150 free Boardwalk Empire trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Boardwalk Empire trivia quiz covers all five seasons of HBO's Prohibition-era drama, from the $18 million Martin Scorsese pilot in January 1920 to Nucky Thompson's final walk on the boardwalk in 1931. The easy questions are the ones any viewer will know: who plays Nucky, which city the show is set in, what Richard Harrow wears over his face and which Chicago gangster starts out as Johnny Torrio's driver. From there it digs into the season-by-season plot: the D'Alessio brothers, the Commodore's stroke, Emily's polio, the Irish whiskey deal, Gyp Rosetti's blockade at Tabor Heights, the Onyx Club, Agent Knox's real name, the Cuba rum scheme and the flashbacks to 1884 and 1897. There are production questions too, on the 300-foot boardwalk built in Brooklyn, the Brian Jonestown Massacre theme, the Grammy-winning soundtrack, the Emmys, and the real Enoch "Nucky" Johnson, the Atlantic City boss who inspired the character. Fans of period crime dramas may also like our Sopranos and Peaky Blinders quizzes. Every answer was checked against the encyclopaedia entries for the series, its seasons, its characters and its historical figures before publishing, and the supporting sentence is stored with each question.
30 of 150 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which actor plays Enoch "Nucky" Thompson in Boardwalk Empire?
Steve Buscemi
Scorsese suggested him after saying he wanted to work with the actor, whom Winter already knew from their earlier HBO work.
Q 02Where is Boardwalk Empire chiefly set?
Atlantic City, New Jersey
The 300-foot boardwalk set was actually built in an empty lot in Brooklyn.
Q 03Who created Boardwalk Empire?
Terence Winter
He had spent 2000 to 2007 writing for another HBO mob drama before creating this one.
Q 04Which famous film director directed the pilot episode of Boardwalk Empire?
Martin Scorsese
It was his first television directing since an episode of Amazing Stories in 1986, and he never directed another episode of the show.
Q 05How many seasons of Boardwalk Empire were made?
5
The run totalled 56 episodes between September 2010 and October 2014.
Q 06How many episodes of Boardwalk Empire aired in total?
56
Seasons one to four had 12 episodes each and the final season had eight.
Q 07What is Nucky Thompson's official job title in Atlantic County?
Treasurer
The real boss he is based on was county treasurer among many other posts.
Q 08On what real historical figure is Nucky Thompson loosely based?
Enoch L. Johnson
The real boss ran Atlantic City's political machine from the 1910s until his 1941 tax conviction.
Q 09Whose 2002 non-fiction book inspired the series?
Nelson Johnson
The author, a lawyer and later judge, began researching Atlantic City's past to understand why City Hall was so corrupt.
Q 10What is the subtitle of the book Boardwalk Empire that the show adapted?
The Birth, High Times, and Corruption of Atlantic City
The book became a New York Times bestseller after the show aired.
Q 11How much did the Boardwalk Empire pilot ultimately cost to make?
$18 million
Reports had put the budget at up to $50 million; a $5 million chunk went on the boardwalk set alone.
Q 12What year does the first season of Boardwalk Empire take place in?
1920
It runs from the start of national Prohibition in January to the presidential election that November.
Q 13Which band performs "Straight Up and Down", the show's opening theme?
The Brian Jonestown Massacre
Winter picked the anachronistic 1990s track to create a sense of the unexpected.
Q 21Which English actor plays the young Al Capone?
Stephen Graham
His Capone begins the show as a Chicago driver and ends it heading to court over his ledgers.
Q 22Which actor plays Albert "Chalky" White?
Michael Kenneth Williams
He was already famous as Omar Little on The Wire.
Q 23What is the name of Nucky's loyal German butler?
Eddie Kessler
The real Nucky Johnson had a Russian valet named Louis Kessel.
Q 24What does Richard Harrow wear to cover the war wound to his face?
Q 14Which actor plays Jimmy Darmody, Nucky's protégé who returns from World War I?
Michael Pitt
He was previously known for Murder by Numbers, The Dreamers and Dawson's Creek.
Q 15Which university did Jimmy Darmody leave to serve in the war?
Princeton
In season two he revisits the campus in a heroin haze and recalls how he met Angela there.
Q 16Who plays Margaret Schroeder, the widow who becomes Nucky's mistress and later wife?
Kelly Macdonald
She was Emmy-nominated for the role for the episode "Family Limitation".
Q 17Which actor plays Prohibition agent Nelson Van Alden?
Michael Shannon
He had just been Oscar-nominated for Revolutionary Road when he was cast.
Q 18What alias does Nelson Van Alden adopt while living as a fugitive in Chicago?
George Mueller
Under the name he sells irons door to door before becoming muscle for Dean O'Banion.
Q 19Who is Eli Thompson to Nucky?
His younger brother
Eli is sheriff of Atlantic County and has eight children with his wife June.
Q 20Which real gangster does Michael Stuhlbarg portray?
Arnold Rothstein
His character is a New York multimillionaire whose protégés include Luciano, Lansky and Siegel.
A tin mask
The mask is molded to mirror the intact right side of his face.
Q 25Who plays the disfigured sniper Richard Harrow?
Jack Huston
He is the grandson of director John Huston.
Q 26What was Richard Harrow's role in the US Army during World War I?
Sharpshooter
He lost his eye, upper jaw and most of his left cheekbone in the war.
Q 27In which state is Richard Harrow's home town of Plover, where his twin sister lives?
Wisconsin
His twin Emma, played by Katherine Waterston, cared for him while his wounds healed.
Q 28Who plays Gillian Darmody, Jimmy's mother?
Gretchen Mol
She recurred in season one before joining the main cast for seasons two to five.
Q 29Which mentor of Nucky's, called the Commodore, is played by Dabney Coleman?
Louis Kaestner
The character is loosely based on a real Atlantic City boss who preceded Nucky Johnson.
Q 30Owen Sleater, who has an affair with Margaret, is a volunteer for which organization?
The Irish Republican Army
Charlie Cox later played the character's near-opposite, Daredevil, for Marvel.