70 free New Jersey trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
65 free New Jersey trivia questions with answers. New Jersey trivia for anyone who has ever defended the state to an out-of-towner. This quiz covers the whole place: the Channel Island it is named for, the two English lords who first owned it, the winter Washington crossed the Delaware, the third-state ratification of the Constitution, and the wizard of Menlo Park who lit the first street in the world. It also covers what makes Jersey Jersey: more diners than anywhere on Earth, the full-service gas rule, the Taylor ham and pork roll divide, Atlantic City's boardwalk and Monopoly streets, the Hindenburg at Lakehurst, the first baseball game and first drive-in, the Jersey Devil, Springsteen, Sinatra and Bon Jovi, the Sopranos, the Meadowlands, and a whole roster of state firsts and symbols. A dedicated Jersey City trivia round covers Pavonia and Bergen, the Battle of Paulus Hook, Hamilton's Jersey Company, Boss Hague, the Colgate Clock, Liberty State Park, Wall Street West and the city motto. Difficulty runs from easy to expert and is marked on every question. Every answer has been checked against Wikipedia and the primary sources it cites, and each explanation adds one more thing worth knowing.
30 of 70 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01New Jersey takes its name from a place in which body of water?
The English Channel
The Duke of York granted the land to two loyal friends, Sir George Carteret and Lord Berkeley of Stratton, and Carteret had been governor of Jersey.
Q 02What is New Jersey's state capital?
Trenton
The state is the only one where every county is classed as urban.
Q 03New Jersey holds which population distinction among US states?
Most densely populated
Over 9.5 million people live in the fifth-smallest state by land area.
Q 04New Jersey ratified the US Constitution on December 18, 1787, making it which state to do so?
Third
It was also the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights, in November 1789.
Q 05Which Indigenous people were dominant in the region when Europeans arrived in the 17th century?
The Lenape
Dutch and Swedish colonists founded the first European settlements before the British took over.
Q 06Which troops did Washington's army surprise after crossing the Delaware on the night of December 25-26, 1776?
Hessians
Morristown, twice Washington's headquarters, has been called the Military Capital of the American Revolution.
Q 07Because of its many Revolutionary War battles, New Jersey earned what title?
Crossroads of the Revolution
The Battle of Monmouth in June 1778 was one of the pivotal but indecisive clashes.
Q 08Edison invented the first electric light bulb in 1879 at his laboratory in which New Jersey community?
Menlo Park
Christie Street there became the first street in the world lit by electric light, and Edison went on to 1,093 patents.
Q 09Which of these inventions is NOT listed among New Jersey creations?
The telephone
The state also claims the phonograph, saltwater taffy, the cultivated blueberry, cranberry sauce and the boardwalk.
Q 10The first drive-in movie theater opened on June 6, 1933, near which city on the Delaware?
Camden
Richard Hollingshead's patented drive-in stood on Admiral Wilson Boulevard in Pennsauken Township, just outside Camden.
Q 11The first organised baseball game under Knickerbocker rules was played in 1846 at the Elysian Fields in which city?
Hoboken
The Knickerbockers took on the New York Ball Club on June 19, 1846.
Q 12Rutgers played the first intercollegiate football game in 1869 against which Ivy League rival?
Princeton
Rutgers players wore scarlet turbans and handkerchiefs to tell the sides apart, which is how scarlet became the school colour.
Q 13Rutgers, chartered in 1766, was originally known by what name?
Queen's College
It is the eighth-oldest college in the US and was affiliated with the Dutch Reformed Church.
Q 21The Jersey Shore's first boardwalk, built in 1870, was intended to solve what problem?
Sand being tracked into hotel lobbies
The early boardwalk was taken up at the end of every season; the Jersey Shore now has the highest concentration of oceanside boardwalks in the world.
Q 22The first Miss America Pageant was held on the boardwalk in which year?
1921
The Holland Tunnel followed in 1927 and the first drive-in in 1933 during a prosperous decade for the state.
Q 23The US edition of Monopoly takes its street names from which shore resort?
Atlantic City
'Marvin Gardens' is a misspelling of the real Marven Gardens, passed on by the couple who taught the game to Charles Darrow.
Q 14Nassau Hall at the state's Ivy League college served as the US capital for four months in which year?
1783
Congress learned of the peace treaty with Britain while sitting there; the school was founded in 1746 as the College of New Jersey.
Q 15Which Caldwell, New Jersey-born president was the first to serve non-consecutive terms?
Grover Cleveland
Cleveland served 1885-89 and 1893-97. Woodrow Wilson, by contrast, was governor of the state from 1911 to 1913 before winning the White House.
Q 16New Jersey is famous for having more of which eatery than anywhere else in the world?
Diners
There are more than 600, and the state is home to many of the companies that build them.
Q 17Since 2016, New Jersey has been the last US state where every gas station must do what?
Pump the gas for you
Oregon's loosening of its self-service rules that year left Jersey alone with the full-service requirement.
Q 18Under what brand name was the state's famous pork roll sold until food labelling rules changed in 1906?
Taylor's Prepared Ham
John Taylor of Trenton developed it in 1856; the north-south argument over whether to call it Taylor ham or pork roll has never ended.
Q 19New Jersey ranks second among US states in the production of which fruit?
Blueberries
It is third in cranberries and spinach and fourth in bell peppers, peaches and head lettuce.
Q 20New Jersey is the only one of the fifty never to have had what?
An official song
'I'm From New Jersey' is often wrongly listed as the anthem, but it was never even a contender.
Q 24In which year did New Jersey voters legalise casino gambling in the state's boardwalk resort?
1976
The city styled itself the 'Las Vegas of the East Coast'.
Q 25Which South Jersey town, with a National Historic Landmark Victorian downtown, is America's oldest seaside resort?
Cape May
Congress Hall, built in 1816, made it a favourite escape for Philadelphians.
Q 26The Hindenburg burst into flames in 1937 while landing at a naval air station in which New Jersey town?
Lakehurst
Radio reporter Herbert Morrison's 'Oh, the humanity!' came from the landing field; 36 people died.
Q 27Orson Welles' 1938 War of the Worlds broadcast placed the Martian landing in which New Jersey hamlet?
Grover's Mill
The Halloween-eve Mercury Theatre broadcast is remembered for the panic it reportedly caused.
Q 28In which year was the Jersey Devil, the cursed thirteenth Leeds child, said to be born?
1735
The winged creature is said to haunt the Pine Barrens, and the NHL's Devils are named for it.
Q 29The New Jersey Devils began life in 1974 as which team?
The Kansas City Scouts
They played in Denver as the Colorado Rockies before moving east, and now play at the Prudential Center in Newark.
Q 30MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford is home to which two NFL teams?
The New York Giants and New York Jets
Built for about $1.6 billion, it hosted Super Bowl XLVIII in 2014 and 2026 World Cup matches.