Docs
Open Lodol
DocumentationIntegrationsAPI

Open Trivia DB

App · Gaming · 9 actions

Pull free trivia questions into a workflow from the Open Trivia Database: a community-built bank of tens of thousands of questions across 24 categories, three difficulties and both multiple choice and true/false. No account or API key required.

Actions

ActionWhat it does
Build a quizBuild a whole multi-round quiz in one step and get back a numbered question sheet and a matching answer key.
Check an answerMark somebody's answer against the right one, however they wrote it.
Get a category's question countFind out how many questions one category holds, split into easy, medium and hard.
Get a trivia questionGet one trivia question with its fields at the top level, so a step that asks a single question does not have to reach through a list of one to read it.
Get database totalsGet the size of the whole question bank in one request: how many questions it holds overall, how many are verified, pending review or rejected, and the same breakdown for every category.
Get trivia questionsGet up to 50 trivia questions from the Open Trivia Database, narrowed by category, difficulty and type.
List categoriesList every category in the Open Trivia Database with its id and name, and optionally how many questions each one holds.
Reset a session tokenWipe a session token's memory so every question is available to it again.
Start a session tokenStart a session token, which is how a recurring quiz avoids asking the same question twice.

Build a quiz

Build a whole multi-round quiz in one step and get back a numbered question sheet and a matching answer key. Open Trivia DB takes one category per request, which is exactly the shape a quiz is not, so this makes one request per round and numbers the result end to end. Pass a session token and no question repeats between the rounds. No API key required.

Inputs

Roundscategoriestext
Optional. One category per round, in the order they should be asked; leave it empty for a single round of mixed questions. This is the thing the API itself cannot do: it takes one category per call, so a five-round quiz is five calls, and they are made here. Give the name or the id: 18 and "Science: Computers" are the same category, and so is "computers", because the "Entertainment: " and "Science: " prefixes half of them carry are ignored. Capitals, accents and punctuation do not matter. Open Trivia DB allows one request every 5 seconds, so a five-round quiz takes about twenty seconds to build. Up to 10 rounds in one step.One or more of: General Knowledge, Entertainment: Books, Entertainment: Film, Entertainment: Music, Entertainment: Musicals & Theatres, Entertainment: Television, Entertainment: Video Games, Entertainment: Board Games, Science & Nature, Science: Computers, and 14 more.
Questions per roundquestions_per_roundnumber
Optional. How many questions to ask in each round. Between 1 and 50, which is the service's own per-request limit; 5 by default.From 1 to 50. Default: 5.
Difficultydifficultytext
Optional. Leave it empty to mix all three. Narrowing this is the commonest reason a request finds nothing: there are far fewer hard questions than easy ones in most categories, and Get a category's question count says how many.One of: easy, medium, hard.
Question typequestion_typetext
Optional. Leave it empty for both. Multiple choice questions come back with four options; true/false with two, always in that order.One of: multiple (Multiple choice), boolean (True or false).
Session tokentokentext
Optional. A token from Start a session token. While it is used, Open Trivia DB never hands the same question back twice, which is what a daily quiz needs. Leave it empty and repeats are possible. A token is dropped after 6 hours of inactivity.
Shuffle seedseedtext
Optional. Changes the order the options are shuffled into. By default the order is derived from the question itself, so the same question always lays out the same way and a reply graded later is graded against the letters that were sent. Set this only when you want a different, still repeatable, order.

