explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:211: Hamster Ball Heist

2025-05-21T18:38:52Z

162.158.186.94:

Unlike most of the comics featuring real people, this one had essentially zero followup. I can't find anything on anyone trying to do it, but that doesn't mean it hasn't happened. Still, I don't feel that small blemish could make this explanation incomplete. --[[User:Quicksilver|Quicksilver]] ([[User talk:Quicksilver|talk]]) 04:34, 24 August 2013 (UTC)

I would like to see examples of attempted kidnaps of Wayne Coyne. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.209|108.162.249.209]] 23:12, 13 June 2014 (UTC)
Oh wait never mind[[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.209|108.162.249.209]] 23:14, 13 June 2014 (UTC)

Would he get 2 t-shirts for turning himself in?

Proposal: a wiki page listing all of Randall's open promises? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.94|162.158.186.94]] 18:38, 21 May 2025 (UTC)

3011: Europa Clipper

2024-11-14T12:25:51Z

162.158.186.94: /* Transcript */ we do not know the mass of the creme brule spoon, it could be mylar

{{comic
| number = 3011
| date = November 13, 2024
| title = Europa Clipper
| image = europa_clipper_2x.png
| imagesize = 333x356px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = They had BETTER make this a sample return mission.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a JOVIAN DESSERT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Please DO delete this tag too soon.}}
[[File:Animation of Europa Clipper trajectory around Jupiter.gif|thumb|right|The ''Europa Clipper's'' projected course around {{w|Jupiter}}, represented as the stationary green dot. In gold is Jupiter's moon {{w|Callisto (moon)|Callisto}}, in cyan is the moon {{w|Europa (moon)|Europa}} — the primary target of the spacecraft's study — and in orange-red is the innermost of Jupiter's four {{w|Galilean moons|"Galilean"}} moons, {{w|Io (moon)|Io}}. The spacecraft's track is shown in magenta. Jupiter's largest moon {{w|Ganymede (moon)|Ganymede}} and its second largest moon {{w|Titan (moon)|Titan}} are not shown, but their gravitational pull affects the ''Clipper's'' trajectory. The mission goal is to achieve a 6:1 {{w|orbital resonance}} with Europa.[https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Martin-Ozimek/publication/383115312_AAS_24-433_Europa_Clipper_Mission_Analysis_Pump_Down_Trajectory_Design/links/66bcd845311cbb094938dbd6/AAS-24-433-Europa-Clipper-Mission-Analysis-Pump-Down-Trajectory-Design.pdf] ]]

The ''{{w|Europa Clipper}}'' space probe was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA, on 14 October 2024. It is expected to arrive at Jupiter and begin exploration of Jupiter's moons, particularly {{w|Europa (moon)|Europa}}, in 2030.

Europa is an icy moon. Water ice covers its surface. Beneath the ice, there is expected to be liquid water, which may contain living microbes. To sample this liquid, its crust (water ice) would need to be broken.

In the comic, the surface ice is likened to the caramel crust on the dessert ''{{w|crème brûlée}}''. To eat this dessert, the crust is broken with a spoon. The dessert was invented in France{{acn}}, which is, of course, part of Europe. Having conflated Europa with Europe, the makers of the probe expect to encounter crème brûlée, and have equipped it with a spoon for the purpose of collecting samples. No such spoon is present on the actual spacecraft{{cn}}, whose trajectory is designed to ''avoid'' contacting Europa so as to prevent {{w|Planetary protection|contamination of any life there}} by microorganisms on the spacecraft.

The title text expands on the main joke by stating that the spacecraft "had BETTER" return samples of the dessert/water ocean to Earth, presumably because Randall is keen to taste the samples. (Although crème brûlée is often served with fruit, it is not mentioned whether Randall expects the sample to be served with {{w|Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer|Juice}}.) Desirable as this might be (for non-gustatory reasons, as the taste of Europa's water ocean would likely be a surprise to a person expecting a custardy flavor), it is impractical.

This may also be a reference to the Cassini-Huygens lander, which, shortly after landing on the surface of Saturn's moon Titan, detected a surface that was [https://www.sciencenews.org/article/world-unveiled-cr%C3%A8me-br%C3%BBl%C3%A9e-titan described] as having a creme brulee consistency.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[A space probe with two rectangular solar panels, a circular dish of the front, and a very large spoon extending beneath, longer than the length of its solar panels]

:[Below the panel:]
:Good news: NASA's '''''Europa Clipper''''' is en route to Europa and has successfully deployed its crème brûlée spoon.

