Legendary among Silicon Valley startups, the brainteaser and oddball genres of interview questions can sometime reveal the creative or critical-thinking skills of the job candidate. Many of these are intended for engineers, but others are just fun.


  1. How many times do a clock’s hands overlap in a day?
  2. How would you weigh a plane without scales?
  3. Tell me 10 ways to use a pencil other than writing.
  4. How many people flew out of Chicago last year?
  5. Why is there fuzz on a tennis ball?
  6. With your eyes closed, tell me step-by-step how to tie my shoes.
  7. If you were an animal, which one would you want to be?
  8. If you could choose one superhero power, what would it be and why?
  9. If you could get rid of any one of the US states, which one would you get rid of and why?
  10. Sell me this pencil.
  11. What would you do if you were the one survivor in a plane crash?
  12. What’s your favorite 90s jam?
  13. If you woke up and had 2,000 unread emails and could only answer 300 of them how would you choose which ones to answer?
  14. Who would win in a fight between Spiderman and Batman?
  15. If you had a machine that produced $100 dollars for life what would you be willing to pay for it today?
  16. What did you have for breakfast?
  17. Describe the color yellow to somebody who’s blind.
  18. If you were asked to unload a 747 full of jelly beans, what would you do?
  19. What’s your favorite Disney Princess?
  20. Estimate how many piano tuners operate a business in (pick a city).
  21. How much do you charge to wash every window in Seattle?
  22. How many children are born every day?
  23. If you had a choice between two superpowers (being invisible or flying) which would you choose?
  24. Why are manholes round?
  25. What do you do if you are approached by an employee who is complaining about a colleague who has horrible body odor?

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