This sports trivia game is the sports edition of Rarest, where the rarest right answer wins. Prompts cover NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL teams, Premier League and other football clubs, Formula One champions, Grand Slam winners, Olympic sports and more. Some lists are short and closed (30 or 32 teams), which makes them a tactical puzzle: everyone names the Lakers and the Celtics, and the rarest answer is the team that never seems to come up.
Play it right here: the game above locks every round to sports. You can play the daily round (seven prompts, the same for everyone that day) or switch to Unlimited for as many rounds as you like. For a mix of all eight categories, play Rarest, the rarest answer game on the home page.
How the sports trivia game works
- You get seven prompts, each starting with "Name a…" or "Name the…", and 25 seconds per prompt (or no clock at all with No timer).
- Type any correct answer and press Enter. A wrong guess costs one second and you can try again.
- Each correct answer lands in one of six tiers, from Flicker (5 points) to Inferno (100 points). Once per round, Thermal ×2 doubles one prompt.
- After each prompt you see where your answer ranks, the best-known answers and a few of the rarest.
All 40 prompts in the sports trivia game
These are the prompts the sports edition draws from, with how many correct answers each one accepts:
- Name an NBA team (30 answers)
- Name an NFL team (32 answers)
- Name a Major League Baseball team (30 answers)
- Name an NHL team (32 answers)
- Name a football club that has played in the Premier League (51 answers)
- Name a football club that has played in Spain's La Liga (61 answers)
- Name a football club that has played in Italy's Serie A (70 answers)
- Name a football club that has played in Germany's Bundesliga (47 answers)
- Name a Formula One World Drivers' Champion (35 answers)
- Name a Formula One team, past or present (198 answers)
- Name a man who has won a Grand Slam singles title in tennis (153 answers)
- Name a woman who has won a Grand Slam singles title in tennis (132 answers)
- Name a winner of the Ballon d'Or (51 answers)
- Name a golfer who has won the Masters (57 answers)
- Name a golfer who has won a men's major championship (236 answers)
- Name a winner of the NBA MVP award (37 answers)
- Name a winner of baseball's MVP award (145 answers)
- Name a winner of the NHL's Hart Trophy (MVP) (63 answers)
- Name a chess opening (150 answers)
- Name a sport that has been part of the Summer Olympics (118 answers)
- Name a sport that has been part of the Winter Olympics (30 answers)
- Name a martial art (300 answers)
- Name a team sport (227 answers)
- Name a sport played with a ball (422 answers)
- Name a water sport (133 answers)
- Name a winter sport (124 answers)
- Name a chess grandmaster (300 answers)
- Name a horse that won the Kentucky Derby (151 answers)
- Name a team that has won the World Series (30 answers)
- Name a team that has won the Stanley Cup (29 answers)
- Name a NASCAR Cup Series champion (36 answers)
- Name a World Snooker Champion (30 answers)
- Name a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame (387 answers)
- Name a winner of the Indianapolis 500 (75 answers)
- Name a Major League Soccer (MLS) team (30 answers)
- Name an ice hockey player in the Hockey Hall of Fame (368 answers)
- Name a stadium that has hosted a Super Bowl (27 answers)
- Name a circuit that has hosted a Formula One Grand Prix (89 answers)
- Name a Wimbledon singles champion (121 answers)
- Name an NBA Rookie of the Year (73 answers)
Common answers vs rare answers
Here is what separates a low score from a high one in the rarest answers for a few of the prompts. The left column is what most players type; the right column shows answers from the rarest tier for that prompt.
| Prompt | What most people say | Rare answers |
|---|---|---|
| Name an NBA team | Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks, Boston Celtics | Houston Rockets, Phoenix Suns, Indiana Pacers (Roar) |
| Name an NFL team | New York Giants, San Francisco 49ers, Green Bay Packers | Los Angeles Chargers, New Orleans Saints, Indianapolis Colts (Roar) |
| Name a Major League Baseball team | New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers | Tampa Bay Rays, Miami Marlins, Minnesota Twins (Roar) |
| Name an NHL team | Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins | Ottawa Senators, Vegas Golden Knights, Columbus Blue Jackets (Roar) |
| Name a football club that has played in the Premier League | Manchester United, Chelsea, Manchester City | Norwich City, Watford, Portsmouth (Roar) |
| Name a football club that has played in Spain's La Liga | FC Barcelona, Real Madrid CF, Atlético Madrid | UE Lleida, CF Extremadura, CD Condal (Inferno) |
| Name a football club that has played in Italy's Serie A | Inter Milan, AC Milan, Juventus FC | Varese FC, SSC Ancona ASD, AC Ancona (Inferno) |
| Name a football club that has played in Germany's Bundesliga | FC Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, FC Schalke 04 | Alemannia Aachen, SV Darmstadt 98, 1. FC Saarbrücken (Roar) |
| Name a Formula One World Drivers' Champion | Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso | Alberto Ascari, Jochen Rindt, Keke Rosberg (Roar) |
| Name a Formula One team, past or present | McLaren, Scuderia Ferrari, Red Bull Racing | Yeoman Credit Racing, Écurie Francorchamps, Safir Engineering (Inferno) |
For the rarest answers to every prompt in all eight categories, see the rarest answers list.
Tips to win the sports trivia game
- In closed lists, think about who never makes headlines. Small-market teams are the rare tiers.
- Champions lists reward history. Early Formula One champions and pre-war tennis winners are far rarer than recent ones.
- The nickname alone is enough: Lakers counts for the Los Angeles Lakers.
- Use your Thermal ×2 on the league you follow most closely.
More categories
Rarest has eight categories. Each one has its own page and its own locked game:
- Geography trivia
- Animals trivia
- Food & Drink trivia
- Movies & TV trivia
- Music trivia
- Science trivia
- History trivia
Answer lists are built from Wikidata, and rarity comes from public Wikipedia statistics; read more on the About page.