One of the Japanese YouTube channels I frequently watch is called "Yuru Gengogaku Radio" ("Casual Linguistics Radio"). On this channel, they discuss interesting topics scattered across the field of linguistics in a conversational format between Mizuno, who majored in language at university, and Horimoto, who has no background in linguistics.

However, this article isn’t directly about that. Instead, I would like to mention a quiz game regularly featured on the channel called "Unchiku Eureka Quiz." ("うんちくエウレーカクイズ").

In Japanese, "Unchiku (蘊蓄)" translates to something like "fun fact" or "trivia" in English. While "Trivia Eureka Quiz" might have worked as a translation, a quick online search turned up numerous games with similar names. To avoid confusion, I'll refer to it here as the "Unchiku Eureka Quiz."

The "Unchiku Eureka Quiz" follows this process:

1. The quiz master presents a "strange fact."
2. The contestants can ask any number of yes-or-no questions to the quiz master.
3. When a contestant thinks they've figured out the underlying reason behind the fact, they declare "Eureka!" and give their answer.
4. If their answer matches the quiz master's intended answer, the quiz ends, and the contestant earns points.

Part of the enjoyment in this game comes from participating, but it’s also fun because you can share the interesting trivia with family and friends afterward. The creators enjoy it so much that over 50 quizzes have been presented to date.

In this article, I'd like to present six of the show's quizzes, specifically those that relate to America. Of course, the quiz involves a lively exchange between the quizmaster and the contestants, with plenty of unrelated trivia, random jokes, and off-topic discussions. For the sake of brevity, however, I'll skip those tangents.

This article presents the "Question" posed in the video, followed by "Thinking Time," which includes some of the questions the participants asked the quiz master, and finally the "Answer" to the question.

Question 1

In the spring of 1987, approximately 7 million children suddenly disappeared in the United States. Why?

Thinking Time

• Was it an event similar to the Pied Piper of Hamelin? => NO
• Did the children die? => NO
• Did children disappear from a particular region in the U.S.? => NO
• Did children disappear from all across the United States? => YES
• Did the children disappear temporarily? => NO
• Did the children disappear permanently? => YES
• Was there a change in U.S. territory that year? => NO
• Are the children alive? => NO
• Did these children have official registration? => NO
• Is this related to American law? => YES
• Is this related to the U.S. tax system? => YES

Answer

In 1987, the U.S. tax law was revised, requiring a Social Security number for each child claimed as a dependent. Before this change, people could claim fictitious children to receive tax deductions. With the new requirement, it became impossible to claim non-existent children, resulting in the sudden disappearance of millions of “children” from tax records across the country.

Question 2

In 1973, hip-hop was born in New York. DJ Kool Herc introduced "breakbeats," a technique where only the drum sections of a record are played using two turntables, which captivated young people from low-income neighborhoods. In 1977, breakbeats became hugely popular due to a certain event. What was this event?

Thinking Time

• Was it a bad event? => YES
• Was it a crime? => N/A
• Did it happen within the city? => YES
• Did it happen outdoors/indoors? => N/A
• Was this event reported in the media? => YES
• Did breakbeats become popular because of the media coverage? => NO
• Is musical knowledge necessary to answer this? => N/A
• Was this event a "disaster"? => YES
• Was it a natural disaster? => NO
• Was it caused by human error? => probably NO

Answer

Breakbeats required special audio equipment, which most young people in low-income areas could not afford. However, in 1977, a massive blackout struck New York City, leading to widespread looting by young people. Many electronics stores were robbed, and music equipment was often stolen. As a result, there was a surge in the number of people taking up DJing around that time.

Question 3

When a U.S. military’s bomber was developed, the engineers gathered to take a commemorative photo to celebrate its completion. During the photo session, a small incident occurred that delighted the engineers. What was this incident?

Thinking Time

• Was it related to the bomber's name? => NO
• Was it related to religion? => NO
• Did the incident happen during the photo shoot? => YES
• Did something show up in the photo? => NO
• Did it happen specifically because it was a bomber rather than a fighter jet? => NO
• Could the same phenomenon happen with a fighter jet? => YES
• Were the ones delighted by this incident the developers of the bomber? => YES
• Would others besides the developers be unlikely to find it amusing? => YES
• Did the incident symbolize the bomber's excellent performance? => YES

Answer

The Nighthawk, a stealth bomber, scatters radar waves to evade detection. Because of this, the camera's autofocus couldn't function during the photo shoot, and the photographer struggled to get the camera to capture the shot. This delighted the engineers, as it symbolized the effectiveness of the bomber's stealth technology.

