❓

Intermediate⏱️ about 30 minutes👣 5 steps

Quiz Game

Create your own multiple-choice quiz that asks questions, checks answers and gives the player a final score.

Dictionaries
Lists
for loops
if / elif / else
Strings

🎯 What we're going to build

Quizzes are everywhere: on TV game shows, in apps, and in classrooms. In this project you will build a quiz game about Python itself. The program asks questions one at a time, shows three possible answers, checks what the player picks, and adds up their score.

The clever part is how we store the questions. Each question is a dictionary, which is a way of labelling information. One dictionary holds the question text, the list of options, and the correct answer, all under handy names like "question" and "answer". Then we put all the dictionaries into one big list.

Because the questions are stored as data, you can change the whole quiz without touching the rest of the code. Once you have finished, you can turn it into a quiz about dinosaurs, football, space, or your favourite book, and test your friends!

💡 How to use this guide: work through the steps in order and run your code after each one. Steps marked snippet are pieces that slot into the program you are building, so they won't run on their own. Programs that use input() need a Python editor such as IDLE, Thonny or Replit, where you can type your answers.

👣 Step by step

1
Store one question in a dictionary
A dictionary uses curly brackets and stores pairs of keys and values. Here the keys are "question", "options" and "answer". We read a value by putting its key in square brackets, like q["question"].
🐍 Python
```
q = {
    "question": "What does print() do?",
    "options": ["a) Prints on paper", "b) Shows text on the screen", "c) Deletes your code"],
    "answer": "b"
}

print(q["question"])
print("The answer is", q["answer"])
```
▶ Output
```
What does print() do?
The answer is b
```

Make a list of questions

A quiz needs more than one question, so we put several dictionaries inside a list. A for loop then visits each question in turn. Inside the loop, a second for loop prints every option.

🐍 Python

questions = [
    {
        "question": "What does print() do?",
        "options": ["a) Prints on paper", "b) Shows text on the screen", "c) Deletes your code"],
        "answer": "b"
    },
    {
        "question": "What is 7 % 2 in Python?",
        "options": ["a) 1", "b) 3.5", "c) 14"],
        "answer": "a"
    }
]

for q in questions:
    print(q["question"])
    for option in q["options"]:
        print("  " + option)

▶ Output

What does print() do?
  a) Prints on paper
  b) Shows text on the screen
  c) Deletes your code
What is 7 % 2 in Python?
  a) 1
  b) 3.5
  c) 14

Ask and check the answer

We ask the player for a, b or c and compare their reply with the answer stored in the dictionary. .lower() means it doesn't matter if they type B or b. If they get it wrong, we tell them the right answer so they learn something.

🐍 Python

q = {
    "question": "What is 7 % 2 in Python?",
    "options": ["a) 1", "b) 3.5", "c) 14"],
    "answer": "a"
}

print(q["question"])
for option in q["options"]:
    print("  " + option)

reply = input("Your answer (a, b or c): ").lower()

if reply == q["answer"]:
    print("✅ Correct!")
else:
    print("❌ Not quite. The answer was", q["answer"])

▶ Output

What is 7 % 2 in Python?
  a) 1
  b) 3.5
  c) 14
Your answer (a, b or c): A
✅ Correct!

4
Keep score and number the questions
We create score = 0 before the loop and add 1 whenever the player is right. A second variable called number counts which question we are on. We use str() to turn the number into text so it can be joined to the question with +.
🧩 Snippet: add to your program
```
score = 0
number = 1

for q in questions:
    print("Question " + str(number) + ": " + q["question"])
    # ...show the options and check the reply...
    # when the reply is correct:
    score = score + 1
    number = number + 1
```

Show the final score

When the loop has asked every question, we tell the player how they did. len(questions) tells us how many questions there were, so the message is always right even if you add more questions later. Then we use if, elif and else to pick a message that matches their score.

