103 Fun 80s Trivia Questions and Answers
The 1980s had a lot of iconic moments in film, music, and television.
It would be fun to think back on your fondest memories from a memorable decade as you read these 1980s trivia questions and answers.
Purple rain and moonwalking were widespread during this time.
Technology was advancing quickly, as evidenced by the introduction of new laptops and gaming consoles.
Our 80s trivia questions and answers will touch on a range of such topics, including pop culture, music, and film.
Enjoy this amazing collection of 80s trivia questions and answers.
General 80s Trivia Questions and Answers
The 1980s had some very noteworthy events and colorful moments, what do you believe you remember about that time period? Time to find out in this 80s trivia quiz.
1. What kids accessory took the 1980’s by storm?
Answer: Swatch watches.
2. What year was the Berlin Wall torn down?
Answer: 1989.
3. Which video game was the most popular video game of the 1980s?
Answer: Mario Bros.
4. What underwear designer is synonymous with the 1980’s?
Answer: Calvin Klein.
5. Where were the 1980 Olympic Games held?
Answer: Moscow, Russia.
6. What photographic device was introduced to the world in 1986?
Answer: The Fuji QuickSnap – the world’s first disposable camera.
7. 80s kids will remember the VHS – but what does it stand for?
Answer: Video Home System.
8. What is the name of the ancient Chinese toy that had a new lease of life in the 1980’s?
Answer: The Hacky Sack – it dates back to 3000 BC!
9. Which computer sold in the 1980’s still holds the Guinness World Record for the highest-selling computer of all time?
Answer: The Commodore 64.
10. What is the name of the incredibly popular range of dolls introduced in the 1980’s?
Answer: Cabbage Patch Kids.
11. CD players first appeared in 1982 – but what does CD actually stand for?
Answer: Compact Disc.
12. Which advertising slogan was launched by Nike in 1988?
Answer: ‘Just Do It’.
13. Where was the 1986 World Cup held?
Answer: Mexico City.
14. What is the name of the 1980 smash musical that originally started out being sung in French, and then was translated into English?
Answer: Les Miserables.
15. What were you likely to have stored your make-up in during the 1980’s?
Answer: A Caboodle.
16. Which volcano, found in the US state of Washington, erupted in 1989?
Answer: Mount St Helens.
17. Which infamous ship which sank in 1912 was found in 1985?
Answer: The Titanic.
18. Which shoe had a resurgence in the 1980’s?
Answer: The Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star.
19. Who was synonymous with workout videos during the 1980’s?
Answer: Jane Fonda.
20. Which country had the first Disneyland to be built outside of the US, and in what year?
Answer: Japan, in 1983.
21. What won the Tony for the best musical in 1980?
Answer: Evita.
22. What happened in Ukraine in 1986?
Answer: The Chernobyl Disaster.
80s Trivia Questions and Answers about Music
What a great musical decade! The 1980s provided us with so many fantastic genres like Punk and RnB. How much can you remember? Let’s check with these 80s music trivia questions and answers!
1. Who had their first number 1 single with the song ‘Rich Girl’?
Answer: Hall & Oates.
2. What is the name of the iconic 1987 Rick Astley song?
Answer: Never Gonna Give You Up.
3. Which song by Billy Joel featured over 100 different headlines from 1949 to 1989?
Answer: We Didn’t Start The Fire.
4. Which chart-topping artist finalised a divorce with Sean Penn in 1987?
Answer: Madonna.
5. Which famous Jamaican singer passed away in 1981?
Answer: Bob Marley.
6. Which musician was ‘Addicted to Love’?
Answer: Robert Palmer.
7. Who was the first female artist to sell over 5 million copies of her album?
Answer: Madonna, with her album ‘Like A Virgin’.
8. Where does the group A-ha come from?
Answer: Norway.
9. What is the name of Whitney Houston’s first platinum-selling single?
Answer: I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me).
10. Which US musician wrote the smash hit ‘Manic Monday’, made famous by the Bangles?
Answer: Prince.
11. What is the name of the 1981 chart-topping single by Journey?
Answer: Don’t Stop Believin’.
12. What was Jenny’s phone number, as sung in the hugely popular 1980’s song?
Answer: 867-5309.
13. Who played the guitar solo in Michael Jackson’s song ‘Beat It’?
Answer: Eddie Van Halen.
