Bunkagame — October 18, 2026

Question 1

This folk instrument, played in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia as a Central European tradition, has strings that are struck with small hammers and developed from the plucked psaltery. Related instruments also appear across Hungary, Slovenia, Romania, Poland, Switzerland, Austria and Bavaria. Which instrument is this?

Accepted Answer

The hammered dulcimer, played by striking the strings with small hammers, is a traditional Central European folk instrument. Both the Czech Republic and Slovakia feature it, along with Hungary, Slovenia, Romania, Poland, Switzerland, Austria and Bavaria.

Question 2

This pioneering German electronic music group played the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles for a four-night 3D Catalogue tour in 2014, and had been scheduled to play Ultra Music Festival in Warsaw before it was cancelled. In May 2024, the group returned to the Walt Disney Concert Hall for a nine-night run. Which band is this?

Accepted Answer

Kraftwerk, the pioneering German electronic music group, played the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles in 2014 and again for a nine-night run in May 2024. A planned appearance at Ultra Music Festival in Warsaw was cancelled, and the band performed at Way Out West in Gothenburg instead.

Question 3

Which stringed instrument has featured on the Royal Standard of the United Kingdom since King James VI and I's accession in 1603, and in Sri Lanka appears as the South Asian Tamil yaal that serves as the symbol of the City of Jaffna?

Accepted Answer

The harp was adopted as a symbol of the Kingdom of Ireland on coinage in 1542, then placed on the Royal Standard of King James VI and I in 1603, and has featured on United Kingdom Royal Standards ever since. In Sri Lanka, the Tamil harp yaal is the symbol of the City of Jaffna, whose legendary root traces to a harp player.

Question 4

Which American playwright, awarded Multi-Arts Production Fund (MAP) grants since 2005, staged work at the VSA North Fourth Arts Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and in 2024 presented at Arizona Live Arts at the University of Arizona?

Accepted Answer

Ain Gordon has received Multi-Arts Production Fund grants since 2005, with productions at the VSA North Fourth Arts Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the Krannert Center in Urbana, 651 ARTS in Brooklyn and DiverseWorks in Houston. In 2024 his work was staged at Arizona Live Arts at the University of Arizona.

Question 5

English hard rock band Def Leppard ended one US tour in San Diego at Jack Murphy Stadium before a crowd of 55,000. In mid-2009, they toured 41 US cities alongside Poison and Cheap Trick, with their only Canadian stop in which city?

Accepted Answer

After opening for Billy Squier in March, Def Leppard closed an earlier US tour at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego, headlining before 55,000 fans in September. In mid-2009, their joint tour with Poison and Cheap Trick covered 41 US cities plus Toronto as their only Canadian stop.

Question 6

Kevin Millwood accomplished this rare feat against the San Francisco Giants on April 27, 2003, while playing for the Philadelphia Phillies. One famous Philadelphia Phillies catcher, Carlos Ruiz, shares the record of four of these caught, tied with Boston's Jason Varitek. Which baseball feat is this?

Accepted Answer

A no-hitter is a complete game pitched without allowing a hit. Kevin Millwood threw one against the San Francisco Giants on April 27, 2003, while with the Philadelphia Phillies, and Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz tied the record for catching four of them.

Question 7

Which 1933 novel by Franz Werfel, the Jewish Czech novelist, grew out of his January-to-March 1930 trip through Egypt, Palestine, Syria and Lebanon, was based on the Armenian genocide of 1915, and foreshadowed the Holocaust of World War II?

Accepted Answer

The Forty Days of Musa Dagh grew out of Franz Werfel's January-to-March 1930 trip through Egypt, Palestine, Syria and Lebanon. Werfel rewrote much of it in May 1933 responding to the rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany, and for several years the book could still be read there despite the book burnings of other Jewish authors' work.

Question 8

In Pennsylvania, the University of Pittsburgh plays in this US college sports conference, while North Carolina's Research Triangle, home to Duke and the University of North Carolina, is one of the conference's traditional strongholds, particularly for basketball. Which NCAA Division I conference is this?

Accepted Answer

The Atlantic Coast Conference includes Pennsylvania's University of Pittsburgh and the Research Triangle schools Duke and UNC in North Carolina. The conference is especially famous for its men's basketball tradition.

Question 9

This ballet premiered in Helsinki in 1922 as a Russian production, after only Russian and Czech groups had performed it. In 1940, the San Francisco Ballet became the first American company to stage a complete production of it. Which ballet is this?

Accepted Answer

Swan Lake premiered in Helsinki in 1922 as a Russian production, and the San Francisco Ballet became the first American company to stage a complete version in 1940. A 2009 San Francisco Ballet production ended with Siegfried and Odette diving into the lake, echoing the 1895 Mariinsky revival.

Question 10

This 161-kilometer river rises on the southern slopes of the Tacaná volcano in the Sierra Madre range of Guatemala and marks the southwesternmost part of the Guatemala-Mexico border, flowing past Mexican border towns Talismán and El Carmen in Chiapas. Which river is this?

Accepted Answer

The Suchiate River runs 161 kilometers from the slopes of the Tacaná volcano in Guatemala to the Pacific, forming the southwesternmost section of the Guatemala-Mexico border. Mexican border towns Talismán, El Carmen and Ciudad Hidalgo sit along its banks in Chiapas.