Clowns and Jesters in Gaming Trivia Quiz

Answer: Krusty the Clown

In late 2025, 'Fortnite' collaborated with 'The Simpsons' to achieve a complete takeover of the game by the familiar figures from Springfield. The aesthetic of the game was entirely changed to match the artwork of the cartoon and quests and storylines were introduced that made reference to some well-known moments from the show's long history.

One of the locations on the map (Springfield Island) was Kamp Krusty, a representation of the abysmal camp run by Krusty the Clown in an episode of the show from way back in 1992. Krusty the Clown, also known by his birth name of Herschel Krustofsky, was a boss during this 'Fortnite' collaboration and he would drop a pistol called Krusty's Mr. Blasty when defeated.

Answer: Circus Charlie

'Circus Charlie' started out as a mid-1980s Konami arcade game but was ported to platforms such as Commodore 64 and Sony MSX later in the decade. Given its arcade origins, it is no surprise that the game is a simple platformer with a limited number of levels (six, in this case).

The titular Charlie is a clown who performs at the circus and during the six levels, players control Charlie's actions, performing acts such as riding lions through rings of fire, tightrope walking and trapeze swinging.

Answer: Pennywise

'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare' - released in 2019 for PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 (PS4) - is a first-person shooter set in the fictional location of Urzikstan, a country embroiled in conflict.

The game contained a few easter eggs (hidden references or features) related to the 2017 film adaptation of Stephen King's 'It', a work featuring the villainous clown named Pennywise. Such easter eggs include a red balloon floating about behind a sewer grate and a paper boat found beside the entrance to a drain.

Answer: Dimentio

'Super Paper Mario' - a role playing platform game released for the Nintendo Wii in 2007 - is another battle between good and evil involving the well known characters of Mario, Luigi, Peach and Bowser. The team take on Count Beck and his evil minions, ostensibly including Dimentio (I hope the "sounds insane" cryptic clue helped!). Gameplay reveals that Dimentio, a jester wearing yellow and purple, has his own ambitions and is more than a mere minion!

The word "paper" in the title makes reference to the aesthetic of the game where characters and background features appear to be made out of paper.

Answer: Fargus

'Pandemonium!' is a charming platform game released by California-based publishers, Crystal Dynamics, in 1996. It is an example of a "2.5D" platformer, a reference to the game appearing to take place in three dimensions but actual movement only taking place in two dimensions (that is, a character can only be moved left/right along an x-axis and up/down along a y-axis). The perception of a third dimension is achieved by the platform itself projecting into or out of the screen along the z-axis.

'Pandemonium!' is more than just a geometric curiosity; it has a fairly interesting storyline which sees an acrobat, Nikki, and a jester named Fargus steal a spell book and using it to unwittingly summon monsters to their land. The duo must find the Wishing Engine in order to rid the land of these enemies. Players can elect to play as either Nikki - who has a double-jump as a special move - or Fargus, who is able to perform a spinning attack.

Answer: Shaco

'League of Legends' was first released in 2009 for Windows and then on macOS in 2013. This online game has a number of modes but the main attraction is 'Summoner's Rift' where players can control one of a number of champions. One such champion is Shaco, a member of the Assassin class who is also referred to by the nickname "The Demon Jester".

Hopefully the little cryptic clue helped here; "confused" is an indicator word for an anagram which, when applied to "chaos", gives us the name of our demonic 'League of Legends' champion, Shaco.

Answer: Umlaut

Developed and published by Midway Games (also known for 'Mortal Kombat'), 'CarnEvil' is a lesser recognised arcade game of the late 1990s. As suggested by the name, there are some wicked goings on at a carnival; a player is tasked with shooting down waves of enemies such as clowns, sideshow acts and other usual suspects from the circus. Umlaut, a jester - well the skull of a jester at least - provides some narrative before each level kicks off.

An umlaut - a diacritical mark consisting of two dots - is placed above a vowel to indicate a change in pronunciation; it is a punctuation mark that is particularly prevalent in German.

Answer: Sweet Tooth

Sweet Tooth - a great name for a character associated with driving an ice cream truck - is the killer clown who features in the 2012 offering for PS3, 'Twisted Metal'. His ice cream truck is not exactly your run of the mill variety, rather it is an armoured vehicle containing a stash of heavy weaponry. Just in case the creepy circus vibe isn't strong enough, there is a demonic clown head attached to the top of the truck!

Answer: Marx

In 'Kirby Super Star' - a Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) game released in 1996 and 1997 - Marx is a deceptive jester who convinces Kirby to help him summon Galactic Nova (Nova, for short) for the purposes of the latter granting Marx a wish that would be beneficial to the galaxy at large. Once Nova is summoned however, Marx reveals his deception; he uses Nova's capabilities to make a power play for Planet Popstar (Kirby's home planet). Can Kirby save the day?

Answer: Kefka Palazzo

Kefka Palazzo is the nihilistic jester from 'Final Fantasy VI' (1994), one of the most popular instalments of the enduring multi-platform video game series. He is considered an iconic 'Final Fantasy' character and his journey from court mage to mad tyrant - wanting only chaos not order and control - has been fully and richly developed by the script writers from video game company Square (later Square Enix).

Kefka's maniacal cackle is certainly one for the ages!