==Trivia==
The Clipper spacecraft was at one point to be developed alongside a lander, which was later dropped from being part of the same (or very closely partnered) mission. The latest version of the {{w|Europa Lander}} proposal is far behind the Clipper in implementation, not yet even being guaranteed funding.

Any actual sample return mission is currently far into the future of {{w|Ocean Worlds Exploration Program|the related plans for exploration}}, along with the possibility of digging deep enough into the ice to finally confirm or dismiss some of the more interesting theories about the world concerned.

In Arthur C Clarke's novel '''2010''', the monolith aliens tell humanity ''"All these worlds are yours - except Europa. Attempt no landing there."''

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Space probes]]
[[Category:Food]]

Talk:2910: The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

2024-03-23T19:16:15Z

162.158.186.94: typo correction

well ''that'' was early. [[user talk:lettherebedarklight|youtu.be/miLcaqq2Zpk]] 11:47, 22 March 2024 (UTC)

This singer is a bit fast and loose with the rhyme-scheme; aAbCd(?D)eC with the "dD", especially, being Go+Most, Tune+Words(!), ¿This/As?+Words and Crimes+Time. And scansion is potentially off (mid-line endings definitely are). I would hope that another shipwreck wouldn't happen until this new guy has tightened up his own art a little. (But once he gets good enough, fair enough!) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.161|172.71.242.161]] 12:57, 22 March 2024 (UTC)

:"For it's challenging trying to write good" [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 14:00, 22 March 2024 (UTC)

:"This singer is a bit fast and loose..." This is Gordon and his First Draft. Just strumming to see if the song has legs (fins?). We know Gordon could fiddle the rhyme and line-breaks as good as anybody. But prolly not on a dock on Lake Superior in November. (OTOH Sittin' on The Dock of the Bay, Otis Redding wrote in August on a rented houseboat in Sausalito, California; a much nicer workplace.) --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 23:05, 22 March 2024 (UTC)

:: ''Lightfoot'' was a bit fast and loose with the rhyme scheme; the version of the first verse shown is arguably closer to rhyming than the corresponding verse in the song itself (the rhyme chosen there for "seasoned" is "Wisconsin" rather than "Cleveland"; "Cleveland" does appear as a rhyming word in the song, but it's rhymed with "feelin'"). The worst rhymes here are no more "off" than the worst ones in the canonical song. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.95|162.158.186.95]] 19:14, 23 March 2024 (UTC)

Is the Cameron accusation also suggesting that he has actual time travel technology, as shown in his Terminator movies? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:19, 22 March 2024 (UTC)

How long should we wait before using peoples' deaths as entertainment? Relatives and friends of the crew are still alive. Are the terrorist attacks of 2001 open yet for parody? ...or wait another decade or two? Please consider others. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.214.108|172.69.214.108]] 14:26, 22 March 2024 (UTC)
: Given that the original song turned it into entertainment less than a year after, and it's been widely parodied pretty much ever since, I think you may, if you'll pardon the phrase, have missed the boat on that one.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.53|141.101.98.53]] 14:59, 22 March 2024 (UTC)
::Although it was performed as entertainment, the song was written as a kind of memorial or tribute. That's quite different from using the accident as fodder for a joke. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 18:38, 22 March 2024 (UTC)

: It's important to consider sides. Like, deaths of Russian soldiers in Ukraine are open to parody immediately because they are enemies. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 18:39, 22 March 2024 (UTC)

: I have some bad news for you about the prevalence of 9/11 jokes. [[424: Security Holes|Within xkcd itself]], no less! [[User:Esogalt|Esogalt]] ([[User talk:Esogalt|talk]]) 09:28, 23 March 2024 (UTC)

What if Cueball bribed Gordon Lightfoot to bribe the mechanic so he could write a song about Lightfoot bribing the mechanic to write a song? [[User:AoPS is superior|AoPS is superior]] ([[User talk:AoPS is superior|talk]]) 00:24, 23 March 2024 (UTC)

Was it rammed by the Cat Stevens? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.144|172.70.211.144]] 04:57, 23 March 2024 (UTC)

The flags on the upside down eighth notes are backwards [[Special:Contributions/172.71.146.211|172.71.146.211]] 06:21, 23 March 2024 (UTC)

