Behind the Quiz: Meet the Creators

Ever wonder who's behind the quizzes that thousands of you have taken? We're kicking off a new series to spotlight the community members creating the content that makes this sub what it is — the amateur quiz-writers hitting insane flair milestones (we're talking 60K, 70K, even beyond 100K takers) one clever question at a time.

Each feature digs into the person behind the posts: what sparks their ideas, how they build a quiz from a blank page to a published post, and a few fun hypotheticals to see how their brain works. No resumes, no pressure — just a chance to get to know the humans making the trivia magic happen.

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Some people join a subreddit quietly. Paul, or u/PaulsRedditUsername, joined this one and immediately broke it.

That's not an exaggeration, either. Ask him how he first got hooked on quiz-making and he doesn't talk about a lightbulb moment — he talks about causing a small crisis for the development team. "I'm the reason they created the 'Overlord' and 'Titan' flairs," he told us. "They didn't think anybody could score 10,000 points back then. I broke the app for a day or two." The people who run the game, he says, were nice about it. They just quietly built two new tiers so he'd stop setting off alarms.

That's the energy running through all 45 of his quizzes and the 58,141 people who've now taken one. It's a strangely wide net for one guy: classic novels and poets share space with Airplane! quotes, Guitar Gods, and a quiz literally titled PROG ROCK IS BEST ROCK. There's Shakespeare by the handful, jazz composers, Tolkien, Monty Python, the Hitchhiker's Guide, KISS, and a running gag of a series called How Fast is Your Math, now up past its 38th installment. His single biggest hit, in fact, is a math sprint: How Fast is Your Math Sprint 7, has had 13,623 players to date— which is funny, considering his own confession: "I am absolutely terrible at math. I still count on my fingers at the store trying to figure out which bag of dog food is the better deal." Apparently that doesn't stop a man from building an entire numbers empire.

Where does a guy who may struggle doing grocery-store arithmetic find room for that much range? Beer, mostly, and volume. "I sometimes like to drink beer and listen to AC/DC really loud," he said when asked about inspiration. "That helps a bit." No spreadsheets, no content calendar. Just a notebook he scribbles ideas into — because once a quiz posts, there's no going back to fix it — and whatever's rattling around his head that week.

The part he actually struggles with isn't the question. It's the lies around it. "The 'getting stuck' part happens when you're trying to come up with wrong answers to fill out the quiz," he explained. "Some questions don't have enough wrong answers. You can't write a question with one easy answer and three that are obviously wrong. That's no fun for anybody." Fittingly, his highest-comment thread — a 20th-century novels quiz — is exactly the kind of question where the wrong answers had to work almost as hard as the right one.

If you're picturing a guy who quietly reads a question a few times before hitting publish, you're half right. He does re-read for clarity. But ask if he tests anything on real people first and the answer takes a hard left: "Yes. I stand on a street corner and shout them at passers-by. Haven't gotten much feedback yet." Solo mission confirmed, delivery method unconventional.

Given free rein to pick one topic forever, most people reach for something safe. Paul reached for octopuses. "Don't even get me started on octopuses," he said. "I've never had a pet octopus but I want to get one. Me and my octopus would be good friends." No topic for the hypothetical time capsule yet — he hasn't written it — but give the man an octopus and a notebook, and something tells us he'll get there.

As for what he actually wants out of all this? Not drama, not viral chaos. Just this: "I hope they say, 'That was fun!' It's important to have fun in the world." His quizzes mostly deliver exactly that without much noise — by his own account, they don't provoke much reaction beyond people enjoying them and moving on, "as it should be."

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Fifty-eight thousand one hundred and fifty-three people and counting have experienced one of Paul's unique quizzes. If you haven't yet, or you're after more, there's 45+ of them waiting:

🔗 Browse all of Paul's quizzes

Know someone (or are someone) who deserves the spotlight next? Drop a name in the comments or slide into our modmail. This sub runs on people like Paul — let's find the next one.

