Bottom of the Central Shaft

[AimYourBrent]

This room space in infamous for failing to ever produce a winner. A few came close, but would always run out of time.

Was this mostly due to incompetent players, bad temple layouts, or is this room just inherently too difficult to access during a run because of its location in the temple?

Discuss.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

A lot of bottom central shaft temple runs were losses because the players simply made too many mistakes, and/or moved too slowly. Though retrieving any artifact from that room space was pretty hard. Just look at the center of the room temple runs where the players had to traverse the temple counterclockwise. But mostly, it was the players own fault for not taking shortcuts, moving too slowly, etc.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

Runs in which the artifact was located in the bottom of the central shaft were difficult because, like counterclockwise Center of the Rooms runs, required teams to enter a lot of rooms and left little room for flexible temple guard encounters. Teams were forced to enter either the Observatory space or Center of the rooms space (or both), reach the Shrine (at least), and then complete the lower-level rooms as well. If only one central shaft room was entered and the team was not forced all the way around the horn, these teams were required to complete a minimum of seven rooms. I repeat, a minimum. And the only way for a team to avoid temple guards with this type of layout was if the guards were placed in the alternate entrance room, the other central shaft room, or the far-left rooms (if they were actually avoidable).

Compare this with some of the actual wins:

• They tended to have shorter paths, with many entering 5-6 rooms. And depending on the layout, the victorious runs sometimes included only "hit the actuator" type rooms, avoiding the Shrine and other more time-consuming rooms. Bottom of the central shaft runs required teams to complete several time-consuming rooms, making it less likely for the team to win within the time limit.
• Several of the runs were solo runs, meaning that less than two guards were encountered. These runs had more "flexible" temple guard placements, meaning that it was less likely for a contestant to take a path that encountered two. As a result, time was not spent getting the second runner from the temple gate to where the frontrunner was removed. Often times, a lot of time was spent in this transition.
• A few of the runs ended in triple capture, which obviously did not happen to the winning runs. If the bottom of the central shaft team had found their half pendant (if applicable) or had a path with a more generous temple guard layout (see above), they would have been more successful.
• Finally, in entering fewer rooms (or at least a series of easier rooms, often), there was less of a chance that the winning teams would be adversely affected if they hesitated or "messed up." Some contestants who won took a while to complete some of their rooms, missed half pendants, got turned around in the temple, had poor exit strategies, or did other things that could have resulted in a less successful outcome. But because of their shorter paths and more generous temple guard layouts, the teams were able to overcome these "obstacles," in part because there was still time on the clock, which was not as available to the bottom of the central shaft teams.
  

[The Red Jaguars]

These were the bottom of the central shaft runs:

- Lucky Pig
- Golden Ship
- Electrified Key
- Priceless Portrait
- Smashed Printing Plate
- Queen Boadicea
- Red Sash
- Good-Luck Watch

Yes, there were a total of 8 bottom of the central shaft artifacts on the show out of 120 episodes. This room space was definitely under-represented, especially in the first two seasons where only 2 artifacts appeared there in each season. I think this is a big reason why this room space had no wins at all. If there were more artifacts in this room space, then we would've eventually seen a win or two. Especially the first two seasons of the show when the temple was slightly easier.

As for the reason why there were no wins, it was because the bottom floor of the temple runs were usually harder. After all, there were only 9 wins from the bottom floor of the whole show. And that is counting the piss easy Shaka Zulu win too. I think PP4L broke it down nicely on why we didn't see any wins from the bottom of the central shaft. I mean the teams would've had to enter 7 rooms at most in order to reach the artifact. And the temple guard placement in those runs guaranteed that there was no chance at solo victory. Not counting the Electrified Key of course. And most of those runs had hard layouts too. There is a reason no team even reach an artifact from the center of the temple via the bottom floor (like PPF mentioned).

[AimYourBrent]

It's so strange to me that we had wins from the other two central shaft rooms, yet none from this one space. And either way, teams have to traverse a ton of rooms, many with difficult objectives, just in an opposite order.

Is there a particular layout that anyone feels could have lent itself well to a team retrieving an artifact from this space?

My thoughts: enter the Crypt, cross the Pit, top of the shaft, Center room, Treasure room and here is where you make it tricky. Both the Shrine and Swamp doors could open. If the player is smart, they'll enter the Swamp, and finally the bottom of the central shaft.

Temple guard placement could be sort of tricky, but you could have a guard in the Central room, the Swamp, and either the Shrine or the Ledges space.

