Whether people are setting up Trivial Pursuit at home or attending a pub trivia night, the basic premise remains the same: they're enjoying the thrill of providing correct answers to questions about lesser-known facts.
"You get a rush or a neuro-reward signal or a dopamine burst from winning," John Kounios, Ph.D., professor of psychology and director of the doctoral program in applied cognitive and brain sciences at Drexel University in Pennsylvania, told Healthline. "I think whenever you’re challenged with a trivia question and you happen to know it, you get a rush. It's sort of like gambling."
Only it doesn't really have any downsides.
To prepare you for these battles (or at least to make your Friday more interesting), Bored Panda snuck inside the 'Today I Learned' (TIL) subreddit and hand-picked some of the most interesting tidbits of information that people have shared there.
Oh, and if you want more, fire up our earlier TIL lists here, here, and here.
#1
TIL an Austrian man left $2.4 million to the French village that hid him from the Nazis
Image credits: bohoish
#2
TIL In 2012 a British man named Wesley Carrington bought a metal detector and within 20 minutes found gold from the Roman Age worth £100,000.
Image credits: VinumNoctua
#3
TIL there is a group of wolves in British Columbia known as "sea wolves" and 90% of their food comes from the sea. They have distinct DNA that sets them apart from interior wolves and they're entirely dedicated to the sea swimming several miles everyday in search of food.
Image credits: BirdPlan
#4
TIL That elephants stay cancer free as they have 20 copies of a key tumor-fighting gene; humans have just one.
Image credits: Freak-out-time
#5
TIL that in 1982, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother was rushed to hospital when a fish bone became stuck in her throat, and she ended up having an operation to remove it. Being a keen fisher, she calmly joked when it was done: "The salmon have got their own back".
Image credits: FredererPower
#6
TIL we use 100% of our brain. It is a myth we only use a small portion of our brain, and no scientific evidence supports such a hypothesis as a valid theory.
Image credits: SojourningCPA
#7
TIL that the details of the Manhattan Project were so secret that many workers had no idea why they did their jobs. A laundrywoman had a dedicated duty to "hold up an instrument and listen for a clicking noise" without knowing why. It was a Geiger counter testing the radiation levels of uniforms.
Image credits: derstherower
#8
TIL the U.S. military has used superstition and pretended to be vampires and ghosts to scare enemies away. They dispersed scary horoscopes in Germany, staged vampire attacks in the Philippines, and in Vietnam blasted ghost tapes which consisted of spooky music and eerie voices. Only vampires worked.
Image credits: WhileFalseRepeat
#9
TIL a woman quit her job to search for her border collie who escaped from a hotel room during a thunderstorm while on vacation in Kalispell, Montana. After 57 days of searching and posting hundreds of flyers around town, she finally found ‘Katie’ who was starving, but otherwise OK.
Image credits: LurkmasterGeneral
#10
TIL Hitler planned to replace Berlin with a megacity, Germania, to showcase Nazi power. The plan was a metropolis of madness, with wide thoroughfares only for military parades, car and foot traffic directed to underground tunnels, and no traffic lights anywhere.
Image credits: BitterFuture
#11
TIL that the world record for the most passengers on an aircraft was set during Israel's evacuation of Jews from Ethiopia in 1991, when a single 747 carried at least 1,088 people, including two babies who were born on the flight.
Image credits: Loki-L
#12
TIL the Dr. Heimlich fought against the Red Cross for 20 years over the practice of giving "5 back slaps" being a better alternative to the Heimlich Maneuver.
Image credits: kieferevans
#13
TIL that after the Black Plague, depopulation in Europe caused a shortage of laborers, who then were able to demand higher wages for work. Some estimates state that the typical worker's wages had increased by 50 percent
Image credits: Atwenfor
#14
TIL that Apples are not ‘true to seed’, so the seeds from any particular variety apple will not grow to be the same variety as the apple tree they came from. E.g. If you planted seeds of Granny Smith it likely will produce a wide variety of different and unknown apple tree types.
