# ☠️ Trivia: The Black Plague  
**🗓️ Used:** 2025-06-13

## 🧠 Regular Questions

### 1. What bacterium caused the Black Plague?  
**Answer:** Yersinia pestis  
- “Proof bacteria can be overachievers too.”  
- “Yersinia pestis: not a Star Wars villain, but close.”  
- “Say it three times fast and sneeze blood.”  
- “From the microscopic mind that brought you... mass extinction!”  
- “Now available in pneumonic, septicemic, and your nightmares.”

### 2. Which animal is most associated with spreading the plague?  
**Answer:** Rat  
- “Congratulations to history’s least cuddly influencer.”  
- “When your roommate is a plague vector.”  
- “Rats: bringing the drama since the 1300s.”  
- “Tails, fleas, and existential dread.”  
- “You call it gross, I call it historically significant.”

### 3. What century did the Black Death hit Europe?  
**Answer:** 14th century  
- “The 1300s: when everything was terrible and smelled worse.”  
- “Think your century sucks? Try the 14th.”  
- “They had no TikTok, just ticks.”  
- “Live, laugh, lice.”  
- “When in doubt, bleed out.”

### 4. What iconic nursery rhyme is *believed* to reference the plague?  
**Answer:** "Ring Around the Rosie"  
- “A song about kids dying—fun for all ages!”  
- “It’s morbid, it’s catchy, it’s medieval trauma set to music.”  
- “Ashes, ashes, your immune system collapses.”  
- “Circle up for death time!”  
- “Proof that even playground songs have body counts.”

### 5. What percentage of Europe’s population is estimated to have died from the plague?  
**Answer:** About 30-60%  
- “The original social distancing success story.”  
- “Half off all Europeans—limited time only!”  
- “That’s not a pandemic, that’s a reboot.”  
- “Europe: Ctrl + Alt + Delete.”  
- “Wanna feel better about your Monday? Think about theirs.”

## ✍️ Fill-in-the-Blank Questions

### 1. The Black Death is also known as the ______ Plague.  
**Answer:** Bubonic  
- “Because ‘oozing boils’ was too literal.”  
- “The ‘bubo’ part is as sexy as it sounds.”  
- “Named after the one thing no one wanted for Christmas.”  
- “Don’t Google it. Or do. You’ll scream.”  
- “Doctors hate it! Locals fear it! It’s the Bubonic Plague!”

### 2. The plague spread through fleas that lived on ______.  
**Answer:** Rats  
- “Flea Uber was all the rage.”  
- “Nature’s most cursed piggyback ride.”  
- “From the rat’s back to yours—sharing is caring.”  
- “The worst game of tag ever.”  
- “It’s like a relay race but everyone dies.”

### 3. The plague first entered Europe through trade ships landing in ______.  
**Answer:** Sicily  
- “Welcome to Italy—enjoy your stay and your death.”  
- “Sicilian tourism peaked early.”  
- “A Mediterranean cruise straight into oblivion.”  
- “First-class cargo: despair.”  
- “Sicily: where the pizza’s good and the pestilence is airborne.”

### 4. During the plague, doctors wore masks shaped like ______.  
**Answer:** Beaks  
- “Bird cosplay with trauma.”  
- “The original plaguecore aesthetic.”  
- “Built for fear and bad breath.”  
- “Like a crow had a medical degree.”  
- “Fashion tip: leather + despair = iconic.”

### 5. One popular but useless treatment was to carry ______ to ward off the smell.  
**Answer:** Flowers  
- “Florals for disease? Groundbreaking.”  
- “Smells like... imminent doom.”  
- “Put a daisy on your deathbed.”  
- “The Middle Ages’ version of Febreze.”  
- “Can’t stop the plague, but you’ll die with bouquet energy.”

## ❓ Multiple Choice Questions

### 1. [Difficulty: 1]  
What type of organism is Yersinia pestis?  
- A. Virus  
- B. Bacterium  
- C. Fungus  
- D. Parasite  
**Answer:** B. Bacterium  
- “Small, deadly, and never washes its hands.”  
- “It’s not a virus, it just acts like one on TV.”  
- “A one-celled horror movie.”  
- “Welcome to the bacterial Hunger Games.”  
- “And you thought germs were cute.”

### 2. [Difficulty: 2]  
What medieval group was wrongly blamed and persecuted during the plague?  
- A. Nobles  
- B. Clergy  
- C. Jews  
- D. Farmers  
**Answer:** C. Jews  
- “Because blaming others is more fun than science.”  
- “Historical scapegoating: now in plague flavor.”  
- “Europe’s favorite excuse for bigotry.”  
- “You can’t cure ignorance—but they sure tried.”  
- “Spoiler: they weren’t the problem.”

### 3. [Difficulty: 3]  
What method did some groups use to punish themselves during the plague?  
- A. Meditation  
- B. Fasting  
- C. Flagellation  
- D. Chanting  
**Answer:** C. Flagellation  
- “Because nothing says health like self-harm.”  
- “Whip it real bad.”  
- “Pain is the medieval cleanse.”  
- “Torture yourself, maybe God won’t kill you!”  
- “A gym-free way to feel worse.”

### 4. [Difficulty: 3]  
Which major war was occurring during the plague's spread?  
- A. The Crusades  
- B. The Hundred Years’ War  
- C. The War of the Roses  
- D. The Napoleonic Wars  
**Answer:** B. The Hundred Years’ War  
- “Because what’s better than war *and* plague?”  
- “Die by sword, die by boil—dealer’s choice.”  
- “French vs English vs everyone’s immune system.”  
- “Plot twist: Everyone loses.”  
- “Who needs peace when you have pustules?”

### 5. [Difficulty: 4]  
What was the long-term economic effect of the Black Death?  
- A. Massive inflation  
- B. Decreased wages  
- C. Labor shortages and rise in wages  
- D. Rise of feudalism  
**Answer:** C. Labor shortages and rise in wages  
- “Finally, a plague that boosts your paycheck.”  
- “Die off half the workforce—get a raise!”  
- “Funeral first, promotion later.”  
- “The dead don’t collect paychecks. You do.”  
- “Plague economics: less people, more cheddar.”