Does anyone think that layout could have worked? Or is it too simple?

[The Red Jaguars]

It sounds like a good idea from the contestants point-of-view to use the Swamp doors, but it is too simple from the producers point-of-view. They would never use those doors in a bottom of the central shaft run. The best strategy would be to avoid too many unnecessary rooms to begin with. Like in the "Electrified Key" run, Peter could've avoided Medusa's Lair altogether and Michelle shouldn't have taken the long way. Plus, that run had a chance at a solo shot. Just by looking at that list though, every team except for Golden Ship was responsible for their team losing.

[AimYourBrent]

That last point is what stands out to me the most. Because again, think about it, with any central shaft run, the teams enter the same rooms, only the order in which they are entered is different. I don't know that there is anything inherently more difficult about getting to the bottom space versus the center space or top space.

Another alternate route: Crypt, Pit, Observatory, Treasure, Shrine, Forest, Swamp, bottom of the shaft. Seven rooms before the artifact. Guards in any two rooms along the path and one avoidable guard in the Center room or the Ledges. Or if you want to preserve a shot at a solo run, any one room along the route and two avoidable guards in the Center room and Ledges, but the team is given access to the Center room and Observatory from the pit.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

It's so strange to me that we had wins from the other two central shaft rooms, yet none from this one space. And either way, teams have to traverse a ton of rooms, many with difficult objectives, just in an opposite order.

Let's look at the victorious runs from the central shaft: Star of Sultan Saladin, Belly Button of Buddha, Milk Bucket of Freydis, Very Tall Turban of Ahmed Baba, Lucky Pillow of Annie Taylor, and Mussel Shell Armor of Apanuugpak.

Five of the six were solo wins, which means that the temple guards were more generously laid out. Being solo runs, the teams' time was spent completing objectives and making progress in the temple rather than getting a second runner into the temple. Additionally, none of these runs had the contestant enter two central shaft rooms (which was required in counterclockwise Center of the Rooms runs, and which was the case in Royal Torque of Queen Boadicea). The upper-left corner room was not completed in five of the six runs, and the lower-left corner room was avoided in four of the runs. Meanwhile, counterclockwise runs either required the teams to enter both of the central shaft rooms or to go all the way around the horn.

Is there a particular layout that anyone feels could have lent itself well to a team retrieving an artifact from this space?

My thoughts: enter the Crypt, cross the Pit, top of the shaft, Center room, Treasure room and here is where you make it tricky. Both the Shrine and Swamp doors could open. If the player is smart, they'll enter the Swamp, and finally the bottom of the central shaft.

Temple guard placement could be sort of tricky, but you could have a guard in the Central room, the Swamp, and either the Shrine or the Ledges space.

Does anyone think that layout could have worked? Or is it too simple?

This suggested layout would have only been possible in Seasons 1 or 2, and the passageway between the Treasure Room and Swamp spaces was so infrequently used that it would have been unlikely and too simplistic.

[AimYourBrent]

It's so strange to me that we had wins from the other two central shaft rooms, yet none from this one space. And either way, teams have to traverse a ton of rooms, many with difficult objectives, just in an opposite order.

Let's look at the victorious runs from the central shaft: Star of Sultan Saladin, Belly Button of Buddha, Milk Bucket of Freydis, Very Tall Turban of Ahmed Baba, Lucky Pillow of Annie Taylor, and Mussel Shell Armor of Apanuugpak.

Five of the six were solo wins, which means that the temple guards were more generously laid out. Being solo runs, the teams' time was spent completing objectives and making progress in the temple rather than getting a second runner into the temple. Additionally, none of these runs had the contestant enter two central shaft rooms (which was required in counterclockwise Center of the Rooms runs, and which was the case in Royal Torque of Queen Boadicea). The upper-left corner room was not completed in five of the six runs, and the lower-left corner room was avoided in four of the runs. Meanwhile, counterclockwise runs either required the teams to enter both of the central shaft rooms or to go all the way around the horn.

Is there a particular layout that anyone feels could have lent itself well to a team retrieving an artifact from this space?

My thoughts: enter the Crypt, cross the Pit, top of the shaft, Center room, Treasure room and here is where you make it tricky. Both the Shrine and Swamp doors could open. If the player is smart, they'll enter the Swamp, and finally the bottom of the central shaft.

Temple guard placement could be sort of tricky, but you could have a guard in the Central room, the Swamp, and either the Shrine or the Ledges space.

