Trivia quiz
The Big Bang Theory Trivia
30 questions and answers: 9 easy, 12 medium, and 9 hard.
Twelve seasons of physics jokes, comic book debates, and stair-climbing conversations in Pasadena. This quiz starts with the basics every viewer knows, then works up through Penny Blossoms, Froot Loops, and the deep cuts only a true Big Bang Theory superfan will catch.
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 The Big Bang Theory character guides.
The Big Bang Theory trivia questions and answers
Score: 0 / 0 answeredof 30 questions
- Question 1Easy
Where does Penny wait tables for most of the early seasons?
Show the answer
Answer: D. The Cheesecake Factory
Penny works at The Cheesecake Factory, where the guys are such regulars that it becomes their second living room; in The Grasshopper Experiment she also picks up bartending shifts for extra cash.
Character guide: Penny
- Question 2Easy
What word does Sheldon shout to reveal he has just pulled a joke or prank?
Show the answer
Answer: B. Bazinga!
Bazinga! became Sheldon's signature, and it caught on so widely that Warner Bros. registered it as a trademark.
Character guide: Sheldon Cooper
- Question 3Easy
At which university do Sheldon, Leonard, and Raj work as scientists?
Show the answer
Answer: B. Caltech
All three are researchers at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, which is also where Howard works as an engineer.
Character guides: Sheldon Cooper, Leonard Hofstadter, Raj Koothrappali
- Question 4Easy
Which band wrote and performs The Big Bang Theory's speedy theme song?
Show the answer
Answer: A. Barenaked Ladies
The Canadian band Barenaked Ladies wrote the theme, which races through the history of the universe from the big bang onward.
- Question 5Easy
Which song does Sheldon insist on hearing when he is sick?
Show the answer
Answer: C. Soft Kitty
Sheldon says his mother sang Soft Kitty to him whenever he was ill, and over the years Penny, Leonard, and Amy all get roped into singing it.
Character guides: Sheldon Cooper, Penny
- Question 6Easy
In the early seasons, what does Raj need before he can talk to women?
Show the answer
Answer: D. Alcohol
Raj is struck silent around women from the Pilot on, and The Grasshopper Experiment reveals that a drink or two gets him talking, often far too much.
Episode: Season 1, Episode 8, "The Grasshopper Experiment"
Character guide: Raj Koothrappali
- Question 7Easy
What career is Penny chasing when she moves in across the hall in the Pilot?
Show the answer
Answer: A. Acting
Penny is an aspiring actress who pays the bills as a waitress between auditions, a dream she chases for years before switching careers.
Episode: Season 1, Episode 1, "Pilot"
Character guide: Penny
- Question 8Easy
How many times does Sheldon knock and say a person's name before they open the door?
Show the answer
Answer: D. Three
The knock, knock, knock, Penny routine always comes in threes, and The Hot Tub Contamination traces the habit back to an awkward moment from Sheldon's childhood.
Character guides: Sheldon Cooper, Penny
- Question 9Easy
What is Howard Wolowitz's profession?
Show the answer
Answer: B. Aerospace engineer
Howard builds hardware for space missions, including a zero-gravity toilet in The Classified Materials Turbulence, and he eventually rides a rocket to the International Space Station himself.
Character guide: Howard Wolowitz
- Question 10Medium
Which two friends secretly create the dating profile that matches Sheldon with Amy?
Show the answer
Answer: A. Howard and Raj
In the season 3 finale, The Lunar Excitation, Howard and Raj sign Sheldon up behind his back, and the site pairs him with Amy Farrah Fowler, played by Mayim Bialik.
Episode: Season 3, Episode 23, "The Lunar Excitation"
Character guides: Sheldon Cooper, Amy Farrah Fowler, Howard Wolowitz
- Question 11Medium
Which two options does Sheldon add to rock, paper, scissors?
Show the answer
Answer: C. Lizard and Spock
Sheldon and Raj play the expanded game in The Lizard-Spock Expansion, with Sheldon rattling off the full chain of what beats what.