Outputs

answer_keytext
The answers, numbered to match the sheet.
countnumber
How many questions came back.
difficultytext
The difficulty asked for, or null.
question_sheettext
Every question numbered, with its options and no answers: the thing to send out.
questionslist
Every question in the quiz, in the order it is asked, across all the rounds.
questions_per_roundnumber
How many were asked for in each.
round_countnumber
How many rounds the quiz has.
roundslist
The quiz broken into its rounds.
tokentext
The session token used, or null.
typetext
The type asked for, or null.
Example output
{
  "answer_key": "Round 1: Computers\n1. B. Microsoft",
  "count": 1,
  "difficulty": null,
  "question_sheet": "Round 1: Computers\n\n1. Which company was Bill Gates a co-founder of?\nA. Apple\nB. Microsoft\nC. IBM\nD. Dell",
  "questions": [
    {
      "answer_count": 4,
      "answer_text": "B. Microsoft",
      "answer_texts": [
        "Apple",
        "Microsoft",
        "IBM",
        "Dell"
      ],
      "answers": [
        {
          "is_correct": false,
          "letter": "A",
          "number": 1,
          "text": "Apple"
        },
        {
          "is_correct": true,
          "letter": "B",
          "number": 2,
          "text": "Microsoft"
        },
        {
          "is_correct": false,
          "letter": "C",
          "number": 3,
          "text": "IBM"
        },
        {
          "is_correct": false,
          "letter": "D",
          "number": 4,
          "text": "Dell"
        }
      ],
      "category": "Science: Computers",
      "category_group": "Science",
      "category_id": 18,
      "category_topic": "Computers",
      "correct_answer": "Microsoft",
      "correct_index": 1,
      "correct_letter": "B",
      "correct_number": 2,
      "difficulty": "easy",
      "incorrect_answers": [
        "Apple",
        "IBM",
        "Dell"
      ],
      "options_text": "A. Apple\nB. Microsoft\nC. IBM\nD. Dell",
      "question": "Which company was Bill Gates a co-founder of?",
      "question_text": "Which company was Bill Gates a co-founder of?\n\nA. Apple\nB. Microsoft\nC. IBM\nD. Dell",
      "type": "multiple",
      "type_label": "Multiple choice"
    }
  ],
  "questions_per_round": 1,
  "round_count": 1,
  "rounds": [
    {
      "category": "Science: Computers",
      "category_id": 18,
      "count": 1,
      "first_question_number": 1,
      "heading": "Computers",
      "number": 1,
      "questions": [
        {
          "answer_count": 4,
          "answer_text": "B. Microsoft",
          "answer_texts": [
            "Apple",
            "Microsoft",
            "IBM",
            "Dell"
          ],
          "answers": [
            {
              "is_correct": false,
              "letter": "A",
              "number": 1,
              "text": "Apple"
            },
            {
              "is_correct": true,
              "letter": "B",
              "number": 2,
              "text": "Microsoft"
            },
            {
              "is_correct": false,
              "letter": "C",
              "number": 3,
              "text": "IBM"
            },
            {
              "is_correct": false,
              "letter": "D",
              "number": 4,
              "text": "Dell"
            }
          ],
          "category": "Science: Computers",
          "category_group": "Science",
          "category_id": 18,
          "category_topic": "Computers",
          "correct_answer": "Microsoft",
          "correct_index": 1,
          "correct_letter": "B",
          "correct_number": 2,
          "difficulty": "easy",
          "incorrect_answers": [
            "Apple",
            "IBM",
            "Dell"
          ],
          "options_text": "A. Apple\nB. Microsoft\nC. IBM\nD. Dell",
          "question": "Which company was Bill Gates a co-founder of?",
          "question_text": "Which company was Bill Gates a co-founder of?\n\nA. Apple\nB. Microsoft\nC. IBM\nD. Dell",
          "type": "multiple",
          "type_label": "Multiple choice"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "token": null,
  "type": null
}

Check an answer

Mark somebody's answer against the right one, however they wrote it. A quiz that goes out by email or chat comes back as "b", "B.", "microsoft" or "yes", and a plain comparison marks every one of those wrong. This resolves a letter or an option number against the options the question came with, compares text without regard to case, accents or punctuation, and accepts the words people actually answer a true/false question with. Makes no request, so it is not rate limited.

