Temple Run Contestants in Other Situations

[PurpleParrot4Life]

One of the questions posed in the "What If" game from the Temple Games caught my attention and made me think: What would have happened if certain contestants were given other layouts/paths? Would they have been successful, or would our perceptions of those contestants have been upheld?

I hope to pose a few situations, perhaps a few that that have been given before, that will cause us to think about how and why certain contestants are praised while others are dismissed.

I will begin in the following post with my first hypothetical situation and opinion. Feel free to contribute your own thoughts!

[PurpleParrot4Life]

What would have happened if Veronica and Thomas had been given the "Ivory Hunting Horn of Roland" path? Would their run have been considered one of the worst of the series?


I think some people come down too hard on this run. Yes, Veronica did spend a very long time in the Pit, but other contestant spent a long time in other rooms, and I feel as though they are given a little more slack (even if it is just a bit less). Plus, she finished the Chamber of the Sacred Markers objective (her one "difficult" room) rather quickly. And Thomas may have been the only second runner to pull the books in the Crypt, but plenty of second runners attempted to re-complete objectives already finished by the frontrunner. Not to mention, he found the half-pendant at the end of the run, which is more than a lot of contestants can say. Even though they were not successful, Veronica and Thomas' path was the only one of Season 3 to feature a dead end. It was also the only Shrine run of Season 3 that had the team begin in the Chamber of the Sacred Markers.

If they had been given the "Roland" path, Veronica would have not spent the time climbing the wall in the Pit, and there wouldn't have been a dead end. Those two factors would have saved this team a lot of time. As long as Veronica took Yakerra's path, she would have had a solo run, and I think she would have gotten out of the temple with plenty of time left on the clock. Overall, I don't think Veronica and Thomas would have been seen as one of the worst temple run teams if they had been given that other path.

What are your thoughts?

[The Red Jaguars]

Well, pretty much any team would've won with the Roland path. Even lost causes like Heather and Casey from "Snow Cone" probably would've won. As for Veronica and Thomas, I am sure they could've pulled off a victory with the Roland layout. Considering the fact that Veronica doesn't have to climb the wall with that layout, they would've saved a minute already. The only way Veronica and Thomas wouldn't have won was if they started acting like Nicholas or Casey on the bottom floor objectives.

As for the criticism they get, I think they wholeheartedly deserve it. The mistakes both players made were pretty much unique to their temple runs. Quite a few contestants like Kristen and Angela had trouble climbing the wall in the Pit. But they did not take as long as Veronica did. Not to mention, she had a platform to pull herself on. And then she backtracks into a detour when the direct path didn't work for her. Thomas, while he didn't have any time to really do anything, pulled books in the Crypt for no reason and ran into Veronica's dead end himself. Too many mistakes by these two players, which is why their performance is considered among the worse. Although in their defense, the Room of the Ancient Warrior dead end was unfair considering no other S3 run had any dead ends. But that doesn't excuse the amount of time wasted in the Pit and Crypt.

But I agree they wouldn't have been anywhere near a bad team if they had Yakerra's layout. I guess having a different temple layout could make or break a player/team.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Yeah, I agree with TRJ. They deserved every bit of criticism they get. Even if you're not the athletic type, it should never take you a whole minute to get out of the Pit. Plus, they brought on the dead ends themselves by detouring into the Room of the Ancient Warriors. When really, Veronica could've just gone directly into the Tomb of the Headless Kings.

But yeah, if they had Roland's layout, it probably would've been a solo win. Assuming Veronica would've been fast and/or competent enough to get to the Hunting Horn and escape successfully with it.

[The Red Jaguars]

Since we are talking about contestants in other temple runs, how would you think the Red Sash kids fare in the Empress Eugenie layout?

In the Red Sash temple run, Brandy and Quentin had to enter the two most corner rooms of the temple. They still managed to finish in the room of the artifact despite taking a long way around the temple. In the Empress Eugenie run, the two leftmost rooms of the temple were locked for Jay and Janeen and the team pretty much ended in the same spot as the Tokugawa team. So if Brandy and Quentin had the Empress Eugenie layout, do you think they would've won? I think they would've definitely won in that layout since it was way more easier than their temple run. And then we would've had an actual bottom of the temple win.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

I honestly think that Brandy and Quentin could have pulled off a victory in their own layout, but Brandy's decision to assemble the Silver Monkey took away that chance. Had she gone directly into the opened Secret Password, she would have been removed immediately, giving Quentin enough time to grab the Sash and escape. If she had assembled the Silver Monkey and gone down to the Quicksand Bog, I think there would have been enough time saved for Quentin to reach the Sash, but not enough to get out.

Now onto the Empress Eugenie layout: This path was the only bottom central shaft run of Season 3 that had the team only enter one of the other central shaft rooms AND avoid the two far-left rooms of the temple. Just by necessary number of rooms entered, this run should be considered one of the easier bottom of the central shaft paths, and if any of them should have been a victory, this one was it. Janeen's hesitancy, especially in the King's Storeroom, cost this team a bit of time. Jay also had trouble in the Jesters' Court, which did not help their cause at all.

