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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Pi:


NELs - Northwest Minnesota

Show content• Starting in Manitoba, teams learn they’ll have to take a short hop down to Minnesota for the final leg. Minnesota hasn’t been visited and has plenty of rural sites, so this seems like a good selection.

• The first ARI puts teams to work steering a longboat. What distance do teams have to navigate? What significance does Viking history and culture have on this area? Not a bad physical task for a final leg.

• This grasshopper task comes off as a bit weird, I would like to see pictures or a video of this tradition for the task to make more sense.

• Roadblock #1 seems like basic geography, especially considering all racers are from the USA and probably learned about the Mississippi River in fifth or sixth grade. Even if they’re somehow clueless, starting in Minnesota and working their way down would generate the answer.

• Roadblock #2 is similar to the first in that it’s an American geography task involving putting 10 things in order. Teams probably know the first couple rivers, but after that, it’s down to guessing. It also feels a bit off to have a task involving the names of rivers in totally different areas of the country. I like how this pair of Roadblocks forces teams to use their brains, but they don’t seem too straining.

• Two cryptic clues were present in this leg, neither of which seems overly complex. When teams have to drive for nearly 6 hours, the tasks should be more challenging so that the leg has less of a chance of being decided by who drives the fastest. Finales are supposed to achieve high drama!

• Pictures really help us to visualize your locations and tasks and are sure to enhance your design. In the future, I would like to see more justification for why you opted to include a location or task. Leg money and estimates of time for the tasks will also improve your future scores.


This leg featured lots of rural locations in the Midwest, but the tasks didn’t pop to me. Don’t be afraid to look back at past designs and study the presentation. Adding visuals will bring your designs to a new level. More is more when it comes to details and explanations, so let us know more about the region’s culture and its connection to your tasks. I can’t wait to see you improve in future DC rounds!

Jimmer - Connecticut

Show content• The final 3 start in Togo before taking off for The Big Apple on their way to Connecticut. CT is an unvisited state with close proximity to transportation hubs, so it’s conceivable we could see this state visited sometime soon.

• Amtrak travel <3 Acela is one of the few routes to match other countries’ transit in terms of speed and frequency (and profitability, for that matter). The Northeast Corridor is almost surely the only region of the country we would ever see TAR racers utilize Amtrak, as most of the other long-haul routes aren’t on-time consistently enough to be considered an option by production, so I like that you chose it as the way to get teams to Connecticut from New York City.

• Teams taxi to the USCGA, where they encounter a Roadblock. This task is daring, and would provide stunning shots in HD for the episode. I’ve always wanted to see a fast-roping/rappelling from a helicopter task, so this was great. Thanks for including the videos so we could see a real-life rescue!

• Teams then have to travel by boat to New London Ledge Lighthouse, where they rip a Detour clue. Report seems like the higher variance option. Do teams have to be quick submitting the report so that an earlier measurement doesn’t change by the time they finish with the other measurements? Once teams get over the small learning curve of the various weather tools, it should be smooth sailing. Overall, I like how this task adds a “mental” task to the first half of the leg.

• Restore is mainly grunt work, but does require some attention to detail and focus. It seems like each Detour side can be made as difficult or as easy as the producers wish - changing how close teams' measurements have to be to the meteorologist and/or making a larger or smaller area to wash/repaint. Due to this, I trust that this Detour would be as balanced as possible. Three teams spread across two tasks on one lighthouse makes for a high-intensity Detour, which is of course good for a final leg. I'm fine with including both of these tasks and making it a Detour as long as it isn't the central focus of the episode. You said in your notes it wouldn't take up too much airtime, so it's fine by me.

• The next task at the Faerie Village is to recreate a fairy house given a photo. This task seems parallel to the “Restore” detour in the sense that both involve repairing/fixing structures, but the contexts are different enough as so they don’t clash. Are they decorating the exterior or interior (or both) of a house? It would be quirky to have the “receive your next clue” somehow incorporated into the house, like having a door open when teams receive approval from the judge.

• The sculpture memory task is a task teams definitely couldn’t plan for ahead of time and forces them to think in a somewhat abstract manner, making it a good difficulty for a final task. How exactly do teams have to put them in order? Obviously, they can’t pick them up and move them. Is there a number attached to each sculpture that can be used to make a string of numbers for a guess? With the placement of this task right before the Finish Line, it should be a catalyst for drama.

• A very minor kvetch: your clue says “run east to the Finish Line”, but it appears to be to the west on the aerial photo. Still, I like how teams have to run a short distance to the mat immediately after getting the thumbs-up on the final memory task, similar to TAR 8.

• Good details with flight and train screenshots (plus a production flight), maps, and money!

• I would recommend including statements such as “This task should take teams between 45 and 60 minutes”, etc. This helps give us an idea of how long the tasks and leg will take the racers to complete.


