70 free Boy Scout trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
63 free Boy Scout trivia questions with answers. Scouting started with twenty-odd boys, a kudu horn and a week on an island in Poole Harbour in 1907. Within a decade it had crossed the Atlantic, been chartered by Congress and produced its first Eagle Scout. This quiz covers the whole movement: Robert Baden-Powell and the siege that made him famous, the London good turn that inspired the Boy Scouts of America, the Scout Oath and Law, ranks from Tenderfoot to Eagle, merit badges, Cub Scouts and the Pinewood Derby, the Order of the Arrow, Philmont, world jamborees, and the astronauts and presidents who earned Eagle as boys. It is written for troop meetings, Blue and Gold banquets, Scout Sunday, Eagle courts of honor and anyone who spent their summers at camp. Questions start easy enough for a Webelos den (what is the Scout motto, what do you get when you win the Pinewood Derby's weight check) and climb to details that will stretch a Silver Beaver recipient (which future Cub Scout rank was dropped in 1967 and revived in 2017; where the Unknown Scout's Silver Buffalo actually lives). Every answer has been checked against Wikipedia's Scouting articles and official Scouting sources, and the source sentence appears under each question, so a den leader can settle any dispute on the spot.
30 of 70 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who founded the Scout movement in 1907?
Robert Baden-Powell
He was a British Army officer whose military scouting manuals had already been picked up by teachers and youth groups before he wrote one for boys.
Q 02Where in Poole Harbour did the first experimental Scout camp take place in August 1907?
Brownsea
The island was isolated from the mainland and the press but only a short ferry ride from Poole, which made the logistics easy.
Q 03How was each day at the 1907 experimental camp begun?
A blast on a kudu horn
He used the same horn to open the Coming of Age Jamboree 22 years later in 1929.
Q 04The boys at the 1907 experimental camp were split into four patrols. Which of these was NOT one of them?
Otters
The boys had no uniforms, just khaki scarves and a coloured shoulder knot: green for Bulls, blue for Wolves, yellow for Curlews and red for Ravens.
Q 05Which Boer War siege made Baden-Powell a national hero in Britain?
Mafeking
A cadet corps of boys aged 12 to 15 carried messages during the siege, and their performance helped inspire Scouting for Boys.
Q 06Baden-Powell's founding handbook, published in 1908, was titled what?
Scouting for Boys
It was a rewrite of his 1899 military manual Aids to Scouting, recast for outdoorsmen and explorers rather than soldiers.
Q 07How was Baden-Powell's 1908 handbook first published?
In six fortnightly instalments
The parts sold so well that they were bound into a book on 1 May 1908; well over 100 million copies have been printed since.
Q 08Where did Baden-Powell spend his final years and die in 1941?
Nyeri, Kenya
His gravestone bears a circle with a dot in the centre, the trail sign for "I have gone home".
Q 09What symbol on Baden-Powell's gravestone is the trail sign for "I have gone home"?
A circle with a dot in the centre
The Kenyan government declared the grave a national monument in 2001.
Q 10With which family member did Baden-Powell start the Girl Guides Association in 1910?
His sister Agnes
The push came after girls in Scout uniform turned up at a 1909 Crystal Palace rally and told him they were the "Girl Scouts".
Q 11In BSA legend, an 'Unknown Scout' helped Chicago publisher William Boyce find his way in which city?
London
The boy refused a tip, saying he was only doing his daily good turn; Boyce incorporated the Boy Scouts of America a few months later.
Q 12Which detail of the Unknown Scout legend do weather records contradict?
That London was foggy that day
The Scout also only helped Boyce cross a street to a hotel, and Boyce never met Baden-Powell, whatever the handbooks said.
Q 13On what date was the Boy Scouts of America incorporated?
February 8, 1910
Q 21What is the Scout motto?
Be Prepared
"Do a good turn daily" is the slogan, not the motto, and "Do Your Best" belongs to the Cub Scouts.
Q 22How many fingers are raised in the Scout sign and salute?
Three
Baden-Powell specified the thumb resting on the nail of the little finger, with the three others pointing up.
Q 23Which hand do Scouts around the world use for their handshake?
The left
One popular origin story has Ashanti chiefs offering Baden-Powell their left hands, since a warrior had to lower his shield to do so.
The 2025 rename to Scouting America deliberately took effect on the same date, the 115th anniversary.
Q 14Who became the first Chief Scout Executive of the BSA in 1911, a post he held for 35 years?
James E. West
He was hired on a six-month temporary basis and stayed until after World War II.
Q 15Which naturalist and author, founder of the Woodcraft Indians, was the BSA's first Chief Scout?
Ernest Thompson Seton
His feud with Dan Beard over who really founded Scouting is why the BSA began promoting the Unknown Scout story instead.
Q 16Which president signed the BSA's federal charter on June 15, 1916?
Woodrow Wilson
One reason for seeking the charter was to see off rival groups such as the United States Boy Scouts and the Lone Scouts of America.
Q 17How does the Scout Oath begin?
On my honor, I will do my best
James E. West was instrumental in expanding the third part about being physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.
Q 18How many points does the BSA Scout Law contain?
12
Baden-Powell's original 1908 law had nine points; the BSA later added brave, clean and reverent.
Q 19Which is the FIRST point of the Scout Law?
Trustworthy
The last point, reverent, was one of three the Americans added to Baden-Powell's original nine.
Q 20Per the original US handbook, the Scout Law drew on the code of which Japanese warriors?
The Samurai
European chivalry, Native American codes of honour and the Zulu warriors Baden-Powell fought were the other cited influences.
Q 24What is the highest rank in Scouts BSA?
Eagle Scout
Only about four percent of Scouts have earned it since 1911, though that still adds up to more than 2.8 million people.
Q 25Which rank comes immediately BEFORE Eagle in the Scouts BSA progression?
Life
Until 1924 the order was reversed and Life preceded Star; originally they were not ranks at all but merit-badge milestones.
Q 26How many merit badges must a Scout earn, at minimum, to become an Eagle Scout?
21
The 1972 Improved Scouting Program briefly raised the total to 24 while cutting the required list to ten.
Q 27Who received the first Eagle Scout award, in 1912?
Arthur Rose Eldred
Baden-Powell himself sat on his board of review, having landed in the United States earlier that day.
Q 28Before it was renamed in August 1911, the BSA's highest award was going to be called what?
Wolf Scout
The medal drawn in the handbook showed an eagle in flight, but the design changed again before any were issued.
Q 29Which colour Eagle Palm represents ten extra merit badges?
Gold
Palms were introduced in 1927 for Eagles who kept earning badges after reaching the top rank.
Q 30Which of these Moon-walkers earned Eagle Scout as a boy?
Neil Armstrong
Charles Duke of Apollo 16 and Jim Lovell of Apollo 13 are two more Eagle Scouts who flew to the Moon.