Question 4

When a fighter jet lands on an aircraft carrier, it increases engine power just before landing and approaches the carrier at a relatively high speed. This is the opposite of how aircraft land on regular runways. Why do they do this?

Thinking Time

• Is it related to the fact that the carrier is on water? => YES
• Is this the case for aircraft carriers outside the U.S. as well? => YES
• Would pilots do the same if the carrier were on land? => WTF?
• Is it related to the same physical phenomenon as riding a bicycle? => NO
• Is it related to airflow produced when the plane flies at low altitude? => NO
• Is it because the carrier’s runway is shorter than on land? => YES
• Do arresting wires require the fighter to be at high speed to work? => NO
• Is it dangerous for the fighter to land without high speed? => YES 

Answer

If the fighter jet’s tail hook fails to catch the arresting wire, the jet must immediately take off again. If it approaches at a low speed and the landing fails, it would be unable to take off in time and would risk crashing into the sea. Therefore, fighter jets landing on an aircraft carrier must approach at high speed to ensure a safe go-around if needed.

Question 5

An important book for scientific research was published, but it wasn’t checked for typographical errors. Most people assume there were typos in it, but this didn’t become a significant issue. What book was published?

Thinking Time

• Did those who overlooked the typos notice them? => NO
• Would the general public have seen this book? => partly YES
• Was this book published in the U.S.? => YES
• Did anyone criticize the presence of typos? => NO
• Is this book still published today? => NO
• Was there a tight schedule for publication? => NO
• Was the book written by a scientist? => partly YES
• Was the scientist famous? => probably NO
• Was the book written by a person? => N/A
• Is the book related to physics? => NO
• Is the book related to mathematics? => YES
• Is the book related to computer science? => YES

Answer

At the time of publication, computers were newly developed, and high-quality, large sets of random numbers were needed for calculations. Thus, a random number table with a million random digits was published. However, proofreading for possible typographical errors in these random numbers was considered unnecessary since any errors would likely appear as random, preserving the intended randomness.

Question 6

David Lee Roth, the vocalist of Van Halen, entered the dressing room before a concert and was furious to find brown chocolates there, leading him to cancel the show. Why?

Thinking Time

• Did he dislike chocolate? => NO
• Is knowledge of music necessary? => NO
• Was his reason for getting angry unreasonable to others? => NO
• Were the chocolates a gift from fans? => NO
• Was he on a diet? => NO
• Would he not have been angry if there were no chocolates? => probably NO
• Was he angry at the person who placed the chocolates? => NO
• Was it related to his romantic partner? => NO
• Did he get angry just out of frustration? => NO
• Did he feel compelled to get angry? => YES
• Did he act angry to maintain his character? => YES
• Was his anger on behalf of others? => YES
• Did other Van Halen members appreciate his anger? => probably YES
• Was he considering the sponsors? => NO
• Did the chocolates contain colors other than brown? => YES

Answer

David Lee Roth included a clause in Van Halen’s concert contracts stating that only M&M’s with the brown ones removed should be provided in the dressing room. This was his way of checking whether the venue’s management had read the contract in detail and communicated all instructions to the staff. Since Van Halen’s performances involved dangerous effects like pyrotechnics and high-voltage equipment, they needed to ensure the venue would follow the contract carefully.

This concludes the article. Thank you very much for reading to the end.

Although Yuru Gengogaku Radio is a Japanese station, I hope that this article can help the strange quiz game "Unchiku Eureka Quiz" gain some brief, localized popularity.

While selecting quiz questions, I came across a few that I personally liked, but may not be of interest to you. Instead of including them in the main article, here is a list of just the questions. If any of them pique your curiosity, feel free to look up the answers online and share them with your family and friends, or post your own UEQs in the comments section!

• At one point, a zero-rupee banknote was issued in India. Why was that?
• A mayor in Turkey was arrested by Turkish authorities after delivering a New Year’s greeting to citizens, having violated a certain law. What happened?
• Why does the direction of clock hands become "clockwise"?
• The five rings on the Olympic flag represent the five continents except Antarctica. What do the colors in the five rings represent?
• Mount Fuji is Japan's tallest mountain, but there was a time when it was not the tallest in Japan. What period was that?