My first reaction was, "this is not funny" because of the seriousness of the Edmund Fitgerald tragedy and the gravity of the song as tribute to the lost lives. My second reaction was that Randall is a really awful songwriter. My conclusion is that the only funny thing about this comic is the comically bad fake song. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 11:47, 23 March 2024 (UTC)
: I full agree with that. Yet, we can look at it another way: we need to have some "lesser" xkcd comics to better appreciate the "better" ones. [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 18:05, 23 March 2024 (UTC)

2730: Code Lifespan

2023-01-30T03:03:51Z

162.158.186.94: /* Explanation */ rm the

{{comic
| number = 2730
| date = January 27, 2023
| title = Code Lifespan
| image = code_lifespan_2x.png
| imagesize = 377x307px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Surely (no one/everyone) will (recognize how flexible and useful this architecture is/spend a huge amount of effort painstakingly preserving and updating this garbage I wrote in 20 minutes)
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT PROGRAMMED 50 YEARS AGO (STILL YOUNGER THAN UNIX). Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic contrasts two scenarios involving [[Ponytail]] writing a computer program: in the first panel, she has taken great care to future-proof her code, while in the second, she decides not to under the assumption it will soon be deprecated and/or replaced. The captions below each panels note that, ironically, code written with future-proofing in mind will often quickly cease to be used — defeating the purpose of future-proofing — while the code that was not will often be used much longer than the original programmer(s) intended. This is a {{w|Catch-22 (logic)|''Catch-22''}} situation that many developers have experienced, the first one even has a name, {{w|YAGNI}}.

The second panel could be an allusion to the {{w|Year 2000 problem}}, although it is important to note that problem was not simply due to developers not thinking ahead but also because the developers were working with extremely limited computer resources at the time, promoting the use of 2-digit years.

The title text is a modular sentence with two parentheticals, each containing two alternative phrases. This allows for four permutations of the sentence, each of which may be said by programmers. The following two permutations may be the hoped-for ideals of software developers:

* "Surely everyone will recognize how flexible and useful this architecture is."
* "Surely no one will spend a huge amount of effort painstakingly preserving and updating this garbage I wrote in 20 minutes."

However, reality often falls short of such hopes, in that insufficient numbers of people recognize code intended for re-use, and far more people than intended will attempt to maintain and adapt sloppy work. The latter sometimes happens because the corner-cutting peculiarities of hasty work are often seen as far deeper necessities than they actually are. The remaining two permutations (the ones that would be read first, being first to first or last to last) of the title text sentence express this far less hopeful outlook:

* "Surely no one will recognize how flexible and useful this architecture is."
* "Surely everyone will spend a huge amount of effort painstakingly preserving and updating this garbage I wrote in 20 minutes."

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[Two situations are depicted between Ponytail and Cueball.]

:[Ponytail standing next to Cueball, with her palm raised.]
:Ponytail: It took some extra work to build, but now we'll be able to use it for all our future projects.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:How to ensure your code is never reused

:[Nearly identical situation to the first, but with the arm raised slightly less emphatically.]
:Ponytail: Let's not overthink it; if this code is still in use '''''that''''' far in the future, we'll have bigger problems.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:How to ensure your code lives forever

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Programming]]

Talk:2728: Lane Change Highway

2023-01-25T17:47:51Z

162.158.186.94:

There's a section of the M25 motorway around London which does this... Never did like it. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.201|172.70.85.201]] 07:14, 24 January 2023 (UTC)
:I hope you are kidding ;-) Although there are some funny histories about that road. For instance Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. (Now a series - see [https://youtu.be/M0S3a32RzEo?t=112 Crowley Creates (and Destroys) The M25 - Good Omens]. :-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:25, 24 January 2023 (UTC)
::Not quite the same thing, but in my city there are many roads that run through a substantial portion of town, occasionally varying the number of lanes by either adding a new one immediately following an intersection, or converting an existing lane to turn-only at an intersection, and then after the intersection only having as many lanes as were permitted to travel straight through the intersection. But for one or two of these roads, in order to drive the full length of it, you will have to make several lane changes in the same direction (I can't recall whether it's to the right or to the left), because through one intersection where only a single lane is able to go straight, that same lane eventually ends up becoming a turn-only lane at another intersection somewhere farther down the road. It's obviously not like Randall's example, but it is a mild annoyance when you end up driving that stretch of road often enough to notice it. [[User:Dansiman|Dansiman]] ([[User talk:Dansiman|talk]]) 23:18, 24 January 2023 (UTC)