Inputs

Correct answercorrect_answertextRequired
The right answer, from the question step's correct_answer.
Their answerresponsetextRequired
What the person actually answered. A letter, an option number, the answer itself, or - for a true/false question - a yes or a no.
The optionsanswerslist
Optional, but pass it whenever the question was multiple choice: the answers list from the question step. Without it a reply of "B" is only text, and cannot be read as the second option.

Outputs

correcttrue/false
Whether the answer was right. Branch on this.
correct_answertext
The right answer, echoed back.
correct_lettertext
The right answer's letter, when the options were passed in.
feedbacktext
A sentence to send back to the person.
matched_ontext
How it was read: the option letter, the option number, the answer text, or a yes or no.
resolved_answertext
What that was read as: the option text when a letter or a number was given.
responsetext
What was answered, as it arrived.
verdicttext
"Correct" or "Incorrect", to print.
Example output
{
  "correct": true,
  "correct_answer": "Microsoft",
  "correct_letter": "B",
  "feedback": "Correct - the answer is Microsoft.",
  "matched_on": "the option letter",
  "resolved_answer": "Microsoft",
  "response": "B",
  "verdict": "Correct"
}

Get a category's question count

Find out how many questions one category holds, split into easy, medium and hard. This is what to check before asking for a large or narrow batch: a request for more questions than exist fails outright rather than returning what there is, and there are far fewer hard questions than easy ones in most categories. No API key required.

Inputs

CategorycategorytextRequired
Give the name or the id: 18 and "Science: Computers" are the same category, and so is "computers", because the "Entertainment: " and "Science: " prefixes half of them carry are ignored. Capitals, accents and punctuation do not matter. Run List categories for the full set.

Outputs

by_difficultyobject
The same three numbers keyed by difficulty, to look one up without branching.
categorytext
The category's full name.
category_idnumber
Its id.
easynumber
How many are easy.
grouptext
The part of the name before the colon.
hardnumber
How many are hard.
max_per_requestnumber
The most one step could fetch from this category: the total, capped at the service's own limit of 50.
mediumnumber
How many are medium.
summarytext
The same numbers as a sentence.
topictext
The part after it.
totalnumber
How many questions it holds in total.
Example output
{
  "by_difficulty": {
    "easy": 43,
    "hard": 24,
    "medium": 56
  },
  "category": "Science: Computers",
  "category_id": 18,
  "easy": 43,
  "group": "Science",
  "hard": 24,
  "max_per_request": 50,
  "medium": 56,
  "summary": "Science: Computers holds 123 questions (43 easy, 56 medium, 24 hard).",
  "topic": "Computers",
  "total": 123
}

Get a trivia question

Get one trivia question with its fields at the top level, so a step that asks a single question does not have to reach through a list of one to read it. The question, its lettered options and the right answer are all ready to use: send question text as it stands, and keep the correct letter to mark the reply against. No API key required.

Inputs

Categorycategorytext
Optional. Leave it empty for any category. Give the name or the id: 18 and "Science: Computers" are the same category, and so is "computers", because the "Entertainment: " and "Science: " prefixes half of them carry are ignored. Capitals, accents and punctuation do not matter. Run List categories for the full set.
Difficultydifficultytext
Optional. Leave it empty to mix all three. Narrowing this is the commonest reason a request finds nothing: there are far fewer hard questions than easy ones in most categories, and Get a category's question count says how many.One of: easy, medium, hard.
Question typequestion_typetext
Optional. Leave it empty for both. Multiple choice questions come back with four options; true/false with two, always in that order.One of: multiple (Multiple choice), boolean (True or false).
Session tokentokentext
Optional. A token from Start a session token. While it is used, Open Trivia DB never hands the same question back twice, which is what a daily quiz needs. Leave it empty and repeats are possible. A token is dropped after 6 hours of inactivity.
Shuffle seedseedtext
Optional. Changes the order the options are shuffled into. By default the order is derived from the question itself, so the same question always lays out the same way and a reply graded later is graded against the letters that were sent. Set this only when you want a different, still repeatable, order.

