The Amazing Race > RFF's Amazing Race: Design Challenge

The Amazing Race: Design Challenge VIII - Final Round Design Show on Page 50!

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Declive:
Thanks for the comments, Gamer.
I've just went on the same logic as the TAR24 & TAR31 finale tasks. If you finished first you win  :funny:

gamerfan09:


Gamer's Judgments:

And time for the newbies! Good luck with your debuts :)



NELs - [Waskish, Minnesota]

Show contentI will give you the same comments as I did with Nuku. Kindly fix your presentation next round if you’re still here. Your presentation was better than theirs since its only in the “Wikipedia style”, but I have a bigger overall problem with your presentation since there’s really not enough details to go off on.

Alas, we must trudge on. This is a short style, so my comments won’t be very long.

I love the folklore theme you have going on! Really like the Viking longboats, and your Grasshopper King task is hilarious in a good way. I just wish I had pictures or videos to really see how it looks like since without proper photos, I’m just imagining teams in a big costume of the grasshopper from A Bug’s Life. Still, good task in concept.

The first RB is a good task, and would honestly feel at home with the TAR8 finale. My main problem is that without proper details on task restrictions, I’m just assuming this RB is a piece of cake since team members can just ask any local to Google it and voila, the answer is already there. A lack of detail really hurt this task for me, and made it a very very easy task.

However, what I can’t really be lenient on is your final Roadblock since the same exact issue is there. There’s no way you couldn’t have just merged these two tasks together since they are so fundamentally similar to the point that it doesn’t feel like much of a challenge for both team members. We then head to a Bunyan statue before the Finish Line.

As a whole, your leg had me, then it immediately lost me. Even with the presentation issues, I genuinely liked your leg’s first half. But right after that it just fell apart with the two similar Roadblocks and then fizzled out.

Your leg has too little details, a presentation that really has a lot of open-ended holes in it, and the ending just feels so so rushed. You could have had a proper memory task instead of just two basic US Geography RBs back and forth.

As it stands, I loved your first half of the leg. But presentation issues, a sudden lack of originality and uniqueness in its second half, and a lacking set of details really just hurt it for me.

Here’s hoping you get that fixed if you make it to the second round.


Nuku - [Buxton, North Carolina]

Show contentFirst off, your presentation. Holy Microsoft Word. I would definitely appreciate you just doing a post format like all your other designers if you make it to the next round. Your presentation, which isn’t even full screen, is already hurting my eyes. I can’t align the text right on my screen, and opening it in full screen doesn’t exactly help either.

But let’s begin, excited to see another new face in this competition.

We fly and then drive to a Sea Turtle conservatory. The 5 newborn Sea Turtles have the potential to be a cute task, but in the words of Michael Scott…

“WHERE ARE THE TURTLES?????”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TuYag60_-8

If you are going to do a task about baby turtles, I expect to see a photo of said baby turtles, not just a random photo of the conservatory. Also your information… what is it? What info do teams have to collect? We need the details. It simply cannot be open-ended like that as a task description.

We then go to a park. Roadblock with Hang Gliding. I would have definitely appreciated this task if it was the first thing in your leg. The adventure task can’t be in the middle of finales since there was already a foundation where teams could have passed each other before. By dumping it in the middle, there’s less room for teams to catch up, since it basically becomes first-come first-served. But it’s a passable adventure task.

Route Info then go to your final Roadblock. I actually do like your final Roadblock. Like what betheactress did, it’s a twist on the clueboxes in a field final task from TAR13, but in the water. However, like what MikeDodgers did, you failed to look over one specific detail about your task - the decoys from other seasons will not work at all since I don’t expect teams to be that forgetful. There’s no way the decoys will fool anyone since they have spent the past 30 something days doing the Race. I would have preferred if you made the decoys clues with differently-worded Roadblock questions, for instance. Or slightly altered task descriptions. That could have actually messed with the teams and be a true test of their memory comprehension. As is it’s fine, but this final memory task could have been something truly special, but it didn’t get there.