I think that Quentin and Brandy would have been victorious (or nearly victorious, i.e. Icarus) with the Empress Eugenie layout. Even though Brandy would have been removed in the Shrine of the Silver Monkey, I think Quentin would have assembled the Monkey in quick fashion. He seemed to complete his objectives competently once he composed himself in the Secret Password. Avoiding the Secret Password and Quicksand Bog altogether would have saved this team a bit of time. Also, Quentin's quick completion of the Jesters' Court would have benefited the team, since that time could have been used to escape from the temple.

[The Red Jaguars]

I agree, I think Brandy and Quentin would've pulled off a win with the Empress Eugenie layout myself. The path was much more simple than the one they faced in the "Tokugawa Ieyasu" run. The corner rooms to the left of the temple were closed off in the "Empress Eugenie" run. That alone would've saved Brandy and Quentin enough time to escape with the artifact. The main problem with the Green Monkeys in the "Empress Eugenie" layout was Janeen. She just wasted way too much time in certain rooms for no reason. Like how in the Crypt she was scared to pull the books and in the King's Storeroom, she was afraid to smash the pots. Although Jay caught some bad luck himself in the Jester's Court. But that was nothing compared to the time Janeen wasted.

Heck, I could see the Red Jaguars from "Queen Boadicea" winning the Empress Eugenie layout. I mean Lissy completed one more extra room in her temple run (Chamber of the Sacred Markers). This room wasn't even open in the Empress Eugenie layout. And Nate would've had enough time to probably pull off an "Emiliano Zapata" type ending.

And here is another one I want to bring up. I think PPF asked this question in the "What if..." thread. What if Leah and Matthew from "Belle Boyd" had the "William Tell" layout? The William Tell layout was almost identical to the Belle Boyd one. Except they were forced down into the Ledges in the William Tell run. Would Leah and Matthew have done about the same with the William Tell layout?

[PurpleParrot4Life]

And here is another one I want to bring up. I think PPF asked this question in the "What if..." thread. What if Leah and Matthew from "Belle Boyd" had the "William Tell" layout? The William Tell layout was almost identical to the Belle Boyd one. Except they were forced down into the Ledges in the William Tell run. Would Leah and Matthew have done about the same with the William Tell layout?

This was another situation I was going to propose, so thanks for bringing it up!

It is hard to tell what the latter half of the "William Tell" path was supposed to be- whether they would have been given access from the Dark Forest to the Shrine, or if they would have been forced all the way around through the Quicksand Bog. Likewise, Leah and Matthew completed the King's Storeroom objective when they didn't need to, but if they had the "William Tell" path, they would not have gotten the chance to bypass it.

Either way, Leah and Matthew completed all of the objectives that the William Tell team would have faced, with the exception of the Ledges, which would not have taken up too much more time. Leah would have been removed in the Tomb of the Headless Kings instead of the Dark Forest, but Matthew was very quick to follow up on her path, so that difference would not have impacted the team's success. In fact, if Matthew did not have as many rooms to run through, he may have had a little extra time to complete the Secret Password and enter the Shrine.

So all in all, they would have fared out just the same as how they did in their actual episode. They would have entered the same rooms and would have used about the same amount of time to complete those rooms. The only way they could have come remotely close to the artifact would have been if they had been granted access from the Dark Forest to the Shrine and assembled the Silver Monkey as quickly as possible.

[The Red Jaguars]

The only tricky part about the "William Tell" layout was that the team would've been forced to the bottom of the Pit of the Pendulum. That would've meant Leah would've had to knock the stone column over herself and then climb the wall. But she did that anyways in the Belle Boyd run. The other difference was that Leah would've been removed in the Tomb of the Headless Kings and that would've meant less rooms for Matthew to cover. He was a fast second runner also, so maybe they could've made it to the Shrine assuming he tried the shortcut from the Dark Forest. But they would've done miles better than Lauren and Brett did.

Here's a different season comparison. What if Ashley and Shem had the Ivory Elephant layout? I think they would've been more successful than Monica and Brad and even reach the Ivory Elephant. Monica was slow and wasted time in the Ledges and Brad added too many rooms to their path. I don't think Ashley or Shem would've made these mistakes.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

I think Ashley and Shem probably would've won if they were given Scheherazade's layout. Assuming they didn't take their sweet time in the Ledges and the Observatory. And didn't fail to take shortcuts, notably the Shrine/Forest passage. I'm not sure if they would've gotten out, but Ashley and Shem would've done much better then Monica and Brad did in the actual run.