14. Which artist had a 1983 tour called the ‘Serious Moonlight Tour’?
Answer: David Bowie.
15. Who had a number 1 film, a number 1 album, and a number 1 single simultaneously in 1984?
Answer: Prince.
16. Which artists had a number 1 hit song in 1982, called ‘Ebony & Ivory’?
Answer: Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder.
17. Who did Bruce Springsteen get to dance onstage with him in his 1984 music video for ‘Dancing in the Dark’?
Answer: Courtney Cox.
18. Who had a breakthrough hit in 1983 with the song ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’?
Answer: Cyndi Lauper.
19. Dire Straits’ song ‘Money For Nothing’, first released in 1985, features backing vocals from which iconic singer?
Answer: Sting.
20. Which iconic music product was released by Sony in 1980?
Answer: The Walkman.
21. Which Blondie song featured in the movie American Gigolo?
Answer: Call Me.
22. Which 1982 album was one of the best-selling albums of all time?
Answer: Thriller by Michael Jackson.
80s Trivia Questions and Answers about Movies
The 80s. Big hair, gnarly music, and cool movies! At the time, blockbusters ruled. Star Wars popularity increased cinema franchises in the 80s. Let’s feel nostalgic and read these 80s movie trivia questions and answers!
1. Where is the movie Die Hard set?
Answer: In a skyscraper in Los Angeles.
2. What was the name of Patrick Swayze’s character in the 1987 movie Dirty Dancing?
Answer: Johnny Castle.
3. Which comedy-drama film features a group of high-schoolers spending detention together?
Answer: The Breakfast Club.
4. In the movie ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit?’, what was Roger Rabbit’s wife called?
Answer: Jessica Rabbit.
5. Which film features creatures that should never be fed after midnight?
Answer: Gremlins.
6. What is the name of the hotel that Jack Nicholson becomes the caretaker of in the 1980 movie The Shining?
Answer: The Overlook Hotel.
7. Which smash hit film featured Dan Ackroyd, Bill Murray, and Harold Ramis?
Answer: Ghostbusters.
8. What is the name of the film that features Charlie and Raymond Babbitt going on a road trip?
Answer: Rain Man.
9. ‘What a Feeling’ is a song in which musical movie of the 80s?
Answer: Flashdance.
10. What sort of car is used as a time machine in Back to the Future?
Answer: DeLorean.
11. Freddy Krueger is the name of villain in which 1980’s movie series?
Answer: Nightmare On Elm Street.
12. What was the name of the boxer that Robert DeNiro played and what was the name of the film?
Answer: Jake LaMotta, in Raging Bull.
13. Which confectionary product was made famous by E.T.?
Answer: Reese’s Pieces.
14. Who directed E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial?
Answer: Steven Spielberg.
15. What 1988 movie featured Matt Damon’s first speaking role, and was Julia Robert’s big break?
Answer: Mystic Pizza.
16. What is the name of the car in Knight Rider?
Answer: KITT.
17. Which Austrian bodybuilder had his first big break in 1982, and what was the name of the film?
Answer: Arnold Schwarznegger, appearing in Conan the Barbarian.
18. ‘Buffy’ was the original name for which iconic Star Wars character?
Answer: Yoda.
19. Which actor played Tony Montana in Scarface?
Answer: Al Pacino.
20. Which actor first appeared as James Bond in 1987?
Answer: Timothy Dalton, in The Living Daylights.
21. Who directed the Shinning?
Answer: Stanley Kubrick.
22. In which 80s movie can you see William Zabka, Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita?
Answer: The Karate Kid.
80s Trivia Questions and Answers about Pop Culture
The 1980s gave rise to some of pop culture’s finest achievements. You’ll be transported back to an era of vivid colors with the help of these 80s pop culture trivia questions and answers.
1. Who was the first AI television host in 1984?
Answer: Max Headroom.
2. Madison Square Garden held this first staged wrestling event on March 31, 1985. What was it?
Answer: WrestleMania.
3. Betty White was a star of which 80s show?
Answer: The Golden Girls.
4. Which softer, sculpted dolls were sometimes originally referred to as “The Little People” in the 1980s?
Answer: The Cabbage Patch Kids.
5. What colour is the Energizer Bunny?
Answer: Pink.
6. What type of candy became popular because of E.T.?
Answer: Reese’s Pieces.
