Friday the 13th
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156 free Friday the 13th trivia questions with answers — pop culture quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
42 free Friday the 13th trivia questions with answers. These Friday the 13th trivia questions cover both halves of the phenomenon. The superstition side takes in the Knights Templar arrests of 1307, the Last Supper, the phobia with the unpronounceable name, how many Fridays the 13th a year can hold, buildings that skip the 13th floor, the countries that fear Tuesday the 13th or Friday the 17th instead, and the events that really did happen on the date. The movie side runs through all twelve films, from Sean Cunningham's 1980 original and Betsy Palmer's Mrs. Voorhees to the burlap sack, the hockey mask, Jason in space and Freddy vs. Jason. It works as a party round for the next unlucky Friday, a horror-night warm-up or a quick self-test, with easy openers for everyone and hard questions for people who know how many seconds were cut from Part 2. Every answer has been checked against a reliable source and each question shows its citation once you have answered.
30 of 156 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The fear of Friday the 13th has a specific name. Which of these is it?
Paraskevidekatriaphobia
It is also called friggatriskaidekaphobia, after Frigg, the Norse goddess Friday is named for; fear of the number 13 alone is triskaidekaphobia.
Q 02One origin story for Friday the 13th superstition is King Philip IV of France's mass arrest of which order in October 1307?
The Knights Templar
King Philip IV, in debt to the Knights Templar, had Jacques de Molay and scores of them seized at dawn on Friday 13 October 1307; de Molay was burned at the stake in 1314.
Q 03Which pope formally dissolved the order arrested in 1307, at the Council of Vienne in 1312?
Clement V
Clement V suppressed the Templars with the bull Vox in excelso at the Council of Vienne in 1312; most Templar assets passed to the Knights Hospitaller.
Q 04Christian superstition holds that which disciple was the 13th to sit down at the Last Supper?
Judas
Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus, is cast as the 13th to sit, though the Bible actually says nothing about the seating order.
Q 05An early English reference to Friday the 13th appears in an 1869 biography of which composer, who died that day in 1868?
Gioachino Rossini
Gioachino Rossini died on Friday 13 November 1868; Henry Sutherland Edwards's 1869 biography recorded that he regarded both Fridays and the number 13 as unlucky.
Q 06Which stockbroker-author wrote the 1907 novel 'Friday, the Thirteenth', credited with spreading the superstition?
Thomas W. Lawson
Thomas W. Lawson, a Boston stockbroker, published Friday, the Thirteenth in 1907; in it a broker picks the date to engineer a Wall Street panic.
Q 07At most how many Friday the 13ths can fall in a single calendar year?
Three
Three is the maximum, and there is always at least one Friday the 13th per calendar year.
Q 08A month contains a Friday the 13th whenever it starts on which day of the week?
Sunday
A month has a Friday the 13th exactly when it begins on a Sunday, because the 13th falls twelve days after the 1st; every calendar year has at least one.
Q 09In the Gregorian calendar, the 13th of the month is very slightly more likely to fall on which weekday?
Friday
Friday: across the 400-year Gregorian cycle of exactly 20,871 weeks, the 13th falls on a Friday 688 times, one more than on a Sunday or Wednesday.
Q 10The Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute estimates US businesses lose roughly how much every Friday the 13th?
$800-900 million
Donald Dossey's Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute put the loss at $800-900 million per Friday the 13th, claiming 17 to 21 million Americans are affected by the fear.
Q 11In Spanish-speaking countries and Greece, the unlucky 13th falls on which day of the week?
Tuesday
For the Greeks the day belongs to Ares, god of war; the Spanish saying is 'martes trece'.
Q 12In Italy, 13 is generally considered lucky. Which date is the unlucky one there instead?
The 17th
The Roman numeral XVII can be rearranged to VIXI, Latin for 'I have lived', which is to say 'I am dead'.
Q 13A 2002 Otis Elevators review found what share of tall buildings using its lifts had no floor labelled 13?
85%
85 percent: an internal Otis Elevators review reported in 2002 that 85 percent of buildings fitted with its lifts had no floor numbered 13; a 2007 Gallup poll found 13 percent of Americans would mind a 13th-floor room.
