Garrit Franke
3 years ago
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title: "Fun with Pen and Paper: Race Cars" |
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date: "2021-08-08" |
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--- |
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I recently came across some fun games that can be played using nothing but a |
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pen and some paper. One of those games was called "Race Cars" and I wondered |
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how on earth you would play a racing game on paper, and the answer is: simple |
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math! |
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## The core idea |
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The goal of the game is to cross the finish line of a hand-drawn race track |
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first without hitting the edge. Race cars have a velocity that can be adjusted |
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each move. If you're too greedy, you will crash. If you hit the breaks too |
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early, another player will win. |
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## How it's played |
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We start out with a hand-drawn race track. The shape really can be anything you |
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like. Just be creative! |
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![A race track on paper](/assets/paperracer/0.jpg) |
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Next, each player makes a cross on the starting line. This resembles the |
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players racecar. Right now, none of the cars is moving. They have a velocity of |
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0 on the x axis and 0 on the y axis. |
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![Two crosses on the starting line](/assets/paperracer/1.jpg) |
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Each move, a player can accelerate or decelerate his vehicle by 1 on any axis. |
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The first move of each player is somewhat obvious. They want to accelerate |
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straight forward. On our race track, that means accelerate by 1 on the y axis. |
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![A race car made a move](/assets/paperracer/2.jpg) |
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Next, we can either keep on accelerating like the red player does, or "turn" |
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our vehicle left by changing our y velocity from 0 to -1, which gives us a |
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velocity of -1, 1. |
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![Paper race cars after two moves](/assets/paperracer/3.jpg) |
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On a long stretch, the red player wants to overtake blue by keeping his foot on |
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the paddle. Blue on the other hand plays it safe and hits the breaks. |
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![Paper race cars on a long stretch](/assets/paperracer/4.jpg) |
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Soon after, red realizes his mistake. Being so busy trying to turn, he's unable |
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to hit the breaks. A crash is inevitable. Blue however continues to take the |
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turn nice and slow. His humble mind brought him victory! |
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![The red player right before crashing into a wall](/assets/paperracer/5.jpg) |
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## It's all about fun |
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The concept of this game is very flexible. You can play it with a friend and |
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see who's the fastest paper racer, or by yourself and try to beat your record. |
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Getting tired of just cruising around? Introduce the concept of "items" that |
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give you a boost or slow down the opponent (think Mario Kart!). If ordinary |
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tracks are boring, try adding intersections or obstacles. Can you add a third |
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dimension? The sky is the limit. Get out there and be creative. |
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This is post 018 of [#100DaysToOffload](https://100daystooffload.com/). |
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