Also, what do you think Levi and Candace would've done with the Xerxes layout had they gone to the temple instead? Not long ago, I drew up some temple paths on how the run would've done had the Purple Parrots made it to the temple in Xerxes instead. Some of you might remember some of the random temple paths I drew in the Main Spam Topic as well. You know, even if Levi was NOT revealed to have been related to Zac, I still would've wanted to see Purple win instead. I mean, there are A LOT of Purple Parrot teams that would've done better than the team that actually did make it to the temple. Whether they were related to anyone else or not.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

I think that Ashley and Shem would have been pretty successful if they had to take the counterclockwise route. They were both quick contestants who didn't dawdle around. Shem knew to take the shortcut from the Mineshaft to the Shrine, so it wouldn't surprise me if he would have utilized the shortcut from the Shrine to the Dark Forest in the "Scheherazade" layout. Another thing to consider is whether Ashley would have begun in the Ledges and would have been taken out in the King's Storeroom, or if she would have been removed in the Dark Forest. It would have saved time to avoid the Ledges, but Shem would have also had to follow up on a longer path. [Also, just to clarify, this suggestion assumes they would not have had their run end in triple capture.] But overall, I agree that Ashley and Shem probably would have been quite successful in the other path.

[PurpleParrot4Life]

I honestly think it would have been hard for Levi and Candice to have a less successful run. Noelle and Pat were not given any shortcuts during their run (it was essentially "Missing Portrait of Hans Holbein" upside-down, with a different temple guard placement), but they still only cleared through the bottom floor of the temple in the whole three minutes. Noelle had a tough time in the Pit of the Pendulum and Jesters' Court. Meanwhile, Pat did not make any new progress in the minute he had to himself, nor did he grab the half pendant in the Jesters' Court. Since there wasn't a key in the Dark Forest and the Shrine did not open from the Quicksand Bog, it is my best guess that the final guard in this run was going to be either forced or in an extraneous Ancient Warriors headdress. Either way, there is a good chance that Pat would have been caught by that last guard. So all in all, I think it would have been pretty near guaranteed that Levi and Candice would have had a more successful run.

[The Red Jaguars]

I honestly think it would have been hard for Levi and Candice to have a less successful run. Noelle and Pat were not given any shortcuts during their run (it was essentially "Missing Portrait of Hans Holbein" upside-down, with a different temple guard placement), but they still only cleared through the bottom floor of the temple in the whole three minutes. Noelle had a tough time in the Pit of the Pendulum and Jesters' Court. Meanwhile, Pat did not make any new progress in the minute he had to himself, nor did he grab the half pendant in the Jesters' Court. Since there wasn't a key in the Dark Forest and the Shrine did not open from the Quicksand Bog, it is my best guess that the final guard in this run was going to be either forced or in an extraneous Ancient Warriors headdress. Either way, there is a good chance that Pat would have been caught by that last guard. So all in all, I think it would have been pretty near guaranteed that Levi and Candice would have had a more successful run.

Agreed, I think those two would've done much better than Pat and Noelle. Not many teams could stoop down to their level of suckiness, unless their name was Heather and Casey. I think Levi and Candace would've at least made it to the Shrine in that run. It was a hard layout either way, but the Green Monkeys sucked. Pat couldn't even climb up the Pharaoh's Secret Passage either. If he had more time, who knows how long they would've spent there? This is one of the few episodes where I felt the Purple Parrots would've done better.

Here are other Purple Parrot temple game loses where I think they would've done better:
Golden Cricket Cage
Golden Ship
Amelia Earhart
Xerxes
Enormous Feather
Queen Nzinga
Lost Taj Mahal Turban
Lily-Crested Crown
                 (Okay, anyone would've won with this layout. But they probably would've finished with more time than these two slowpokes)

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Wait, Taj Mahal Turban gets included, which wasn't a bad run in the least bit, but NOT Silver Horseshoe? I don't understand your reasoning there at all. =/ And once again about Golden Ship: Joe and Gabby weren't a bad team at all. Unless you mean Golden Goblet, to which I also disagree on. I mean, yeah Rachelle was slow, but I doubt the unenthusiastic Purple Parrot girl would've done better.

[The Red Jaguars]

I never said that the Aurangzeb run was bad at all. Chrystine and Dean weren't a bad team, they just had a bad outcome. They would've found reached the Taj Mahal Turban if they found the half-pendant. Dean seemed a little too hesitant though. I just felt that the Purple Parrots could've done a slightly better job. But then again, we will never know how they were like in the temple. And besides, the Green Monkeys made it far with a layout similar to "Imperial Wizard".

Heck, half of those teams listed weren't bad at all. Joe and Gabby's problem was that they were a little too slow. If they used up their whole three minutes, I'd imagine they would finish on the bottom floor at least. Even Jeremy and Erika were very strong prior to the temple run.

But yeah, I can't believe I forgot Butch Cassidy. That win was way too simple and it was just an actuator pressing journey through the temple. I wouldn't criticize the win so much if Paula at least completed some objective. Instead, the hardest thing she had to do was ride the Mine Shaft elevator. Lame and overrated win.