I agree with your comment that the Northeast is probably the toughest region to design in when it comes to Rural, but your design was perfect for the theme with small towns in Connecticut. Your design was stitched together with everything a final leg should have- suspenseful tasks, several different transportation methods, and a memory challenge right before the Finish Line. The last two tasks focused on the arts, but that was balanced out with the earlier daredevil Roadblock. As a whole, details were great, with just a few tiny things missing. Overall, a distinguished Round 1 design that makes me zealous to see what you’ve got in future rounds!

Leafsfan - Southern Idaho

Show content• Teams open the leg in Tokyo and then fly off to Idaho’s largest city, Boise. Idaho is unvisited by TAR and is underrated in terms of people knowing about its natural beauty, so it’s a good selection for this rural round.

• The skeleton assembly is an OK task with the ability to shake up placements. It’s reminiscent of tasks we’ve seen on both North American editions of the race: the TAR 18 Roadblock in China and the TARCAN 1 Detour in Alberta. I didn’t know that the Hagerman Horse is Idaho’s state fossil, so nice detail.

• Teams then head for Twin Falls, where they find the first Roadblock. Ziplining fulfills the “face your fears” task often found on final legs, and the canyon should provide great action shots for TV. The questions you cited in your notes don’t seem too difficult for anyone who has been paying attention to the race, but they at least force the participating team member to pivot from the thrill of ziplining to thinking critically in order to correctly answer the question. This task doesn’t seem to give much opportunity to shuffle placements, unless a racer can be overtaken when stumped by a question. Teams shouldn’t all arrive at the ziplines at same time due to navigation and the previous task, so it’s passable. Thanks for providing a video of the ziplines!

• Ah, the obligatory Idaho Potato task. The potato types are similar enough so that teams will have to pay close attention, which can be hard to do when they’re just trying to speed through the task. Do teams have one set of 200 pounds of potatoes that they have to sort into types, or do they have to come up with the different types of potatoes by searching through the plant? Also, are the bags checked for having the correct type before they are carried to the dock? From the way it’s described, there’s only one point where there is a clue giver/judge- at the docks- who wouldn’t know whether the potatoes were sorted correctly. That said, the task having two parts means that the teams should find it nonlinear.

• The Final Memory Roadblock is literally the gem of the leg! I would compare it to TARCAN 1 with the flowers, where teams see it every leg but may not be observant enough to string it all together. Running around to all of the booths to find the gems (I hope they’re somewhat visibly placed) should make for a nice amount of chaos, appropriate for the final task. It rewards teams who have good memories and a penchant for noticing small details, such as Pit Stop clothing. This is one of the top memory challenges in this round, and would be rousing to see on TV. Great work!

• Flight, leg money, and maps are all included in the presentation, yay!

• Between teams landing at 12:38 PM and all the driving, there’s a good chance teams wouldn’t make it to the Finish Line before nightfall. That means we wouldn’t see the gorgeous falls in the background of the final shots. I don’t hate Finish Lines being after dark, but there’s a good chance for a TAR 2-esque footrace based on the configuration of this Finish Line. If that were to occur after sundown, it would be hard to capture everything on camera considering there’s probably not great lighting for the entire 1.4-mile path from the parking lot to the mat. In the future, I would like for an enumeration of when teams would potentially get to the Finish Line, or how long the tasks are expected to take.


To sum things up: This leg brought us to an area of the country not yet seen by TAR viewers, sending teams to small towns in Idaho. Some of the ARI tasks weren’t jaw-dropping, but all of the leg’s tasks were culturally relevant to the state. The tasks are placed in a logical order from both a travel and dramatic standpoint, with everything building up to the fresh Final Memory Roadblock. The tasks constituted a good mix of brain and brawn, and locations were appropriate. I’ll be waiting for what lies ahead in terms of your future designs! :)

Alenaveda:




Hi, again.

The guys, and specially Peach, have asked me to review my decision not to offer comments for the submissions. So here they are:

Show contentLEAFSFAN:
Nothing spectacular, loved the simplicity of the tasks and that the majority of them requires a big attention to detail what is the big enemy of a team when is running a leg that has as a prize one million dollars. In general, I liked the leg. 

NRH2110:
Good leg, again nothing spectacular. I liked all the tasks (although hitting balloons with darts…, well I guess is not far from having to win a bowling game, lol). Knowing you as a game designer I will expect more on the next rounds.

JIMMER:
Good choice of Togo as a penultimate leg, don’t think a lot of people would think of a tiny island in the Pacific. The first RB brings me back memories of the TAR20 rescue task in the season finale. For the rest, as always in your case a solid job.

NUKU:
I have mixed feelings with your leg. I liked some parts (mostly) but some of them… (the first RB… ) However, and as I think that you can improve in the upcoming rounds, my score – even not the higher of all – will be good.

STONE:
After reading your QUARANTINE TAR I was expecting your submission being the best of all here. I must say that although is a very good job, with solid tasks I felt it too short in terms that if I’m a producer I would have to fill the last episode with lot of landscapes and interaction between the racers. Doesn’t mean I didn’t like it, but it could’ve been better in that aspect.

