Daily NBA Trivia Game
Starting 5 Trivia is a free daily NBA trivia game you can play in a browser or on iPhone. Every day brings 12 multiple choice questions, split into four quarters, with five real NBA players on the floor. You read a question and pick the player it describes. A 10 second shot clock runs on every question, and a finished game takes about a minute. No account is required to play, and there are no ads.
How a game works
The same game is played everywhere. The day starts and ends at midnight UTC, so a player in London and a player in Los Angeles share one challenge, one leaderboard, and one set of five players. You get one run. Those five stay on the floor for all 12 questions, three in each quarter. The questions reach from the 1960s to the current season: championships, scoring records, drafts, awards, and the nights people still argue about.
Nothing on the page tells you an answer you did not earn. A right pick is marked right. A miss or a timeout does not reveal the correct player. Today’s live game stays sealed.
Scoring
Speed is the scoring system. The shot clock is 10 seconds. A correct answer with at least 7 seconds left is worth 3 points. A correct answer with 4, 5, or 6 seconds left is worth 2 points. A correct answer with fewer than 4 seconds left is worth 1 point. A miss or a timeout scores zero. The 4th quarter pays double, so those same correct answers are worth 6, 4, or 2.
Answer all three questions in a quarter correctly and you earn a clean-sweep bonus: 1 extra point in each of the first three quarters, and 2 extra points in the fourth. There is no pay-to-retry and no second game until the next day drops.
Leaderboards
When you finish, your line lands on the daily leaderboard. The order is total points, then field-goal percentage, then average response time, then who submitted first, so a day does not end in a tie. The person at the top is that day’s champion. After the day closes, the top 20 finishers earn season score, from 20 points for first place down to 1 point for 20th. Weekly and all-time boards sit beside the daily one. An account saves your streak and your career totals. You can play today’s game without one.
Multiple choice trivia
This is not a lineup guessing game. You are not asked to name an NBA team’s starting five. The five players are already on the floor, and each question is multiple choice trivia about them. If you searched for a guess-the-lineup puzzle, this is a different game. Starting 5 Trivia is the daily trivia version: 12 questions, a shot clock, and a score.
Free NBA daily games
Looking for free NBA daily games? This is one of them. A new trivia game is published every day, it resets on the UTC day boundary, and you can play it in the browser with no download or in the free iPhone app.
Frequently asked questions
Is The Starting 5 free to play?
Yes — completely free, forever. There are no subscriptions, no paywalls, and no ads interrupting your game.
Do I need to create an account?
No. You can jump straight into today's challenge without signing up. Create a free account anytime to save your stats, track streaks, and climb the leaderboards.
How long does a game take?
About a minute. Each daily challenge is 5 players and 12 questions on a 10-second shot clock, so it is quick to play and easy to make a daily habit.
How does scoring work?
Faster correct answers earn more points (1–3 per question), with streak bonuses for consecutive answers and a 2x multiplier in the 4th quarter.
Is there a new game every day?
Yes — a fresh NBA trivia challenge drops daily, spanning legends from the 1960s through today's stars.
Is there a mobile app?
Yes. The Starting 5 is available free on iPhone, and you can also play right in your browser on any device.
Is this a lineup guessing game?
No. Starting 5 Trivia is multiple choice NBA trivia. Five real players are on the floor, a question is asked, and you pick the player it describes before the 10 second shot clock runs out. It is not a puzzle where you guess a team's starting lineup.
Where can I play a free NBA daily game?
Right here. Starting 5 Trivia publishes one free NBA trivia game every day, in the browser and on iPhone. Twelve multiple choice questions, a 10 second shot clock, and no account required.
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