50 free Fallout: New Vegas trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Fallout: New Vegas arrived in 2010 as a spin-off built in just 18 months, shipped with a famous pile of bugs, and missed its Metacritic bonus by a single point. Then something odd happened: fans kept playing, modders kept patching, and the game Obsidian made in the Mojave grew into the series entry people argue is the best of them all. This quiz covers the whole story. You'll face questions on the Courier's journey from a shallow grave in Goodsprings to the Second Battle of Hoover Dam, the factions fighting over the Strip, the celebrity voice cast, and the four story DLCs that tie together in Lonesome Road. There are development questions too — working titles, the cancelled Van Buren, the Gamebryo struggles — for players who read the credits. The set runs from easy (who stole the Platinum Chip?) to expert (which year was the Divide detonated?). Fifty questions, each one checked against its source. Pick a faction and see how far you get.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which studio developed Fallout: New Vegas?
Obsidian Entertainment
Bethesda published the game but contracted Obsidian, a studio co-founded by former Black Isle staff, to build it in roughly 18 months.
Q 02In which year is the game set?
2281
That is 204 years after the Great War and four years after Fallout 3's 2277 setting.
Q 03Which wearable computer serves as the player's menu and map?
Pip-Boy 3000
The first two games used the Pip-Boy 2000; New Vegas keeps Fallout 3's 3000 model, complete with radio and fast travel.
Q 04Which item is the Courier delivering when they are ambushed?
The Platinum Chip
The chip is a data storage device Mr. House commissioned before the bombs fell; it upgrades his Securitron army.
Q 05Who shoots the Courier in the head at the start of the game?
Benny
The checkered-suit mobster is voiced by Friends star Matthew Perry.
Q 06Which Securitron digs the Courier out of a shallow grave?
Victor
Victor, with his cowboy persona, is one of Mr. House's robots keeping an eye on Goodsprings.
Q 07Which physician nurses the Courier back to health?
Doc Mitchell
His house in Goodsprings doubles as the character-creation screen, complete with the Vigor Tester and a Rorschach test.
Q 08Which structure becomes the focal point of the war between the NCR and the Legion?
Hoover Dam
Josh Sawyer reasoned that desert factions would care most about water, so the dam became the worldbuilding anchor.
Q 09What does the acronym NCR stand for?
New California Republic
The NCR first appeared in Fallout 2, which is one reason Obsidian wanted a West Coast setting.
Q 10Caesar's Legion takes its structure from the army of which ancient power?
Rome
Its founder, Edward Sallow, took the name Caesar and built the Legion from assimilated tribes.
Q 11What type of robot makes up Mr. House's army?
Securitrons
The Platinum Chip contains the software upgrade that turns them into a far deadlier Mark II force.
Q 12Which heavily armed, xenophobic tribe occupies Nellis Air Force Base?
The Boomers
Approach their base on foot and they greet you with artillery fire, which makes their quests a test of nerve.
Q 13The Powder Gangers are escaped convicts from a facility run by which group?
The NCR
They took over their own prison and terrorize Goodsprings and Primm early in the game.
Q 21Which offer from Bethesda had Obsidian turned down in 2007 before taking the Fallout job?
A Star Trek game
The idea never gained traction; two years later Todd Howard suggested Obsidian for a full Fallout spin-off instead.
Q 22Which Nevada city was proposed as an alternative setting before Las Vegas was chosen?
Reno
Fallout 2 had already used New Reno, so the team ultimately went south to the bigger neon.
Q 23Digital assets from which cancelled Obsidian game were repurposed for New Vegas?
An Alien RPG
Sega cancelled Aliens: Crucible in 2009; Sawyer insisted the pipelines stay intact so the art could be reused.
Q 14Which reprogrammed Securitron helps the player pursue an independent ending?
Yes Man
Originally Benny's tool to usurp Mr. House, Yes Man is programmed to be helpful to anyone who asks.
Q 15How many main endings does the game have?
Four
NCR, Legion, Mr. House, or an independent New Vegas with Yes Man — each with its own final battle at the dam.
Q 16What is the name of the optional survival difficulty setting?
Hardcore Mode
It makes ammo weigh something, lets companions die permanently, and requires eating, drinking and sleeping.
Q 17How many secondary skills, such as Barter and Survival, does the game use?
13
The Survival skill was new for this game; Fallout 3's Small Guns and Big Guns were merged into a single Guns skill.
Q 18At which levels can the player choose a perk?
Every even-numbered level
This halved the perk rate compared with Fallout 3, one of the small balance changes Obsidian made.
Q 19Which Barter score is needed to ask a shopkeeper for a discount in the example dialogue?
50
Skill checks show their required number in dialogue, so players can see exactly what they missed.
Q 20Which cancelled Black Isle project was originally meant to be the third mainline Fallout?
Van Buren
Cancelled in December 2003, it would have spanned Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and Utah — much of it later echoed in New Vegas.
Q 24What was one of the game's working titles?
Fallout: Sin City
Sawyer wanted a story about greed and excess, drawing on Las Vegas's organized-crime history.
Q 25Which 1963 event did Sawyer use as the cut-off for historical references?
The Kennedy assassination
Nothing in the game's culture references anything after that moment, keeping the retro-future consistent.
Q 26Which agency's data did Obsidian use to build the Mojave map?
The United States Geological Survey
Sawyer also took his own reference photographs around Las Vegas and Red Rock Canyon.
Q 27The giant dinosaur statue at Novac is based on roadside attractions in which California town?
Cabazon
The Cabazon Dinosaurs also appear in Pee-wee's Big Adventure; in-game the dinosaur is Dinky.
Q 28The casinos' architecture is modeled on which mid-century design movement?
Googie
Googie is the space-age diner-and-motel style of 1950s Southern California and Las Vegas.
Q 29Which game engine, inherited from Fallout 3, did Obsidian build the game on?
Gamebryo
No Obsidian staff had used it, so the studio hired an Oblivion modder to help.
Q 30Who composed the game's original soundtrack?
Inon Zur
Zur drew on the score of There Will Be Blood and wrote for a string quartet to evoke the Southwest.