of the tall buildings it served had no floor labelled 13?
Otis
Otis found the gap in its own records; most such towers simply call the 13th floor 14, so their 14th-floor tenants are really on the 13th.
Q 21Which crooner's son Harry plays counselor Bill in the original Friday the 13th (1980)?
Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby's son Harry played Bill, who is later found pinned to a door with arrows.
Q 22Which future star played a counselor killed by an arrow through the throat in the original Friday the 13th (1980)?
Kevin Bacon
Kevin Bacon sat on the floor under the bed with his head poking up through the mattress, so the arrow could pierce a prosthetic neck.
Q 23The original Friday the 13th's final scare, Jason lunging from the lake, was modelled on the ending of which movie?
Carrie
Carrie: the makers wanted a last 'chair jumper' like the hand bursting from the grave in Brian De Palma's film, and the lake lunge gave the sequels their monster.
Q 14Port Dover, Ontario, has drawn crowds every Friday the 13th since 1981 for a gathering of what?
Motorcyclists
Motorcyclists: the rally began on Friday 13 November 1981, when Chris Simons and about 25 friends met at a local hotel and decided to do it every time the date came round.
Q 15Which country's 'Tapaturmapäivä', a national accident-prevention day, always falls on a Friday the 13th?
Finland
Finland has held its National Accident Day on a Friday the 13th every year since 1995, which works because the calendar guarantees at least one such Friday a year.
Q 16Which businesses treat Friday the 13th as an unofficial holiday, offering cheap 'flash' designs featuring 13?
Tattoo parlours
Tattoo parlours sell small '13' designs for about $13 in all-day flash sales; tattooists say the 13 works as a charm, since bad luck sees it is already there and passes by.
Q 17Which band's self-titled debut, released on Friday, February 13, 1970, is widely treated as the birth of heavy metal?
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath recorded most of the album in a single 12-hour session, playing songs straight from their live set.
Q 18Which 2023 Netflix film retells the Andes plane crash of Friday 13 October 1972?
Society of the Snow
Society of the Snow follows the survivors' 72 days on the mountain, which ended only after two of them trekked for ten days across the Andes to find help.
Q 19Which rapper died on Friday, September 13, 1996, six days after being shot in Las Vegas?
Tupac Shakur
Tupac Shakur had just watched a Mike Tyson fight at the MGM Grand when a gunman opened fire on him at a red light as he rode with Suge Knight; no one was charged with the murder until 2023.
Q 20Which understated line did Apollo 13's crew radio after an oxygen tank burst on 13 April 1970?
Houston, we've had a problem
'Houston, we've had a problem' came from Jack Swigert about 200,000 miles from Earth; the crew survived by using their lunar module as a lifeboat for the trip home.
Q 24The original Friday the 13th was shot at a real Boy Scout camp, Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco, in which state?
New Jersey
New Jersey: Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco, a working Boy Scout camp near Blairstown, hosted the September 1979 shoot and later opened its grounds for fan tours.
Q 25Composer Harry Manfredini built the films' 'ki ki ki, ma ma ma' whisper from which line of dialogue?
Kill her, Mommy
'Kill her, Mommy' is what Mrs. Voorhees chants in her son's voice in the final reel; Manfredini spoke 'ki' and 'ma' harshly into a microphone and added echo.
Q 26Where did screenwriter Victor Miller take the surname 'Voorhees' from?
A girl he knew at high school
A girl he knew at high school: Miller borrowed her surname Voorhees, while 'Jason' was a blend of his sons' names, Josh and Ian.
Q 27In Friday the 13th Part 2, what does Jason wear over his face?
A burlap sack
A burlap sack hides his face in Part 2; the heroine briefly stops him by pulling on his dead mother's sweater and speaking as her.
Q 28Friday the 13th Part III (1982) was the only film in the series released in which format?
3-D
3-D: Paramount shot Part III with leased 3-D cameras, its first such production since 1954, and the crew's priority in every scene was making the effects work.
Q 29Jason's hockey mask was adapted from a goaltender mask of which NHL team?
Detroit Red Wings
Detroit Red Wings: the film's effects supervisor, a hockey fan, supplied the goalie mask for a lighting check, and the director loved it.
Q 30Which TV network gave Jason Voorhees a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1992?
MTV
MTV gave Jason the award at its 1992 Movie Awards, and later handed the same honour to Godzilla and Chewbacca.