Quiz for US History - Trivia

What do you say when you pick up the phone? Alexander Graham Bell, who invented it, wanted people to answer with a sailor's call: "Ahoy!" Not "Hello."

"Hello" was pushed by his rival inventor, Thomas Edison. The same Edison, hunting for a filament that would make his light bulb last, settled on bamboo from Kyoto, Japan. The tune of "The Star-Spangled Banner" began as a song of a London gentlemen's club, from the very country the US was fighting at the time. And when the United States bought Alaska from Russia, it paid about two cents an acre.

American history is full of surprises that textbooks skip. This app turns them into three-choice questions and map questions. The only ones that made the cut are the ones that make you say "Wait, really?" the moment the answer lands.

Answer on the map, and the story stays with the place

The Wright brothers ran a bicycle shop in Ohio. So in which state did they make the first powered flight? Tap the state on the map to answer. To find the sawmill where the Gold Rush began, zoom in and drop a pin. Whose land was the huge area shaded in red, and who sold it? You watch the country change shape right on the map. Every story you read stays with its place.

Five questions a round, sized for a short wait

No background needed. Read, be surprised, move on. Each right answer lights up a star; get all five and the Stars and Stripes is complete. On the train or in the last few minutes before bed, you always stop at a clean break.

The answer is not the end of it

Every question comes with an explanation, and it has a surprise of its own. Gold was found in California just nine days before Mexico signed the treaty handing California to the United States, and neither side at the table knew yet. The best part of each story comes after you answer.

Never studied US history? A history buff? Both work

Three levels: Freshman, Citizen and President. Each question tells you when, where and who, and any special term gets a one-line explanation, so you can follow along even if you never learned American history. If you know it well, start at President.

Inventions, presidents, the West, the founding, everyday life

Bubble wrap was first sold as textured wallpaper. The only president who never lived in the White House was the first one, George Washington. The teddy bear was born from a president who refused to shoot a tied-up bear. And the US Navy once wanted the Golden Gate Bridge painted in black and yellow stripes. Topics are mixed so no single kind of story takes over.

Play without a signal

Every question and every map is built into the app. On the subway or on a plane, just open it.

English, Japanese, Spanish, French, German and more

Reading the same question in another language brings its own discoveries.

Checked against sources

Every story here really happened. Each one is written from museum and government records, historians' research and accounts from the time, and checked against separate sources. Famous tales that turn out to be made up are presented as such, and where historians disagree, the explanation says so. The maps are drawn from public data from the US Census Bureau and the US Geological Survey.

Made for you if you

- love American movies, TV or travel and wonder about the story behind them
- want to rediscover the America you learned about in school, the fun way
- enjoy looking at maps
- like collecting stories worth telling someone
- want something you can start and stop in a few minutes

The map of America still hides plenty of stories few people know. From the first question, you'll want to tell someone.