Outputs

answer_countnumber
How many options there are: 4 for multiple choice, 2 for true/false.
answer_texttext
The right answer with its letter, e.g. "B. Microsoft".
answer_textslist
The same options as plain strings, in the same order.
answerslist
Every option in the order to show it, right answer included. This is the list to loop over when building a form or a message.
categorytext
The category it came from, e.g. "Entertainment: Film".
category_grouptext
The part before the colon, e.g. "Entertainment". The same as the name for a category that has no prefix.
category_idnumber
That category's id, or null if it is not a known one.
category_topictext
The part after the colon, e.g. "Film". This is the one to use as a round heading.
correct_answertext
The right answer, decoded.
correct_indexnumber
Where the right answer sits in answers, counting from 0.
correct_lettertext
The right answer's label, e.g. "B". Compare a reply to this.
correct_numbernumber
The same position counting from 1.
difficultytext
How hard it is: "easy", "medium" or "hard".
incorrect_answerslist
The wrong answers, decoded, as the API separates them.
options_texttext
The options as lettered lines, e.g. "A. Apple\nB. Microsoft".
questiontext
The question, decoded into plain text. Open Trivia DB encodes every field it returns, so this is the form a message can use.
question_texttext
The question and its lettered options as one block, ready to put straight into an email or a message.
requested_categorytext
The category that was asked for, or null if any was allowed. The question's own category is in category.
requested_difficultytext
The difficulty asked for, or null.
requested_typetext
The type asked for, or null.
tokentext
The session token used, or null.
typetext
"multiple" for multiple choice, "boolean" for true/false.
type_labeltext
The same thing in words: "Multiple choice" or "True or false".
Example output
{
  "answer_count": 4,
  "answer_text": "B. Microsoft",
  "answer_texts": [
    "Apple",
    "Microsoft",
    "IBM",
    "Dell"
  ],
  "answers": [
    {
      "is_correct": false,
      "letter": "A",
      "number": 1,
      "text": "Apple"
    },
    {
      "is_correct": true,
      "letter": "B",
      "number": 2,
      "text": "Microsoft"
    },
    {
      "is_correct": false,
      "letter": "C",
      "number": 3,
      "text": "IBM"
    },
    {
      "is_correct": false,
      "letter": "D",
      "number": 4,
      "text": "Dell"
    }
  ],
  "category": "Science: Computers",
  "category_group": "Science",
  "category_id": 18,
  "category_topic": "Computers",
  "correct_answer": "Microsoft",
  "correct_index": 1,
  "correct_letter": "B",
  "correct_number": 2,
  "difficulty": "easy",
  "incorrect_answers": [
    "Apple",
    "IBM",
    "Dell"
  ],
  "options_text": "A. Apple\nB. Microsoft\nC. IBM\nD. Dell",
  "question": "Which company was Bill Gates a co-founder of?",
  "question_text": "Which company was Bill Gates a co-founder of?\n\nA. Apple\nB. Microsoft\nC. IBM\nD. Dell",
  "requested_category": "Science: Computers",
  "requested_difficulty": "easy",
  "requested_type": "multiple",
  "token": null,
  "type": "multiple",
  "type_label": "Multiple choice"
}

Get database totals

Get the size of the whole question bank in one request: how many questions it holds overall, how many are verified, pending review or rejected, and the same breakdown for every category. The category names are joined on here, because the service reports this one by id alone. No API key required.

Inputs

None.