7. A best-selling book in 1981 explained how to crack the code of which puzzle?
Answer: The Rubik’s Cube.
8. Which sci-fi movie did NOT come out in the 1980s?
Answer: Alien.
9. Which Swiss watchmaker founded in 1983 by Ernst Thomke?
Answer: Swatch.
10. Eddie Murphy became a member of the cast for which comedy series in 1980?
Answer: Saturday Night Live.
11. John Landis directed which iconic Michael Jackson music video in the 1980s?
Answer: Thriller.
12. What top was Freddie Mercury wearing at Live Aid?
Answer: A white tank top.
13. Which smash-hit TV show of the ‘80s starred a character named “Hawkeye”?
Answer: “M*A*S*H”.
14. Which Nintendo product was launched in Japan on 21 April, 1989?
Answer: The Game Boy.
15. Which country is the car brand AMG from?
Answer: Germany.
16. In which country was Nintendo founded?
Answer: Japan.
17. In The Fox and the Hound, what animal is Tod?
Answer: A fox.
18. “Norm” was a character in which major TV hit?
Answer: “Cheers”.
19. Who directed Star Wars Return of the Jedi?
Answer: George Lucas.
20. What renowned Sony product became famous in the ’80s?
Answer: Portable Cassette Player.
21. In the ’80s, actress Betty White was a star of which show?
Answer: “The Golden Girls”.
80s Trivia Questions Multiple Choice
If you really want to be competitive, give this multiple-choice quiz to your friends and family and see who performs the best. Take a look at these 80s trivia questions multiple choice!
1. Which is the only cult classic movie featuring Harrison Ford that wasn’t released in the 80’s?
A. Blade Runner
B. Apocalypse Now
C. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
Answer: B.
2. Who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the 1980s?
A. Tony Blair
B. Margaret Thatcher
C. James Callaghan
Answer: B.
3. Which child actor rose to stardom in a 1982 Spielberg film about an unfortunate alien that gets stranded on earth?
A. Corey Haim
B. Sean Astin
C. Drew Barrymore
Answer: C.
4. When did Prince Charles marry Diana Spencer?
A. 1985
B. 1981
C. 1988
Answer: B.
5. Which of these Star Wars movies was released in the 80’s?
A. The Return of the Jedi
B. The Phantom Menace
C. A New Hope
Answer: A.
6. What was Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative nicknamed?
A. Pearl Harbor
B. Star Wars
C. Moon Plan
Answer: B.
7. In what year did the Berlin Wall fall, heralding the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991?
A. 1986
B. 1989
C. 1987
Answer: B.
8. Which of these famous players isn’t one of the top ten NBA Players of the 80s?
A. Julius Erving
B. Vince Carter
C. Michael Jordan
Answer: B.
9. The first US female supreme court justice was appointed in 1981. Who was she?
A. Hillary Clinton
B. Barbara Boxer
C. Sandra Day O’Connor
Answer: C.
10. What is the name of the princess who is kidnapped by the evil Bowser in multiple Mario video games?
A. Peach
B. Apple
C. Strawberry
Answer: A.
11. When was the first Back to the Future movie released?
A. 1980
B. 1985
C. 1988
Answer: B.
12. The 1988 hit song “Waiting for a Star to Fall” was written by Boy Meets Girl after seeing a falling star at which iconic 80s singer’s concert?
A. Madonna
B. Whitney Houston
C. Kate Bush
Answer: B.
13. Which discovery was announced on May 16, 1985?
A. Ozone Hole
B. Penicillin
C. DNA
Answer: A.
14. Which game was released on May 22, 1980?
A. Breakout
B. Tetris
C. Pac-Man
Answer: C.
15. In Back to the Future (1985), which year do Marty and Doc end up in when they travel back in time?
A. 1952
B. 1955
C. 1957
Answer: B.
16. Who is credited with the invention of the Internet in 1989?
A. Tim Berners-Lee
B. Bill Gates
C. Steve Jobs
Answer: A.
Final Thoughts
So did you put on your nostalgia hat and tried this blast from the past?
These 1980s trivia questions and answers are sure to keep you, your family, and your friends entertained for hours, regardless of whether you were born during that decade or are just a fan.
Reliving the era and traveling down memory lane is enjoyable for everyone!
We hope this material was enough for an 80’s inspired trivia night! Keep having fun!
