Roller Coaster Chess

About

Roller Coaster Chess is a participatory photo meme that involves bringing a board game on an amusement park ride, and posing for the camera that takes pictures for souvenirs. It is typically accomplished by gluing the pieces of the game to the board so when the photo is taken it appears as if the participants have been playing the game during the course of the ride.

Origin

On April 16th, 2007, cartoonist Randall Munroe posted the idea on his web comic blog xkcd^[1]:

On July 18th, 2007, xkcd posted a photograph^[2] sent to him of Andrew Burke, Chris Ranker, Ryan Dowlingsoka, and Chance Brown, who experimented with Monroe’s idea while visiting the Daredevil Falls at the Dollywood Park in Tennessee.

Two days later, YouTuber heelofkevinZ posted several videos^[2] taken from the same trip to Dollywood, which showed a group of friends playing chess on the Daredevil Falls, the River Raft ride and the Kiddie Car ride.

Spread

The xkcd gallery link was picked up by internet humor blogs and social news aggregator sites like TheChive^[3], Digg^[4] and eBaumsworld^[5]. Many lulz were had. There after, other readers on xkcd began posting their own variations with boardgames like Checkers, Jenga, and house of cards; some even took the joke to the next level by brushing teeth or reading books, or looking particularly unamused.

Google Image search results for “Roller Coaster Chess”^[6] reveals hundreds of photo instances.

Search Interest

Google search volume for “Roller Coaster Chess” picked up significantly in July 2007, the month when Munroe posted the first pictures sent into him by readers. Interest seems to stay high during summer months and dip during coaster off season in winter months. As May rolls around and Spring resurfaces, so do new pictures.

Extreme Chess WIN

External References