Sporcle.com quizzes for fun

Naming the 50 states or all the episodes from the second season of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” may seem like a tough feat, but with some fun practice via Sporcle’s “mentally stimulating diversions” (aka trivia quizzes), anyone can easily become a faster data-blaster.

In July 2007, creator Matt Ramme launched the trivia quiz website, on which users have a set time limit to name all of the items within a given subject, such as “Presidents of the USA” or “Mario Kart racers.” According to the website, the name Sporcle is a play off the word “oracle.” Ramme founded the website to fulfill his own desire to learn trivia.

There are 15 categories of games on Sporcle, almost all of which are updated with new, user-submitted quizzes every day. Categories that are actually educational range from geography to religion, and among the less serious are pop culture, “just for fun” and television.

Because the games are so standard, one might think that the games are easy and that it is easy to rack up points. But the time limits make it much harder to cheat via the Internet and instead force players to rely on their gut instincts, making the quiz-taking a nerve-wracking and funny experience.

Sporcle is also extremely addicting with its plethora of quizzes that range from the practical to the absurd. With quizzes like “Imbalanced Sex Countries,” “Almost Dirty Words,” “The Impossible Quiz” and “Harry Potter Surnames,” there’s a quiz out there to challenge and amuse every mind.

Currently, Sporcle has nearly 3,000 games that have been played almost 170 million times. The site also includes a new feature which allows users to create their own quizzes and track their quiz history, progress and frequently missed questions. Creating quizzes is an easy process: Users simply click on the “Create” link on the homepage and fill in game info and other details about the data and styles of the quizzes.

Users can create up to seven quizzes per month and also send Facebook or Twitter updates to let others know to take their quizzes. Users can also kill two birds with one stone by taking Sporcle’s educational quizzes.

Overall, Sporcle is a great site as it provides a good distraction from work for at least 10 minutes (most likely more), and who doesn’t like to show off their smarts by winning trivia games? Not only does Sporcle provide a great excuse for procrastinating, but it is also entertaining, addictive and educational and has quizzes galore to suit the tastes of anyone and everyone.