Does anyone think that layout could have worked? Or is it too simple?

This suggested layout would have only been possible in Seasons 1 or 2, and the passageway between the Treasure Room and Swamp spaces was so infrequently used that it would have been unlikely and too simplistic.

I think the fact that so many of the victorious runs serves as even further proof that the the players made a big difference. You get a Sabrina or Claude in there and you aren't winning squat.

Also, check out the other alternate route I suggested. It bypasses one of two potential center shaft rooms.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

I think the fact that so many of the victorious runs serves as even further proof that the the players made a big difference. You get a Sabrina or Claude in there and you aren't winning squat.

Sending a less-than-stellar contestant into the temple, regardless of the temple layout or path, usually resulted in a less-than-stellar performance. But that was the case in any run, not just bottom of the central shaft runs. It just so happened that in bottom of the central shaft runs, there was less room for error since the paths were on the longer side, so unless the team was decent, there was no chance at getting remotely close to the artifact. Look at other runs in which less time-consuming rooms and fewer rooms were entered- notably, most often Shrine runs, such as Robin Hood and Maid Marian's Ladder, for example- and you'll realize this is a recurring theme.

So, if you'd like, let's dive a bit deeper into the particular bottom of the central shaft runs and see what went wrong and what could have been done differently in each. Are you up for that?

[The Red Jaguars]

Do you think the Lucky Pig layout was winnable? I use to call it impossible, but I think it was actually possible to win. Even though the team was forced to enter almost every room enroute to the Room of Harmonic Convergence, all of the rooms were easy excluding the Shrine. As bad as Kristen was, she still finished one room away with her three minutes. Imagine if a competent player went in first and knew how to climb the wall? They would've been removed with a lot more time, like James in Lost Fountain of Youth. Hell, I think this run had a solo chance too. So if Scott was at least competent, he should've grabbed the Lucky Pig.

Thoughts?

[Purple Parrots Fan]

A solo win could've been possible. If Scott had gone in first, used the Cave entrance, and continued on the path Kristen took, it could've been a solo win. Assuming the third temple guard was in the Heart Room.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

The only unentered rooms during the Lucky Pig run were the Ledges and the Heart Room. While the bottom of the Ledges are not seen during the prize sequence, we do see them very briefly during the credits. You can see in the image below that there is not a mat on the ground, which was indicative of a guard. Therefore, the final guard was in the Heart Room, as was often the case.




With guards in the Gargoyle Room, Heart Room, and Swamp, it was possibly best to enter the temple via the Ledges and then take the path the Kristen took. As long as the Ledges led to the Pit, this route would have allowed for a potential solo victory.

It was quite unfortunate that Kristen got so stalled in the Pit and Dungeon, seeing as those were two very straightforward rooms. If she had moved at a better pace, she would have left Scott with more time to just sprint through the temple, grab the Lucky Pig, and continue sprinting. In any case, their path was very long for Season 1 standards; the Shrine only opened to the Pirate's Cove, meaning they had to enter at least 9 rooms to reach the artifact.

[AimYourBrent]

I think the fact that so many of the victorious runs serves as even further proof that the the players made a big difference. You get a Sabrina or Claude in there and you aren't winning squat.

Sending a less-than-stellar contestant into the temple, regardless of the temple layout or path, usually resulted in a less-than-stellar performance. But that was the case in any run, not just bottom of the central shaft runs. It just so happened that in bottom of the central shaft runs, there was less room for error since the paths were on the longer side, so unless the team was decent, there was no chance at getting remotely close to the artifact. Look at other runs in which less time-consuming rooms and fewer rooms were entered- notably, most often Shrine runs, such as Robin Hood and Maid Marian's Ladder, for example- and you'll realize this is a recurring theme.

So, if you'd like, let's dive a bit deeper into the particular bottom of the central shaft runs and see what went wrong and what could have been done differently in each. Are you up for that?

Yeah we can totally do that. Seems like a fun excessive and a good way to keep discussions jumping!

[The Red Jaguars]

Kristen had no business being inside the temple. When you can't figure out the Treasure Room and Dungeon, then you are doomed to fail. I can't believe I use to feel sorry for her for having a tough layout. But not anymore though. I do agree that the layout was unfair for S1 standards, but that doesn't mean that you have to spend 3 minutes getting lost in every room. If a team like Robbie and Tina or Jennifer and Damian had this layout, they would've had a high chance of winning.