We then have… another Route Info and then a final Active Route Info where you need to find 12 shipwrecks. Look, this task isn’t bad. But I think 12 is just too much and too time-consuming. And it doesn’t really feel all that epic either since your big memory task already happened. Maybe if this was the first task of the leg it would flow more, but as is, it just feels like unnecessary bloat to your finale, like you felt it was too short so you wanted to add something else after the Final Memory Task. I would have been open to this task if it was just 3 shipwrecks or less. You really just went for the overkill with 12.

We then open a chest and go to a beach with yet another Memory task. Again, we already had your big memory task. This is just unnecessary. And with 20 pieces and two team members working together, there’s not much in terms of difficulty with this task.

Then we run to the lighthouse to end the leg.

As a whole, I am solidly mixed by your leg, with slightly more positives than bad.

The bad though. First off, your presentation. If you make it to the next round, I expect a better presentation. Show us better images that actually show what teams will be doing. Don’t just describe. Show and tell. Secondly, your leg is just too long and lopsided in difficulty. If you made the shipwreck-beach memory task the first thing teams did in the leg, then transitioned that into the hang glide, then did the turtles, then did the final Roadblock, I’d have given you a decent enough score.

You are also severely missing in details. How much money do teams get? What’s the flight? How long do you expect this to run? What more do you want us to know about the leg? It’s all missing.

But the good about your leg is that the tasks aren’t bad and they would actually work well if, again, arranged in a specific order. Your location also isn’t too bad, and it works as a solid island finale. It really just gets faulted by a poor presentation, lack of details, and plenty of unnecessary elements.

You still definitely had a better debut compared to some other designers though, so I sincerely hope you pick it up next round if you’re still here. Best of luck.
Grade:

Show contentD+


BourkieBoy - [Superior National Forest, Minnesota]

Show contentRight off the gate, your leg lost me. I hate teams getting staggered in finales, and that’s the first thing you did. Splitting the Final 3 on flights makes no sense whatsoever, no matter what the context is.

Teams then drive to a campground and then… set up camp. It’s not a very exciting task, if I had to be frank. I also think this would have been a perfect opportunity to make the Final 3 set up a faux Pit Start and then spend one last night before the final push to the end, but you didn’t go there.

Teams then have the first Roadblock, which is waterskiing and there is just something in your task description that I never ever EVER want to see. I don’t know how this went overlooked by you designing this leg, since it’s just horrific.


--- Quote ---If team members do anything unsafe, which could present a possible danger to themselves or everyone else in the water, the challenge will immediately be stopped and the team will need to serve a 4-hour penalty at the Finish Line!
--- End quote ---

-4 Hour penalty on the FINALE? No.
-“If teams do anything unsafe” No. That is what instructors are for.
-“Possible danger to everyone else in the water, the challenge will be stopped” And a big HELL NO. One team’s error immediately dooms them but lets the other two go scot-free?

I really just don’t understand the logic behind this Roadblock and this finale thus far.

Then teams go up Eagle Mountain to pick up photos along the way with pictures of Pit Stops. This is for the final task, and I get the idea behind making them take a literal hike to the end.

But you fail to consider that teams could instantly discuss the photos as they go up. There’s no room for thinking, since you didn’t make it a rule to not be allowed to discuss the pictures.

This means that the SECOND the team gets up the mountain, your Final Roadblock is null. It is void. It is a useless task since teams would have been able to discuss the answers well before the task even begins.

And then teams drive themselves to the Finish Line. Good grief.

Bourkie, I will be very straight with you here. This was an awful attempt. Nothing worked for me. The task logic is not exciting. Water-skiing is not an exciting task, setting up a camp is not exciting, and a memory task that can be predicted and finished before it even begins is a cardinal sin that cannot simply be ignored.

You also say that you have notes and that we should PM you. No. A good submission has all the notes right off the gate.

