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49 free Sports Rules trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This sports rules trivia quiz is for the person at the bar who actually knows why the flag went up. It covers the laws and regulations that decide games across soccer, basketball, American football, baseball, ice hockey, cricket, tennis, rugby, boxing, golf, curling, snooker and more: what offside really means, why the NBA plays with a 24-second clock, when an infield fly is called, what makes a balk, how icing works, why a batter can be out leg before wicket, and what happens after a safety. It also digs into where the rules came from and when they changed: the yellow card invented after a World Cup shouting match, the penalty shoot-out the game managed without until 1970, the golden goal that lived and died in a decade, the ABA gimmick that became the three-point line, the tuck rule the NFL voted out 29 to 1, and the tennis scoring word that means nothing. About a third of the questions are easy for any regular fan, a third need a rulebook reader, and the rest reward the officials and obsessives. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the individual rules and sports before publishing, and each question carries the sentence that establishes it. If you think one is wrong, use the report button and we will look again.
30 of 49 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In soccer, a player is offside if they are nearer the opponents' goal line than the ball and whom?
The second-last opponent
Offside means being nearer the goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent, in the opponents' half; the last opponent is usually, but not always, the goalkeeper.
Q 02Which number Law of the Game covers offside in soccer?
Law 11
Offside is Law 11 of the 17 Laws of the Game; Law 12, the next one, covers fouls and misconduct including handball.
Q 03Yellow and red cards were used for the first time at which World Cup?
1970 in Mexico
Cards debuted at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, a neutral signal devised after language confusion at the 1966 tournament, when players did not realise they had been booked.
Q 04How wide is a regulation soccer goal between the posts?
8 yards
A soccer goal is 8 yards (7.32 m) wide between the posts and 8 feet (2.44 m) high; the 8-yard width dates back to the FA's original 1863 rules.
Q 05The golden goal was formally introduced in 1993 and stopped applying to most FIFA matches in which year?
2004
IFAB scrapped the golden goal in 2004, effective after that summer's European Championship, returning to full extra time; the silver goal had briefly supplemented it from 2002.
Q 06The IFAB wrote VAR into the Laws of the Game in March of which year, ahead of a World Cup debut?
2018
The IFAB approved VAR at its March 2018 annual meeting, and it debuted at the 2018 World Cup in Russia after trials in Serie A, the Bundesliga and elsewhere.
Q 07Hawk-Eye ball tracking was first used on television in 2001 to analyse what kind of decision?
Leg before wicket in cricket
Hawk-Eye debuted on Channel 4's cricket coverage in 2001 to show leg before wicket decisions; engineer Paul Hawkins developed it, and tennis adopted it for line calls in 2006.
Q 08The NBA has used a 24-second shot clock since which year?
1954
The 24-second clock arrived for the 1954-55 season, after the league's owners adopted it in 1954 to end stalling; scoring jumped by more than a dozen points per game the next season.
Q 09Which league popularised the three-point line, introducing it in its first season in 1967-68?
The ABA
The ABA played with the line from its first season, 1967-68, a decade before the NBA adopted it in 1979; the short-lived ABL had tried it in 1961.
Q 10Traveling is called when a player takes more than how many steps without dribbling?
Two
The NCAA and high school rules do not allow the two-step gather that professional leagues permit.
Q 11How far is the basketball free-throw line from the plane of the backboard?
15 feet
The free-throw line is 15 feet from the plane of the backboard, which puts it 13 feet 9 inches from the centre of the basket; FIBA's 5.80 m from the baseline works out nearly the same.
Q 12Goaltending in basketball is a violation involving interference with the ball when it is where?
On its way to the basket
Goaltending is touching a shot on its way to the basket while it is above the rim and on a downward path; the NBA also counts a touch of a ball above the rim after it has hit the backboard.
Q 13In which year did the NFL adopt the two-point conversion?
1994
Q 21Unless the ground rules say otherwise, the foul poles in a baseball park lie in which territory?
Fair
A ball hitting the pole above the fence is therefore a home run.
Q 22In ice hockey, icing occurs when the puck is shot from the team's own half past which marker without scoring?
The opposing goal line
Icing is called when the puck crosses the opposing goal line untouched after being shot from behind the centre red line; the NHL has used hybrid icing since 2013.
Q 23Leg before wicket first appeared in cricket's laws in which year?
1774
The 1774 Laws, drawn up at the Star and Garter in Pall Mall, first penalised a batsman who put his leg before the wicket 'with a design to stop the ball'.
The NFL added the conversion option in 1994, nearly a quarter-century after absorbing the AFL, which had used it throughout its 1960–69 existence.
Q 14The NFL abolished the tuck rule in 2013 by what vote of its teams?
29-1
Owners voted 29-1 in March 2013 to scrap the tuck rule, with Pittsburgh opposed and New England and Washington abstaining; the rule had famously overturned Charles Woodson's strip of Tom Brady in January 2002.
Q 15How does a football returner signal a fair catch?
Waving one arm extended above his head
Under NFL and high school rules the team can then attempt a rarely seen fair catch kick from the spot.
Q 16The infield fly rule requires fewer than two outs and a force play at which base?
Third
A force play must exist at third, meaning runners on first and second or bases loaded, with no more than one out; the batter is out whether or not the ball is caught.
Q 17In baseball, what is the name for a pitcher's illegal motion, usually pretending to pitch?
A balk
A balk is an illegal pitching motion, such as feigning a pitch or a pickoff throw with runners on base; each runner advances one base as the penalty.
Q 18In which year did the National League permanently adopt the designated hitter?
2022
The NL adopted the DH permanently in 2022 under the new collective bargaining agreement, after a one-season trial in 2020; from 1973 to 1975 every World Series game was played without a DH.
Q 19The baseball strike zone extends from the batter's knees up to what point?
The midpoint of the torso
The zone's upper limit is the midpoint of the torso, defined as halfway between the top of the shoulders and the top of the uniform pants, judged as the batter prepares to swing.
Q 20How many innings does a regulation Major League Baseball game have?
Nine
A regulation MLB game lasts nine innings, with extra innings if tied; a rain-shortened game still counts once five innings have been completed.
Q 24In a five-day cricket match, a side batting first can enforce the follow-on if it leads by at least how much?
200
A first-innings lead of at least 200 runs allows the follow-on in a match of five or more days; the margin drops to 150 in shorter first-class matches.
Q 25The Duckworth-Lewis method was first used internationally in 1997 in a series between which two teams?
Zimbabwe and England
Its first international use came in the second ODI between Zimbabwe and England at Harare on 1 January 1997; Australian statistician Steven Stern later took over, and the method was renamed DLS in 2014.
Q 26How many legal deliveries make up an over in cricket?
Six
All are bowled from one end by a single bowler; wides and no-balls do not count toward the total.
Q 27In tennis, what is the score called when both players have won three points in a game?
Deuce
Deuce is the score at 40-40; from there a player must take the next pair of points together, advantage then game; the French call it égalité.
Q 28In boxing, a downed fighter who cannot continue within a count of what number is knocked out?
Ten
A fighter who cannot rise by the referee's count of ten is knocked out; a standing eight count, where it applies, lets the referee check a hurt boxer without ending the bout.
Q 29A game of table tennis is won by the first player to reach how many points, with a two-point lead?
11
Games go to 11 points under rules the ITTF adopted in 2001; at 10-10 the game continues until one player leads by the required margin.
Q 30A game of badminton is played to how many points?
21
A badminton game goes to 21 points under the rally-point system the BWF adopted in 2006, with every rally scoring; a game stretching past 20-all is capped at 30.