The great thing about Sporcle, and what separates it from countless other trivia-based websites out in cyberspace, is that it offers a range of games in every category imaginable.   Sure, you can name all the Looney Tunes characters, but how about naming all the elements in the periodic table.  Maybe your strength is American literature, but how many Adam Sandler movies do you know?  You can test your knowledge of U.S. State Capitals, Pixar Movies, Corporate Logos, Names of Popes, the Nine Planets and Three Letter Body Parts to name a few.  In other words, there’s something for trivia game lovers of all persuasions.

 

Not surprisingly, Sporcle is loaded with pop culture games.  These categories include movies, television, sports, music and entertainment.  But alongside them are history, literature, language, science, religion and geography puzzlers.  It is refreshing to see that the two most popular games on the site ask you to name America’s fifty states and to list all the U.S. Presidents.  Think it’s easy?  Let me know what your score is.

 

And, if you think that in the scheme of things, Sporcle may be be a little... trivial?  Think again.  It’s great to have a destination that aspires to stimulate your brain while giving you a chance to divert your attention for a little fun.  But there is a downside.  Sporcle can quickly become addicting.  Think I’m kidding?  Give it a try.  I’ll bet you can’t play just one.

Originally conceived as a sports pick’em website, Sporcle has evolved, as its motto states, into a location for “mentally stimulating diversions.”   How hot is it?  It has exploded in popularity, increasing its traffic flow by 55% in the last three months,.  There are already copycat sites popping up with variations of its name.  So make sure you seek out the original.

There are more than 1300 games on the site with more devised daily.  The concept is  simple.  Pick a category and test your knowledge of it by typing in all the items that come to mind that fit the subject.   Don’t dawdle, there’s a time limit for each challenge.  

 

And what do you win?  Nothing, except the satisfaction that you know your stuff.  Warning!  You may also often experience a humbled feeling that you really don’t know that much about something you thought you knew inside out.  (I found myself in the latter category more times than I’d like to admit!)  You can check and see how your score compares to others who played.  There’s also a ranking of each answer by the percentage of players that guessed it right.  Yes, Sporcle is a statistician’s dream.  The site is a breeze to navigate.  You can find every quiz available with a few clicks of a mouse.