The Adventures of Pete & Pete
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50 free The Adventures of Pete & Pete trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The Adventures of Pete & Pete is the strangest and most fondly remembered sitcom Nickelodeon made in the 1990s. Two red-haired brothers share a first name, a suburb called Wellsville and a talent for turning an ordinary day into an epic, while rock legends and future film stars wander through in tiny guest roles. This quiz covers the Wrigley family and their friends and enemies, the plots of the best-loved episodes, the cast and the people behind the camera, and the music that gave the series its sound. It starts where the half-hour stories started, with the special Valentine's Day Massacre, and several questions are about that episode alone. It is written for fans who grew up with the series and for anyone discovering it now. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you can check what you remember and pick up a few things you never noticed.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is the name of the tattoo on Little Pete's forearm, which gets its own credit in the Pete & Pete opening?
Petunia
Petunia is a woman in a red dress whom Little Pete makes dance by flexing his arm. An early installment says the tattoo was a Mother's Day gift that made his mom faint.
Q 02In The Adventures of Pete & Pete, what in Joyce Wrigley's head picks up radio stations and gets its own credit?
A metal plate
A metal plate sits in Joyce's head after a childhood accident, and it is how she met her husband: Don's beach metal detector led him straight to her.
Q 03Which superhero in red long johns and a striped shirt protects Little Pete from bullies on Pete & Pete?
Artie
Artie, billed as the Strongest Man in the World, claims he can skip stones on Neptune. He leaves town in season two once Little Pete can stand up to a bully alone.
Q 04Which actor played Big Pete Wrigley after appearing as Kevin McCallister's older brother Jeff in Home Alone?
Michael Maronna
Michael Maronna played Jeff in the first two Home Alone films, and on the Nickelodeon series he also narrates nearly every story in character as Big Pete.
Q 05Which punk rock star played James Mecklenberg, the father of Little Pete's best friend Nona, on Pete & Pete?
Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop played Nona's loving but overprotective dad, and the show gave him a song to sing, One Lousy Dance, written for the series by Robert Agnello.
Q 06Which famous character actor played Phil Hickle, Ellen's father and the high school guidance counselor, on Pete & Pete?
Steve Buscemi
Steve Buscemi played Phil Hickle, who wages a prank war with Don Wrigley in the special Apocalypse Pete, driving a wedge between Big Pete and Ellen.
Q 07Which mysterious ice cream man on The Adventures of Pete & Pete never takes off his mascot costume head?
Mr. Tastee
Mr. Tastee is a parody of the real ice cream chain Mister Softee, and the kids spend a summer tracking him down after their curiosity about his private life drives him away.
Q 08A planned Pete & Pete feature film fell through and was reworked into which Nickelodeon movie starring Chevy Chase?
Snow Day
Snow Day was written by the show's two creators and directed by Chris Koch, who had also directed episodes of the series such as Rangeboy.
Q 09On Pete & Pete, what has rung nonstop in Wellsville for 27 years until Little Pete finally confronts it?
A pay phone
A pay phone has terrorized the town with its ringing, so Little Pete decides to answer it on the hottest day of summer while Big Pete works out who the call is for.
Q 10In "Valentine's Day Massacre", what kind of animal is Edna, the school mascot that Big Pete accidentally kills?
A squid
A squid is the mascot of Wellsville High, whose marching band spells out Squids on the field, so Big Pete has plenty to hide when Edna dies.
Q 11Which actor played Little Pete Wrigley and later joined the cast of Nickelodeon's sketch comedy series All That?
Danny Tamberelli
Danny Tamberelli joined All That in 1997, a year after Pete & Pete ended, and he later played Jimmy De Santa in the video game Grand Theft Auto V.
Q 12Michelle Trachtenberg, who played Nona on Pete & Pete, left during season three to star in which family film?
Harriet the Spy
Harriet the Spy gave Michelle Trachtenberg her feature film debut in the title role, after Nona had been her first credited television part.
Q 13On Pete & Pete, which childhood rule do Little Pete and his friends try to overthrow by breaking a world record?
Bedtime
Q 21Which band, formed by members of Miracle Legion, served as the Pete & Pete house band and played its theme song?
Polaris
Polaris was created just for the series and appears in the opening credits. Its members took TV names, with frontman Mark Mulcahy becoming Muggy.
