Bunkagame — July 16, 2026

Question 1

In 2005, a train company named a Class 47 engine after this Clash singer at Bristol Temple Meads station. In January 2013 a small square was named for him about 650 metres south of the Alhambra in the Spanish city of Granada. Which pioneering British punk singer is being described?

Accepted Answer

Joe Strummer (born John Graham Mellor, 1952-2002) was the singer of the Clash from 1976 to 1986 and a key part of British punk. After he died, fans put up tributes all over the world, including train cars in Bristol and murals in Granada, where he had spent time and found inspiration.

Question 2

Shown in Italy every year on Rai 2, this yearly January 1 classical music event was aired for the first time in Mongolia, Mozambique, Sri Lanka and Trinidad and Tobago in 2010, after building up an audience in dozens of countries since the 1960s. Which concert of Strauss waltzes and polkas from Vienna's Musikverein do these audiences share?

Accepted Answer

The Vienna Philharmonic's New Year's Concert (called Neujahrskonzert) has been held on January 1 every year since 1941 in the Musikverein's Great Hall. It is shown in Italy every year on Rai 2 and reached about 50 million viewers in over 90 countries, including a first-time broadcast to Mongolia in 2010.

Question 3

Prague was once a big European center for the mould-carved cookie art tied to this Christmas treat. Since 1991, the people of Bergen, Norway have built a whole city out of these each December, called Pepperkakebyen. What sweet building are they making?

Accepted Answer

Gingerbread houses became a favourite European Christmas tradition after the Brothers Grimm published Hansel and Gretel in 1812. Prague was one of the historic centres for the mould-carved cookie art tied to the tradition, and Bergen's Pepperkakebyen, built since 1991, is billed as the world's biggest gingerbread town.

Question 4

Which yearly Mexican performing-arts festival, held in Guanajuato and named after the author of Don Quixote, featured the Guitar Trio of Amsterdam in the 1990s and the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra playing 1800s Russian music in a later year?

Accepted Answer

The Festival Internacional Cervantino was started in 1972 and is now one of Latin America's biggest arts festivals, held each October in the old silver-mining city of Guanajuato. Past acts include the Guitar Trio of Amsterdam in the 1990s and the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra performing nineteenth-century Russian music in a later year.

Question 5

Best known for its Filipino-style fried chicken and other Filipino comfort dishes, Max's Restaurant started in Manila and now has branches in North America, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. Which North American country has five branches spread across Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Calgary?

Accepted Answer

Max's Restaurant opened in Quezon City in 1945, serving American soldiers after World War II. Almost 80 years later it has more than 200 locations, and expanded into the United States, Canada, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. Its five Canadian branches are in Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Calgary.

Question 6

Tbilisi's Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena hosted the 2015 edition of this early-season single match between the winners of the last Champions League and Europa League, and Warsaw's Stadion Narodowy will host the 2024 edition. Which yearly football match is it?

Accepted Answer

The UEFA Super Cup has been played every year since 1972, and since 1998 as a single match at a neutral venue picked by UEFA. Tbilisi's Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena hosted the 2015 edition, and Warsaw's Stadion Narodowy will host the 2024 edition. Monaco hosted the match 15 years in a row.

Question 7

Fiji surprised New Zealand 4-2 in the 2013 quarter-finals of this tournament, the first time a top rugby nation had been knocked out that early. Which international competition, which Australia has dominated since 1954 and won 40-12 over New Zealand in one Old Trafford final, was it?

Accepted Answer

The Rugby League World Cup was first played in France in 1954, making it the oldest international rugby tournament of any kind. Fiji's 4-2 shock win over New Zealand in the 2013 quarter-finals was the first time a top rugby nation had exited that early. Australia has won the trophy 12 times, including a 40-12 final win over New Zealand at Old Trafford.

Question 8

Oslo put forward a candidate in November 2013 before pulling out, and Vancouver hosted the earlier Winter Games in 2010, which made Finland's Olympic Committee suggest a joint Tahko-Kuopio-Helsinki plan of its own. Which Olympic host-picking contest was it?

Accepted Answer

The 2022 Winter Olympics bidding was famously rocky: Stockholm, Oslo, Krakow and Lviv all pulled out, leaving only Beijing and Almaty as the last two candidates. Finland's Olympic Committee had floated a Tahko-Kuopio-Helsinki plan during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Beijing won and became the first city to host both a Summer and a Winter Olympics.

Question 9

Born in Riga while it was under Soviet rule, this Latvian-American ballet dancer ran away to the West while on tour with the Kirov in 1974, and later lived for a while with his family in the small Litchfield County town of Sherman, Connecticut. Which former top Kirov dancer, later famous for crossing over into Hollywood, is being described?

Accepted Answer

Mikhail Baryshnikov (born 1948 in Riga) became a top dancer with American Ballet Theatre after fleeing the Soviet Union in 1974, and later lived for a time with his family in Sherman, Connecticut. He started the White Oak Dance Project in 1990 and the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York in 2005.

Question 10

During this Dutch fight to break free from Spanish rule (1568-1648), the town of Goes in the Spanish Netherlands was surrounded in autumn 1572 by Dutch forces helped by English troops. Oudewater also saw fighting as the northern provinces fought for their independence. Which war, ended by the 1648 Peace of Munster, gave birth to the Dutch Republic?

Accepted Answer

The Eighty Years' War set up the independent Dutch Republic and mostly ended Spanish Habsburg control of the northern Low Countries. Goes in the Spanish Netherlands was besieged in autumn 1572 by Dutch forces backed by English troops, and Oudewater saw fighting as the northern provinces battled for independence. The 1648 Peace of Munster formally ended the war.