Outputs

categorieslist
The same four numbers for each category.
category_countnumber
How many categories are reported.
largest_categorytext
The category with the most verified questions.
largest_category_verifiednumber
How many that is.
pendingnumber
How many are still awaiting review.
rejectednumber
How many were rejected.
totalnumber
Every question in the bank.
verifiednumber
How many have been through review. These are the ones the questions endpoint hands out.
Example output
{
  "categories": [
    {
      "id": 9,
      "name": "General Knowledge",
      "pending": 2735,
      "rejected": 19,
      "total": 3104,
      "verified": 350
    }
  ],
  "category_count": 1,
  "largest_category": "General Knowledge",
  "largest_category_verified": 350,
  "pending": 24928,
  "rejected": 518,
  "total": 51092,
  "verified": 25646
}

Get trivia questions

Get up to 50 trivia questions from the Open Trivia Database, narrowed by category, difficulty and type. Every field comes back as plain text rather than the encoded form the API returns, and every question arrives with its right and wrong answers already merged, shuffled and lettered A to D, so a message can be built from it without any further work. A numbered question sheet and its answer key come back alongside. No API key required.

Inputs

Number of questionsamountnumber
Optional. How many questions to fetch. Between 1 and 50, which is the service's own per-request limit; 10 by default.From 1 to 50. Default: 10.
Categorycategorytext
Optional. Leave it empty for any category. Give the name or the id: 18 and "Science: Computers" are the same category, and so is "computers", because the "Entertainment: " and "Science: " prefixes half of them carry are ignored. Capitals, accents and punctuation do not matter. Run List categories for the full set.
Difficultydifficultytext
Optional. Leave it empty to mix all three. Narrowing this is the commonest reason a request finds nothing: there are far fewer hard questions than easy ones in most categories, and Get a category's question count says how many.One of: easy, medium, hard.
Question typequestion_typetext
Optional. Leave it empty for both. Multiple choice questions come back with four options; true/false with two, always in that order.One of: multiple (Multiple choice), boolean (True or false).
Session tokentokentext
Optional. A token from Start a session token. While it is used, Open Trivia DB never hands the same question back twice, which is what a daily quiz needs. Leave it empty and repeats are possible. A token is dropped after 6 hours of inactivity.
Shuffle seedseedtext
Optional. Changes the order the options are shuffled into. By default the order is derived from the question itself, so the same question always lays out the same way and a reply graded later is graded against the letters that were sent. Set this only when you want a different, still repeatable, order.

Outputs

answer_keytext
The answers, numbered to match the sheet.
categories_seenlist
The categories these questions actually came from. More than one when no category was asked for.
categorytext
The category that was asked for, by its full name, or null if any category was allowed.
category_idnumber
That category's id, or null.
countnumber
How many questions came back.
difficultytext
The difficulty asked for, or null for any.
question_sheettext
Every question numbered, with its options and no answers: the thing to send out.
questionslist
The questions, in the order the service returned them.
requestednumber
How many were asked for.
tokentext
The session token used, or null.
typetext
The type asked for, or null for both.
type_labeltext
The same in words, or "Any".
Example output
{
  "answer_key": "1. B. Microsoft",
  "categories_seen": [
    "Science: Computers"
  ],
  "category": "Science: Computers",
  "category_id": 18,
  "count": 1,
  "difficulty": "easy",
  "question_sheet": "1. Which company was Bill Gates a co-founder of?\nA. Apple\nB. Microsoft\nC. IBM\nD. Dell",
  "questions": [
    {
      "answer_count": 4,
      "answer_text": "B. Microsoft",
      "answer_texts": [
        "Apple",
        "Microsoft",
        "IBM",
        "Dell"
      ],
      "answers": [
        {
          "is_correct": false,
          "letter": "A",
          "number": 1,
          "text": "Apple"
        },
        {
          "is_correct": true,
          "letter": "B",
          "number": 2,
          "text": "Microsoft"
        },
        {
          "is_correct": false,
          "letter": "C",
          "number": 3,
          "text": "IBM"
        },
        {
          "is_correct": false,
          "letter": "D",
          "number": 4,
          "text": "Dell"
        }
      ],
      "category": "Science: Computers",
      "category_group": "Science",
      "category_id": 18,
      "category_topic": "Computers",
      "correct_answer": "Microsoft",
      "correct_index": 1,
      "correct_letter": "B",
      "correct_number": 2,
      "difficulty": "easy",
      "incorrect_answers": [
        "Apple",
        "IBM",
        "Dell"
      ],
      "options_text": "A. Apple\nB. Microsoft\nC. IBM\nD. Dell",
      "question": "Which company was Bill Gates a co-founder of?",
      "question_text": "Which company was Bill Gates a co-founder of?\n\nA. Apple\nB. Microsoft\nC. IBM\nD. Dell",
      "type": "multiple",
      "type_label": "Multiple choice"
    }
  ],
  "requested": 1,
  "token": null,
  "type": "multiple",
  "type_label": "Multiple choice"
}

