Bunkagame — August 5, 2026

Question 1

The American pop artist Jeff Koons, famous for his giant shiny stainless-steel 'Balloon Dog' sculpture that sold for $58.4 million in 2013, got an honorary degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2008. In 2019 his work went on display at the Ashmolean Museum, in which historic English university town?

Accepted Answer

The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford opened way back in 1683, making it the oldest public museum in Britain. Its 2019 show was Jeff Koons's first-ever museum exhibition in the UK. Koons had earlier received an honorary degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2008.

Question 2

Norton Clapp, a rich lumber businessman and later the head of the Boy Scouts of America, earned his undergraduate degree in 1928 and his law degree in 1929 at the University of Chicago. He then worked as a lawyer from 1929 to 1942 in which Puget Sound port city, where his family ran their timber company?

Accepted Answer

Norton Clapp took his 1928 undergraduate degree and 1929 law degree at the University of Chicago, then practised law from 1929 to 1942 in Tacoma, Washington, where his family ran the giant Weyerhaeuser timber company. He later ran the Boy Scouts of America as national president from 1962 to 1965, and is buried in Tacoma below Mount Rainier.

Question 3

The Taiyuan Asian Puppet Theatre Museum is one of many interesting museums on the island of Taiwan. So is the National Taiwan Museum, built way back in 1908 (the oldest museum in the whole country). In which capital city is that museum located?

Accepted Answer

The National Taiwan Museum opened in Taipei in 1908 under Japanese rule, sitting inside the 228 Peace Memorial Park across from the Presidential Office Building. The Taiyuan Asian Puppet Theatre Museum is another interesting stop on Taiwan's museum map.

Question 4

The Mexican city of Oaxaca has lots of art museums grouped around its beautiful old Church of Santo Domingo de Guzman. Which state in northern Mexico is also known for its museums, including the Ganot-Peschard Museum of Archeology and the Museo de la Ferreria, both in its capital city of the same name?

Accepted Answer

Durango State sits on the western edge of the Sierra Madre Occidental. Its Museo de la Ferreria tells the story of the state's iron and silver mining, started by the Spanish way back in the 1600s. Oaxaca is another Mexican city famous for its museums, grouped around the beautiful old Church of Santo Domingo de Guzman.

Question 5

Kickstarter (the website where you can raise money to make a creative project) opened up to people in Belgium on 16 June 2015, together with Austria, Italy, Luxembourg, and Switzerland. Which country down in Oceania got the same access a bit earlier, on 13 November 2013, at the same time as Australia?

Accepted Answer

Kickstarter was started in 2009 by three friends (Perry Chen, Yancey Strickler and Charles Adler). It opened to New Zealand creators on 13 November 2013, alongside Australia, and later opened in Belgium on 16 June 2015, together with Austria, Italy, Luxembourg and Switzerland.

Question 6

The Shubert Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut tried out a new play, 'A Streetcar Named Desire', before it went to Broadway. In 1939 its playwright Tennessee Williams used a Rockefeller grant to move to which Deep South city, where he later set the play's French Quarter scenes?

Accepted Answer

The years Tennessee Williams spent in New Orleans, after moving there in 1939 with a Rockefeller grant, gave 'A Streetcar Named Desire' its steamy French Quarter setting on Elysian Fields Avenue. The play was tried out at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut before it opened on Broadway.

Question 7

The League of American Bicyclists, founded way back in 1880, ranked Colorado (home of Denver) as the sixth most bike-friendly state in 2024. In 2008 it gave a bronze award to which small city on Baranof Island, a place that used to be the capital of Russian America?

Accepted Answer

Sitka was the capital of Russian America from 1808 until 1867, when the United States bought Alaska from Russia, and became America's first territorial capital in the state. The League of American Bicyclists gave it a bronze award for bike friendliness on Baranof Island. The league ranked Colorado (home of Denver) as the sixth most bike-friendly state in 2024.

Question 8

This college theatre festival, founded in 1969, splits the country into eight regions. Delaware is in Region II (with DC, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania). Which Southeastern state, nicknamed the Volunteer State, competes in Region IV?

Accepted Answer

Region IV of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival covers Virginia and the Carolinas all the way down to Florida and Puerto Rico, and includes Tennessee. Delaware belongs to Region II. Massachusetts is in Region I and Kansas is in Region V, so they don't compete against Tennessee.

Question 9

The Belgian tennis star Justine Henin had a 17-match winning streak on the women's tour, but Dinara Safina finally beat her at a tournament in Berlin. A few days later, at the Foro Italico clay-court tournament, Henin shocked everyone by retiring from tennis while she was still the world number one. Which Italian city hosts the Foro Italico?

Accepted Answer

Justine Henin's 17-match winning streak was ended by Dinara Safina at the Berlin tournament in May 2008. Days later at the Foro Italico clay-court event in Rome, Henin announced her shock retirement on 14 May 2008, six months before her 26th birthday. She actually came back to tennis in 2010 and reached the Australian Open final before retiring again for good in January 2011.

Question 10

Czerwionka-Leszczyny in Upper Silesia was one of the areas Prussia took from Austria during the Silesian Wars, three wars fought in the mid-1700s. Which small town in Lower Silesia, sitting at the foot of a range called the Table Mountains, was taken by Prussia's King Frederick II during the very first war?

Accepted Answer

Radkow (called Wunschelburg in German) sits below the Table Mountains in Lower Silesia. King Frederick II of Prussia took it from Empress Maria Theresa of Austria in 1742 during the First Silesian War. Czerwionka-Leszczyny in Upper Silesia was another area Prussia took from Austria during the Silesian Wars, and both stayed under Prussian control until 1945.