Trivia quiz
How I Met Your Mother Trivia
30 questions and answers: 9 easy, 12 medium, and 9 hard.
Kids, this is the story of how well you know How I Met Your Mother. Grab a booth at the bar and test yourself on Barney's schemes, Robin's secret past, the slap bet, the long road to the yellow umbrella, and a few behind-the-scenes facts. It is going to be legen, wait for it, dary.
Tap a choice to lock in your answer and see the explanation, or open any answer below to check it. Questions run from easy to hard, and every answer links to the How I Met Your Mother character guides.
How I Met Your Mother trivia questions and answers
Score: 0 / 0 answeredof 30 questions
- Question 1Easy
What is the name of the bar where the gang hangs out?
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Answer: D. MacLaren's
MacLaren's Pub is the gang's home base, and the creators loosely modeled it on real New York bars they loved, including McGee's in Midtown.
Character guides: Ted Mosby, Barney Stinson
- Question 2Easy
What does Barney tell his friends to do before a big night out?
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Answer: B. Suit up
"Suit up!" is Barney's signature rallying cry, and he is almost never seen without a suit himself.
Character guide: Barney Stinson
- Question 3Easy
What is Ted Mosby's profession?
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Answer: C. Architect
Ted is an architect who dreams of adding a building to the New York skyline, and he keeps reminding everyone of it.
Character guide: Ted Mosby
- Question 4Easy
What does Lily do for a living for most of the series?
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Answer: D. Kindergarten teacher
Lily teaches kindergarten while quietly wondering whether she gave up on painting too soon, a doubt that shapes the end of season one.
Character guide: Lily Aldrin
- Question 5Easy
Under what stage name was Robin a teen pop star in Canada?
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Answer: D. Robin Sparkles
Barney finally digs up the Robin Sparkles music video in "Slap Bet," and the gang never lets her forget it.
Episode: Season 2, Episode 9, "Slap Bet"
Character guide: Robin Scherbatsky
- Question 6Easy
What does Ted steal for Robin from the restaurant where they had their first date?
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Answer: C. A blue French horn
In the "Pilot," Ted swipes the horn Robin admired at dinner and brings it to her door, then blows the moment by admitting he is in love with her.
Episode: Season 1, Episode 1, "Pilot"
Character guides: Ted Mosby, Robin Scherbatsky
- Question 7Easy
Who provides the voice of Future Ted, the narrator telling the story to his kids?
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Answer: C. Bob Saget
Josh Radnor plays Ted on screen, while Bob Saget narrates as the older Ted looking back from the future.
Character guide: Ted Mosby
- Question 8Easy
Which country is Robin Scherbatsky from?
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Answer: A. Canada
Robin grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia, and her friends never stop teasing her about it. She is also a devoted Vancouver Canucks fan.
Character guide: Robin Scherbatsky
- Question 9Easy
Which state is Marshall Eriksen originally from?
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Answer: B. Minnesota
Marshall is a proud Minnesotan whose family home is in St. Cloud, and his big, rowdy family shows up throughout the series.
Character guide: Marshall Eriksen
- Question 10Medium
After losing the slap bet, how many slaps does Barney agree to take at any time Marshall chooses?
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Answer: D. Five
In "Slap Bet," Lily, acting as Slap Bet Commissioner, offers Barney a deal: take ten slaps on the spot, or five that Marshall can deliver whenever he likes. Barney goes with five.
Episode: Season 2, Episode 9, "Slap Bet"
Character guides: Barney Stinson, Marshall Eriksen
- Question 11Medium
Which item is the best-known clue to the Mother's identity long before she appears?
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Answer: A. A yellow umbrella
Ted once owned the Mother's yellow umbrella without knowing it, and it becomes the signature symbol of her story.
Character guides: Tracy McConnell, Ted Mosby
- Question 12Medium
Who leaves Ted at the altar in season four?
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Answer: B. Stella
In "Shelter Island," Stella runs off with her ex, Tony, the father of her daughter, on the day she was supposed to marry Ted.
Episode: Season 4, Episode 5, "Shelter Island"
Character guide: Ted Mosby
- Question 13Medium
What one-word answer does Barney give whenever someone asks what he does for a living?
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Answer: A. Please
For years it sounds like a dismissive brush-off. The payoff comes in the final season, when "Please" turns out to be his actual job title.
Character guide: Barney Stinson
- Question 14Medium
What do Marshall and Lily name their first son?
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Answer: B. Marvin
Marvin is named for Marshall's late father, and he arrives in the season seven finale while Marshall races home from Atlantic City.
Episode: Season 7, Episode 23, "The Magician's Code"
Character guides: Marshall Eriksen, Lily Aldrin
- Question 15Medium
Which actor plays Barney's father, Jerome Whittaker?
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Answer: B. John Lithgow
Barney grew up thinking Jerome was his uncle. They finally meet as father and son in "Legendaddy."
