» About     » Archive     » Authors     » Search     » Random     » Statistics     » Forum     » RSS Feed     Updates Monday-Friday

No. 451: Unofficial Olympic Games Edition (don't sue us!)

First | Previous | 2016-08-09 | Next | Latest

Unofficial Olympic Games Edition (don't sue us!)

First | Previous | 2016-08-09 | Next | Latest

Permanent URL: https://mezzacotta.net/dinosaur/?comic=451

Strip by: David Morgan-Mar, Andrew Coker

T-Rex: I'm feeling very Olympic today.
T-Rex: SUCH COMPETITIVE WOW!
T-Rex: But I feel sorry for the athletes who don't get a medal. So I'm initiating new medals! Fourth place gets a tin medal. Fifth gets aluminium.
T-Rex: Sixth is plastic.
Utahraptor: Neat!
T-Rex: Seventh is cardboard with macaroni stuck on it.
Utahraptor: Nice. Like a participation award.
T-Rex: Last place gets a steroid medal.
T-Rex: As a catch-up mechanism.

The author writes:

We were talking about analysing the Olympic Games like a board game. Some sports are very good in that everyone has something to do at all times, and no players have significant down time waiting for the others (e.g. running and swimming races), but some suffer from knocking out players before the end (the same ones, actually, if they have heats).

But one design aspect that is usually the mark of a good board game design - namely a catch-up mechanism for players who fall behind - is seriously lacking in Olympic sports.