Syracuse Trivia
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156 free Syracuse trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
52 free Syracuse trivia questions with answers. Syracuse is the Salt City, the snowiest metro area in America, home to the nation's first state fair and the only traffic light with green on top. It is also Syracuse University: the Dome, Jim Boeheim's 47 seasons, Ernie Davis, Jim Brown, Otto the Orange and a Newhouse School that has produced half of American sportscasting. This quiz covers both, plus the ancient Sicilian city the name came from, the Onondaga Nation, the Erie Canal, Franklin cars, Syracuse China, Dinosaur Bar-B-Que and the Micron megafab going up in Clay. It works for a Salt City bar quiz, an alumni tailgate or a family that has argued about salt potatoes. Early questions are for anyone who has driven I-81; later ones expect you to know who hit the shot in 1987. Every answer has been checked against Wikipedia's articles on the city, the university, its teams and landmarks, and each question shows its source once you have answered.
30 of 156 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What nickname did Syracuse earn from its 19th-century brine-spring industry?
The Salt City
Syracuse earned the name The Salt City from the brine springs around Onondaga Lake, whose salt water was boiled and sun-evaporated into salt that supplied much of the young nation.
Q 02The city was named in 1820 after a Greek-founded city on which Mediterranean island?
Sicily
Sicily: the 1820 name was chosen after a poetic description of Siracusa, a city like this one with salt springs beside fresh water; the village became a city in 1848.
Q 03Which famous mathematician was born in the original Syracuse and died during its Roman siege in 212 BC?
Archimedes
Archimedes, born in Syracuse about 287 BC, designed the war machines that defended the city; a Roman soldier killed him when the legions finally broke in during 212 BC.
Q 04Colonists from which Greek city founded the original Syracuse in 733 BC?
Corinth
Corinth: its settlers under Archias founded the colony in 733 BC, displacing the native Sicels; it grew into the most powerful Greek city in the west.
Q 05Which two interstates intersect in Syracuse?
I-81 and I-90
I-81 and I-90 (the New York State Thruway) cross on Syracuse's north side; I-81 runs north–south from Tennessee to the Canadian border at the Thousand Islands.
Q 06Destiny USA, in Syracuse's Lakefront neighbourhood, holds what distinction?
Largest shopping mall in New York State
Destiny USA is the largest shopping mall in New York State, with about 2.4 million square feet of retail space after a 2012 expansion added a new wing.
Q 07What was Destiny USA called when it opened in 1990?
Carousel Center
Carousel Center: the mall opened in October 1990 on a former scrap yard beside Onondaga Lake, named for the restored 1909 carousel inside; it was rebranded Destiny USA in 2012.
Q 08Which two sources combine to give Syracuse about 115 inches of snow a year, the most of any US metro?
Lake Ontario lake-effect and Atlantic nor'easters
Lake Ontario lake-effect and Atlantic nor'easters: Ontario lies about 35 miles northwest and rarely freezes over, so cold northwest winds pick up moisture all winter, while coastal storms add heavy synoptic snow.
Q 09What is the annual prize for the snowiest large city in Upstate New York, usually won by Syracuse?
The Golden Snowball
The Golden Snowball is awarded each winter to whichever of Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, Binghamton and Albany records the most snowfall; Syracuse has won it far more often than any rival.
Q 10What is unusual about the traffic light on Tipperary Hill?
The green is on top
The green is on top: in the 1920s Irish-American youths kept smashing the 'British red' lens mounted above the 'Irish green', and the city finally hung the light upside down.
Q 11What is secretly painted on the road under the Tipperary Hill light on St Patrick's Eve?
A shamrock
A shamrock: every year shortly before St Patrick's Day an anonymous painter marks one on the pavement beneath the upside-down light at Tompkins Street and Milton Avenue.
Q 12Salt potatoes, the Syracuse summer staple, were originally the daily lunch of which labourers?
Irish brine-vat crews
Irish brine-vat crews: 19th-century salt workers boiled their lunch of small unpeeled potatoes in the brine, and the salty crust keeps the inside creamy; they are sold bagged with a pouch of salt.
Q 13Which barbecue-and-blues chain opened its first restaurant on Willow Street in downtown Syracuse in 1988?
Q 21Which NBA team began life as the Syracuse Nationals and won the 1955 title?
The 76ers
The 76ers: the Syracuse Nationals, NBA champions in 1955, played 17 seasons in the NBL and NBA before moving to Philadelphia in 1963 and taking the 76ers name.