Episode: Season 6, Episode 19, "Legendaddy"
Character guide: Barney Stinson
- Question 16Medium
What new career does Ted take on in the season four finale, "The Leap"?
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Answer: A. Architecture professor
"The Leap" ends with Ted facing his first class as a professor, and Future Ted says the Mother is in the room. It later turns out he walked into an economics class by mistake.
Episode: Season 4, Episode 24, "The Leap"
Character guide: Ted Mosby
- Question 17Medium
Which city does Lily leave for at the end of season one to pursue an art fellowship?
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Answer: B. San Francisco
In "Come On," Marshall learns Lily has been accepted to a San Francisco art program, and the season ends with her leaving him to pursue it.
Episode: Season 1, Episode 22, "Come On"
Character guides: Lily Aldrin, Marshall Eriksen
- Question 18Medium
Where is the Mother headed when her face is shown for the first time?
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Answer: A. Farhampton
The season eight finale, "Something New," ends with the Mother buying a train ticket to Farhampton, site of Barney and Robin's wedding.
Episode: Season 8, Episode 24, "Something New"
Character guide: Tracy McConnell
- Question 19Medium
Which instrument does the Mother play in her band?
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Answer: C. Bass guitar
The Mother plays bass in the band booked for Barney and Robin's wedding reception, which is how she ends up in Farhampton.
Episode: Season 9, Episode 13, "Bass Player Wanted"
Character guide: Tracy McConnell
- Question 20Medium
What are the names of Ted's two children?
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Answer: A. Penny and Luke
Penny and Luke are the kids sitting on the couch listening to Future Ted's very long story.
Character guides: Ted Mosby, Tracy McConnell
- Question 21Medium
Whose wedding weekend does nearly all of the final season take place over?
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Answer: D. Barney and Robin's
Apart from the 200th episode and the finale, season nine covers the roughly 56 hours before the wedding in Farhampton, with the vows arriving in "The End of the Aisle."
Character guides: Barney Stinson, Robin Scherbatsky
- Question 22Hard
What do the gang call the Thanksgiving built around Marshall's countdown to his next slap?
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Answer: D. Slapsgiving
In "Slapsgiving," Marshall torments Barney with a countdown clock, and the name becomes a tradition with two sequels.
Episode: Season 3, Episode 9, "Slapsgiving"
Character guides: Marshall Eriksen, Barney Stinson
- Question 23Hard
Before playing the Mother, Cristin Milioti starred in which Broadway musical?
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Answer: B. Once
The creators cast Milioti after seeing her in Once and on 30 Rock, and being a real musician helped, since the Mother was always described as being in a band.
Character guide: Tracy McConnell
- Question 24Hard
Which episode, the show's 200th, tells the Mother's own story leading up to meeting Ted?
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Answer: A. How Your Mother Met Me
"How Your Mother Met Me" covers the eight years before she meets Ted and shows how often their paths nearly crossed.
Episode: Season 9, Episode 16, "How Your Mother Met Me"
Character guide: Tracy McConnell
- Question 25Hard
What does PLEASE, Barney's secret job title, stand for?
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Answer: B. Provide Legal Exculpation And Sign Everything
In "Unpause," a very drunk Barney finally explains that his job is to sign shady documents and take the fall if things go wrong.
Episode: Season 9, Episode 15, "Unpause"
Character guide: Barney Stinson
- Question 26Hard
What is the name of Robin Sparkles's big hit song?
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Answer: C. Let's Go to the Mall
A long mall tour promoting the song is why Robin avoids malls, and "Slap Bet" closes with everyone but Robin dancing along to the music video.
Episode: Season 2, Episode 9, "Slap Bet"
Character guide: Robin Scherbatsky
- Question 27Hard
Which actor plays Barney's half-brother, James?
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Answer: D. Wayne Brady
James is Barney's half-brother on their mother's side. He is married to a man, and the couple adopt two children.
Character guide: Barney Stinson
- Question 28Hard
At which university did Ted, Marshall, and Lily meet?
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Answer: C. Wesleyan
Marshall met Ted and Lily as freshmen at Wesleyan University, where Ted was his very first roommate.
Character guides: Marshall Eriksen, Ted Mosby, Lily Aldrin
- Question 29Hard
Which Ohio community did Ted grow up in?
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Answer: A. Shaker Heights
Ted is from Shaker Heights, Ohio, which happens to be the real hometown of series co-creator Carter Bays.
Character guide: Ted Mosby
- Question 30Hard
What does a young Marshall call himself in the old video of him streaking across the Wesleyan campus?
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Answer: C. Beercules
In "The Naked Truth," Marshall panics that the Beercules video will cost him his dream job at an environmental law firm. His new boss sees it and hires him anyway.
Episode: Season 7, Episode 2, "The Naked Truth"
Character guide: Marshall Eriksen
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