TOTUMO:
Wanted to get a better score from me by picking Buenos Aires? :) . Once again not a spectacular leg, but I guess that in terms of broadcasting would fit pretty well specially for the chosen locations. Only point to note in the cons side is that the second RB is similar to a task performed in the Detour of the TAR11 leg in Tierra del Fuego.

BOOKWORM:
Although I’m not a fan of Detours on the final leg, I liked yours. Leg was fine until that moment but then… the flow. I told all of you that one of the aspects I would put a special eye on is that the leg must have a sense of logic regarding locations. So why make the teams cross the island 3 times in opposite directions using the same road? Wouldn’t be easier put the RB right after the Detour and then the sculpture task that is closer to the FL?

MIKEDODGERS:
I have to be fiercely honest: as I told to my fellow judges I don’t know if I have to give you the higher score here or kill you  :funny:; and you perfectly know why I’m saying this. Ok, now to the important part. The common theme of Civil Rights is the best of the leg because of what means to the history of the country. The rest of the task are not so good. I know you can do it better.

LEMONTAIL:
First of all, good job. Couple things: I didn’t like that teams have to wait until the other day to race the final leg, specially if they are in the area where the leg is happening; second, what if there are no ancient flags in the visited countries? On the good side, loved the absence of motor vehicles except for the ferry in the whole leg. Add points to my score.

BETHEACTRESS:
Where to start from? The cigar task was done in season one TARLA. The coral task in Thailand in TAR19. The rest of the tasks of the leg are good choices and as I give you a thumbs down for the referred tasks, I have to give you a big thumbs up for the memory task. Not the best score, but I trust you will reach the next round and have a chance to improve your work.

DAVID:
Dollywood! Although not a country fan, I’ve been listening to Dolly Parton songs since… I’ve been listening to her songs. Only doubt: what if none of the members of the team know one of her songs? Can’t get the clue? RB is fine with the air-sea-land combination. First ARM requires attention to detail, good. Tricky memory task, good. A well designed leg.

ELTHEMAGNIFICO:
Good leg, again nothing spectacular, in terms of the show the place will surely provide a lot of great landscapes to see. I liked the common theme of the Samoan heritage (I used in my last voting game) because when you have that the whole leg feels better than one with unrelated tasks.

REDWINGS8831:
Roswell! “Oh I am what I am, I’ll do what I want but I can’t hide…” As a die-hard sci-fi fan I loved the first part of your leg. The next two tasks were related to cultural heritage what is good. The memory task is nothing spectacular, but would look good in the screen. The only thing that creeps me out is the balloon travel to the FL. But this is a very good work.

BRITISHTARFAN:
Seems like great minds think alike, because is the second Cape Code leg that has a visit to a place related to John F. Kennedy. I loved the memory task (really ingenious). A good leg. Not the best of all but good.  Want to see what you have in mind for the next rounds.

BOURKIEBOY:
Honesty again here. All the controversy with the comments forced me to read your submission comments. And you know what? I don’t think is thaaaat bad as I thought. Yes, some of the tasks aren’t the best compared to the ones from your competitors, but the camp task requires attention to detail and the water ski is a physical task that requires balance from the racers. But I have to agree that the second RB – or at least the way you present it – is the less impressive part of the leg. I know you can do it much better. I’m sure about that.

NELS:
Yes, a leg that flows! Sadly that’s the only part of the leg I liked. Not an explanation of why they’re doing the grasshopper task, how is related to the place. Both RBs are basically the same thing. I don’t know… My only hope is that – if you survive this round – you’ll be able to improve your work.

ZBC COMPANY:
Liked the tea task at Japan, nice touch. McDonalds is an American trademark like ABBA in Sweden, so I guess is ok. Tricky ARM, good. The first RB is nothing spectacular. Second is definitely better than the first. The paintball is a generic task (but again, is not so far from winning a bowling game). The memory task gives me mixed feelings but I’m agree with you that would look great on TV. One last thing: you choose the Death Valley and didn’t give me an Undertaker related task? Shame on you,  :funny:.

DECLIVE:
A simple underwater RB, good. I wonder how racers will solve the postcard quiz if they have zero knowledge of that era cinema or can’t find anyone who knows. Guess that’s the difficulty level you wanted for the task. Liked the turtle task. All the airports? Even the connecting ones? Because as you presented the task implies all of them. You are probably one of the most veteran designers here, so despite this little detail of the RB I’m going to put my chips on you.

Declive:
Thanks for the review, Alen! I'm def. going to pay more attention to details further in the competition if i make it there.

Leafsfan:
Hi Alen,

Thank you for your comments. I noticed a lot of your comments say "not-spectacular". So what do you mean exactly by spectacular?

MikeDodgers:
Thank you for that review, Alen. I was thinking about what was going on in our society at the time with the George Floyd protests when coming up with my leg. I thought about what kinds of barriers African-Americans had to break in order to attain equality and how far we still have to go in order to truly live up to what the Founding Fathers have in mind - a nation where all men, regardless of race, are created equal.

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