Q 22In which year was Syracuse University founded?
1870
Syracuse University was chartered on 24 March 1870, coeducational from the start, and opened classes in rented rooms downtown in 1871 before moving to its hilltop campus.
Q 23What is Syracuse University's mascot?
Otto the Orange
Otto the Orange: cheerleaders named the fuzzy orange Otto in 1990, rejecting 'Opie' because it rhymed with dopey, and the university later made him official.
Dinosaur Bar-B-Que
Dinosaur Bar-B-Que began in 1983 as a mobile rig serving biker rallies, settled at 246 West Willow Street in 1988, and later opened in Rochester, Harlem and beyond.
Q 14The nation whose homeland surrounds Syracuse holds what role in the Haudenosaunee Confederacy?
Keepers of the Fire
The Onondaga are Keepers of the Fire: the Grand Council of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy meets on Onondaga territory, the central of the original five nations between the Mohawk and Seneca.
Q 15What dubious title did the body of water beside Destiny USA hold after decades of chemical dumping?
Most polluted lake in the nation
Onondaga Lake was called the most polluted lake in the nation after a century of industrial waste and sewage; dredging and capping of the lakebed finished in 2017.
Q 16Which Syracuse car maker, active 1902-1934, was famous for air-cooled engines?
Franklin
Franklin built only air-cooled cars in Syracuse from 1902 to 1934; Herbert H. Franklin's company favoured light aluminium construction, and Depression-era luxury sales collapsed before it could recover.
Q 17Syracuse China, which closed in 2009, began in 1871 under what name?
Onondaga Pottery Company
The Onondaga Pottery Company, founded in 1871, adopted the Syracuse China name in 1966; its durable vitreous china filled hotels, restaurants and railroad dining cars before the plant closed in 2009.
Q 18Which air-conditioning company was long headquartered in Syracuse and had a stadium named after it?
Carrier
It sponsored the Carrier Dome from 1980 until 2022, when JMA Wireless took over the naming rights.
Q 19Which furniture maker's handmade empire was centred on Syracuse's Craftsman Workshops?
Gustav Stickley
Gustav Stickley ran the Craftsman Workshops on Syracuse's east side in the early 1900s, turning out the plain oak Mission furniture that defined the American Arts and Crafts movement.
Q 20Which chip maker announced up to $100 billion of fabs in Syracuse's northern suburb of Clay in 2022?
Micron
Micron Technology announced in October 2022 a plan to invest up to $100 billion over 20 years in a memory-chip megafab complex in Clay, the largest private investment in New York's history.
Q 24What original Syracuse mascot grew out of a 1931 student-magazine hoax?
The Saltine Warrior
The Saltine Warrior: in 1931 the Syracusan magazine claimed the remains of an Onondaga chief, 'Big Chief Bill Orange', had been dug up on campus; the mascot lasted until 1978.
Q 25In which athletic conference did the Syracuse Orange compete in 2025-26?
ACC
The ACC: Syracuse joined the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2013 after 34 seasons in its previous league, and played there through the 2025-26 season.
Q 26Which famous television writer, later raised in Binghamton, was born in Syracuse in 1924?
Rod Serling
Rod Serling, creator of The Twilight Zone, was born in Syracuse on 25 December 1924 and grew up in Binghamton, whose parks and small-town streets inspired several episodes.
Q 27What nickname did Syracuse's Dome earn soon after it opened in 1980?
The Loud House
The Loud House: the Dome's original air-supported Teflon-coated roof trapped and bounced crowd noise, making it notoriously deafening; a fixed roof replaced it in 2020.
Q 28The Dome, the largest on-campus basketball arena in the nation, seats about how many?
35,600
The Dome seats about 35,600 for basketball, the largest on-campus arena in the country, and Syracuse has regularly led NCAA men's basketball in home attendance.
Q 29Which venue stood on the Dome's site from 1907 until 1978?
Archbold Stadium
Archbold Stadium, a concrete bowl modelled on the Colosseum, opened in 1907 and hosted Syracuse football until 1978, when it was demolished so the Dome could rise on the same site.
Q 30Which freshman led Syracuse to the 2003 NCAA basketball championship?
Carmelo Anthony
Freshman Carmelo Anthony scored 20 points with 10 rebounds in the 2003 final; the campus practice facility, the Carmelo K. Anthony Center, carries his name.