Image credits: Alolan_Teddiursa
#15
TIL that in USA, parents are 12.7% less likely to be happy than childless people.
Image credits: ViddyDoodah
#16
TIL there were no tomatoes, potatoes, blueberries, peanuts, corn, beans, chocolate, vanilla, or tobacco in the old world until about the year 1500, as they are native to the Americas. This was part of the Columbian Exchange which also included many other plants, animals, fungi and diseases.
Image credits: Bass_Thumper
#17
TIL that in 2006, a couple lost for three nights in the San Jacinto Mountains of CA were rescued because they were able to light a signal fire from matches they found in the abandoned camp of a lost hiker who vanished exactly One year before their incident.
Image credits: SkidmarkSteveMD
#18
TIL when Steve Buscemi was 4-years-old he was hit by a bus and managed to survive with a fractured skull. He received a $6,000 settlement from the city that was to be collected from a trust fund when he turned 18. When Buscemi turned 18, he used part of the money to pay for full-time acting classes.
Image credits: Str33twise84
#19
TIL one of the Dead Sea Scroll caves, discovered in 1952, contained up to 15,000 torn fragments. One archaeologist spent his life piecing them together, but died in 1979 with the work unfinished.
Image credits: Jim_Carr_laughing
#20
TIL in WWII, Germany carried out only one land operation in north America, the installation of a secret weather station in Newfoundland. They scattered American cigarette packets and planted a sign saying "Canadian Meteor Service" in case anyone found it, and the site wasn't rediscovered until 1977.
Image credits: CLBUK
#21
TIL that Americans are consistently more confident than Britons in which animals they believe they can beat in an unarmed fight, with 8% thinking they could take out an elephant if needed
Image credits: SoppySmith
#22
TIL that the North America — and the USA in particular, has the world's most extreme weather, averaging more than 10,000 severe thunderstorm events per year, with more than 1,000 tornadoes.
Image credits: Alolan_Teddiursa
#23
TIL that Albert I of Belgium is called the "Knight King" because he personally led his army in combat for all of WWI; also his wife, Elizabeth of Bavaria, served as a nurse in front-line field hospitals.
Image credits: PvtDeth
#24
TIL Bill Murray got so annoyed with producers on the set of 'Groundhog Day' that he hired a deaf Personal Assistant to handle all interactions with the studio, despite him nor anyone else knowing sign language.
Image credits: OzKiwi
#25
TIL The US is one of 3 countries on Earth not using the metric system, but the US N.I.S.T. says that's a myth because the US has been metric for years.
Image credits: beenburnedbefore
#26
TIL that Guillermo Del Toro introduced James Cameron to the Alita: Battle Angel manga in the 90's, which he fell in love with and then strived to adapt into a movie ever since by making Titanic and Avatar, in order for SFX tech to evolve enough that adapting the manga would be possible#27
TIL of Vince Coleman, a train dispatcher who sacrificed his life to save hundreds, warning of a massive boat explosion nearby. The message: "Hold up the train. Ammunition ship afire in harbour making for Pier 6 and will explode. Guess this will be my last message. Good-bye, boys."#28
TIL the reason there are so many Thai restaurants in America (and the world) is because a Thai governmental program, using a tactic known as gastrodiplomacy, was established to create at least 3,000 Thai restaurants worldwide#29
TIL that Apple Records, the record company created by The Beatles in 1968, has had many legal battles with Apple Inc over the years. It started with trademark infringement in 1978 and later because Apple Records claimed Apple Inc violated an agreement to stay out of the music business.#30
TIL that medical students practice some of the more invasive exams (i.e. rectal, vaginal) on specially trained actors, who guide them through the procedure, as going through real patients from the get-go could damage the confidence of med students#31
TIL: Cats rival dogs on many tests of social smarts, but very few scientists have the patience to try and study them
Image credits: Firewalker1969x
#32
TIL In an analysis of repetitiveness of song lyrics using file compression, Daft Punk's Around the World was found to be the most repetitive song, being able to be reduced 98% from 2,610 to 61 characters.#33
TIL a survey in 2011 revealed that nearly 8 in 10 Americans believe in angels
Image credits: mookiebomber
#34
TIL about "lonely negatives". These are words with common prefixes or suffixes such as "dis-", "in-", "un-", "-less" but they don't have positive counterparts such as the words "disgust", "disappoint", "reckless" - they don't have "gust", "appoint", or "reckful" as their opposites.