In conclusion, this entire leg was a disaster. It’s something that annoyed me while reading it, it’s something that confused me while reading it, and the more I imagine it, the more this feels like a TAR Roblox leg rather than an actual leg to be used on the show.

If you survive this round, I sincerely hope you submit anything. Because anything certainly can’t be worse than this.
Grade:

Show contentF

gamerfan09:


Gamer's Judgments:



Stone - [Black Hills, South Dakota]

Show contentAnother debut! Let’s see how this goes.

We open with a visit to Deadwood and a Roadblock about assembling a hoist. Honestly… I’m not too sure about this task. It’s not that it’s awful or anything, but it’s just very uninspiring. I’m not sure your intent of making a “bait and switch” was really elaborated with this task since at the end of the day it’s still a task in a mine.

We then have your second Roadblock which is a climbing route. I googled the location, and it’s not bad, could seriously lend itself well to TV, but as the second Roadblock, it’s just not very good. It’s a climbing route, which means that most likely the order that teams get there will be the order they leave in. This should have really just been a Route Info.

Then we drive to assemble a Tipi. It’s a solid task, but it really doesn’t feel as epic as it can be since this is meant to be your final task. If we had to bring out specifics, this isn’t a new task either - TAR8 already did this. It’s a good task, and it definitely can be good TV (I can’t get the commercial break of the Godlewskis melting down over it out of my brain, what an underrated season), but it’s not very original.

We then head to the Finish Line, which is probably the best part of your leg.

As a debut, I would probably appreciate this more if it was a trip itinerary. Unfortunately, it’s meant to be a TAR finale, and on that aspect, I wasn’t a fan of this leg. I thought the lab was boring, I thought the climb was linear, and I thought your final task lacked originality.

Points, however, have to be given to your locations, since looking them up minus the lab gave admittedly pretty sights. Your presentation was also neat and tidy enough. But still, the core elements of a leg is tasks, location, and cohesiveness, and this leg was missing two of them.

If you make it to the next round, best of luck. You can certainly submit something better.
Grade:

Show contentD


Lemontail - [Mackinac Island, Michigan]

Show contentFirst off, I really like your overnight rest for a basic reason - it’s a good way to make sure everyone’s on the right path and the ferry gives a chance for some good travel shots of your final city.

Your Roadblock is good…. in theory. I do like the idea of having to move boats around, but my main issue with this task is that it would be grueling and also hard to control. I understand the logic and reasoning behind the task, and I do like it, but it doesn’t seem all that feasible when I imagine it in motion.

Teams then go and make fudge, and I like this task! It’s a good assembly and navigation task, and I definitely appreciated your notes citing the architecture of the town. Good, mid-leg task that would certainly shuffle up placements.

We then have a horse carriage disassembly task, and while I think this task is passable and fine, I do think that it’s a bit odd having another “teams make x” task immediately right after the fudge. I also am a bit confused why teams wouldn’t just take the horses to their next clue after that? You had a very good theme there going with teams consistently changing their mode of transport in this leg, and then that just gets abandoned when they stick to bicycles.

We then get your Final Roadblock, and I have to say that I’m a bit confused with the task description. I also think that it’s kind of weird to have this Roadblock be harder than the first memory Roadblock. The boats are good because it’s physically demanding, riding a bike around an area and just spotting flags is less so. I also really really do not like the idea of having penalties on a finale. That’s really just a no-no for cases like this.

Teams then bike to the Finish Line to end this fictitious season of the Race.

Overall, I honestly think this is a finale that had potential. I do like your tasks in theory, and I definitely liked your presentation. You had good pictures, and I could definitely imagine a relatively beautiful finale if this was a real leg. Unfortunately, I thought that your two memory tasks had issues. The first one seemed unfeasible, while the last one felt like it should have been the first one. I also really didn’t like the sudden shift to bicycles when teams were swapping modes of transport back and forth for the first half.