:A lot of highways in France do something similar. At every ascend, the ascending traffic gets its own new lane, presumably to keep ascending cars from doing merging manoeuvres. To keep the same number of lanes, the leftmost lane merges into the adjacent lane before the ascend. So if you simply stay on your lane, you kind of drift to the left with every ascend. I am not sure if this really helps to cut accidents, but I think it is a clever solution at least for some accident-prone ascends. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.160.36|172.71.160.36]] 08:32, 24 January 2023 (UTC)
:: That sounds like using passing lanes, so that slower traffic, with more difficulty going up the hill, like transport trucks, will use the outside lane and faster cars will be on the inner lane, to not be significantly impeded by the slower traffic. [[User:Nutster|Nutster]] ([[User talk:Nutster|talk]]) 14:44, 24 January 2023 (UTC)
::: That sounds odd to me. Even taking into account that my "left lane" is the US/French "right lane" (the one close to the kerb, furthest from the median/dividing line), "outside lane" to me means the overtaking or 'fast' lane, with "inside lane" the one most to the roadside (the driver is on the outside edge of a vehicle, assuming the usual local parity between Foo-side-driving and Bar-side-driv''er'').
::: But I do know some roads (on undulating landscapes) that on the bottom of an uphill section will have a new road-edge lane (vehicles expecting to go slow will filter into that, hopefully without crawling past a marginally slower climbing vehicle to get ahead of them) and then, near the top of the rise, the centre-lane is forced back into the left just in time to encounter the end of the contrary direction's two-lane rise up ''its'' hill.
::: That is, three lanes for most of the time, the centre being assigned to the direction going uphill on any given stretch (a permant type of 'Tidal Flow' traffic management system). [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.137|172.71.178.137]] 19:04, 24 January 2023 (UTC)

Saved the image to the wayback machine here https://web.archive.org/web/20230124073752/https://xkcd.com/ [[User:Mushrooms|Mushrooms]] ([[User talk:Mushrooms|talk]]) 07:41, 24 January 2023 (UTC)
:Doesn't that happen automatically? I like they are there, but do webcrawlers not manage that on a daily basis? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:17, 24 January 2023 (UTC)
::Huh, didn't know that. Better safe than sorry! [[User:Mushrooms|Mushrooms]] ([[User talk:Mushrooms|talk]]) 08:33, 24 January 2023 (UTC)
:::Indeed, it doesn't hurt to do so. In fact, xkcd is actually archived every day, multiple times. I've also configured my bot to archive xkcd and explainxkcd when a new comic comes out automatically through archive.org. —[[User:Theusaf|theusaf]] ([[User talk:Theusaf|talk]]) 21:35, 24 January 2023 (UTC)

It's really a very wide single-lane road. The left lanes originate from the edge of the road so no cars feed into them, and on the right side once you merge there is no where to go except to merge into the next right-hand side, so the net effect is that the road is 4 lanes wide, but is functioning as a single-lane road. That assumes everyone is entering from the right side. But I guess they could be entering from the left but still in a very short time all cars are on the right. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 12:24, 24 January 2023 (UTC)

This is very similar to major roundabouts, in the UK at least, that have a spiral outwards. If entering a four-way junction (and there can be more feed-offs than that) , you may be invited to assume one of three entry lanes (as soon as the feed-in is wide enough to accommodate them) for left (the side of the road upon which we drive), forward or right that lead onto one of three lanes going clockwise round the island.
 (Sometimes the left-lane becomes marking- or even curb-separated from the island lanes, effectively skirting the island so there's no waiting for traffic on the island to pass. It merges with the feed-out lane, or becomes a two-lane carriageway direction, some useful distance from the junction.)
 On safely entering the junction (by giving way to anything already on it ''or'' being filtered by traffic signals), the semi-perpendicular lane markings (oblique crosses at the lane-edge intersections) guide you to the outer/inner or any median encircling lane which, as each outlet is passed, shifts over by one with a new 'inner' lane for that latest input road's "(almost) all the way round" traffic. (For some junctions, 180 degree change of travel is also a necessity, e.g. due to no cross-traffic (right-hand turning) possible on the lead up to the island, but a sub-junction comes off it in that direction anyway.)
 It tends to work best on the rounder roundabouts with periodic entry/exit points, or on the truly huge ones that act like a town-centre one-way inner ring-road, only without the town. When there's a large complex with straights and curves, the guiding lines (especially across the 'crosses' might not be so obvious (if they are for the first car on the road, the one immediately behind might not have sufficient sight of the outward jinks in the indicated path and lose track of which path they should be on (especially if it is their first use of the junction) and the cross-overs can get worn and/or dirtied to make it less obvious), so inevitably there's lane-drift (and ''more'' wear/obscuration of the lane-guides).
 But, in general, with only accidental merging needed ("no, not this exit, it's the next one... there's nothing behind, so quickly...") and continuous lane-generation (to which the rarer all-the-way-round traffic can shift over into), I think there's a parallel. But this not being the inspiration or reference. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.65|172.71.178.65]] 13:12, 24 January 2023 (UTC)