Image credits: wholesome_lonesome
#35
TIL it takes the poop excreted by the climbers at Mt Everest's highest base camp five years to move through the ice and arrive at the lowest base camp, where it is consumed by climbers in the drinking water.
Image credits: douggold11
#36
TIL that the opening song sung by the prisoners in O Brother Where Art Thou (2000) is actually a recording from the 1950s sung by real prisoners. The lead prisoner singing in the recording, James Carter, received a royalty check four decades after having originally sung the piece.#37
TIL of the “Muffler Men” - Large fiberglass statues that were originally designed as a single Paul Bunyan statue for a restaurant but which was never paid for or collected, so they were later repurposed as other characters and used for advertising all over the USA.#38
TIL The common pain reliever, acetaminophen (Tylenol/etc) increases risk-taking. Its pain reduction effects extend to various psychological processes, lowering people's receptivity to hurt feelings, experiencing reduced empathy, & even blunting cognitive functions.#39
TIL According to the convention of Geneva an ejected pilot in the air is not a combatant and therefore attacking him is a war crime.#40
TIL that a 13-year-old kid won a contest to draw their own Robot Master for the game Mega Man 4, that kid went on to be the artist of the One Punch Man manga#41
TIL: The Killers' Mr. Brightside set a new chart record, after spending 260 weeks - or five whole years - in the UK's Top 100.#42
TIL that in his acceptance speech for the 1976 Best Album Grammy, Paul Simon jokingly thanked Stevie Wonder for not releasing an album that year. Stevie Wonder had won Best Album in the previous two years and would go on to win again in 1977 for Songs in the Key of Life.#43
TIL A bank robber in France made a fictitious, coded document which he claimed as evidence during his trial. While the judge was distracted by the document, Albert Spaggiari jumped out of a window, landing safely on a parked car and escaped on a waiting motorcycle. He was never seen again.#44
TIL a man spent his $2,600 life savings at a carnival game in hopes of winning an XBox Kinect only to walk away with a stuffed banana with dreadlocks.#45
TIL Panko is made from bread baked by electrical current, which yields a bread without a crust. The unique method developed during World War II out of a necessity to cook bread without access to an oven#46
TIL That the 2nd Wealthiest Former NBA Player Behind Michael Jordan is Junior Bridgeman with a Net Worth of Over $600MM. He Worked at Wendy's in the Off-Season to Learn the Business Eventually Owning Over 100 Franchises and a Coke Bottling Plant#47
TIL Words that share a semantic relationship and are grouped in a specific order are called Irreversible Binomials/Trinomials. This can include things like 'mac & cheese', 'spick and span', and 'lock, stock, and barrel'.#48
TIL the last French soldier to die in WW1 was killed 15 minutes before the ceasefire. He was delivering a message to his unit that soup would be served for lunch.#49
TIL the oldest known symbolic burial site was found in a cave, south of the modern day city of Nazareth, where a nine-year old was found buried with their legs bent and a deer antler cradled in their arms. The site was dated to circa 92,000 BP, making it about 95,000 years old.#50
TIL that the green slime from Nickelodeon is an edible mixture of vanilla pudding, oatmeal, applesauce, and green food coloring.#51
TIL that inhaled rubbing alcohol relieves nausea & vomiting better than a prescription antiemetic widely used for chemo patients#52
TIL the movie "Fifty First Dates" is actually inspired by a true story. Michelle Philpots suffered two auto accidents, and over the following few years developed memory issues which eventually caused her to wake up every morning stuck in 1994 and before.#53
TIL that the US once had a "postal savings system" in which post offices could essentially double as banks. Many countries have active postal savings systems. The US' was discontinued in 1966.#54
