Quick answer: On the original Rice Purity Test list first documented by the Rice Thresher, question 69 was left blank — printed as a single question mark ("?") instead of actual wording. Because of the number's cultural association with a sexual position, most people assume it must be the test's most explicit question. In reality, it's the opposite: it's the one question the original creators chose not to write. Nearly every website that hosts the test today has replaced that blank with its own custom wording, which is exactly why you'll get a different answer depending on which site you ask.
If you searched "rice purity test question 69" hoping for a straight answer, you've probably already noticed the problem: every site says something different. One calls it a police question. Another calls it an explicit sexual question. A third just shows a blank space. None of them explain why, and most don't tell you it changes your score the same way regardless of the wording.
This guide covers what question 69 actually says across every major version of the test, why the confusion exists in the first place, which category it falls into, and exactly how it affects your final purity score — whether you check the box or skip it.
What Is Question 69 on the Rice Purity Test?
Question 69 sits inside the test's mid-to-late question range, in the section that covers physical and sexual experience. In the earliest documented version of the 100-question list, tracked by the Rice Thresher and later archived by Know Your Meme, question 69 wasn't written out at all. It appeared only as a question mark, sandwiched between two clearly worded questions about repeated sexual activity.
That blank space is the entire source of the confusion. Once the test spread beyond Rice University and got copied, edited, and republished across hundreds of independent websites, each site owner had to decide what to do with a question that technically didn't exist. Some kept the blank. Some turned it into a joke question that directly references the number ("Have you ever done a 69?"). Some quietly folded it into a nearby sexual-position or partner-count question instead. A few unrelated versions renumbered the entire list and landed a completely different topic — like an arrest or police encounter — on number 69 by coincidence.
So the honest, direct answer is this: there is no single official wording for question 69, because the original never had one. Whatever your version of the test shows you is that particular website's own interpretation of a placeholder.
Why Everyone Searches for Question 69 Specifically
Out of a hundred questions, almost nobody searches for question 42 or question 77 by number. Question 69 gets searched constantly for one simple reason: the number itself is a well-known cultural reference, so people expect the question at that exact position to match it. That expectation existed before most people had even seen the real list.
This is a case where the meme came first and the content got reverse-engineered to match it. When newer sites rebuilt the test for the web, plenty of them leaned into that expectation on purpose, since a question that plays on the number gets shared, screenshotted, and searched far more than a plain one would.
How Question 69 Is Worded Across Different Versions
Because so many independent sites host their own copy of the test, the exact phrasing at position 69 varies more than almost any other question in the list. Here's a side-by-side look at how it commonly appears:
| Version Type | How Question 69 Appears | Category |
|---|---|---|
| Original 1980s–2010s list (Rice Thresher / archived version) | Left blank — shown only as "?" | Physical Intimacy |
| Common modern web copies | "Have you ever done a 69?" (a self-referential joke question) | Physical Intimacy |
| Other modern web copies | Folded into a nearby sexual-position or partner-count question | Physical Intimacy |
| Reordered / non-standard lists | Renumbered entirely — a police, legal, or authority question lands on 69 purely by coincidence | Rules & Authority |
| Legacy 1980s 150-question edition | An unrelated location-based question (150-point scale, not comparable to the standard 100-question test) | N/A (different scale) |
If the version you're taking shows something different from all five of these, that's normal too. There are more independently maintained copies of this test online than there are official ones, and question 69 is the single most frequently edited item on the entire list.
Is Question 69 a "Free Space"?
No. This is one of the most repeated myths about the test, and it's worth debunking directly: a blank question is not the same as a free point. On the original list, question 69 simply wasn't assigned wording — it was not treated as an automatic checkmark, and skipping it doesn't hand you a bonus point either. If your version of the test shows a blank or a "?" at position 69, the safest and most accurate approach is to leave it unchecked unless the site tells you otherwise, since an unwritten question can't honestly apply to your experience.
Which Category Does Question 69 Fall Into?
Across the vast majority of standard 100-question versions, question 69 sits inside the physical intimacy and sexual experience section of the test, roughly in the second half of the full question set. That placement is exactly why it gets treated as a landmark moment by test-takers — it lands in the section people already expect to be the most personal, right at a number that already has its own reputation.
A smaller number of restructured or renumbered versions push a completely different topic into the 69 slot, most often something from the legal or rule-breaking section. If you're comparing scores with a friend, it's worth checking that you're both using the same version of the test before assuming your question 69 matches theirs.
Does Answering Question 69 Change Your Score?
Yes, exactly the same way every other question does — no more, no less. The Rice Purity Test uses a simple subtraction model: you start at a perfect score of 100, and every box you check subtracts one point. Question 69 carries no extra weight and no bonus penalty, regardless of how it's worded on your version.
So if you check the box for question 69 along with 34 other questions across the full test, your final score is 100 minus 35, which is 65. That's it. The number's reputation doesn't make it worth more points, and skipping it doesn't cost you anything beyond the single point every other unchecked question also skips.
If you want to see exactly where a score like that lands on the full purity scale, our Rice Purity Score meaning guide breaks down every range from 100 down to 0.
What About MPS Questions Near Question 69?
Several questions surrounding the mid-60s to 70s range reference "MPS," which confuses just as many people as question 69 itself does. If you've seen that abbreviation and weren't sure what it meant, our full Rice Purity Test walks through every question in order, including what MPS stands for and how to answer those items honestly.
Frequently Asked Questions
On the original list, question 69 was left unwritten, shown only as a question mark. Most modern websites have since filled that gap with their own wording, which is why the answer differs depending on which site's version of the test you're taking.
Not officially. The blank space in the original list happened to fall at position 69, and later versions leaned into the coincidence by writing joke questions that reference the number directly. The connection is cultural, not something the original test creators wrote in.
Because there is no single company or organization that owns the test. Rice University students created the original list decades ago, and it has since been copied and independently modified by hundreds of unrelated websites, each making its own editorial choices about the one question that was never written out.
No. Every question on the Rice Purity Test is worth exactly one point. Checking or skipping question 69 changes your score the same way any other single question does.
No. Leaving a question unchecked doesn't add or subtract anything beyond the normal one-point value of that question. A blank question mark isn't a bonus space, and skipping it doesn't inflate your final score.
Take the Full Test
Curious where your full score lands once question 69 and the other 99 questions are factored in? Take the complete Rice Purity Test now for an instant, private score, then check your result against our score meaning breakdown to see exactly what your number says.