I feel like this comic was posted later in the day than usual. It would be interesting to see a graph of what time of day comics were posted in (ignoring the day of posting, just in hours since the previous midnight EST) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.68.66|172.69.68.66]] 14:41, 24 January 2023 (UTC)Bumpf
:Yes, it was very late, after midnight EST. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:56, 24 January 2023 (UTC)

I personally would LOVE this road, as I would stay to the left and floor it. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 15:30, 24 January 2023 (UTC)

Dang, I must have missed Randall visiting Cracow. Swerving lanes are the landmark here. One example: [https://www.google.pl/maps/@50.0294056,19.911734,3a,75y,244.95h,92.61t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sXOl1SrYQeSajOc3VCPr24A!2e0!7i16384!8i8192] Follow the road to find another. -- [[Special:Contributions/172.68.138.74|172.68.138.74]] 09:22, 25 January 2023 (UTC)

Someone who knows what a magnetic declination is should add that to the explanation [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.94|162.158.186.94]] 17:47, 25 January 2023 (UTC)

696: Strip Games

2021-06-23T15:25:50Z

162.158.186.94: /* Table of games */

{{comic
| number = 696
| date = February 1, 2010
| title = Strip Games
| image = strip_games.png
| titletext = HOW ABOUT A NICE GAME OF STRIP GLOBAL THERMONUCLEAR WAR?
}}
==Explanation==
The frequency of strip versions of various games is measured by means of Google search results. Strip versions of popular games are a common activity at parties, especially when alcohol is involved. The obligation to remove pieces of clothing is supposed to add an extra zest to the game. A very widespread variant is {{w|Strip Poker}}, followed by strip versions of regular party games like {{w|Truth or Dare}} or {{w|Spin the Bottle}}.

However, the comic also suggests playing other games in a way that involves stripping. In reality, playing such games as "Strip {{w|Tennis}}" or "Strip {{w|Agricola (board game)|Agricola}}" is rather unusual. The Chris Van Allsburg picture book ''{{w|Jumanji (picture book)| Jumanji}}'' and the Robin Williams movie adaptation
''{{w|Jumanji}}'' are about a magical board game that manifests dangerous creatures and traps from the jungle and lost civilization therein; a theoretical Strip Jumanji would probably not remain very titillating during the chaos (evidently, therefore, "strip jumanji" refers to [https://jumanji.fandom.com/wiki/Jumanji_(Milton_Bradley_Board_Game) the real-life board game based on the movie]).

The last column features games of which strip versions are (according to Google) nonexistent. While the other columns named sports or board games where a strip variant would be at least conceivable, the last one includes the {{w|zero-player game|zero-player}} {{w|Conway's Game of Life|Game of Life}} and the {{w|Prisoner's_dilemma#The_iterated_prisoner's_dilemma|Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma}}, which is a theoretical example in {{w|game theory}}. It is therefore left to the reader to imagine how a strip version of these pseudo-games would appear.

"Global Thermonuclear War" in the title text is a reference to the film "{{w|WarGames}}", where a young hacker accesses a US military supercomputer and starts a nuclear war simulation, believing it to be only a computer game. The film ends with showing the computer that nuclear war is "a strange game" in which "the only winning move is not to play", and proposes "a nice game of chess".

Strip global thermonuclear war is a patently absurd idea; while it is a common trope for people to engage in one last moment of intimate pleasure before certain doom, foreplay (including strip games of any type) is a time-consuming practice, and time is something you don't have much of considering that the bomb could drop on your place of residence at any moment. Besides all that, the act of betting on which city is going to go up next in a nuclear inferno tends not to be an effective aphrodisiac for most people.{{Citation needed}} But at least you wouldn't be wearing your radioactive clothes!

