Reel Bad Luck
Frightful Fridays & Fatal Dates
Superstitious Minds Think Alike
The Faculty Lounge
Uncommon Sense
100

This long-running horror franchise began in 1980 and is strongly associated with an unlucky calendar date.

What is Friday the 13th?

100

This date superstition partly comes from Christianity because the Last Supper had this many guests.

What is 13?

100

In many Western cultures, walking under this object leaning against a wall is considered unlucky.

What is a ladder?

100

The narrative perspective in which the narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of all characters.

What is third-person omniscient?

100

The only English word that ends in the letters “mt.”

What is dreamt?

200

In the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban film, this large black dog is considered an omen of death.

What is the Grim?

200

In 1307, King Philip IV of this country ordered the arrest of the Knights Templar on Friday, October 13.

What is France?

200

Breaking this household item is said to bring seven years of bad luck.

What is a mirror?

200

This law states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

What is Newton's Third Law of Motion?

200

This word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it.

What is short?

300

In the film Final Destination, characters repeatedly escape death only to learn this concept: death always collects what it’s “owed.”

What is death’s design / fate cannot be cheated?

300

A major aviation disaster occurred on Friday, Oct. 13, 1972 when a plane crashed in this South American mountain range.

What are the Andes Mountains?

300

In Japan, the number 4 is sometimes avoided because its pronunciation sounds like this word.

What is death?

300

Ratified in 1791, this group of amendments protects freedoms such as speech, religion, and the press.

What is the United States Bill of Rights?

300

This U.S. state is the only one with a one-syllable name.

What is Maine

400

In The Luck of the Irish, the protagonist begins having terrible luck after losing this magical object.

What is a leprechaun’s gold coin?

400

This famous computer virus first spread widely on Friday the 13th in 1989.

What is the Jerusalem Virus?

400

In theater culture, actors say this phrase instead of “good luck.”

What is “Break a leg”?

400

A right triangle has legs measuring 5 and 12 units. Using the Pythagorean Theorem, this is the length of the hypotenuse.

What is 13?

400

Octopuses have this many hearts.

What is three?

500

In The Simpsons, Homer once believes a cursed monkey’s paw will grant wishes—with terrible consequences.

What is a monkey’s paw?

500

DAILY DOUBLE

Many historians say the Knights Templar arrests in 1307 helped cement the reputation of Friday the 13th as unlucky. The order was accused of this crime against the Church.

What is heresy?

500

In some Mediterranean traditions, people use a blue eye charm called this to ward off the “evil eye.”

What is a nazar (evil eye charm)?

500

This imaginary line at 23.5° north latitude marks the northernmost point where the sun can appear directly overhead.

What is the Tropic of Cancer?

500

DAILY DOUBLE

This planet in our solar system rotates in the opposite direction of most others.

What is Venus?