Q 21Who directed the original Friday the 13th film in 1980?
Sean S. Cunningham
Sean S. Cunningham, spurred by the success of Halloween, took out a Variety ad using the title before the script was even finished.
Q 22Which future star played Jack, killed by an arrow through the throat, in the original Friday the 13th (1980)?
Kevin Bacon
Kevin Bacon's death scene was rigged by Tom Savini from beneath the bed; the film cost about $550,000 and grossed nearly $60 million.
Q 23Tom Savini suggested the 1980 film's lake-lunge ending after seeing which movie?
Carrie
Carrie: Savini wanted a 'chair jumper' like the hand bursting from the grave at the end of Brian De Palma's Carrie, and the lake lunge gave the sequels their monster.
Q 14The word 'triskaidekaphobia' was first used in print in 1910 by which psychiatrist?
Isador Coriat
Isador Coriat coined 'triskaidekaphobia' in his 1910 book Abnormal Psychology; Franklin D. Roosevelt and Arnold Schoenberg are among the famous sufferers.
Q 15Which country holds a road-safety 'National Accident Day' that always falls on a Friday the 13th?
Finland
Dutch insurers, by contrast, found slightly fewer accidents, fires and thefts on Fridays the 13th than on other Fridays.
Q 16Which businesses treat Friday the 13th as an unofficial holiday, offering cheap 'flash' designs featuring 13?
Tattoo parlours
Tattoo parlours: many run all-night Friday the 13th flash specials, selling small '13' designs for $13, a tradition that began in Dallas in the 1990s.
Q 17Which band's self-titled debut, released on Friday, February 13, 1970, is widely treated as the birth of heavy metal?
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath's debut reached number eight on the UK chart and is widely treated as the birth of the genre.
Q 18On Friday the 13th of which month in 1972 did the Uruguayan rugby team's plane crash in the Andes?
October
October: Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 went down on Friday 13 October 1972; sixteen survivors were rescued on 22 and 23 December after two of them trekked out over the mountains.
Q 19Which rapper died on Friday, September 13, 1996, six days after being shot in Las Vegas?
Tupac Shakur
Tupac Shakur died on Friday 13 September 1996, aged 25, six days after a drive-by shooting on the Las Vegas Strip following a Mike Tyson fight.
Q 20Apollo 13, launched in April 1970, suffered its oxygen tank explosion on which day of the month?
The 13th
The 13th: the oxygen tank ruptured on the evening of 13 April 1970, Houston time, two days after launch; all three crew came home safely.
Q 24The original film was shot at a real Boy Scout camp, Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco, in which state?
New Jersey
New Jersey: Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco, a working Boy Scout camp near Blairstown, hosted the September 1979 shoot and later opened its grounds for fan tours.
Q 25Which studio paid $1.5m for the domestic distribution rights to the original Friday the 13th?
Paramount
Warner Bros. took the international rights, and New Line acquired the franchise much later.
Q 26Where did screenwriter Victor Miller take the surname 'Voorhees' from?
A girl he knew at high school
A girl he knew at high school: Miller borrowed her surname Voorhees, while 'Jason' was a blend of his sons' names, Josh and Ian.
Q 27In Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981), what does Jason wear over his face?
A burlap sack
A burlap sack with a single eyehole; the hockey mask only arrives in Part III, and the heroine fools him briefly by putting on his dead mother's sweater.
Q 28Friday the 13th Part III (1982), where Jason first dons the hockey mask, was the only entry released in what format?
3-D
3-D: Part III is the only Friday the 13th film released in 3-D, an idea that came up during a lighting check; it opened at No. 1 in August 1982.
Q 29Jason's hockey mask was adapted from a goaltender mask of which NHL team?
Detroit Red Wings
It was enlarged and given new red triangles, and has become one of the most recognisable images in horror.
Q 30Which stuntman played Jason in four consecutive films, more than any other actor?
Kane Hodder
Kane Hodder played Jason in Part VII: The New Blood (1988), Part VIII, Jason Goes to Hell and Jason X (2001), and later did the motion capture for the 2017 video game.