Stay Out of the Basement
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40 free Stay Out of the Basement trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Stay Out of the Basement was one of the pair of books that launched Goosebumps in the summer of 1992, and it is still one of the creepiest. R. L. Stine took an ordinary suburban family, sent Dad downstairs with his plants, and let two children work out for themselves that something had gone badly wrong. This quiz covers the whole story: Margaret and Casey's trips down the stairs, the clues that pile up around Dr. Brewer, the showdown and the famous last page. It also goes behind the scenes, with questions on the cover art, the reprints, the 1996 TV two-parter and the Disney+ season that borrowed the title. It is pitched for anyone who read the book under the covers as a kid, for parents and teachers sharing it with a new generation, and for Goosebumps fans who want to see how much they remember.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Dr. Brewer of Stay Out of the Basement, who crosses DNA in a home lab, is what kind of scientist?
A botanist
A botanist, Dr. Brewer was trying to build a super plant by combining DNA from several species. What he ended up with was far stranger.
Q 02In Stay Out of the Basement, what does Margaret catch her father eating from a bag in the kitchen?
Plant food
Plant food is the first hard clue that something is wrong with Dr. Brewer. Casey refuses to believe his sister when she tells him what she saw.
Q 03In Stay Out of the Basement, what is growing on Dr. Brewer's head when his cap gets knocked off?
Leaves
Leaves sprout from Dr. Brewer's scalp, which is why he wears the cap day and night. A stray throw in the back yard finally exposes them.
Q 04In Stay Out of the Basement, what color blood does Margaret see under her father's bandage?
Green
Green blood oozes from the cut while Margaret spies through the bathroom door at night. She runs back to her room in a panic.
Q 05In Stay Out of the Basement, which nickname does only the real Dr. Brewer use for his daughter?
Princess
Princess is a pet name Margaret says she hates, but the plant double never once used it. Hearing it in the basement tells her which father to trust.
Q 06In Stay Out of the Basement, what does the real Dr. Brewer use to cut his plant double in two?
An axe
An axe splits the impostor open, and the inside turns out to be a stem rather than flesh and bone. Dr. Brewer had picked it up the moment his children freed him.
Q 07In Stay Out of the Basement, where do Margaret and Casey find their real father bound and gagged?
A supply closet
A supply closet in the basement had been his prison, with plant tendrils holding him tight. Noises from inside are what lead the children to open the door.
Q 08Which 1990s sitcom star plays the father in the Disney+ season inspired by Stay Out of the Basement?
David Schwimmer
David Schwimmer, best known as Ross in Friends, plays a father whose basement experiments go wrong. The 2025 season follows his teenage twins, Cece and Devin.
Q 09The original back-cover blurb of Stay Out of the Basement nods to which older plant horror story?
Little Shop of Horrors
Little Shop of Horrors, with its hungry plant Audrey II, was the comparison the blurb reached for. Later reprints dropped the reference, and a 2020 collector's tin edition brought it back.
Q 10At the very end of Stay Out of the Basement, what whispers to Margaret that it is her real father?
A small flower
A small flower brushes her ankle in the garden a week after the showdown and begs for her help. The book ends there, with the question left hanging.
Q 11In Stay Out of the Basement, Mrs. Brewer flies to which desert city to be with her sick sister?
Tucson
Tucson, Arizona, keeps Mrs. Brewer out of the house for most of the book. With her gone, Margaret and Casey are alone with a father who is acting less and less like himself.
Q 12Stay Out of the Basement opens with Dr. Brewer too busy to join his children in which backyard game?
Frisbee
Frisbee is the game Dr. Brewer waves away so he can get back to work downstairs. The 2026 graphic novel adaptation swaps it for cornhole.
Q 13In Stay Out of the Basement, which neighbor dares Margaret and Casey to explore their father's lab?
Diane
Diane Manning lives nearby and goes down the stairs with them on the first visit. The 1996 TV adaptation cut her character completely.
Q 21In Stay Out of the Basement, how does Dr. Brewer explain away what his children see under his cap?
