Bunkagame — July 23, 2026

Question 1

In July 2000 which American post-hardcore band played the Metropolis Festival in Rotterdam during a Good Life Recordings European run? Fourteen years later they took the stage at Shinjuku Nine Spices in Tokyo on their Japan Tour 2014 promoting Greatest Hits.

Accepted Answer

In July 2000, the American band As Friends Rust played the Metropolis Festival in Rotterdam as part of a week of European shows in the Netherlands and Belgium. Fourteen years later, on 12 June 2014, As Friends Rust performed at Shinjuku Nine Spices in Tokyo during their Japan Tour 2014.

Question 2

Helsinki hosted the 52nd edition of this contest at Hartwall Arena in May 2007, while Riga's Skonto Hall hosted its 48th edition back in 2003. What annual pan-European musical event links the two capitals?

Accepted Answer

The Eurovision Song Contest 2003 was held on 24 May 2003 at the Skonto Hall in Riga, Latvia. Four years later, in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest, the 2007 edition was held at the Hartwall Arena in Helsinki after Lordi's win in 2006.

Question 3

After the 1958 and 1962 World Cups, wealthy European clubs including Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus all tried in vain to sign this Brazilian forward. Inter Milan even secured a contract in 1958 that Santos's chairman forced them to tear up. Which player?

Accepted Answer

Wealthy European clubs like Manchester United tried to sign Pelé after the 1958 and 1962 World Cups, and Sir Bobby Charlton said football seemed invented for him. On the field, Pelé helped Santos retain the Intercontinental Cup by beating AC Milan of Milan.

Question 4

Rome's Church of the Gesù, mother church of the Jesuits, inspired daughter churches across Europe and the Americas. The Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola, built from 1710 to 1722, is one such Gesù-modeled Jesuit church. In which capital city, the only South American one on the list, is it located?

Accepted Answer

The Church of the Gesù sits in Rome's Pigna rione and inspired many Jesuit churches around the world. Buenos Aires is home to one of those descendants, the Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola, built from 1710 to 1722, alongside sister churches in Krakow, Tbilisi, and Nyasvizh.

Question 5

This American rock band was formed in Seattle in 1996 after frontman Josh Homme moved there and briefly played guitar for Screaming Trees; their 2005 live album/DVD Over the Years and Through the Woods was filmed in London. Which band?

Accepted Answer

Queens of the Stone Age is an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1996, after Josh Homme's earlier band Kyuss broke up. On 22 November 2005, Queens of the Stone Age released a live album and DVD, Over the Years and Through the Woods, filmed at a concert in London.

Question 6

Established in 1987 and broadcast in the UK on TNT Sports (formerly BT Sport), this professional league is considered one of the top three in the northern hemisphere alongside France's Top 14 and the cross-border United Rugby Championship. Which competition?

Accepted Answer

In the United Kingdom, Premiership Rugby is broadcast on TNT Sports under a contract renewed in March 2024. Premiership Rugby is regarded as one of the top three professional rugby leagues in the north, alongside the Top 14 in France, where Premiership Rugby matches air on RMC Sport.

Question 7

Montreal is widely considered the birthplace of modern ice hockey, hosting the first indoor game in March 1875 and setting the pro women's attendance record at the Bell Centre in 2024. Which US city, home to the American Hockey League's league headquarters and pro hockey since the 1920s, is the sport's most enduring American sister-city?

Accepted Answer

Ice hockey has been played professionally in Springfield, Massachusetts since the 1920s, and the city is home to the American Hockey League's headquarters. The modern sport of ice hockey grew up in Canada, especially in Montreal, where the first indoor ice hockey game was played on 3 March 1875.

Question 8

China's national football team qualified for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup partly because this East Asian neighbour slipped up in a decisive qualifier against the Philippines. The same side beat China 2 to 0 at the 2005 East Asian Football Championship and denied them a second-place ranking in 2016 qualifying. Which team was it?

Accepted Answer

The China national football team beat North Korea 2-0 in the 2005 East Asian Football Championship final. Years later, North Korea's shock loss to the Philippines helped the China national football team secure a place at the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, where China then beat the Philippines 3-0.

Question 9

Radu Poklitaru, born 1972 in Chișinău and later founder of the Kyiv Modern-Ballet, was admitted in 1994 to the newly created Department of Choreography at the National Academy of Music of which former Soviet republic?

Accepted Answer

In 1994, Radu Poklitaru enrolled in the new Choreography Department at the Belarus Academy of Music, based in Belarus. In the 2000 to 2001 season, Radu Poklitaru worked as chief ballet master at the Moldova National Opera Ballet, and he was named a People's Artist of Moldova in 2016.

Question 10

Otto I, King of Germany, was maternal uncle to two rival royals: this founder of a long-ruling French dynasty, and Lothair, who succeeded Louis IV in 954. Coins from whose time as Duke of France styled him 'duke by the grace of God'?

Accepted Answer

Hugh Capet founded a dynasty that ruled France from 987 to 1328 in the senior line and, through cadet branches, until 1848. He was born into a powerful family with many ties to the royal houses of France and Germany, and Otto I, King of Germany, was his maternal uncle.