50 free Singapore trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
40 free Singapore trivia questions with answers. Singapore is a city, an island and a country all at once, and it packs a lot of trivia into 730 square kilometres. This quiz covers the legend of the prince who saw a lion, Stamford Raffles landing in 1819, the surrender of 1942 that Churchill called Britain's worst disaster, the expulsion from Malaysia in 1965, Lee Kuan Yew's 31 years, the four official languages, the Merlion, Marina Bay Sands and its infinity pool, the Supertrees, Changi and its indoor waterfall, Raffles Hotel and the Singapore Sling, hawker centres and their UNESCO listing, chilli crab and chicken rice, the chewing-gum ban, Singlish, the national orchid, HDB flats, the first Formula One night race and Joseph Schooling's gold. Easy questions ask what the name means and what the Merlion is; the hard ones want who designed the Merlion, the year the MRT opened, the Malay name of Sentosa and the newspaper that coined 'Little Red Dot'. Written for travellers, expats, geography quizzers and Singaporeans checking their own knowledge. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the country, its history, landmarks and food, and each question carries the sentence that backs it up.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The name Singapura, from which Singapore comes, means what in Sanskrit?
Lion city
Legend says the Palembang prince Sang Nila Utama saw a strange beast he took for a lion when he landed on the island in the 13th century.
Q 02What was the island called before it became Singapura, according to the Malay Annals?
Temasek
Sang Nila Utama landed there on a hunting trip. Temasek is still used as a name for Singapore's sovereign wealth fund.
Q 03Roughly how far north of the equator is Singapore?
One degree
About 137 kilometres. It sits off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula between the Strait of Malacca and the South China Sea.
Q 04In which year did Stamford Raffles arrive and negotiate a British trading post on the island?
1819
He landed on 28 January and struck a treaty with Johor. Singapore became a Crown colony in 1867.
Q 05Besides founding modern Singapore, Stamford Raffles was the first president of which institution?
The Zoological Society of London
He founded it in 1825, along with London Zoo. The giant Rafflesia flower is also named after him.
Q 06On what date did the British surrender Singapore to the Japanese, on Chinese New Year?
15 February 1942
It was Chinese New Year. General Percival surrendered to General Yamashita, and the island was renamed Syonan-to.
Q 07How did Winston Churchill describe the fall of Singapore?
The worst disaster in British military history
About 80,000 troops became prisoners of war, on top of 50,000 already taken in Malaya.
Q 08Singapore became fully independent on 9 August 1965 after being expelled from which federation?
Malaysia
The Malaysian parliament voted 126 to 0 to let it go. Lee Kuan Yew and Yusof bin Ishak became first prime minister and president.
Q 09For how many years was Lee Kuan Yew prime minister of Singapore?
31
From 1959 to 1990, then senior minister and 'minister mentor' until 2011. He was born Harry Lee and studied law at Cambridge.
Q 10How many official languages does Singapore have?
Four
English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil. Malay is the national language and the anthem must be sung in it.
Q 11What is the title of Singapore's national anthem?
Majulah Singapura
It means 'Onward Singapore' in Malay. Zubir Said wrote it in 1958 as a theme for the City Council's official functions.
Q 12What is the Merlion, Singapore's national symbol?
A lion with a fish's tail
Alec Fraser-Brunner designed it as the tourism board's logo in 1964. The famous statue at Marina Bay is 8.6 metres tall.
Q 13How much does the original Merlion statue weigh?
70 tons
It stood at the mouth of the Singapore River in Merlion Park before being moved to its current spot facing Marina Bay.
Q 21What is the base spirit of a Singapore Sling?
Gin
Cherry liqueur, pineapple juice and grenadine give it the pink colour.
Q 22In December 2020, UNESCO added which Singaporean tradition to its Intangible Cultural Heritage list?
Hawker culture
UNESCO called hawker centres 'community dining rooms' where people of all backgrounds eat together.
Q 23Chilli crab is credited to Cher Yam Tian and her husband, who began selling it from what in 1956?
A pushcart
They stir-fried crabs with bottled chilli and tomato sauce. It is now one of Singapore's signature dishes.
Q 14Which architect designed both Marina Bay Sands and Jewel Changi Airport?
Moshe Safdie
Marina Bay Sands was the world's most expensive standalone casino property when it opened in 2010, at S$8 billion.
Q 15How long is the infinity pool on top of Marina Bay Sands' Skypark?
150 metres
It sits on the world's largest public cantilevered platform, which overhangs the north tower by 66.5 metres.
Q 16How many Supertrees stand in Gardens by the Bay?
18
They range from 25 to 50 metres tall. The Flower Dome next to them is the largest glass greenhouse in the world.
Q 17What is the Rain Vortex at Jewel Changi Airport?
The world's tallest indoor waterfall
Jewel drew 50 million visitors in its first year, about 300,000 a day.
Q 18How many times had Skytrax named Changi the World's Best Airport by 2025?
Thirteen
Including eight in a row from 2013 to 2020, plus wins in 2023 and 2025. It began operations in 1981.
Q 19Which Armenian brothers founded Raffles Hotel in 1887?
The Sarkies
It opened with ten rooms on 1 December 1887 and grew into the grande dame of Beach Road.
Q 20The Singapore Sling was reputedly created in 1915 at which bar?
The Long Bar at Raffles Hotel
Bartender Ngiam Tong Boon mixed the gin-based drink, originally just called the gin sling.
Q 24Hainanese chicken rice was adapted from the cuisine of which Chinese island?
Hainan
Immigrants brought Wenchang chicken with them. It comes with chilli sauce and cucumber slices.
Q 25What is kaya, spread on the classic Singaporean breakfast toast?
Coconut jam
It is served with butter, kopi and soft-boiled eggs at kopitiams, a Hainanese coffee-shop tradition.
Q 26Since which year has the sale of chewing gum been banned in Singapore?
1992
Gum on the sensors of MRT train doors was one motivation. Since 2004, therapeutic gum can be bought from a pharmacist.
Q 27In which year did Singapore's MRT rail system begin running?
1987
It opened with a 6 km stretch of five stations after two decades of planning.
Q 28What was Sentosa island called before it was renamed in the 1970s?
Pulau Blakang Mati
The old name means 'island of death behind'; Sentosa means 'peace and tranquility'. It had been a British base and Japanese POW camp.
Q 29Singapore Botanic Gardens' first scientific director, Henry Ridley, drove the regional boom in which crop?
Rubber
He perfected the tapping technique still used today. The gardens became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015.
Q 30What kind of plant is Singapore's national flower, chosen in 1981?
An orchid
Vanda Miss Joaquim was the first registered plant hybrid from Singapore, picked for its resilience and year-round bloom.