The Money Pit
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40 free The Money Pit trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The Money Pit is the 1986 comedy in which Tom Hanks and Shelley Long buy a bargain mansion and watch it fall apart around them, one room at a time. It is a film people remember in pieces: a single gag, a helpless laugh, a contractor's promise that never comes true. This quiz covers the whole build. There are questions on Walter and Anna and the people who cheat, charm and overcharge them, on the cast and the crew behind the camera, and on how the wrecked house was put together and filmed. A few look at the reviews, the older film it borrows from and what became of the real house. It is written for anyone who has seen the film at least once, with easier questions on the famous scenes and tougher ones for fans who know the credits.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In The Money Pit, which animal leaps out of the dumbwaiter and attacks Anna when she pulls its ropes?
A raccoon
A raccoon springs from the shaft, and Anna's screams send Walter sprinting to help just as more of the house gives way.
Q 02In The Money Pit, which roast shoots out of the oven and through a window as the kitchen goes haywire?
A turkey
A turkey flies from the stove after the blender and the popcorn popper explode, and it lands by way of a second-floor window.
Q 03In The Money Pit, what crashes through the upstairs floor just after Walter and Anna pour water into it?
A bathtub
A bathtub drops to the room below, a gag that needed five tubs: one genuine period piece plus fiberglass and plaster copies made to smash.
Q 04In The Money Pit, what completion estimate do the contractors keep repeating as the repairs drag on for months?
Two weeks
Two weeks is the promise every time, yet four months after work begins the house is still a construction site.
Q 05Which famous director has a presenting credit on The Money Pit, having served as its executive producer?
Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg's company Amblin bought the screenplay after it first arrived in 1980 as nothing more than a writing sample.
Q 06Which Hollywood star led the 1948 comedy Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, loosely remade as The Money Pit?
Cary Grant
Cary Grant starred opposite Myrna Loy as a couple plagued by problems with a country home, a plot remade again in 2007 as Are We Done Yet?
Q 07Which hit sitcom's schedule did The Money Pit have to work around to secure Shelley Long as Anna?
Cheers
Cheers had already won Long an Emmy in 1983 for playing Diane Chambers, so the film had to fit around her television work.
Q 08How does The Money Pit end for Walter and Anna, in front of their finally restored house?
They get married
They get married outside the finished house, after Max admits he lied about spending the night with Anna.
Q 09The real mansion filmed for The Money Pit was finally sold in 2019 with what result for its owners?
A significant loss
A significant loss, measured against what had been spent on renovations, came with the sale at about $3.5 million.
Q 10Which part of the house in The Money Pit was built in three versions, one rigged to give way under Tom Hanks?
The main staircase
The main staircase came in three builds, and after one test collapse the crew spent most of a day refitting its pieces like a jigsaw puzzle.
Q 11In The Money Pit, what does Walter Fielding do for a living, with musicians among his clients?
Lawyer
Lawyer is the job, in entertainment law, and Tom Hanks was the filmmakers' first choice to play him.
Q 12Which instrument does Shelley Long's character Anna play in an orchestra in The Money Pit?
Viola
Viola is her instrument, and Shelley Long took music lessons so she would look convincing as a first-chair player.
Q 13In The Money Pit, what is the profession of Max Beissart, Anna's vain ex-husband who reclaims his apartment?
Conductor
Conductor is the job, and his associate Shatov calls him Maestro; he returns early from Europe and wants his home back.
Q 21In The Money Pit, who lends Walter the $200,000 in cash that he needs to buy the mansion?
A young singer client
A young singer client named Benny provides the loan, while Anna sells valuables from her divorce to raise her share.
Q 22In The Money Pit, what trade is Art Shirk's brother Brad, who wants $5,000 up front?
Plumber
Plumber is Brad's trade, and he asks for his check before looking at a single pipe, saying he saw the house years ago.
Q 23In The Money Pit, what does carpenter Art Shirk say is wrong with the mansion's fallen front door?
Dry rot
Dry rot is his verdict, delivered the morning after a rainstorm exposes several leaks in the roof.
Q 14In which country do con artists Estelle and Carlos resurface at the end of The Money Pit, selling another house?
Brazil
Brazil, specifically Rio de Janeiro, is where the pair reappear, insisting on a cash deal for another old house.
Q 15In The Money Pit, what does seller Estelle offer to include in the deal to tempt Walter into buying?
An antique car
An antique car, a Lincoln, is the sweetener, offered while Estelle insists her husband faces extradition and she must sell at once.
Q 16What crime did Walter's father commit before fleeing abroad at the start of The Money Pit?
Embezzlement
Embezzlement of millions from the firm's musician clients left Walter in debt, so he and Anna cannot afford a new place in the city.
Q 17Which actor turned director, who made My Favorite Year, directed Tom Hanks in The Money Pit?
Richard Benjamin
Richard Benjamin had starred in Westworld and Goodbye, Columbus before directing his first feature film in 1982.
Q 18Which former Bolshoi Ballet star plays Anna's ex-husband Max in The Money Pit, two years before Die Hard?
Alexander Godunov
Alexander Godunov defected to the United States in 1979 during a Bolshoi tour of New York, and made his film debut in Witness in 1985.
Q 19Which Oscar winner for Reds plays Estelle, who sells the mansion in a hurry, in The Money Pit?
Maureen Stapleton
Maureen Stapleton won her Academy Award as the anarchist Emma Goldman in Reds, and had appeared in Cocoon the year before.
Q 20In The Money Pit, what collapses and smothers the fire when Walter adds one more log?
The chimney
The chimney caves in on the fireplace on the evening of the very day Walter got stuck in a hole in the floor.
Q 24In The Money Pit, what conceals the hole in the floor that traps Walter while he is home alone?
A throw rug
A throw rug covers the gap, and the official at the door mistakes Walter's cries for laughter and leaves in a huff.
Q 25In The Money Pit, what does Walter get from the mansion's doorbell when he rings it on moving day?
An electric shock
An electric shock from the bell is the first warning, and moments later the stuck front door falls flat when he knocks.
Q 26In The Money Pit, who does Estelle claim arrested her husband Carlos, forcing her to sell quickly?
Israeli intelligence
Israeli intelligence supposedly seized Carlos over a wartime job tending Hitler's pool, a tall tale that hurries the sale.
Q 27Which actress was first lined up to play Anna in The Money Pit but made The Jewel of the Nile instead?
Kathleen Turner
Kathleen Turner chose the sequel, and about fifty actresses auditioned before Shelley Long came back into the picture.
Q 28Besides her TV schedule, what personal circumstance first kept Shelley Long from starring in The Money Pit?
Her pregnancy
Her pregnancy clashed with the dates until Long proposed pushing the shoot back a little, so she could give birth first.
Q 29The Money Pit's production designer Patrizia von Brandenstein had just won an Oscar for which 1984 film?
Amadeus
Amadeus earned her the Academy Award shortly before the shoot, and for this comedy she built every house set twice, intact and wrecked.
Q 30How were The Money Pit's house scenes scheduled, unusually for a film, because the sets were being wrecked?
In story order
In story order was the only way, since each gag wrecked the set a little more; the rooms were modules that came apart easily.