Episode: Season 2, Episode 8, "The Lizard-Spock Expansion"
Character guides: Sheldon Cooper, Raj Koothrappali
- Question 12Medium
What does Penny call the homemade hair barrettes she tries to sell?
Show the answer
Answer: A. Penny Blossoms
In The Work Song Nanocluster, Sheldon turns the apartment into an assembly line, and a rush order for a thousand barrettes keeps the whole gang up all night.
Episode: Season 2, Episode 18, "The Work Song Nanocluster"
Character guides: Penny, Sheldon Cooper
- Question 13Medium
Which instrument does Leonard play?
Show the answer
Answer: B. Cello
In The Hamburger Postulate, Leslie Winkle recruits Leonard to play cello in her string quartet. The theremin belongs to Sheldon, and the harp to Amy.
Episode: Season 1, Episode 5, "The Hamburger Postulate"
Character guide: Leonard Hofstadter
- Question 14Medium
What is Amy Farrah Fowler's scientific field?
Show the answer
Answer: C. Neurobiology
Amy holds a doctorate in neurobiology and studies addiction in animals, and Mayim Bialik has a real Ph.D. in neuroscience. Bernadette is the gang's microbiologist.
Character guides: Amy Farrah Fowler, Bernadette Rostenkowski
- Question 15Medium
In season 8, what job does Bernadette help Penny land at her company?
Show the answer
Answer: A. Pharmaceutical sales rep
In The Locomotion Interruption, Penny bombs the interview but gets hired anyway after bonding with the interviewer over a shared fear of Bernadette.
Episode: Season 8, Episode 1, "The Locomotion Interruption"
Character guides: Penny, Bernadette Rostenkowski
- Question 16Medium
What unwanted nickname do Howard's fellow astronauts give him?
Show the answer
Answer: C. Froot Loops
Howard was angling for Rocket Man, but in The Friendship Contraction his mother hollers about his soggy Froot Loops during a call with NASA, and the name sticks.
Episode: Season 5, Episode 15, "The Friendship Contraction"
Character guide: Howard Wolowitz
- Question 17Medium
In his first episode, The Hofstadter Isotope, whom does comic store owner Stuart ask out?
Show the answer
Answer: D. Penny
Leonard's jealousy flares, and the date ends with Sheldon dragging Stuart into a long argument over who should take over as Batman after Bruce Wayne.
Episode: Season 2, Episode 20, "The Hofstadter Isotope"
Character guides: Stuart Bloom, Penny, Leonard Hofstadter
- Question 18Medium
Which Star Trek actor, playing himself, becomes Sheldon's sworn enemy?
Show the answer
Answer: A. Wil Wheaton
Sheldon has held a grudge since childhood, and in The Creepy Candy Coating Corollary the two face off at a card game tournament.
Episode: Season 3, Episode 5, "The Creepy Candy Coating Corollary"
Character guide: Sheldon Cooper
- Question 19Medium
Which famous thought experiment does Sheldon use to explain Leonard and Penny's first date?
Show the answer
Answer: D. Schrödinger's cat
In The Tangerine Factor, Sheldon argues the date is both good and bad until it happens; Leonard opens the box with a kiss, and Penny declares the cat alive.
Episode: Season 1, Episode 17, "The Tangerine Factor"
Character guides: Leonard Hofstadter, Penny, Sheldon Cooper
- Question 20Medium
In which city do Leonard and Penny elope?
Show the answer
Answer: D. Las Vegas
In The Matrimonial Momentum, the couple ties the knot in Vegas and livestreams the vows to their friends back home, then holds a second ceremony for their families when season 10 begins.
Episode: Season 9, Episode 1, "The Matrimonial Momentum"
Character guides: Leonard Hofstadter, Penny
- Question 21Medium
What do Howard and Bernadette name their first child?