Honestly, had this been a regular leg without the memory challenges, and your Roadblocks were something else, this would have been a great domestic leg. But when the dust has settled, I can still say this is a good effort from you. If you just swapped your memory challenges and made teams take the horse to the final RB, I’d have thought it was better.

Good luck :)
Grade:

Show contentB-


betheactress - [Key West, Florida]

Show contentYou’re a new name here that I haven’t seen before, so this is a bit of a Mystery Box lol. But welcome! Let’s begin reading this.

First off, I absolutely love your presentation. The graphics are bright, the presentation is crisp, and it’s perfectly aligned.

Teams then fly to Key West, and the first task is cigar rolling. I liked this task! It’s a good attention-to-detail task to kick off the leg, and it’s something that has good history, culture-wise.

Teams then have a cryptic clue to a gift shop, get to a coral reef center, and then assemble corals. I have to compliment you for making a social impact challenge, but my main issue with the corals is that it’s just something that I feel is very telegenic. The water shots are beautiful, yes, but we had coral assembly on TAR19, and it wasn’t exactly the most exciting task. Admittedly, that is a weird thing to criticize since that leg was in Thailand and this is meant to be a finale, but it’s just something that stuck out to me reading this. Good enough task, but not too sure if it’s fitting.

Teams then navigate to the Alligator Key Lighthouse (which I love - this could have honestly been your water task over the corals, but again, appreciate the social impact) and then pick up their clue from an underwater chest. Good, simple, and short transport to get some good water shots in.

Teams then get to the final Roadblock, and I actually really really like this one. It’s a great twist of the 100 clueboxes in a field task, since it’s obviously harder to navigate on water. And I also love the idea that there are decoy clue boxes. To bring back my earlier comment - imagine this task on TAR19 considering how there were barely any proper clueboxes that season. It would have been gold.

Teams then race to the Finish Line, and your location is a good one.

Overall, this is a very very strong Finale and a great debut from a newbie, I’m impressed! My only minor hiccup is your coral task, since I’m not too sure about how telegenic that would be, but everything else just flowed really well, your presentation was on-point, your notes were very detailed and concise, and I really just don’t have many drawbacks to bring up.

Great debut Design Challenge leg, and hope there’s more to come in the future :)
Grade:

Show contentA-

Nuku:
Wow was not expecting this positive feedback! Since i submitted i definitely have regretted my lack of detail and presentation so next round if im there i promise it will be better!!

Also yeah my order of tasks is a little off but the hardest thing about the outer banks is the islands are in a straight line so i didnt want to go allll over back and forth from different villages so that was the order they just had to come in but i will definitely take it into consideration next round!!

gamerfan09:


Gamer's Judgments:



BritishTARFan - [Cape Cod, Massachusetts]

Show contentLet’s see how you do.

First off, your presentation is already improved, but I think your Wikipedia style is unnecessary. The FG style suffices.

We then race to an Ocean institution and have a Roadblock to match fish with their Latin name. Classroom tasks aren’t very exciting, and I’m not too sure how this works as your first task in this finale. We then get to your second Roadblock, and I do like this task.

The lobster rolls is a fine delivery task, and I like how racers need to unscramble a long name. We then take a helicopter, with some sights there, and then stretch taffy. I do think it’s a bit amusing that you went from fish, to seafood, to candy, got a little food theme there going.

Then we have a final Morse Code task. While I get that this is supposed to be hard, and I do respect the idea of having a really hard final Memory task, watching teams listen to morse code is just not very exciting TV. TAR16 may have thought it was enough to get them an Emmy, but I think it’s just really boring. Props for a hard final task especially for teams who don’t know Morse Code, but it just isn’t very telegenic for me.

We then end by racing to the Finish Line at the beach.

Overall, I really just have issues with your first and final task. They’re not very exciting to watch, no matter how hard they can be, and it’s not that fitting of a finale either if you removed the memory portion from your final task. The middle stretch with the food and the helicopters was good, but when you start rough and end rough, it’s just hard to be positive about the overall product.

