[For Seniors] Fun and Lively! Recommended Quiz Questions
How about quiz games like wordplay and riddles during recreation time at day service centers and other senior facilities? Puzzles that hide meanings in the arrangement, color, or orientation of letters, as well as riddles, are enjoyable brain teasers.
The answers often draw on familiar folk tales or everyday events, so seniors can experience that delightful “I get it!” moment of surprise and accomplishment when inspiration strikes.
The process of thinking stimulates the brain, and smiles and conversation naturally arise when the answer is revealed.
This time, we’ll introduce clever wordplay and riddle quizzes that are sure to get seniors excited and thinking, the kind that make you say, “Wow, that’s clever!”
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Brain Teasers and Riddles Quiz (11–20)
palindrome
Do you know what a palindrome is? A palindrome is a sentence that reads the same forward and backward.
For example, “たいやきやいた” reads the same backward.
Let’s all try coming up with palindromes like this.
You can also prepare a set of characters in advance and rearrange them.
In that case, it may be easier to reveal the central part and then fit the characters around it.
There are YouTube videos that pose such challenges, so check them out for reference.
Fairy Tale Guessing Quiz
How about doing a quiz based on old folktales—something that might bring back memories like reading to your children or reading books to your grandchildren? For example, if you hear “drifted down the river,” “defeating ogres,” and “three companions,” you’d think of… Momotaro, right? Folktales often have similar plots or openings, so they can be a bit confusing.
If you include hints along with each question, it will be easier to understand and answer.
After the answer is revealed, you could also talk a bit about the story itself.
A wordplay rebus using the characters “ri,” “u,” and “n”
Let's focus on each character's distinctive features and think! Here's a wordplay puzzle using the characters “り,” “う,” and “ん.” You can see a blue “り,” a black “う,” and an “ん” that has fallen over.
There’s not much uniformity, so many people might need time to reach the answer.
The hints are that it’s a phrase describing a dangerous act, and that in addition to the blue “ri,” the “n” has toppled over.
The answer is “あおり運転” (aggressive driving/road rage tailgating).
Once you hear it, you think, “Oh, that’s what it means!”
Ten Times Quiz
The “say it 10 times” quiz that almost everyone played as a kid.
The most famous one is, “Say ‘pizza’ ten times.” After they say it ten times, you point to your elbow and ask, “What’s this?” and everyone gets baited by “pizza” and cheerfully answers “Knee!” That one (lol).
It’s a slightly mean trick question, but it’s fun to have everyone say it ten times together, and even if you get tricked afterward, you hear the answer and everyone goes, “Ohhh, I get it!” It’s a simple but fun quiz.
A wordplay puzzle using the characters “mi” and “ri”
ひらがなを組み合わせよう！「み」と「り」を使った言葉遊びパズルだよ。
The character “み” is stacked vertically and is sandwiched by “り” on both sides.
The hints are that it’s a food and that there are two “mi” with “ri” on both sides.
The answer is “nikomi ryōri” (simmered dishes).
Thinking of two “mi” and “ri” on both sides, you might go “I see!” Simmered dishes like nikujaga, oden, and nimono warm both the heart and body.
Guess the Object Quiz
Let’s have fun turning all sorts of things into quiz questions—everyday items that everyone has seen or touched, must-haves for seasonal events, and more! If you’re making quiz questions, everyday objects are great topics because you can find hints everywhere.
And if the answer is something you can prepare as a real object, you can reveal it with, “Here’s the answer!”—which really livens up the quiz.
Tying it to seasonal events also makes it easy: Hinamatsuri (Girls’ Day), Children’s Day, hina dolls, and koinobori carp streamers all work well as quiz themes.
rebus
Have you heard of hanjie, picture riddles that were popular among commoners in the Edo period? Hanjie are a type of ukiyo-e in which you guess a word suggested by the image.
For example, in a puzzle where the characters a, ka are written on an umbrella (kasa), you read it as a-kasa-ka, which becomes Akasaka.
You can also have fun by including numbers in addition to pictures and characters.
Although hanjie were a craze in the Edo period, it’s fine to use modern answers.
Combine pictures, letters, and numbers to represent words like place names, foods, or animals.
It also sounds fun to make your own puzzles.
A wordplay lettering using “u” and “shi.”
Let’s figure out the correct answer from the combined characters.
Here’s a wordplay puzzle using the Japanese characters “う” (u) and “し” (shi).
The character “u” forms a ring encircling “shi.” It’s a unique arrangement, and some people might have no idea what the answer could be.
The hints are that there are ten “う” characters and that “し” is placed in the center.
The answer is “雨天中止” (canceled due to rain).
ポイントは、数字の10を「ten（テン）」と読むことで、日本語の読み「テン」と同じ音になり、その結果としてそのフレーズにつながるということです。
A witty wordplay using “shō” and “jō”
Let’s solve a riddle that looks like an official-style problem! It’s a wordplay puzzle using “shou” and “jou.” The display shows “shou × 2” and “jou ÷ 2.” The hints are that it suggests a bustling crowd, and that “shou” is doubled while “jou” is halved.
The answer is “shoubai hanjou,” meaning “prosperous business.” It makes sense if you think of it as “shou” multiplied and “jou” halved—“shou-bai” and “han-jou.” It’s a perfect brain teaser with clever wordplay, and once you get it, it’s quite satisfying.
Give it a try!
A wordplay (riddle) using the name “Taro”
Let’s capture the features of the characters and try a brain teaser! This is a wordplay puzzle using the name “Taro.” The characters for “Taro” are reversed and have a striped pattern.
The hints are the reversed “Taro” and the stripes.
If I also tell you it’s related to a folktale, many of you might get it right.
The answer is “Urashima Taro.” Since “Taro” is flipped and has stripes (shima), it makes sense.
It’s a folktale long loved in Japan.