The Rice Purity Test has been around for 100 years. That is not a marketing line — it is a verifiable fact. The test was first published in 1924. As of 2026, it is still being taken by millions of people every year, on platforms that did not exist until decades after it was created.
The Rice Purity Test was first published in the Rice Thresher student newspaper in 1924. The same test — revised, expanded, and adapted — was being taken by teenagers in Turkey, Brazil, and South Korea in 2026. That is a hundred-year arc worth understanding.
1924 — The Rice Thresher Survey That Started Everything
The story begins not with a quiz, but with a newspaper story.
In 1924, the Rice Thresher — the student newspaper of Rice University in Houston, Texas — published the results of an informal ten-question survey of 119 female undergraduate students. The questions were mild by any modern standard but pointed for the era: Have you ever been drunk? Did you ever dance conspicuously? Have you ever done anything you would not tell your mother?
After collecting and tabulating the results, the Thresher published them under a headline that captured the spirit of the exercise perfectly: Rice Girls Not Quite Half Bad.
The first average score reported from that 1924 survey was approximately 62. This is a remarkable coincidence — the global average reported from 124,952 test-takers by the Rice Thresher's own data analysis in 2018 was 61.46. Across a century of social change, two world wars, the sexual revolution, the internet, and TikTok, the average result of this survey has barely moved.
The original 1924 test had only ten questions, was given exclusively to women, and was intended as campus humor published on the Thresher's satirical back page. None of its creators could have imagined it would be taken by a teenager in Seoul in 2026.
The headline 'Rice Girls Not Quite Half Bad' after the 1924 survey is one of the most underreported facts in Rice Purity Test history. Most sites summarize the origin without mentioning it. It captures exactly how the test was framed — not as a judgment, but as campus satire.
Why the Test Emerged at Rice University
Rice University opened in 1912 — twelve years before the purity test first appeared. It was founded with a bequest from William Marsh Rice, a Houston merchant whose estate was released after his murder in 1900. The institution opened with 59 students and rigid social codes typical of Southern universities of the era.
By 1924, Rice was still a small, strictly regulated campus in Houston. Female students lived under curfews, dress codes, and chaperone requirements. The purity survey emerged from that environment — a way for students to acknowledge, humorously, the gap between official campus standards and actual student behavior.
The survey's framing as entertainment rather than judgment is important. From its very first appearance, the Rice Purity Test was designed to provoke conversation and laughter — not to rank students or shame anyone. That original intent has been honored by some users and violated by others ever since.
1974 to the 1980s — The Test Grows Up
1974 — Male Students Included for the First Time
For fifty years, the purity test at Rice was taken exclusively by women. In 1974, the Rice Thresher revisited the test and male students were included for the first time. The questions remained the same ten that had existed since 1924. The inclusion of male students changed the test's social function — it became less of an observation about women's experiences and more of a shared campus ritual.
O-Week — The Test as Orientation Ritual
By the late 1970s and into the 1980s, the Rice Purity Test had become a formal part of O-Week — Rice University's Orientation Week for incoming freshmen. The ritual took a specific physical form that most modern users would find surprising: students were given printed purity sheets that they wore on their shirts as name tags. On the sheet, they would cross out the questions that applied to their experience.
All first-year students met each other wearing their crossed-out purity sheets on their chests. The social function was icebreaking — giving strangers an immediate, structured topic for conversation beyond introductions.
1963 — Desegregation and the Crime Questions
Rice University desegregated in 1963, admitting students of color for the first time after the university filed a lawsuit to modify its original charter. Following desegregation, questions about crime, police contact, and arrest were added to the test. Jenna Hlavaty, a Rice University student who wrote her senior honors thesis on the Rice Purity Test, noted the significance of this timing: for white students, those questions function as moral hypotheticals. For students of color who have faced disproportionate law enforcement contact, the same questions measure systemic inequality more than personal behavior.
1988 — Expansion to 150 Questions
In 1988, the Rice Thresher published a significantly expanded version of the test — growing it to 150 questions. This version included questions about same-sex relationships, though it handled them by creating separate question sets rather than using inclusive language. The expansion reflected genuine evolution in what students considered worth documenting about their experiences.
1990s to 2000s — The Internet Era
Online Purity Tests — Earlier Than You Think
The internet era of purity tests predates ricepuritytest.com by decades. Online purity tests were among the earliest internet memes, circulating on Usenet bulletin boards beginning in the early 1980s. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Baker House version and a Carnegie Mellon University version from 1983 were among the most widely circulated early online variants — predating the World Wide Web entirely.
The Rice Purity Test specifically migrated to the web in the late 1990s as internet access spread through American university campuses. The test spread through email forwards and early social media — reaching students at universities that had no connection to Rice University in Houston.
1998 — The MPS Revision
In 1998, the test underwent its most significant language revision. The gendered pronouns that had been present since 1924 were replaced with the gender-neutral abbreviation MPS (Member of Preferred Sex). This change made the test inclusive for all sexual orientations without requiring separate question sets.
