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50 free M&M's trivia questions with answers — food & drink quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
44 free M&M's trivia questions with answers. M&M's have been around since 1941, and eighty-odd years of candy history leave a lot to ask about. This quiz covers the origin story (Forrest Mars, Bruce Murrie and a wartime Army contract), every colour change from the disappearance of red to the blue vote and the arrival of purple, the spokescandies and the actors behind them, and the pop-culture moments: the E.T. snub, Van Halen's brown-M&M rider, the Super Bowl stunts and NASCAR. It is a good round for a party, a candy-themed quiz night or a family game, and there is a stretch of harder Mars-family history questions for people who think they know it all. Difficulty runs from easy to hard. Every answer has been checked against a reference page and each question carries its source, so if a fact surprises you, you can go and read where it came from.
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Q 01In what year did M&M's first go into production in the United States?
1941
Forrest Mars received his patent for the coating process on 3 March 1941. The first factory was on Badger Avenue in Newark, New Jersey.
Q 02The two Ms stand for Forrest Mars and which partner, whose father ran rival Hershey?
Bruce Murrie
Bruce Murrie held a 20 percent share and the deal guaranteed Hershey chocolate during wartime rationing. He sold out to Mars in 1949.
Q 03Forrest Mars got the idea for M&M's after seeing Spanish Civil War soldiers eating what?
Smarties
Smarties, Rowntree's of York's sugar-shelled chocolate beans, gave Forrest Mars the idea; the shell kept chocolate from melting in Spanish heat, and Mars patented his own coating process in 1941.
Q 04Who was M&M's first big customer?
The US Army
The US Army was the first big buyer: during the Second World War the candies went almost entirely to the military, because the hard shell let soldiers carry chocolate in tropical heat.
Q 05Which of these was NOT one of the original 1941 M&M's colours?
Orange
Orange was not in the 1941 line-up of red, yellow, green, brown and violet; violet gave way to tan in 1949, and orange only joined the mix when red was dropped in 1976.
Q 06M&M's longest-running slogan, introduced in 1949, promised the candy melts in your mouth, but not where?
In the hand
Melts in your mouth, not in the hand: the line sold the whole point of the hard sugar shell, and Mars trademarked it in 1954.
Q 07The printed 'm' on each candy was originally which colour when it was introduced in 1950?
Black
Black was the first colour of the 'm', stamped on each candy from 1950; it changed to white in 1954 and is printed on one side only.
Q 08Peanut M&M's, the first alternative variety, launched in 1954 in which single colour?
Tan
Tan was the only Peanut M&M's colour at the 1954 launch; other colours were added in 1960, and the Yellow spokescandy was at first simply called 'Peanut'.
Q 09Why did Mars drop red M&M's in 1976?
A public scare over red food dyes
A public scare over red food dyes: Red No. 2 was banned in 1976 as a suspected carcinogen, and although M&M's did not use it, Mars dropped red to avoid confusion; orange took its place.
Q 10Red M&M's returned in 1987 partly thanks to a joke campaign started by a student at which university?
Tennessee
Tennessee: Paul Hethmon, a University of Tennessee student, founded the Society for the Restoration and Preservation of Red M&Ms in 1982; red came back in 1987 as a sixth colour alongside orange.
Q 11When M&M's fans voted in 1995 on a colour to replace tan, which won with 54 percent of the vote?
Blue
Blue won the 1995 vote over pink and purple; millions phoned 1-800-FUN-COLOR, and B.B. King sang the blues in the launch commercial.
Q 12Mars's first 'Global Color Vote' in 2002 added which colour for a limited run?
Purple
NASCAR driver Ken Schrader ran cars painted for each candidate colour. A bag of all-purple candies won one lucky American 100 million yen.
Q 13Since 1958 about half of all M&M's have been made in which New Jersey town?
Hackettstown
The other half come from a plant opened in Cleveland, Tennessee, in 1978. The original 1941 factory was in Newark.
Q 21Which comedian did Mars name as spokesperson when it 'paused' the spokescandies in January 2023?
Maya Rudolph
Maya Rudolph was named spokesperson after Mars 'paused' the spokescandies amid a conservative-media fuss over their redesigns; she pitched spoof 'Ma&Ya's' clam candies before the characters returned in a Super Bowl LVII ad.
