Forest Quiz

A fan's love letter to the club

Nottingham Forest is not just a football club: it is an identity. Growing up in Nottingham, Forest is woven into who you are. The history is extraordinary: from the Third Division to European champions in four years under Brian Clough. Two European Cups. A story that would be rejected as fiction for being too implausible.

Most football quizzes are generic: ten questions copied from a pub quiz book. Forest Quiz was built as something different: a proper quiz experience that respects the depth of the club's history. 303 questions across 8 categories, from the Clough era to the Premier League return. Multiple game modes that make it replayable, not just a one-and-done list.

The competitive features. Challenge a Friend, Head to Head, Daily Quiz: turn it from a solo activity into something social. Share your score, challenge someone, argue about whether you really knew the answer or just got lucky. That is what football is about.

Seven ways to test yourself

303 questions across 8 categories, each with a difficulty rating that feeds into the scoring system. Points are calculated from difficulty, speed bonus, and streak multiplier: so knowing the answer quickly and maintaining a run of correct answers is rewarded more than slow, cautious play.

Seven game modes keep it fresh. Quick Quiz for a fast ten questions. Era Mode to focus on a specific period. Challenge mode gives you three lives: one wrong answer and you lose a life. Sunday Pub Quiz for a longer session. Daily Quiz uses a deterministic date-based seed so every player gets the same questions that day. Challenge a Friend generates a shareable link so others can try the same set. Head to Head is a two-player same-device mode with side-by-side results.

My Stats tracks lifetime performance with category breakdowns shown in a bar chart. Visual result cards with tier-based share images make it easy to post your scores. A league table adds long-term competition with animated counters and stats tracking.

Building a proper quiz, not a pub quiz photocopy

303 questions, not 50. Most football quizzes feel thin. You finish them once and never come back. 303 questions across 8 categories means you can play for weeks and still hit questions you haven't seen. I researched every era of the club: the Clough years, the relegation battles, the Premier League return. The depth had to match the depth of the history.

Seven game modes for replayability. A quiz is only as good as its replay value. Quick Quiz for five minutes on the train. Era Mode when you want to test yourself on a specific period. Challenge mode with three lives adds genuine tension. The Daily Quiz uses a date-based seed so every player gets the same questions that day, which makes it social. Challenge a Friend generates a shareable link. Head to Head turns it into a two-player game on the same device. Each mode is a different reason to come back.

Emotional connection, not just correctness. The scoring system rewards speed and streaks, not just knowing the answer. A difficulty rating feeds into points calculation: harder questions are worth more. The streak multiplier means maintaining a run of correct answers builds momentum. It feels like a match: when you're on a run, you're in the zone.

Shareable results that people actually share. The tier-based share images are designed to provoke reaction. Getting "Clough's Disciple" feels different from getting "Fair Weather Fan." The visual cards are formatted for social media. If someone shares their result, it's both a flex and an invitation for other fans to try to beat it.

Lessons from building for a community I belong to

Being the target audience is an unfair advantage. I didn't need to research what Forest fans care about. I am one. I know which questions feel satisfying to get right and which ones feel like a cheap trick. I know that asking about the 1978-79 season means something different to us than it does to anyone else. Building for your own community means every decision is informed by genuine feeling, not user research.

Game modes are features, but the Daily Quiz is the product. Of everything I built, the Daily Quiz creates the most return visits. Same questions for everyone, new set every day. It turns a solo activity into a shared one: "What did you get on today's quiz?" is a conversation starter. The lesson is that habit-forming features matter more than impressive features.

Difficulty calibration is harder than writing questions. Writing 303 questions is a grind, but rating their difficulty is an art. A question that's obvious to a season ticket holder is impossible for a newer fan. Getting the balance right so that every difficulty level feels fair took more iteration than any other part of the build.