The 1998 MPS revision also removed several questions that had appeared in the 1988 version — including references to child molestation and statutory rape that the Thresher's editorial team had included and subsequently regretted. The cleaned-up, gender-neutral 1998 format became the template for most subsequent online versions.
2011 to 2012 — Editorial Controversy and the Modern Version
In 2011, the Rice Thresher editors faced an internal disagreement that nearly ended the official test. Some editors refused to publish that year's version, citing concerns about questions that referenced non-consensual sexual activities and the way same-sex experiences had historically been treated in the test's language.
The following year, 2012, an edited version was published — with problematic questions removed and the language further updated for inclusivity. This 2012 version is the one that was simultaneously published online at ricepuritytest.com, where it has remained essentially unchanged since.
According to a Rice Thresher article published in August 2017, the official ricepuritytest.com website received over 1.5 million visits in 2017 alone — more than a decade before the test achieved its biggest viral moment.
2020 — TikTok and the Global Explosion
In April 2020 — during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic — something shifted in the test's search traffic. According to Google Trends data documented by Know Your Meme, search interest for the Rice Purity Test spiked sharply in April 2020. The pandemic had sent millions of young people home from college campuses, onto their phones, and into an environment where social comparison felt more intense than usual.
TikTok became the primary vector. One of the earliest viral trends involved people filming their parents or grandparents taking the test and recording their reactions to questions about sex, drugs, and legal trouble.
In October 2020, a TikTok user posting as @official_lightning shared a video with the test that gathered over one million views. The hashtag #RicePurityTest accumulated billions of views across the platform. The 2020 TikTok wave did something no previous moment in the test's history had done: it took the test genuinely global. For the first time, significant portions of the test's audience had no cultural connection to American college life.
2021 to 2022 — Pop Culture and Spin-offs
2021 — The Innocence Test
In December 2021, two college students — Mia Wetsel and Will Menashe — created a spin-off called The Innocence Test. Posted on TikTok on December 28, 2021, the video announcing the new test accumulated more than three million views within 24 hours. The creators had hoped for 40 responses and received 1.3 million in under a day.
January 2022 — Hasan Piker and NIJISANJI EN
In January 2022, VTuber group NIJISANJI EN took the Rice Purity Test together on stream, gathering over 500,000 views. Twitch streamer Hasan Piker's clip of taking the test on YouTube gathered over 400,000 likes. The test was actively moving through gaming, streaming, and internet content communities simultaneously.
October 28, 2022 — Big Mouth, Netflix
The test's highest-profile mainstream media moment came on October 28, 2022. Season 6, Episode 4 of the Netflix animated series Big Mouth was titled 'Rice Purity Test.' The episode depicted the quiz going viral among the show's teenage characters.
The episode's character scores were specific and intentionally chosen to reflect each character's personality: Devin scored 74, Jessi and Lola each scored 71, Andrew gloated about his 61, Nick was embarrassed by his score of 92, Elijah scored 98, Missy scored 82, and Jay — to everyone's shock — scored 3.
Big Mouth's Jay scoring 3 — lower than any character — was a deliberate joke at the character's expense. The writers understood the test's scoring system well enough to use specific numbers as characterization. That level of cultural embedding is what 100 years of persistence looks like.
2023 to 2026 — The Test at 100 Years
The Rice Purity Test in 2026 exists in a form its 1924 creators would not recognize on any level except the core concept. It is taken on smartphones by people in countries Rice University's founders had never visited. The 10 questions about whether a woman had danced conspicuously have become 100 questions covering everything from romantic hand-holding to digital behavior on dating apps.
Rice University itself does not endorse or maintain any version of the test available online. The university acknowledges its historical connection to the campus tradition but has no formal involvement with ricepuritytest.com or any other version. The Thresher continues to publish an updated version of the test periodically, but the version most people encounter online is the 2012 edition hosted at ricepuritytest.com — essentially frozen in time.
The test's longevity comes down to one thing: it solves a specific social problem that has not changed across a century. Meeting strangers is awkward. Talking about personal experiences with new people is uncomfortable. The purity test gives a structured, semi-anonymous format for exactly that conversation — the same function it served in a Rice University dormitory in 1924 and on a TikTok live stream in 2024.