TIL President Lincoln’s blockade of Confederate cotton caused famine in English mill towns. Suffering Manchester workers nevertheless sent a letter of support to Lincoln and he responded with thanks and a gift of food. A statue of Lincoln in Manchester displays excerpts from both letters.#55
TIL Blink 182 removed the red cross from the (adult actress) nurse's hat on their album "Enema of the State" because the American Red Cross told them it was a violation of the Geneva Convention.#56
TIL Curtis Mayfield became paralyzed from the neck down after stage lighting equipment fell on him while he was being introduced at an outdoor concert. He discovered he could continue to sing by lying down and letting gravity pull down on his chest and lungs and went on to record an album in 1996.#57
TIL the first Ford Mustang (Serial #000001) got delivered and sold before anyone noticed, and they had to trade the 1,000,001st to the owner to get it back.#58
TIL nearly every claim by Frank W. Abagnale Jr. in "Catch Me if you Can" has been debunked.#59
TIL The NY Yankees used to play the Frank Sinatra version of "New York, New York" after wins and the Liza Minnelli version after losses. Minnelli complained and asked them to play her version after wins or not at all. So the Yankees began playing the Sinatra version after every game, win or lose.#60
TIL the American Cold War era stealth plane, the Lockheed SR-71, was made of 92% titanium. Most of this titanium was bought through shell companies directly from the USSR. Enough was supplied to build 32 planes.#61
TIL that Walt Disney Imagineering developed plans to build a "tiny" Harry Potter ride similar to Buzz Lightyear, with a wand instead of a gun. J.K. Rowling, unimpressed, turned to Universal Studios, who "seemed to understand the size and scope needed" and created The Wizarding World.#62
TIL in 1982, a freelance writer submitted the screenplay to "Casablanca" under a different title to hundreds of Hollywood agencies; of the 79 which read the script, only 33 recognized it, while 38 rejected it with critical notes like "story line was weak" and "dialogue could have been sharper"#63
TIL: King Gillette, inventor of the safety razor, was a socialist who wrote a book describing his vision of the U.S. population living in a single utopian metropolis/building powered by Niagara Falls. Only 1 in 7 people would need to work, and it would be free of money and thus free of crime.#64
TIL that an episode of Beverly Hills, 90210, upset many parents because a teenage character "suffered no consequences and showed no remorse" for losing her virginity, prompting the network to "punish" the characters via a pregnancy scare#65
TIL Wiz Khalifa sparked outrage in 2017 during a visit to Pablo Escobar's grave when he posted pictures of flowers at the grave's headstone. Medellin’s mayor, Federico Gutierrez, called the rapper disrespectful saying he should have brought flowers to the victims of Escobar's violence instead.#66
TIL: when Michael Jordan said he wore his UNC basketball shorts under his uniform in every NBA game in the Space Jam (1996 film) he was in fact telling the truth.#67
TIL Otis Redding's widow, Zelma Redding, wrote a letter to Michael Bolton saying his cover of "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay" was her favorite. She remarked that it brought tears to her eyes as it reminded her so much of her husband. Bolton had the letter framed and it hangs on his office wall.#68
TIL That the first known accident between two airbag-equipped cars took place in 1990 when a 1989 Chrysler LeBaron crossed the center line and hit another 1989 Chrysler LeBaron head-on, causing both driver airbags to deploy. Both drivers survived with minor injuries.#69
TIL that a man who ran a small liquor store in Orange County, CA for years — Nguyễn Cao Kỳ — had once been the most powerful man in South Vietnam, serving as a general, vice president, and prime minister.#70
TIL that tomatoes were only introduced in Italian cuisine after the 16th century. Although tomatoes are mostly saw as one of the key Italian cuisine and culture symbols, it's actually originated in the Americas around 80,000 years ago in Andean countries like Chile and Equatorfrom Bored Panda https://bit.ly/3z7E3UY
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