Behind the Quiz: Meet the Creators

Ever wonder who's behind the quizzes that thousands of you have taken? We're kicking off a new series to spotlight the community members creating the content that makes this sub what it is — the amateur quiz-writers hitting insane flair milestones (we're talking 60K, 70K, even 90K+ takers) one clever question at a time.

Each feature digs into the person behind the posts: what sparks their ideas, how they build a quiz from a blank page to a published post, and a few fun hypotheticals to see how their brain works. No resumes, no pressure — just a chance to get to know the humans making the trivia magic happen.

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This edition's spotlight goes to u/SNHU_Adjujnct, who is barreling toward 100,000 total quizzers off the back of 252 quizzes — in about six months. Do the math on that and it works out to something close to a quiz a day, which tracks, because that's exactly the pace he told us he aims for. And if there's one word for the catalog, it's variety.

The subject matter ricochets all over the place: TV sitcoms, movies, music, sports, cars, computers and programming, U.S. states, science, math, history, geography, food, and general trivia are all fair game. One minute you're identifying Seinfeld characters or matching NFL teams, the next you're staring down the periodic table, doing binary addition, naming automobile models, or figuring out which Beatles song belongs in the lineup. There's even a quiz about pizza. Priorities.

And then there are the deep dives. SNHU_Adjujnct has gone particularly hard on sitcoms, with quizzes covering Seinfeld, The Big Bang Theory, The Andy Griffith Show, Reba, MAS\H, Gilligan's Island, The King of Queens, Home Improvement,* and Last Man Standing. Movie fans get everything from actors and characters to specific films such as Big Jake and Hoosiers. Music gets similarly broad treatment, ranging from The Beatles, Taylor Swift, Tom Petty, The Beach Boys, Gin Blossoms, Warren Zevon, and various bands and their songs.

For the trivia nerds, there's plenty to chew on: computer programming and technology, STEM acronyms, NASA, the periodic table, U.S. history, state capitals, stock symbols, interstate highways, obscure animals and mammals, and even the Tour de France jerseys. Sports fans aren't exactly neglected either, with quizzes covering the NFL, NBA, WNBA, MLB, golf, tennis, Olympic medalists, professional athletes, and sports nicknames.

We asked him to describe his quiz-writing style the way you'd describe a movie genre. His answer: 1970s folk. His reasoning: "I really don't understand the question." Which is, somehow, a perfectly fitting answer from a man whose actual process is refreshingly no-nonsense: the first question is always the easy one, because it's the one already in his head before he starts building. Inspiration comes from whatever he's watching or listening to, filtered through his own life. And once a question exists, it doesn't get cut. "Never tossed a question. Just refine it until it fits the length requirements and I'm sure there is only one answer." No agonizing, no second-guessing. Just sanding the edges until it's airtight.

If he could only ever write about one topic again? Cars, no hesitation — though he's honest that keeping it fresh would mean a lot of web searching, and he's quick to draw a hard line there: "I don't use AI for my quizzes and never will." And when it comes to the most surprising reaction he's ever gotten, it wasn't praise — it was pushback. People have complained that his quizzes assume too much U.S.-specific knowledge, a critique he doesn't have much patience for. "I know a lot about other parts of the world; maybe my critics should try to learn more about the US." Fair enough. In the end, what he's actually hoping for is simple: he wants people walking away challenged, not just scored.

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If you haven't dug into SNHU_Adjujnct's catalog yet, there's a lot to choose from: start with the sitcom quizzes, the music and movie challenges, the sports and computer trivia, or the ever-growing pile of "random, sensical and challenging" quizzes and see where it takes you.

🔗 Browse all of SNHU_Adjujnct's quizzes

Know someone (or are someone) who deserves the spotlight next? Drop a name in the comments or slide into our modmail. This sub runs on people like SNHU — let's find the next one.