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60 free Tug of War trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This tug of war trivia quiz covers a sport most people have played and almost nobody has studied. It starts with the rules used at World Championships (eight a side, an 11-centimetre rope, the four-metre marks, locking fouls, the driver and the hang command) and the physics of why heavy teams win and why ropes snap. Then it digs into origins: Tang emperors with 500 pullers a side, Greek names built on the verb 'I pull', a temple carving in India, Vikings over fire pits and Mohave dispute-settling. The Olympic section covers all six Games from 1900 to 1920: the Danish-Swedish mixed team with a journalist on the rope, the American hammer throwers who quit over a scheduling clash, the 1908 all-police podium and the boots protest, Sweden's win when exhausted Londoners sat down, and the gold medal still kept in a police museum. There are questions on juldarigi, Naha's 40-ton rope, Burmese monk funerals, TugFest across the Mississippi, Battle of the Network Stars and the NFL Pro Bowl. Try our Olympic Games and Highland games quizzes too. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on tug of war, its Olympic tournaments and its regional traditions, and each explanation adds one more detail.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In formal tug of war, how many pullers make up each team?
Eight
The team's total weight must also stay under the limit for its class.
Q 02Roughly what circumference must a competition tug of war rope have?
About 11 centimetres
It must be free of knots or anything else that could serve as a handhold.
Q 03How far from the centre line are the two markers on a competition rope?
4 metres
A team wins by pulling the marker nearest its opponents across the centre line.
Q 04What is the foul called when a puller drops an elbow below the knee?
Locking
Touching the ground for a prolonged period is another foul.
Q 05The rope must pass under which part of the body during a pull?
The arms
Hauling it over the shoulders can be ruled a foul.
Q 06What is the team member called who walks alongside the rope shouting when to pull and when to rest?
The driver
The rest command is called 'hanging'; the driver often waves a hat or handkerchief in rhythm.
Q 07What is the tug of war term for the command to dig in and hold rather than pull?
Hang
Once the opponents tire, the driver shouts 'pull' for a runaway finish.
Q 08Which physical property explains why heavier pullers have an advantage?
Static friction with the ground
Too little friction and a puller's feet simply slide, however hard they haul.
Q 09According to the OED, what did 'tug of war' originally mean before it named a rope game?
A decisive contest or real struggle
Only in the 19th century did it come to mean the rope-pulling contest.
Q 10Before the 19th century, what was the rope-pulling game commonly called in Britain and America?
French and English
The modern name only took over in the 1800s.
Q 11A Tang dynasty book says the state of Chu used tug of war for what purpose?
Training warriors
Emperor Xuanzong later staged games with ropes over 160 metres long and more than 500 people on each end.
Q 12Emperor Xuanzong of Tang's giant tug of war games used ropes up to how long?
167 metres
Each side had its own team of drummers to urge the pullers on.
Q 13The ancient Greek names for the game, such as helkystinda, all derive from a verb meaning what?
I pull
One version, dielkystinda, was apparently played with no rope at all, perhaps with the teams holding hands.
Q 21How many pullers made up each team at the 1904 St. Louis Olympics?
Five
Teams had six in 1900 and eight from 1908 onwards.
Q 22Under 1904 Olympic rules, an undecided tug-of-war pull went to the team ahead after how long?
Five minutes
The contests were held on turf with no shoes, and a win needed a six-foot pull.
Q 23At the 1908 London Olympics, all three medal-winning teams came from which profession?
Police officers
City of London Police beat Liverpool Police in the final, with the Metropolitan Police 'K' Division third.
Q 14A 12th-century stone relief showing tug of war survives on which Indian monument?
The Sun Temple at Konark
It is on the west wing of the temple in what is now Odisha.
Q 15Which Native American people are recorded as sometimes using tug of war to settle disputes?
The Mohave
Legends elsewhere describe Vikings pulling animal skins over fire pits as a test of strength.
Q 16Between which years was tug of war an Olympic event?
1900 to 1920
It was counted as part of the athletics programme, and the IOC dropped it when streamlining the Games.
Q 17Why could the United States take all three tug of war medals at the 1904 Olympics?
Entries were by club, not just by nation
The United States swept all three medals in 1904 and Britain did the same in 1908.
Q 18The gold medal team at the 1900 Paris Olympics was a mixed team from which two countries?
Denmark and Sweden
One of the six Scandinavian pullers, Edgar Aabye, was a journalist covering the Games.
Q 19Why did the United States team withdraw from the 1900 Olympic tug of war?
It clashed with the hammer throw
Three of the six Americans were competing in the hammer at the same time.
Q 20The 1900 French tug of war team included a puller born in which South American country?
Colombia
Francisco Henríquez de Zubiría is often confused with his Haitian-born rugby teammate Constantin Henriquez.
Q 24What did the Americans protest about after losing their 1908 Olympic tug of war to an English police team?
The winners' heavy service boots
The Liverpool men were pulling in their service boots; the protest was dismissed and the Americans withdrew in disgust.
Q 25Which team won the 1908 Olympic tug of war final?
City of London Police
They took the first two pulls against Liverpool.
Q 26The 1908 US tug of war team included which famous hammer thrower and later three-time Olympic champion?
John Flanagan
Shot-putter Ralph Rose and hammer thrower Matt McGrath were also on the rope.
Q 27The 1912 Olympic tug of war came down to a single match. Which team represented the host nation, Sweden?
Stockholm Police
They beat a British team drawn from the City of London and Metropolitan Police.
Q 28How did Sweden win the second pull of the 1912 Olympic final?
British pullers sat down from exhaustion
Sitting on the ground disqualified them after a long stalemate.
Q 29Which museum received the gold medal won by Britain's 1920 Olympic tug of war team?
The City of London Police museum
The whole team were City of London Police officers; 1920 was the last Games to include the sport.
Q 30Which body governs tug of war internationally?
The Tug of War International Federation
It runs indoor and outdoor World Championships for nations and clubs every two years.