Show the answer
Answer: B. Halley
Halley arrives in The Birthday Synchronicity while the gang waits in the hospital lobby, and her parents cheer up a gloomy Raj by naming him her godfather.
Episode: Season 10, Episode 11, "The Birthday Synchronicity"
Character guides: Howard Wolowitz, Bernadette Rostenkowski, Raj Koothrappali
- Question 22Hard
According to The Staircase Implementation, why is the apartment building's elevator broken?
Show the answer
Answer: C. Leonard's rocket fuel experiment
Soon after moving in, Leonard ignores Sheldon's warning about a fuel formula, and the result takes out the elevator, which is why so many scenes happen on the stairs.
Episode: Season 3, Episode 22, "The Staircase Implementation"
Character guides: Leonard Hofstadter, Sheldon Cooper
- Question 23Hard
What IQ does Sheldon claim to have?
Show the answer
Answer: C. 187
He tells Penny the number in The Pancake Batter Anomaly, though he also insists ordinary tests cannot really measure him.
Episode: Season 1, Episode 11, "The Pancake Batter Anomaly"
Character guide: Sheldon Cooper
- Question 24Hard
What is Howard's highest degree, the one that sets him apart from his doctorate-holding friends?
Show the answer
Answer: A. A master's from MIT
Howard is the only one of the original four without a Ph.D., a gap Sheldon rarely lets him forget.
Character guide: Howard Wolowitz
- Question 25Hard
Who voiced Howard's mostly offscreen mother, Debbie Wolowitz?
Show the answer
Answer: B. Carol Ann Susi
Mrs. Wolowitz is usually heard shouting from another room; after Susi died, the show wrote the character's death into The Comic Book Store Regeneration.
Character guide: Howard Wolowitz
- Question 26Hard
Johnny Galecki and Laurie Metcalf, who plays Sheldon's mother, previously worked together on which sitcom?
Show the answer
Answer: B. Roseanne
Several Big Bang Theory actors are Roseanne alumni, including Sara Gilbert, who plays Leslie Winkle.
Character guides: Leonard Hofstadter, Sheldon Cooper
- Question 27Hard
Who officiates Sheldon and Amy's wedding in The Bow Tie Asymmetry?
Show the answer
Answer: A. Mark Hamill
Hamill steps in for Wil Wheaton as a favor to Howard, who had returned the Star Wars actor's lost dog.
Episode: Season 11, Episode 24, "The Bow Tie Asymmetry"
Character guides: Sheldon Cooper, Amy Farrah Fowler, Howard Wolowitz
- Question 28Hard
What gift from Sheldon sends Amy over the moon in The Shiny Trinket Maneuver?
Show the answer
Answer: B. A tiara
Penny helps Sheldon shop for it after he upsets Amy, and her ecstatic reaction leaves him thoroughly confused.
Episode: Season 5, Episode 12, "The Shiny Trinket Maneuver"
Character guides: Sheldon Cooper, Amy Farrah Fowler, Penny
- Question 29Hard
In the season 7 finale, The Status Quo Combustion, what happens to Stuart's comic book store?
Show the answer
Answer: D. It burns down
The fire is the last straw for change-averse Sheldon, who boards a train out of town, while Stuart eventually rebuilds and reopens the shop.
Episode: Season 7, Episode 24, "The Status Quo Combustion"
Character guides: Stuart Bloom, Sheldon Cooper
- Question 30Hard
Sheldon and Amy win the Nobel Prize in Physics for which theory?
Show the answer
Answer: C. Super-asymmetry
A crooked bow tie at their wedding sparks the idea, and the finale, The Stockholm Syndrome, takes the whole gang to Sweden for the ceremony.
Episode: Season 12, Episode 24, "The Stockholm Syndrome"
Character guides: Sheldon Cooper, Amy Farrah Fowler
Know The Big Bang Theory inside out? Put it to the test in today's mystery character game.
Play today's SitcomdleMore The Big Bang Theory
More sitcom trivia
Quizzes from other CBS sitcoms and shows from the same era.