A side effect
A side effect of his experiments, nothing to worry about, is the story he gives when he sits them down. Then he hurries straight back downstairs.
Q 22In Stay Out of the Basement, which toys kept downstairs give the children a reason to go back?
Kites
Kites are what Casey wants to fly, and they are kept in the basement. Looking for them, the children come across the rest of a missing visitor's clothes.
Q 23When their father returns in Stay Out of the Basement, how do Margaret and Casey get out of the lab?
Through a window
Q 14In Stay Out of the Basement, why is Dr. Brewer doing his research at home instead of at PolyTech?
He was fired
He was fired after something went wrong with the plants in his lab. Margaret and Casey suspect he is working so hard to prove his old employers wrong.
Q 15In Stay Out of the Basement, which California baseball team's cap does Dr. Brewer wear all the time?
Los Angeles Dodgers
Los Angeles Dodgers headgear hides what is sprouting underneath. The 1996 TV adaptation swapped it for a cap with a plain letter S.
Q 16After catching his children in Stay Out of the Basement, what does Dr. Brewer add to the door?
A lock
A lock goes on the door after the first break-in, and the children are told the room is off limits until he can explain. They later take it off to get back inside.
Q 17In Stay Out of the Basement, whose suit jacket do the children find after he visits Dr. Brewer?
Mr. Martinez
Mr. Martinez, Dr. Brewer's old boss from PolyTech, never went home after his visit. He turns up at the end, tied up alongside the real father.
Q 18On their first visit in Stay Out of the Basement, what sound do the children hear the plants make?
Breathing
Breathing is what convinces Margaret, Casey and their friend that the plants are more than plants. Soon after, tendrils reach out and wrap around Casey's waist.
Q 19In Stay Out of the Basement, what does Casey take off in the steamy lab and forget to bring back?
His shirt
His shirt comes off because the basement is as hot and humid as a jungle. Going back for it alone is how Casey ends up in the grip of the plants.
Q 20In Stay Out of the Basement, what does Margaret find filling her father's bed when she peeks in?
Damp dirt
Damp dirt, alive with crawling things, fills the bed where Dr. Brewer has been sleeping. It is one more sign that he is living like something planted.
Through a window that opens onto the back yard, they squeeze out just in time. Dr. Brewer still catches them outside and repeats his warning.
Q 24In Stay Out of the Basement, what fell into Dr. Brewer's experiment and created a part-human plant?
His own blood
His own blood, from a hand he cut on a slide, got mixed in with the plant material he was combining. He then kept adding more, trying to make the plants as human as possible.
Q 25A week after the showdown in Stay Out of the Basement, what does Dr. Brewer do with his plants?
He burns them
He burns them in the yard and promises his family the experiments are over for good. A few survivors get replanted in the garden, which sets up the final scare.
Q 26Unlike most Goosebumps books, Stay Out of the Basement is told from which narrative point of view?
Third person
Third person narration follows Margaret from the outside, where most Goosebumps heroes tell their own stories. The series dropped the approach as it went on.
Q 27Which Goosebumps book, numbered first in the series, launched alongside Stay Out of the Basement in 1992?
Welcome to Dead House
Welcome to Dead House and Stay Out of the Basement both went on sale in July 1992, launching the series as a pair. The opener follows a family that moves to the strange town of Dark Falls.
Q 28Which Goosebumps book followed Stay Out of the Basement as number three in the original series?
Monster Blood
Monster Blood arrived in September 1992 and went on to get three numbered sequels of its own. Evan Ross buys the stuff in a dusty old toy store.
Q 29Which American publisher released Stay Out of the Basement and the rest of the original Goosebumps books?
Scholastic
Scholastic published the whole series, and by 1996 Goosebumps was bringing in almost 15% of the company's annual revenue.
Q 30Which regular Goosebumps cover artist repainted Stay Out of the Basement for its 2003 reprint?
Tim Jacobus
Tim Jacobus painted nearly every original Goosebumps cover but missed this one in 1992, when the job went to Jim Thiesen. The reprint let him fill the gap.