Scratch Multiple Choice Game (No multiple Costumes or Backdrops) | Lists in Scratch

A Scratch multiple-choice quiz can be built without creating separate costumes or backdrops for every question by leaning on lists and variables to store questions, answers, and options—and then swapping a single set of on-screen text and message sprites as the game progresses. The core idea is to treat each question as a row of data: one entry in a questions list, one matching entry in an answers list, and three entries in an options list (A, B, and C). A hidden question index tracks which row is currently being shown, so the same interface can render any question simply by pulling the right list items by index.

The setup starts with a “message” sprite that contains three text costumes: “game over” (blue), “correct” (green), and “wrong” (red). Instead of showing different scenes, the game toggles this sprite’s costume and visibility. Four lists are created: questions, answers, and options (with separate variables for option A, option B, and option C displayed as large readouts). Variables also include option A/option B/option C for what the player sees, a score variable, and a hidden question index that determines which question is active.

Two custom blocks drive the quiz flow. The first, setup questions, clears the lists at the start (Scratch lists persist across runs unless emptied) and then fills them with question text, the correct answer, and three choices per question—ensuring that exactly one of the choices matches the corresponding entry in the answers list. The second block, show question, increments the question index and checks whether more questions remain using a condition that compares the index against the length of the questions list. If questions remain, it updates the visible variables option A/option B/option C and the question text by fetching list items at the current index. If not, it hides the question and option variables and broadcasts a “game over” message.

A green-flag event initializes the game: it hides the message sprite, resets score and question index, shows the option and question variables, runs setup questions, and calls show question to display the first prompt. Three button sprites (option A, option B, option C) handle input. Each button compares the text stored in its option variable to the correct answer stored in the answers list at the current question index. A match increments the score and broadcasts “correct”; a mismatch broadcasts “wrong.” When the message sprite receives “correct” or “wrong,” it switches to the appropriate costume, waits one second, hides the message, and then advances by calling show question again. When “game over” is broadcast, the buttons hide as the quiz ends.

The result is a scalable quiz system: adding more questions requires only appending data inside setup questions, not redesigning costumes or backdrops for each new question.