Q 22Which actor played Little Pete's personal superhero on Pete & Pete and later voiced Cotton Hill on King of the Hill?
Toby Huss
Toby Huss had his first prominent role as the superhero, and he also played the ice cream man hidden inside a mascot head.
Q 23Why does Nona Mecklenberg, Little Pete's best friend, wear a cast on her arm?
She enjoys the itch
Bedtime is blamed on a worldwide conspiracy of grown-ups, so the kids try to stay awake for eleven nights in a row to break the world record.
Q 14What job does the lovelorn Stu Benedict do in Wellsville on Pete & Pete, pining for his co-worker Sally Knorp?
Bus driver
Bus driver Stu is so heartbroken that he drives the kids in loops around town, past the landmarks of his romance, until they arrange a reunion with Sally.
Q 15In "King of the Road", which landmark is the Wrigley family driving to see as Don defends his road-trip title?
Hoover Dam
Hoover Dam is the goal of a family road trip slowed by long bathroom breaks, and the Wrigley house is said to sit 500 miles from it.
Q 16Which actor played Ken Schwinger, the creamed-corn-loving principal of Little Pete's school, on Pete & Pete?
Adam West
Adam West, television's Batman, played the hygiene-obsessed principal who makes the school serve creamed corn, his favorite food, at every meal.
Q 17What is the title of the Pete & Pete theme song, written by Mark Mulcahy for the opening credits?
Hey Sandy
Hey Sandy has lyrics so hard to make out that fans debated them for years, and its songwriter deliberately left part of the song a mystery.
Q 18Which part of the Wrigley property is Don obsessively proud of, until Little Pete's experiment destroys it?
His lawn
His lawn is Don Wrigley's great obsession, and wrecking it in Grounded for Life gets Little Pete grounded for a month after he is caught fleeing for Canada.
Q 19Which subject does Miss Fingerwood teach, the teacher Big Pete falls for in "Valentine's Day Massacre"?
Math
Math is her passion: the rumor is that as a baby she mistook the number 2 on her crib mobile for her mother. Singer Syd Straw played her.
Q 20Before the half-hour specials and series, The Adventures of Pete & Pete began on Nickelodeon in 1989 as what?
Minute-long shorts
Minute-long shorts ran between other programs, and they proved popular enough to earn five half-hour specials and then a regular series.
She enjoys the itch: the cast makes her arm annoyingly itchy and she loves to scratch it, even though nothing is broken.
Q 24Which super-cold slushy drink fuels the baseball madness in the Pete & Pete episode "Field of Pete"?
Orange Lazarus
Orange Lazarus lived on after the show ended: staff handed it out at the cast's 2011 reunion in Los Angeles.
Q 25Which made-up brand name turns up across Pete & Pete, on a scout troop, a toothpaste and a 24-hour store?
Kreb
Kreb is everywhere in Wellsville: Kreb Scouts, Krebgate toothpaste and KrebStore 24, and the 2011 cast reunion was billed as the KrebStar Film Festival.
Q 26On Pete & Pete, what product does Inspector 34, Little Pete's guardian angel, inspect for a living?
Underwear
Underwear worn by the Wrigleys and their friends is inspected by him, and Wellsville's craze for his perfection ends only when Little Pete steers everyone back to moderation.
Q 27In "When Petes Collide", Big Pete and Little Pete compete to inherit Rolling Thunder, which is what kind of object?
A bowling ball
A bowling ball said to have mystical powers, Rolling Thunder is Dad's to pass down, and Grandpa Wrigley arrives to oversee the handover.
Q 28Ellen Hickle is a devoted fan of which sport, in which she coaches Big Pete for a match against his nemesis?
Wrestling
Wrestling, the Greco-Roman kind, is Ellen's passion, and in Pinned! her coaching clashes with the school's own coach, Beano Glattner.
Q 29In "Don't Tread on Pete", Little Pete rallies his gym class to beat the teacher's intramural team at which game?
Dodgeball
Dodgeball is Little Pete's battle while Big Pete crams for a Revolutionary War test, afraid that failing will leave him like the school janitor.
Q 30In "The Big Quiet", Little Pete mourns the death of his pet Gary, which was what kind of animal?
A lizard
A lizard named Gary was hit by traffic, a loss that still haunts crossing guard Frank Gulcher, and Little Pete asks the town for a moment of silence on his radio station.