Q 22Discontinued in the United States in 2005, Crispy M&M's returned to shelves in which year?
2015
2015: Crispy M&M's came back in January 2015 after a ten-year absence, with Mars citing fan demand; the rice-crisp centre had first appeared in 1999.
Q 23Which NASCAR driver's No. 18 car carried M&M's sponsorship from 2008 to 2022, winning two Cup titles?
Kyle Busch
Q 14In 1982 Mars declined to feature M&M's in which Spielberg film, handing a windfall to Reese's Pieces?
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial went to Reese's Pieces instead; Mars reportedly feared the alien would scare children, and Reese's sales are said to have jumped by as much as 300 percent.
Q 15Which rock band's tour rider famously demanded a bowl of M&M's with all the brown ones removed?
Van Halen
Van Halen's rider banned brown M&M's as a test: brown candies in the bowl meant the promoter had not read the technical rider, so the crew re-checked the staging and rigging.
Q 16Which colour M&M was the subject of a 1970s urban legend that it was an aphrodisiac?
Green
Green: the rumour shaped the flirtatious Green spokescandy and inspired all-green Valentine's bags in 2008, though no colour has ever tasted different from another.
Q 17Who created the modern CGI M&M's spokescandies in 1995, having earlier made the California Raisins?
Will Vinton
Will Vinton's studio animated the wise-cracking spokescandies for BBDO's 1995 campaign, a decade after his stop-motion California Raisins; the new characters were pitched as more sardonic than typical food mascots.
Q 18Which actor originally voiced the sardonic Red spokescandy?
Jon Lovitz
Jon Lovitz voiced Red in the 1995 launch ads; Billy West later took over, while John Goodman and later J.K. Simmons voiced Yellow.
Q 19Ms. Brown, the 'Chief Chocolate Officer' unveiled in 2012, is voiced by which actress and singer?
Vanessa Williams
Vanessa Williams voices Ms. Brown, introduced in a 2012 Super Bowl ad as the brand's 'Chief Chocolate Officer' and the first new female spokescandy since Green.
Q 20In a Super Bowl LII ad, Red wished to become human and was played by which actor?
Danny DeVito
Danny DeVito played the human Red: after finding a lucky penny he wished to be human so no one would try to eat him, and then got hit by a truck.
Kyle Busch drove the No. 18 M&M's Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, winning the Cup Series championship in 2015 and 2019; Mars ended its NASCAR sponsorship after the 2022 season.
Q 24The first M&M's World store opened in 1997 in which city?
Las Vegas
Las Vegas: the store opened in 1997 in the Showcase Mall beside the MGM Grand on the Strip; Orlando, New York and London stores followed.
Q 25M&M's styled themselves as the official candy of what in 1998?
The New Millennium
The New Millennium: since MM is the Roman numeral for 2000, Mars declared M&M's 'the official candy of the new millennium' in 1998, two years ahead of the date.
Q 26Which confectionery process builds up the hard sugar shell on M&M's?
Panning
Panning: the chocolate centres tumble in rotating drums while thin coats of sugar syrup are sprayed on and dried, layer by layer, before the 'm' is printed on the finished shell.
Q 27Special red, white and blue 'Presidential M&M's' have been given to White House guests since which year?
1988
1988: under Ronald Reagan the boxes replaced packs of cigarettes handed out on Air Force One; each carries the presidential seal and the sitting president's signature, while the candies inside bear only the usual 'm'.
Q 28The 'Plain' M&M's variety was renamed what in 2000?
Milk Chocolate
Milk Chocolate replaced 'Plain', and pictures of the colourful candies were added to the brown packaging at the same time.
Q 29Which 1967 Petula Clark song did M&M's adopt for its TV ads in 2004?
Colour My World
'Colour My World' was the soundtrack of the 2004 ads, a natural fit for a brand built on its rainbow of colours; Clark's original single dates from 1966–67.
Q 30M&M's Minis, sold in plastic tubes, arrived in which year?
1996
1996: Minis came in plastic tubes and got their own mascots, the Swarmees, troublemakers Red and Yellow could never contain; Crispy M&M's followed in 1999.