🐍 Python

name = "Mia"
score = 3
total = 4

print(name + ", you scored", score, "out of", total)

if score == total:
    print("🏆 Perfect score! You're a Python star!")
elif score >= total / 2:
    print("👍 Great job! Keep practising.")
else:
    print("📚 Nice try! Read the lessons and play again.")

▶ Output

Mia, you scored 3 out of 4
👍 Great job! Keep practising.

✅ The finished program

Here is the whole program with every step put together. If something isn't working in your version, compare it with this one line by line. Check the spelling, the colons at the end of if and while lines, and that the indentation (the spaces at the start of lines) matches.

🐍 Quiz Game

questions = [
    {
        "question": "What does print() do?",
        "options": ["a) Prints on paper", "b) Shows text on the screen", "c) Deletes your code"],
        "answer": "b"
    },
    {
        "question": "What is 7 % 2 in Python?",
        "options": ["a) 1", "b) 3.5", "c) 14"],
        "answer": "a"
    },
    {
        "question": "Which brackets make a list?",
        "options": ["a) ( )", "b) { }", "c) [ ]"],
        "answer": "c"
    },
    {
        "question": "What does len('cat') give you?",
        "options": ["a) 1", "b) 3", "c) 'cat'"],
        "answer": "b"
    }
]

score = 0
number = 1

print("❓ Welcome to the Python Quiz!")
name = input("What's your name? ")

for q in questions:
    print()
    print("Question " + str(number) + ": " + q["question"])
    for option in q["options"]:
        print("  " + option)

    reply = input("Your answer (a, b or c): ").lower()

    if reply == q["answer"]:
        print("✅ Correct!")
        score = score + 1
    else:
        print("❌ Not quite. The answer was", q["answer"])

    number = number + 1

print()
print(name + ", you scored", score, "out of", len(questions))

if score == len(questions):
    print("🏆 Perfect score! You're a Python star!")
elif score >= len(questions) / 2:
    print("👍 Great job! Keep practising.")
else:
    print("📚 Nice try! Read the lessons and play again.")

🖥️ Sample run

This is what it looks like when someone plays. The words after each question are what the player typed.

▶ Output

❓ Welcome to the Python Quiz!
What's your name? Mia

Question 1: What does print() do?
  a) Prints on paper
  b) Shows text on the screen
  c) Deletes your code
Your answer (a, b or c): b
✅ Correct!

Question 2: What is 7 % 2 in Python?
  a) 1
  b) 3.5
  c) 14
Your answer (a, b or c): a
✅ Correct!

Question 3: Which brackets make a list?
  a) ( )
  b) { }
  c) [ ]
Your answer (a, b or c): b
❌ Not quite. The answer was c

Question 4: What does len('cat') give you?
  a) 1
  b) 3
  c) 'cat'
Your answer (a, b or c): B
✅ Correct!

Mia, you scored 3 out of 4
👍 Great job! Keep practising.

🚀 Make it your own

Finished? Brilliant! Real programmers are always improving their programs. Try one of these challenges to make the project truly yours.

⭐Write five new questions about your favourite subject and replace the Python ones.
⭐Add a "points" key to each question so harder questions are worth 2 points.
⭐Use random.shuffle(questions) at the start so the questions come in a different order every game.
⭐Give the player a second try when they get a question wrong, for half a point.

📚 Lessons that help

Stuck on a step? These lessons explain the Python ideas used in this project.

📖Dictionaries 📋Lists 🔁Loops 🤔If / Else 🔤Strings

← Back to all projects

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Quiz Game

🎯 What we're going to build

👣 Step by step

Store one question in a dictionary

Make a list of questions

Ask and check the answer

Keep score and number the questions

Show the final score

✅ The finished program

🖥️ Sample run

🚀 Make it your own

📚 Lessons that help

Quiz Game

🎯 What we're going to build

👣 Step by step

Store one question in a dictionary

Make a list of questions

Ask and check the answer

Keep score and number the questions

Show the final score

✅ The finished program

🖥️ Sample run

🚀 Make it your own

📚 Lessons that help