History Quiz is a free online history quiz game you can play in your browser with no download and no account. Each round gives you eight clues — who was there, what they did, where it happened — and asks which moment of history it describes, with four events to choose from: the pyramids and the founding of Rome, Mansa Musa's pilgrimage and the Battle of Bạch Đằng, the Meiji Restoration and the fall of the Berlin Wall. After every answer the game shows the date, the part of the world and one more fact. Eight levels get harder in a way you can feel: on early levels the wrong answers come from another era and another part of the world, while on the last level all four come from the same era in the same region. A second mode, Which came first?, sets two events from different continents side by side and asks which happened earlier. All 241 events cover Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, the Middle East and Europe in every era, and every clue was written for this game.
How to play History Quiz
- Choose a mode at the top: Name the event (eight levels) or Which came first? (practice rounds with a best score).
- In Name the event, read the clue on the card — who was there and what happened, never the event's name — and pick it from the four events: tap one, or press 1-4 or A-D.
- After each pick the right answer lights up green, and underneath you get its date, the part of the world it happened in and one more fact about it.
- Press Next clue (or Enter) to move on. A round is eight clues; the dots along the bottom show which you got right.
- Get at least 4 of 8 right to open the next level, the level's mark for two stars, and all eight for three stars.
- In Which came first?, two events from different parts of the world sit side by side; pick the one that happened earlier, then see both dates.
Tips
- Place the clue in time first. Pharaohs, legions and dynasties of China point to the ancient world; caliphs, crusaders and Mongols to the Middle Ages; galleons, shoguns and Mughal emperors to the 1500s-1700s; railways, steamships and colonial treaties to the 1800s.
- Then ask where it happened: the Nile, the Andes, the Red River, the Tigris and the Thames each narrow it to one part of the world. On early levels the wrong answers come from another era and another region, so either question usually leaves one answer.
- From level 5 on the wrong answers share the era or the region, and by level 8 they share both. Then the names in the clue — a ruler, a river, a city — decide it.
- Dates marked "c." are approximate: historians give a range for them, so Which came first? only pairs events whose order is not in doubt.
- Read the fact after each answer: the same rulers and cities come back, and a timeline in your head is the fastest way into Which came first?.
FAQ
Is History Quiz free to play?
Yes. History Quiz is free to play online in your browser, with no download, no account and no in-game purchases.
Which parts of history are in the quiz?
There are 241 events, from the first cuneiform writing in Sumer (c. 3200 BCE) to euro notes and coins in 2002, spread over five parts of the world — Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, the Middle East and Europe — and six eras, with every region covered in every era. It includes moments such as the founding of Carthage, the Trưng Sisters' uprising, Great Zimbabwe, the Inca Empire, the Meiji Restoration and the independence of Ghana, Bangladesh and Vietnam.
How accurate are the dates and facts?
The quiz sticks to facts historians agree on: dates, places, people and what happened. Where a date is an estimate it is marked "c.", years before the Common Era are written BCE, and nothing in the quiz rests on casualty figures, record claims or questions that are argued over today. Every clue and fact was written for this game.
What makes the later levels harder?
The wrong answers. On level 1 they come from another era and another part of the world, so an ancient Egyptian clue can sit next to a medieval Japanese, a 1800s American and a modern European event. By level 8 all four come from the same era in the same region. Measured on 1,000 rounds per level, a player who knows only the era of each event or only where it happened gets all eight right on level 1 but about two of eight on level 8.
How do stars work?
Four right out of eight passes a level and opens the next one. Two stars need the level's own mark, which is one more than that era-or-region guesser's usual score there — 7 on the first levels, 3 on the last. Three stars need all eight.
What is Which came first?
A second mode: two events from different parts of the world appear side by side, and you pick the earlier one. The two are always at least 10 years apart, even allowing for the margin on an approximate date, and never more than 100, so the answer is never in doubt but rarely obvious. It plays in rounds of eight pairs with a best score.
Will I see the same events again?
Each new round steers around the last 48 events you were asked, so repeats only come back once you have played through much of the list. Playing a level again deals a different round.
Does History Quiz work on mobile?
Yes. Tap an answer on a phone or tablet; on a computer you can also play with the keyboard, using 1-4 or A-D to pick and Enter for the next clue.