Still, if you avoid being first out, best of luck and try your best next round :)
Grade:

Show contentD+


nrh2110 - [Manalapan, New Jersey]

Show contentHello. I haven’t played your games, but I noticed you are an RFF game host. As a former host myself, I’m interested to see how this goes. Let’s dig into your finale.

We fly to a Hamilton shoutout, then go make bagels. It’s a good short cooking task to kick off the finale, for sure. I’d complain about bagels already being *in* a TAR finale, but that was on TARCAN4 and no one cares about TARCAN and that’s not a fair assessment so I’ll drop that complaint.

We then drive to Thomas Edison Park and have a Roadblock where teams literally make light happen. It’s alright, I guess. I like the historical figures theme you have going on so far, but I just don’t think this warranted being your first Roadblock. It honestly could have been the bagels with this task cut.

We then go and play balloon darts, and now I’m definitely sure you should have just cut Edison or even the Hamilton clue. The historical figures don’t really fit when your major tasks are related to “fun activities” in the area.

We get to your final Roadblock, and I do like this one. Detour names is something that hasn’t really been factored in final tasks. Sure, there could be Detour *options* and pictures, but never really the names. This feels like what happens when you make the TAR19 SLT (which is one of the better ones in terms of excitement personally lol) be a Final challenge, and I really just like the idea and the concept behind your final Roadblock. It’s a great task.

We then head to the Finish Line to end your finale. But where are your notes? I’d certainly have wanted to know more about your motivations and intent over the decisions that went into making this leg.

As a whole… I can say I did enjoy your leg with a few reservations. As I mentioned, I really think you should have just cut the historical figures element of the finale. The Edison task was just not very exciting, and while I get the Burr Hamilton shoutout, you could have just leaned more into the fun side of your chosen city by making the cryptic clue be a Hamilton performance or something. The rest is fine, with the bagel task and the memory challenge being good standouts.

I do wish though, that next round, you see what designs do great this round, and make sure to keep your additional notes in check. I always want to know more than what’s on the surface, and forgetting that is an oversight I won’t be as forgiving towards the next time.

Still, this is one of the better debuts. Good job and hope you do better in the next round :)
Grade:

Show contentC+


totumo - [Cape Cod, Massachusetts]

Show contentLast leg to judge! Let’s get this show on the road.

We get teams to drive to a bridge, then have a first Roadblock. I actually really like this task, but I will unfortunately have to note one big missed notice - there’s only 1 bridge for all 3 teams? I think that’s a pretty big oversight that hurts the feasibility. Don’t get me wrong, I really really like this task, but that oversight was disappointing to see.

After, teams make their way to a vineyard, collect and harvest cranberries, then go to a bar to make drinks. I really really like this task! It’s a short and simple task that has a physical, navigational, and a good crux of decision making. Will teams think they have enough and risk going there earlier or take longer but make sure they have enough berries? Every decision in this task counts and I just love that.

Teams then have a quick Route Info directing them to the final Roadblock. I have to say, one of my favorite episodes of TAR of all time is the Rob & Amber boot episode on TAR11. The signpost reminds me a LOT of that but with a memory twist and a directional twist. I love this. It’s more than just searching, it’s cross-referencing and trying to assume distances, and when all’s said and done, I just think this task’s “final answer” would look very satisfying, very sleek, and maybe even something to leave on the beach as a commemorative element.

Teams then race to the lighthouse to end this fictional season.

I gotta say, I am very VERY impressed by this leg. This is an impressive debut, and honestly, had it not been for the bridge oversight, I would have given you a perfect score right here right now. The presentation is sleek, the tasks are great, the locations are pretty, and all-in-all, it’s just a final leg that is everything I want it to be. It’s short, it’s sweet, and it’s solid.

Great job, and hopefully you can keep this momentum up in the future rounds.
Grade:

Show contentA-

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