Adults
New Year’s Jeopardy
The countdown, calendars, customs around the world, songs and resolutions, and Lunar New Year, for a New Year’s Eve party.
Countdown to midnight
- 100The glittering object lowered down a pole in New York’s Times Square at midnightWhat is the ball (the Times Square Ball)?
- 200New York’s famous Times Square midnight drop was first held on 31 December of this yearWhat is 1907?
- 300Fireworks over this city’s Harbour Bridge make it one of the first major cities to welcome the new yearWhat is Sydney?
- 400In 2011, Samoa skipped 30 December entirely to move to the other side of thisWhat is the International Date Line?
- 500In 1942 and 1943, wartime blackout rules halted the Times Square drop; crowds marked midnight with this insteadWhat is a moment (minute) of silence?
Calendars
- 100January is named after this two-faced Roman god of beginnings and doorwaysWho is Janus?
- 200The calendar most of the world uses today, introduced by a pope in 1582What is the Gregorian calendar?
- 300The Roman leader whose new calendar took effect on 1 January 45 BCWho is Julius Caesar?
- 400DDBritain switched to the calendar most of the world uses today in this year, dropping 11 days from SeptemberWhat is 1752?
- 500Before its 18th-century calendar change, England’s legal year began on 25 March, a feast day known by this nameWhat is Lady Day (the Feast of the Annunciation)?
Customs around the world
- 100Scotland’s name for New Year’s Eve and its celebrationsWhat is Hogmanay?
- 200In Denmark, people leap into the new year by jumping off one of these at midnightWhat is a chair?
- 300The number of times Buddhist temple bells ring in Japan to see out the old yearWhat is 108?
- 400The Scottish custom of being the first visitor to cross a home’s threshold after midnightWhat is first-footing?
- 500The Greek New Year cake with a coin hidden inside for luckWhat is vasilopita?
Songs and resolutions
- 100Promises made at the start of the year to change a habit or reach a goalWhat are New Year’s resolutions?
- 200The old Scottish song sung at midnight, often with arms linked in a circleWhat is “Auld Lang Syne”?
- 300The Scottish poet behind the 1788 version of the song most often sung at midnight on New Year’s EveWho is Robert Burns?
- 400The bandleader whose New Year’s Eve broadcasts, starting in 1929, made a Scottish song America’s midnight traditionWho is Guy Lombardo?
- 500The month-long challenge to give up alcohol, launched in 2013 by the UK charity then called Alcohol ConcernWhat is Dry January?
Lunar New Year
- 100In China, Lunar New Year is also called this festivalWhat is the Spring Festival?
- 200In northern China, families make these on New Year’s Eve, shaped like old money ingotsWhat are dumplings (jiaozi)?
- 300The festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month that ends the New Year seasonWhat is the Lantern Festival?
- 400The last of the twelve animals in the Chinese zodiacWhat is the Pig (Boar)?
- 500In folk legend, this beast was frightened off by the colour red and loud noisesWhat is the Nian?
Final round: Time zones
Kiritimati (Christmas Island), among the first inhabited places to see each new year, belongs to this Pacific nation
What is Kiribati?