List categories

List every category in the Open Trivia Database with its id and name, and optionally how many questions each one holds. The counts come from the one endpoint that reports them all at once rather than from asking each category in turn, which at this service's rate limit would take two minutes. Use it to build a category picker, or to choose a category at random for a daily quiz. No API key required.

Inputs

Include question countsinclude_countstrue/false
Optional. Add each category's question total. Costs one extra request, so the step takes about 5 seconds longer. Off by default.Default: false.

Outputs

categorieslist
Every category, by name.
countnumber
How many categories there are.
idslist
Just the ids, in the same order.
includes_countstrue/false
Whether the counts were fetched.
nameslist
Just the names, in the same order.
Example output
{
  "categories": [
    {
      "group": "General Knowledge",
      "id": 9,
      "name": "General Knowledge",
      "topic": "General Knowledge"
    }
  ],
  "count": 1,
  "ids": [
    9
  ],
  "includes_counts": false,
  "names": [
    "General Knowledge"
  ]
}

Reset a session token

Wipe a session token's memory so every question is available to it again. This is the fix for a question step that starts failing because its token has already handed out everything matching the query - a narrow daily quiz will get there - and it keeps the same token rather than needing a new one threaded through the workflow. No API key required.

Inputs

Session tokentokentextRequired
The token to reset. A token is dropped after 6 hours of inactivity.

Outputs

createdtrue/false
Always false for this action.
idle_hoursnumber
How many hours of inactivity the service drops a token after.
messagetext
What the service said about it.
notetext
What the reset did.
previous_tokentext
The token that was sent to be reset.
resettrue/false
Always true for this action.
tokentext
The token to keep using. Normally the same one, but use whatever comes back here.
Example output
{
  "created": false,
  "idle_hours": 6,
  "message": "Token Reset Successfully!",
  "note": "The token has forgotten every question it has handed out.",
  "previous_token": "e4f5a3c1b09d8e7f6a5b4c3d2e1f0a9b8c7d6e5f4a3b2c1d",
  "reset": true,
  "token": "e4f5a3c1b09d8e7f6a5b4c3d2e1f0a9b8c7d6e5f4a3b2c1d"
}

Start a session token

Start a session token, which is how a recurring quiz avoids asking the same question twice. Pass the token to every question step and Open Trivia DB will not hand back a question it has already given that token. Tokens are dropped after six hours of inactivity, and once a token has seen every question matching a query it needs resetting. No API key required.

Inputs

None.

Outputs

createdtrue/false
Always true for this action.
idle_hoursnumber
How many hours of inactivity the service drops a token after.
messagetext
What the service said about it.
notetext
What the token does and when it stops working.
resettrue/false
Always false for this action.
tokentext
The token. Pass it to the question steps that should not repeat themselves.
Example output
{
  "created": true,
  "idle_hours": 6,
  "message": "Token Generated Successfully!",
  "note": "Pass this token to every trivia step that should not repeat itself.",
  "reset": false,
  "token": "e4f5a3c1b09d8e7f6a5b4c3d2e1f0a9b8c7d6e5f4a3b2c1d"
}

Open Topo Data

Previous Page

Open-Elevation

Next Page

On this page

ActionsBuild a quizCheck an answerGet a category's question countGet a trivia questionGet database totalsGet trivia questionsList categoriesReset a session tokenStart a session token