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50 free Life of Pi trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Life of Pi began as a novel rejected by five London publishers, won the Booker Prize in 2002, sold more than ten million copies and was called unfilmable right up until Ang Lee filmed it in 3D and won an Oscar for doing so. Both versions tell the same story: a sixteen-year-old from Pondicherry, a sunk Japanese freighter and 227 days in a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. This quiz covers the book and the film together. You will need the plot (the orangutan, the hyena, the carnivorous island, the two stories Pi offers the investigators), the background (where the tiger's name came from, the Brazilian novella that sparked the idea, the letter from a US president), and the film's production, from the 3,000 boys who auditioned for Pi to the Hollywood star who was cut after shooting and the giant wave tank in Taiwan. Fifty questions, four options each, with a short explanation after every answer. Read the book, seen the film, or both: the easy tier is for either, the expert tier for people who remember the acknowledgements page.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who wrote the novel Life of Pi?
Yann Martel
The Canadian author was born in Spain, grew up across three continents and writes in English though his first language is French.
Q 02What is the name of the Bengal tiger in the lifeboat?
Richard Parker
The tiger got a man's name through a clerical error that swapped it with the hunter who caught him.
Q 03Who directed the 2012 film adaptation?
Ang Lee
Shyamalan and Cuarón had both been attached earlier; Lee came aboard in 2009.
Q 04What business does Pi's family run in India?
A zoo
His father's decision to sell it and ship the animals abroad is what puts a tiger in the lifeboat.
Q 05In which ocean is Pi stranded?
Pacific
The ship sinks a few days out of Manila; in the film it goes down into the Mariana Trench.
Q 06To which country is Pi's family emigrating when the ship sinks?
Canada
The adult Pi tells his story from Montreal, married with a family.
Q 07Pi grows up in which Indian town?
Pondicherry
Filming began there in January 2011 at the Holy Rosary Church in Muthialpet.
Q 08Which animal kills the zebra and the orangutan in the lifeboat?
Hyena
It is then killed by the tiger, who had been hiding under the tarpaulin all along.
Q 09Which literary award did the novel win in 2002?
Man Booker Prize
At least five London publishers had turned the book down before Knopf Canada took it.
Q 10What is Pi's full first name?
Piscine
Schoolmates turned it into 'Pissing', so he rebranded himself after the transcendental number.
Q 11Pi is named after a swimming pool in which city?
Paris
The Piscine Molitor, which neither of his parents, who did not much like swimming, had any reason to love.
Q 12How many days does Pi spend adrift?
227
Readers have noted that 22/7 is the classic approximation of pi.
Q 13What is the name of the orangutan in the lifeboat?
Orange Juice
In the second story, she stands for Pi's mother.
Q 14Which Oscar did Lee personally take home for the film?
Q 21What does Pi discover about the floating island?
It is carnivorous
By night the pools turn acidic and the plants digest whatever they catch.
Q 22Which French star plays the ship's cook?
Gérard Depardieu
In the second story, the brutish cook is the hyena.
Q 23How old is Pi when the ship goes down?
16
The story is told decades later by a middle-aged Pi living in Canada.
Q 24What does Pi use to signal the tiger during training?
Best Director
It was Lee's second directing Oscar after Brokeback Mountain; he thanked 'the movie god'.
Q 15Who plays the teenage Pi in the film, in his screen debut?
Suraj Sharma
He was a 17-year-old student chosen from 3,000 auditions and trained in ocean survival, yoga and meditation.
Q 16Which three religions does the young Pi decide to follow at once?
Hinduism, Christianity and Islam
He says he 'just wants to love God', to the dismay of his parents and all three of his religious mentors.
Q 17The floating island is home to a huge colony of which animals?
Meerkats
Hundreds of thousands of them, living on a floating mat of algae.
Q 18In which country does the lifeboat finally come ashore?
Mexico
The tiger walks into the jungle without looking back, which Pi never gets over.
Q 19In Pi's second story, which human does the tiger stand for?
Pi himself
The hyena is the cook, the zebra the sailor and the orangutan his mother.
Q 20Who plays the adult Pi in the film?
Irrfan Khan
Adil Hussain plays his father and Tabu his mother.
A whistle
Food is the reward and seasickness the punishment; Pi makes himself the alpha animal.
Q 25Pi's closing words to the officials are 'And so it goes with' what?
God
They have just chosen the story with the animals, and file a report saying they believe it.
Q 26How many Academy Awards did the film win?
4
More than any other film of 2012: director, cinematography, visual effects and original score.
Q 27Which studio released the film?
20th Century Fox
Fox 2000 executive Elizabeth Gabler was credited with keeping the project alive through a decade of development.
Q 28In the film, what destroys Pi's raft and supplies one night?
A humpback whale
The breaching whale amid glowing plankton is one of the film's signature 3D images.
Q 29Who plays the writer in the film, after another actor was cut?
Rafe Spall
Lee reshot the scenes for consistency with an 'entirely international cast'.
Q 30What is the name of Pi's older brother?
Ravi
Their father makes them watch a goat fed to a tiger as a lesson in respect.