The latest instalment of The Ashes — the storied cricketing contest between the national teams of England and Australia — is just now getting under way in Brisbane. To celebrate, we launch our first new quiz for some time, a novice-level Cricket Quiz that even those with scant knowledge of the game can approach without fear. If you’re the sort who doesn’t like to linger over abstruse pleasures, cricket might not be the game for you, but you could still try the quick version of the quiz before making your hasty judgement: it has all the questions on one page with a minimum of supplementary information. Whichever version you choose, here’s the first question:

The first official international cricket match was held in 1844. Which were the participating countries?

A) Afghanistan and India
B) Australia and England
C) Canada and the United States
D) Ireland and Scotland

If you’re looking for thrills with a slightly cerebral edge, don’t miss our brand-new Technology Quiz. It brings you ten questions from the history of that quintessentially human endeavor, technology, which offers a solution for every problem and a problem for every solution. If you’re in a hurry, we ourselves have the technology to help: try the quick version instead; it has all the questions on one page, but less supplementary information. Here’s the first question:

To whom was the first patent for a technical invention awarded?

A) Christiaan Huygens, mathematician and engineer
B) Filippo Brunelleschi, architect and engineer
C) Leonardo da Vinci, artist and inventor
D) Sir Christopher Wren, architect and scientist

A couple of weeks back we posted an Antiquity Quiz, but forgot to take note of it on this page. The ten questions in the quiz introduce us to some of the people and peoples of the ancient world, human beings very like ourselves — but with a couple of millennia less of history upon their heads. If you’re in a hurry, try the quick version instead; it has all the questions on one page, but less supplementary information. As usual, here’s the first question:

The ancient Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh is one of the oldest works of literature still extant. One important episode features a man named Utnapishtim, who:

A) Attacked and slew a three-headed dog at the gate of hell
B) Built an ark to save himself from a flood sent to destroy humanity
C) Caused disaster by misusing his ability to turn all things to gold
D) Drove the sun-god’s chariot across the sky

After a hiatus for technical development, we’re pleased to announce our new Animals Quiz, with ten questions about our furred, feathered and scaled relations, along with those whose kinship is less immediate. If you’re in a hurry, try the quick version instead; it has all the questions on one page, but less supplementary information. As a bit of a teaser, here’s the first question:

Hyraxes are small furry mammals of Africa and South Asia, whose diet consists of plants and fruit. Oddly enough, the nearest relatives of the hyrax among other mammals are the:

A) Bears
B) Elephants
C) Giraffes
D) Lions and tigers

We’ve just released our new Threesomes Quiz, in which each of the ten questions concerns a group of three similar or allied things from myth, science, history or the arts. A high score in this wide-ranging quiz indicates good breadth of knowledge. If you’re pressed for time, turn instead to the quick version, with all the questions on one page (but less supplementary information). As a bit of a teaser, here’s the first question:

What are Doomstead, Skinfaxi and Sleipnir?

A) Horses in Scandinavian mythology
B) Infectious diseases in the Middle Ages
C) The last three books of the seer Nostradamus
D) Small flowers that grow on mountainsides

March 17 is approaching, so we invite you to get in the mood with our all-new St. Patrick’s Day Quiz, celebrating that enterprising saint and his widely-observed feast day. If you’re pressed for time, turn instead to the quick version, with all the questions on one page (but less supplementary information). As a bit of a teaser, here’s the first question:

St. Patrick’s day off: St. Patrick’s Day is an official public holiday in just three places: Ireland, Northern Ireland and where else?

A) Australia
B) Canada
C) Malta
D) Montserrat

With the Winter Olympics now completed, we have just re-released our Olympic Games Quiz, which first appeared on FamilyGames.com in 2004, but has been off-line for the last long while. Here’s your chance to test your knowledge of Olympic history with 10 probing questions covering Olympic happenings from ancient times down to (just about) the present day. As with most of our quizzes, this one also comes in a quick version, with all the questions on one page (but less supplementary information). Here’s the first question:

Elite athlete: In the early Olympic Games, only free, male Greek citizens could compete. After Rome conquered Greece, Romans participated as well. Which Roman emperor competed at Olympia in a ten-horse chariot race?

A) Augustus
B) Nero
C) Tiberius
D) Vespasian

The blog being new, and the site being old — comparatively — let’s kick off our New Quizzes category with a directory of the quizzes we’ve released so far this year.

• Caribbean pirates
• Winter Olympics
• Shakespeare
• Chocolate
• Mozart
• Afflicted love
• St. Valentine’s Day
• Oscar-winning comedies