==Table of games==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!style="width:15%"|Frequency
!style="width:20%"|Name
!Explanation
|-
|rowspan="5"|Frequent n > 1%
|{{w|Poker}}
|Poker, a card game with rounds of betting, is a game with common "strip" variations, see {{w|strip poker}}.
|-
|{{w|Spin the bottle}}
|Spin the bottle is a kissing party game played at teenage parties comprising boys and girls. As this is a teenage party game, strip varieties seem like they could be popular.
|-
|{{w|Beer pong}}
|Beer pong is a drinking game common at universities and colleges.
|-
|{{w|Never have I ever}}
|Never have I ever is a drinking game where players take turns asking other players about things they "have not done".
|-
|{{w|Truth or Dare}}
|Truth or dare? is a party game, in which players are given the choice between answering a question truthfully, or performing a dare.
|-
|rowspan="5"|Rare 1% >= n > 0.01%
|{{w|Chess}}
|Chess is a board game between two players. It is unsure how removing clothing would be involved in this game.
|-
|{{w|Blackjack}}
|Blackjack is a gambling card game, played between players and a dealer, in which players do not play against each other.
|-
|{{w|Tennis}}
|Tennis is a racket sport played between 2 players (or between teams of 2, in the case of doubles).
|-
|{{w|Settlers of Catan}}
|Settlers of Catan is a strategy board game, where players compete to "settle" an island.
|-
|{{w|Pictionary}}
|Pictionary is a party board game, involving drawing and guessing words.
|-
|rowspan="5"|Extremely rare 0.01% >= n > 0
|{{w|Cricket}}
|Cricket is a bat-and-ball sport, commonly played in the UK, India, and other Commonwealth countries.
|-
|{{w|Magic: The Gathering}}
|Magic: The Gathering is a trading card game, released in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast.
|-
|{{w|Stickball}}
|Stickball is a game similar to baseball, using a broom handle and a rubber ball.
|-
|{{w|Agricola (board game)|Agricola}}
|Agricola is a farming-inspired strategy board game.
|-
|{{w|Jumanji#Games|Jumanji}}
|''Jumanji'' is a 1995 fantasy film (based on a {{w|Jumanji (picture book)| picture book by Chris Van Allsburg}}) that centers on a supernatural board game. A board game based on the film was released by Milton Bradley.
|-
|rowspan="5"|Nonexistent n = 0
|{{w|Poohsticks}}
|A children's sport mentioned in the {{w|Winnie-the-Pooh|Winnie-the-Pooh books}} played by dropping sticks into a river and watching them reappear on the other side of a bridge. Despite the kid-friendly origins, and unlike the other games below it, a "strip" version of Poohsticks is actually viable.
|-
|[[wikia:w:c:starwars:Podracing|Podracing]]
|Podracing appears in the {{w|Star Wars}} films as a racing competition held with hovering vehicles. How a "strip" version would work between two racers is unclear, but a determined set of spectators "wagering" their clothes on the races could probably hammer out a system.
|-
|{{w|Prisoner's_dilemma#The_iterated_prisoner's_dilemma|Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma}}
|The prisoner's dilemma is a "game" that is analyzed in game theory, showing why rational individuals may not cooperate, even if it is their best interest to do so. This does not seem like a "playable" game that could involve removing clothing.
|-
|{{w|Chess by mail}}
|Could conceivably work if the players include increasingly-nude photographs of themselves in their correspondences. The problem is, a game by e-mail can take days to finish, and a game by snail-mail can take upwards of ''several months''. The titillation factor is far too spread out to satisfy the desires of anyone who would elect to play a game of strip chess in the first place. It could be an interesting idea for a long-distance relationship, however.
|-
|{{w|Conway's Game of Life}}
|Conway's Game of Life is a {{w|cellular automaton}} devised by British mathematician John Horton Conway in 1970. It is not a "game" in the traditional sense, so "stripping" would also be very difficult, if not impossible.
|}

==Transcript==
:Frequency of Strip Versions of Various Games

:n = google hits for "strip <game name>" / google hits for "<game name>"
:(at the time of this writing)

:Frequent
:(n > 1%)
:-Poker
:-Spin the Bottle
:-Beer Pong
:-Never Have I Ever
:-Truth or Dare

:Rare
:(1% >= n > 0.01%)
:-Chess
:-Blackjack
:-Tennis
:-Settlers of Catan
:-Pictionary

:Extremely Rare
:(0.01% >= n > 0)
:-Cricket
:-Magic: the Gathering
:-Stickball
:-Agricola
:-Jumanji

:Nonexistent
:(n = 0)
:-Poohsticks
:-Podracing
:-Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma
:-Chess by Mail
:-Conway's Game of Life

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Sport]]
[[Category:Chess]]
[[Category:Nuclear weapons]]
[[Category:Board games]]