110 free Cosplay trivia questions with answers — pop culture quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This cosplay trivia quiz is about costume play itself: the hobby, its history, its conventions and its people (for questions on the anime series that cosplayers so often draw from, take our Anime quiz). It covers Forrest J Ackerman and Morojo's 'futuristicostumes' at the first Worldcon in 1939, the Japanese magazine article that coined 'kosupure' in 1983, Comiket's rooftop crowds, the World Cosplay Summit in Nagoya, the maid cafes of Akihabara and the 'no costume is no costume' rule. The easy questions are ones any convention-goer knows: what the word blends, what crossplay is, which city hosts San Diego Comic-Con and what a fursuit is. From there it works through the craft and the culture: wigs, circle lenses, EVA foam and Worbla, prop replicas, contest judging criteria, kigurumi masks, cameko photographers, cosplay models like Yaya Han, Jessica Nigri and Enako, the 501st Legion and Rebel Legion, Dragon Con's parade, New York Comic Con's 'Cosplay Is Not Consent' signs, and the reality shows and documentaries that put the hobby on television. There are questions on neighbouring costume traditions too: Halloween costumes, Renaissance fairs, Lolita fashion, steampunk and the peanut-butter costume that got food banned from Worldcon. Every answer was checked against the encyclopaedia entries for cosplay, its conventions and its notable figures before publishing, and the supporting sentence is stored with each question. Fans may also like our Comic-Con and Manga quizzes.
30 of 110 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The word 'cosplay' is a blend of which two English words?
Costume and play
It follows a Japanese habit of fusing the first moras of two words.
Q 02Who coined the term 'cosplay', in a June 1983 magazine article?
Nobuyuki Takahashi
He worked for Studio Hard and wrote for My Anime.
Q 03Why did Takahashi coin a new word rather than use the Japanese for 'masquerade'?
It implied nobility and sounded old-fashioned
He was reporting on fan costuming.
Q 04Who are credited as the first people to wear costumes to a fan convention?
Forrest J Ackerman and Myrtle R. Douglas
At the 1st Worldcon in New York, 1939.
Q 05What did Ackerman and Morojo call their 1939 outfits?
Futuristicostumes
Green cape and breeches based on pulp artwork and Things to Come.
Q 06What did Ackerman later admit he had thought about costumes at the 1939 convention?
That everyone was supposed to wear one
Only he and Douglas dressed up.
Q 07What was Morojo's fandom nickname derived from?
Her initials spelled out in Esperanto
She and Ackerman met through the Esperanto movement.
Q 08Which genre nickname did Forrest J Ackerman coin?
Sci-fi
He also edited Famous Monsters of Filmland.
Q 09Which comic-book vampire character did Ackerman co-create and name?
Vampirella
A play on Barbarella.
Q 10Which costume won the masquerade at the 2nd Worldcon in 1940?
Ming the Merciless
David Kyle wore it; Leslie Perri made it.
Q 11Who made the mask for Ackerman's 'Hunchbackerman of Notre Dame' costume at the 1941 Worldcon?
Ray Harryhausen
He also made Morojo's Akka mask.
Q 12What rule did Worldcon adopt in response to a wave of nude contestants?
'No Costume is No Costume'
Partial nudity stayed allowed if faithful to the character.
Q 13What did artist Scott Shaw's 1972 Worldcon costume 'The Turd' consist mostly of?
Peanut butter
It went rancid under the lights and got food banned.
What prop at the 1962 Worldcon led to fire being banned from costumes?
Q 21At Ashinocon 1978, what was one impromptu Tusken Raider costume made from?
A hotel's roll of toilet paper
Worn by a friend of future Gainax co-founder Yasuhiro Takeda.
Q 22Who attended the 1965 Academy Con in New York in a Plastic Man costume?
Roy Thomas
Possibly the first costume contest at a comic convention.
Q 23Who won first place at San Diego Comic-Con's first Masquerade Ball in 1974, as Ackerman's vampire heroine?
Brinke Stevens
Voice actress June Foray was MC.
A blaster that fired a real jet of flame
Rules grew in response to specific costumes.
Q 15In what year did the first nude contestant appear at a Worldcon masquerade?
1952
The trend peaked in the 1970s.
Q 16Which comic strip Martian is arguably the first fictional character people cosplayed, in 1908?
Mr. Skygack, from Mars
A Cincinnati couple wore Skygack costumes to a skating-rink masquerade.
Q 17Which French novelist sent almost 700 invitations to an 1877 costume ball where guests dressed as his characters?
Jules Verne
An early case of dressing as fictional characters.
Q 18Where was the 1891 Vril-Ya Bazaar, an early call for costumed attendees, held?
The Royal Albert Hall, London
Based on a science fiction novel from two decades earlier.
Q 19What was fan costuming called in Japan in the 1970s, before 'cosplay' caught on?
Kaso
Comiket launched in December 1975.
Q 20Who wore the first documented convention costume in Japan, at Ashinocon in 1978?
Mari Kotani
Based on the cover art of A Fighting Man of Mars.
Q 24Fans began dressing as characters from which 1975 film within a year of its release?
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
The initial incentive was free admission.
Q 25When was Costume-Con, a conference dedicated to costuming, first held?
January 1983
The International Costumers Guild followed in 1985.
Q 26When and where was the first World Cosplay Summit held?
12 October 2003, Nagoya
Five cosplayers came from Germany, France and Italy.
Q 27Which country won the first World Cosplay Championship in 2005?
Italy
Giorgia Vecchini, Francesca Dani and Emilia Fata Livia.
Q 28Which broadcaster organised the World Cosplay Summit until 2012?
TV Aichi
It incorporated in 2012.
Q 29From roughly how many countries does the World Cosplay Summit select cosplayers for its final?
40
The final round is in Nagoya.
Q 30Which Nagoya district gives its name to the World Cosplay Summit's street procession?
Osu
About 100 cosplayers joined the first one.