Bunkagame — August 6, 2026

Question 1

Jackie Robinson, the famous Brooklyn Dodgers baseball player, played an exhibition game at Majestic Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas on 22 October 1953. Which stretch of former shipyards along the Hudson River in New Jersey is where he first broke baseball's colour barrier at Roosevelt Stadium in 1946?

Accepted Answer

Roosevelt Stadium was on the Hudson Waterfront in Jersey City, New Jersey. On 18 April 1946 Jackie Robinson took the field there for the Montreal Royals, becoming the first Black player in modern professional baseball. Years later, on 22 October 1953, he played an exhibition game at Majestic Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The stadium was torn down in 1985.

Question 2

The djembe, a goblet-shaped hand drum first made hundreds of years ago in West Africa, is still hand-carved today by drum-makers in Mali and Ivory Coast. In which other West African country, whose capital city Dakar hosts the finish line of the famous Paris-Dakar Rally, are these drums also hand-carved?

Accepted Answer

Senegal is the answer, home to the Ballet National du Senegal formed in the 1960s to celebrate djembe drumming. The djembe's traditional range spans the old Mali Empire, which included Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Gambia, and Senegal. Ivory Coast has its own troupe, Ballet Koteba.

Question 3

People have been pickling food (soaking it in salty water to keep it fresh) for thousands of years; archaeologists have found proof in Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, and across the Roman Empire. In which modern Middle Eastern country do people commonly eat sauerkraut, mixed with carrots, as a kosher side dish?

Accepted Answer

Pickling, first practiced in Ancient Egypt among other early civilizations, is one of the world's oldest ways to keep food fresh. In modern Israel, Jewish immigrants from Central Europe brought the sauerkraut tradition with them in the early 1900s. In Jewish cooking, sauerkraut is 'pareve' (neither meat nor dairy), so it can be served next to any meal.

Question 4

The Irish-born composer William Vincent Wallace (who wrote the opera 'Maritana') travelled the world in the 1830s giving concerts. From Australia, he sailed on a whaling ship to a Pacific country where he met a Maori tribe called Te Aupouri, then went on to Chile, Peru, Jamaica and Cuba. Which country did he meet the Maori tribe in?

Accepted Answer

William Vincent Wallace (1812-1865) travelled the world in the 1830s, sailing from Australia on a whaling ship to New Zealand where he met the Maori tribe Te Aupouri, then crossing the Pacific to Chile, Argentina, Peru, Jamaica and Cuba. He later settled in New York and wrote operas that people loved in London and Dublin.

Question 5

Martin Scorsese's 1988 film 'The Last Temptation of Christ' upset a lot of people and was banned for years in countries like Chile, Argentina, Greece, South Africa, and Turkey. Which North American country, which has lots of Catholic traditions, also put the film on its banned list for several years?

Accepted Answer

Mexico's ban on 'The Last Temptation of Christ' lasted all the way until 1997, alongside similar bans in Chile, Argentina, Greece, South Africa and Turkey. The movie, directed by Martin Scorsese, starred Willem Dafoe as Jesus and Harvey Keitel as Judas. Peter Gabriel wrote the music, and Scorsese was nominated for Best Director at the Oscars.

Question 6

The Rehoboth Country Dance Society in Massachusetts, started in 1981, holds public dances twice a month in this New England folk dance tradition. Which spa town in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains hosts a huge Presidents' Day weekend event called the Flurry Festival, with over 5,000 dancers?

Accepted Answer

The Flurry Festival in Saratoga Springs, New York has been running since 1988 and covers contra dance, English country dance and Cajun. Saratoga is home to Yaddo, an artists' retreat that hosted Leonard Bernstein and Sylvia Plath. The Rehoboth Country Dance Society in Rehoboth, Massachusetts holds contra dances twice a month at Goff Memorial Hall.

Question 7

In Semarang, on the Indonesian island of Java, traditional shadow puppet shows called 'wayang kulit' act out ancient Hindu stories behind a lit-up screen. In which state in northern Malaysia, where the style is more like Thai shadow puppets than Javanese ones, is the tradition strongest?

Accepted Answer

Malaysia's government put some rules on Kelantan's shadow puppet shows in the 1990s. In 2019 a group called Fusion Wayang Kulit brought the art back to life with shadow puppets of Star Wars characters. In Semarang on Indonesia's island of Java, wayang kulit shadow plays still dramatize ancient Hindu stories behind a lit-up screen.

Question 8

Antoine de Saint-Exupery's classic 1943 story 'The Little Prince' has been translated into a Bavarian-language version for readers in Bavaria, South Tyrol, and which other German-speaking Alpine country whose dialects belong to the same Bavarian and Tyrolean family?

Accepted Answer

The Bavarian-language version of 'The Little Prince' is called 'Da gloane Prinz' and came out in 2018. It reads naturally in Bavaria, South Tyrol and Austria, whose dialects belong to the same Bavarian family. 'The Little Prince' has been translated into more than 500 languages, making it one of the most translated books ever written.

Question 9

The UEFA Super Cup, a one-match football game between the winners of the Champions League and the Europa League, moved out of Monaco in 2013 to rotate around different European cities. The first stop was Eden Arena in Prague. In which capital of a country in the South Caucasus was the 2015 game played, at the Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena?

Accepted Answer

In the 2015 UEFA Super Cup, Barcelona beat Sevilla 5-4 in extra time at the Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena in Tbilisi, Georgia, with Pedro scoring the winning goal in his last game for Barcelona before joining Chelsea. The tournament had moved out of Monaco in 2013 to rotate around European cities, starting at Eden Arena in Prague.

Question 10

Visakhapatnam (nicknamed Vizag) is a big shipbuilding city on the east coast of the subcontinent, and one of four cities from Andhra Pradesh picked for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 2015 city-improvement plan. Which former Portuguese island, now a Union Territory off the coast of Kathiawar, was one of the 100 cities competing for the same program?

Accepted Answer

Portugal took control of Diu in 1535 and held onto it until 1961, when India took it back. Along with Daman, it is now a Union Territory. Its Smart Cities plan focused on upgrading things for tourists. Visakhapatnam, on India's east coast, was one of four Andhra Pradesh cities selected for the same 2015 program.