Complete Rice Purity Test Timeline — 1924 to 2026
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 1912 | Rice University Opens. Rice Institute opens September 23, 1912 in Houston, Texas, funded by the estate of murdered businessman William Marsh Rice. |
| 1924 | First Purity Survey. Rice Thresher publishes ten-question survey of 119 female students. First average score: ~62. Headline: 'Rice Girls Not Quite Half Bad.' |
| 1963 | Desegregation + Crime Questions. Rice University desegregates. Crime and police-contact questions added to the test. |
| 1974 | Male Students Included. The test is administered to male students for the first time. Purity sheets worn as O-Week name tags. |
| 1980s | O-Week Tradition Formalized. Test becomes a standard Rice O-Week bonding activity. |
| 1983 | Usenet Purity Tests. Purity tests circulate on Usenet bulletin boards — among the earliest internet memes, predating the World Wide Web. |
| 1988 | Expanded to 150 Questions. Rice Thresher publishes a 150-question version including same-sex questions and contemporary experiences. |
| 1998 | MPS Revision. Gendered language replaced with 'MPS' (Member of Preferred Sex). Questions about non-consensual acts removed. Test becomes gender-neutral and inclusive. |
| Late 1990s | Web Migration. Test migrates to the World Wide Web, spreading through university websites, email forwards, and early social platforms. |
| 2000s | National University Tradition. Rice Purity Test becomes a standard orientation activity at universities across the United States beyond Rice itself. |
| 2011 | Editorial Controversy. Rice Thresher editors refuse to publish the annual test due to concerns about certain questions. |
| 2012 | ricepuritytest.com Launches. Revised, cleaned-up 100-question version published online. This version becomes the standard reference for all subsequent digital takes. |
| 2017 | 1.5 Million Visits. Rice Thresher reports the official site received over 1.5 million visits in 2017. |
| 2018 | Thresher Data Analysis. Rice Thresher publishes statistical analysis: 124,952 takers, average score 61.46, 2,719 perfect scores, 336 perfect zero scores. |
| April 2020 | TikTok Goes Viral. COVID-19 pandemic + TikTok combine to produce the test's biggest viral moment. Parents-taking-the-test trend generates millions of views. |
| Oct 2020 | @official_lightning. TikTok post gathers over 1 million views. #RicePurityTest accumulates billions of views on the platform globally. |
| Dec 2021 | The Innocence Test. Spin-off created by two college students. 3 million TikTok views in 24 hours. 1.3 million responses in under one day. |
| Jan 2022 | Streaming and VTuber Spread. NIJISANJI EN stream: 500,000+ views. Hasan Piker YouTube clip: 400,000+ likes. |
| Oct 28, 2022 | Big Mouth, Netflix. Season 6 Episode 4 titled 'Rice Purity Test.' Characters score: Jay 3, Andrew 61, Jessi/Lola 71, Devin 74, Missy 82, Nick 92, Elijah 98. |
| 2026 | 100+ Years. The Rice Purity Test is taken by millions annually across dozens of platforms and countries. Rice University does not officially endorse any version. |
Frequently Asked Questions
When was the Rice Purity Test made?
The Rice Purity Test was first published in 1924 by the Rice Thresher, the student newspaper of Rice University in Houston, Texas. The original version had 10 questions and was given only to female students. The 100-question format familiar today was developed in the 1980s, with the current online version dating to 2012.
Who created the Rice Purity Test?
The original 1924 version was created by the editorial staff of the Rice Thresher student newspaper at Rice University. No individual author is credited. The test evolved through generations of Rice University students across several decades. No single person or organization owns or controls the test today.
Where did the Rice Purity Test come from?
The Rice Purity Test originated at Rice University in Houston, Texas in 1924. It was published on the satirical back page of the Rice Thresher student newspaper as a survey of female students' conduct and experiences. The name 'Rice' refers to the university, not to rice the food or grain.
When did the Rice Purity Test go viral on TikTok?
The test's major TikTok viral moment began in April 2020 during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Google Trends data shows a sharp spike in search interest during this period. By October 2020, the hashtag #RicePurityTest had accumulated billions of views on TikTok globally.
What was the Big Mouth episode about the Rice Purity Test?
Season 6, Episode 4 of Netflix's animated series Big Mouth, titled 'Rice Purity Test,' aired on October 28, 2022. The episode depicts the test going viral among the show's teen characters. Character scores: Jay scored 3, Andrew 61, Jessi and Lola each 71, Devin 74, Missy 82, Nick 92, and Elijah 98.
Does Rice University officially endorse the Rice Purity Test?
No. Rice University acknowledges the test's historical origin in its campus culture but does not maintain, endorse, or profit from any version of the test currently available online. The widely-used online versions at ricepuritytest.com and other sites operate independently of the institution.
Why the Test Survived 100 Years
The simplest explanation for the Rice Purity Test's longevity is that it solves a social problem that does not age: meeting new people is difficult, and talking about personal experiences with strangers is uncomfortable. The test provides a structured framework for exactly that conversation — impersonal enough to feel safe, personal enough to be revealing.
The specific questions have changed dramatically across a century. The social function has not changed at all. In 1924, it helped Rice University women learn about their classmates. In 2026, it helps people around the world learn about each other online. The mechanism is identical. The scale is a hundred thousand times larger.
Take the full test here — the same 100 questions that have been part of American college culture since 1924.
Full explanation of why it is called the Rice Purity Test — the William Marsh Rice origin story.
What does your score actually mean? Every range from 0 to 100 explained.