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60 free Which Came First trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Every question here gives you four things and asks one thing: which came first? Some are famous head-scratchers (Voyager 2 really did launch before Voyager 1, and the fax machine beat the telephone by decades). Others line up brands, bands, board games, landmarks and inventions from the same era so you have to think about the actual dates rather than the vibes. It works well as a round for pub quizzes and family game nights because everyone can have a go: you do not need to know the year, just the order. Play it solo to see how good your sense of history really is, or read the questions aloud and let the table argue. Each answer is checked against a reference page and the explanation gives the dates of the runners-up, so you learn the whole timeline, not just the winner.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which of these existed first?
The fax machine
Alexander Bain's 'Electric Printing Telegraph' patent predates Bell's telephone by more than three decades.
Q 02Which came first?
The University of Oxford
Teaching at Oxford dates to the 11th century, centuries before the Aztec Triple Alliance formed in 1428.
Q 03Which of these 17th-century milestones came first?
Harvard University
Harvard was founded in 1636, half a century before Newton published the Principia in 1687.
Q 04Which invention came first?
The two-wheeled bicycle
Karl Drais's foot-propelled 'running machine' of 1817 beat the friction match and the first photograph, both from 1826.
Q 05Which of these 18th-century milestones came first?
The Guinness brewery
Arthur Guinness set up at St. James's Gate in 1759, seventeen years before American independence was declared.
Q 06Which invention is the oldest?
The vending machine
Hero of Alexandria described a coin-operated dispenser of wine or holy water in the 1st century AD, more than a thousand years before the others.
Q 07All happened in 1889. Which came first?
The Eiffel Tower's completion
Structural work on the tower finished at the end of March 1889; Nintendo was founded that September as a playing-card maker.
Q 08Which toy came first?
Lego bricks
The stud-and-tube brick launched in 1958; Barbie followed in 1959, Etch A Sketch in 1960 and G.I. Joe in 1964.
Q 09Which of these postwar household items came first?
The microwave oven
Raytheon's Radarange went on sale in 1947, stood nearly six feet tall and weighed 750 pounds.
Q 10Which of these computing and phone milestones came first?
Network email
ARPANET mail introduced the @ address in 1971; Martin Cooper's handheld cell phone call came in 1973.
Q 11All launched in 2001. Which came first?
Wikipedia
Wikipedia's first edit was made on 15 January 2001; the iPod and Windows XP arrived that October and the Xbox in November.
Q 12All from 1928. Which came first?
Sliced bread
Kleen Maid Sliced Bread went on sale in July 1928; Fleming noticed his mouldy dish in September and Mickey whistled in November.
Q 13Which of these late-1990s tech standards or gadgets came first?
USB
USB 1.0 arrived in January 1996; the first Wi-Fi standard followed in 1997 and Bluetooth in 1999.
Q 21Which burger chain came first?
White Castle
White Castle opened in Wichita in 1921 and is generally credited as the first fast-food hamburger chain.
Q 22Which soft drink came first?
Dr Pepper
Dr Pepper was first served in Waco, Texas in 1885, a year before Coca-Cola.
Q 23All from 1903. Which came first?
Ford Motor Company
Ford incorporated on June 16, 1903; the Tour started in July, the World Series in October and the Wright Flyer flew in December.
Which of these 1860s milestones came first?
Q 14All from 2007 or 2008. Which came first?
Netflix streaming
Netflix's 'Watch Now' service launched in January 2007 with just 1,000 films; the iPhone arrived that June.
Q 15Which snack came first?
The Oreo
Nabisco introduced Oreos in 1912; Kit Kat followed in 1935 and the chocolate chip cookie in 1938.
Q 16Which of these everyday items came first?
The safety pin
Walter Hunt patented it in 1849 and sold the rights for $400; commercial toilet paper followed in 1857.
Q 17Which American landmark opened first?
The Brooklyn Bridge
Opened in May 1883, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world; the Statue of Liberty was dedicated in 1886.
Q 18All from 1977 or 1978. Which came first?
Star Wars
Star Wars opened in a handful of theaters on May 25, 1977; the Apple II went on sale that June.
Q 19Which board game went on sale first?
Monopoly
Parker Brothers began selling Monopoly in November 1935; Scrabble was trademarked in 1948 and Clue arrived in 1949.
Q 20Which sportswear company came first?
Puma
Rudolf Dassler founded Puma in 1948 after splitting with his brother Adi, whose Adidas was registered in 1949.
The London Underground
The Metropolitan Railway opened in January 1863 as the world's first underground passenger railway.
Q 25All from 1961. Which came first?
The Peace Corps
Kennedy signed the Peace Corps into being on March 1, 1961; Gagarin flew in April and the Wall went up in August.
Q 26Which company came first?
Amazon
Jeff Bezos founded Amazon as 'Cadabra' in July 1994; eBay followed in 1995 and Google in 1998.
Q 27Which launched first?
TheFacebook went live on February 4, 2004; Gmail launched that April Fools' Day and YouTube a year later.
Q 28Which was built first?
Stonehenge
Stonehenge's earliest earthworks date to about 3100 BC, some five centuries before the Great Pyramid.
Q 29Which sporting event came first?
Wimbledon
Wimbledon has run since 1877; the Stanley Cup was first awarded in 1893 and the World Series in 1903.
Q 30Which award came first?
The Nobel Prize
The first Nobel Prizes were handed out in 1901; the Pulitzers began in 1917 and the Oscars in 1929.