The Success of Death

Lol, you probably just got clickbaited. I'm so funny, and I know you're probably curious as to what the title actually means. Well, now that you're here and paying attention, the title isn't actually about death. Well, kind of. The death I'm referring to is the death on JetPunk. The death that's... Sudden.

Sudden Death! The quiz format we all know and love. This format was released almost a year ago from today, back in September 2024. That's a long time ago, and since then, JetPunk has come a long way. Sudden Death has been able to attract much more attention to the site with it's simple and straightforward design, allowing anyone to give the quiz type a shot, even if they don't exactly know the answers. With so many possibilities for a quiz in this format, every JetPunker got a chance to shine with a plentiful amount of takes waiting for them. Sudden Death is arguably the best quiz type on the site, and while I'm not here to discuss that topic specifically, I will be discussing the Success of Death. Now that you understand my title a bit better, let's get rolling!

Note: longer paragraphs await you on your journey, sorry :) I also might have made some spelling errors here and there, I was typing quite fast. Making this was fun, and I hope you enjoy.

Sudden Death is, as most users can agree, an amazing quiz format. Designed by the one and only Dimby, this outstanding and enjoyable quiz type has found its way into the hearts of all JetPunkers. So many quizzes have been made in this format in the past year, and all have had one thing in common: success. Of course, many Sudden Death quizzes will go under the radar. However, this quiz format has become quite the popular JetPunk attraction. If a users finds a quiz they like, there's a good chance that they can find the same quiz in the Sudden Death format as well. Sudden Death is a quicker and easier way to get a quiz across the table, since all the user has to do is have basic knowledge, process and elimination skills, and one finger. Clicking boxes takes so much less effort than having to actually know something.

Now, there are other quiz formats where all you have to do is click. And these quiz types have also seen relative success (I discuss Tile Select later) because of their simple quiz design. However, Sudden Death is much more innovative, giving the user something new to try out. The suspense of clicking a wrong box is much greater than that of say simple Click quizzes, because you still have the chance to get a decent score if you miss one click. For Sudden Death, one wrong step and you fall off a cliff. That's the impact of Sudden Death. It makes you want to go back and try again if you fall off the balance beam. And this is how Sudden Death rose onto the podium of quiz types.

Sudden Death brought in so much more attention for JetPunk, since making quizzes was now easier than ever. All there was to do was look at an existing quiz on the site, use that information, and make a whole new quiz that would be just as popular as the original. People loved the simplicity of this format, as it quickly became the new way to test your knowledge. Of course, unique ideas also surfaced with the introduction of Sudden Death. And these quizzes rapidly caught attention too. Making a unique or popular Sudden Death quiz was a surefire way to guarantee popularity and growth on the site. I myself am a decent example of this, with my most popular quizzes being in the grand Sudden Death format. It's easy takes once the quiz hits the fanbase, if it ever does, and if it does, people will eat the quiz up, trying to perfect their knowledge with a quick retake if they suddenly mess up.

Before this quiz type was introduced, JetPunk had already surpassed 1 billion takes around August, 2024. However, with the release of Sudden Death, that number skyrocketed. Just a year later, the site has seen nearly 250 million more takes in total. That's one fourth of a billion takes, in one year. Now, this isn't entirely because of Sudden Death. That argument would be foolish. However, in the small year that Sudden Death has been around, it has become a widely known part of JetPunk, having quizzes made with already hundreds of thousands of takes. Sudden Death certainly helped JetPunk fly better than ever, and I'm glad I was able to be a part of the joy.

Sudden Death has found uncomprehendable success in comparison to the quite similar Tile Select quiz format. While both formats involve boxes to be clicked, Tile Select isn't as straightforward as Sudden Death is. Of course both are quite simple in their own rights, but Tile Select just isn't the same as Sudden Death. Tile Select has different "screens", or questions, while Sudden Death is only one simple question: don't die; either you get them or you don't. Tile Select has you clicking boxes without you knowing if it's right or wrong, cycling through many different questions. It takes longer, and isn't as captivating as Sudden Death is. Tile Select simply doesn't have the beauty that Sudden Death does.

Now, Tile Select never got the same attention either. Tile Select is the middle child of 7 JetPunk quiz format children, all being just more popular enough than Tile Select to get the necessary attention to succeed. While Sudden Death grew up faster than the beanstalk in that fairytale, Tile Select never got that love. Sudden Death had a mass Featuring of quizzes to celebrate it's new arrival on the site, whereas Tile Select was left outside in the rain, getting all rusty, crying itself to sleep. Tile Select... failed.

Tile Select is still a good quiz type, and it feels wrong to say it failed. There are plenty of great Tile Select quizzes out there, and they get good attention. But no Tile Select quiz can compete with, uh, yeah. It's never going to be close. And with the arrival of a brand new quiz format on JetPunk in a short while (as of posting this blog), Tile Select will be shoved in a school locker and never heard from again. This is the sad reality of Tile Select. No one knows its name anymore. It's spotlight never turned on, while every other spotlight was beamed to Sudden Death, glorifying its creation. Dimby, you did us good. And Stewart, thanks for the great Tiles!

So, what about Tile Select? Well, Tile Select is a sober Sudden Death. They almost look the same, but still are clearly different. While we may never get the same mass Featuring of Tile Select that we got for Sudden Death, Tile Select should still be loved for what it is. Many good things can be made with Tile Select, but will likely be turned down by the community for not being as engaging as all the other quiz types.

Tile Select has had the chance to shine for 6 years now, being released all the way back in 2019. I do not have the knowledge of what it was like back then, but my assumption is that JetPunk didn't have as many followers then either, thus allowing for Tile Select to slack off more that Sudden Death ever could. Insaniot made his great Quiz Creation Challenge called Tile In Style, which did aid in the popularity of the quiz format. Users were able to explore this forgotten quiz type, and some pretty neat quizzes were made as a result. Thanks Insaniot for this challenge, and I'm glad I got to participate!

While Sudden Death isn't the most popular quiz format, it is certainly not far off either. The simple Text quiz format is easily the most popular, holding the most taken quizzes on JetPunk. Now, here are the most taken JetPunk quizzes in the Sudden Text format (in English only. Note that other Featured JetPunk languages likely have hundreds of thousands more takes than English quizzes might have. You can check the other languages to find these quizzes). The takes are as of posting this blog, and I may update every month or so if I can remember.

Easily the most taken Sudden Death quiz is Dimby's spectacular contraption he coded to perfection. It's interactive, which is even better, and is a true test of everything you know and love. The quiz tests your knowledge of the States, having you drag a State's name on a pin to it's respective location on the map. Being a pixel shy is not an option, which really brings out the Sudden Death aspect of the quiz. It's a truly marvelous invention, and no one could have done it better than Dimby. Instead of the standard Sudden Death format, Dimby took it to a whole new level, making a US Map SVG for his quiz instead of those little boxes. Truly mindboggling stuff. This quiz is his most taken quiz by a solid amount (see below lol), and might be one of the most popular quizzes on JetPunk, gaining more takes than some of the biggest quizzes right now.

Not very far behind from the US States version is Europe of the same quiz type, made by Dimby of course. It's the same thing as the above, but Europe. And it's amazing! Arguably more popular in retrospect than the US States, since Europe is in general a more popular part of JetPunk than the US is, since JetPunk has European users constantly on the site. However, the States version of Dimby's quiz will likely remain the more popular twin for some time, maybe forever. The States version was Featured first (instantly Featured to be specific), while the Europe version had to earn its way onto the podium. Both are extremely famous quizzes on JetPunk already, only being out for a couple of months.

Proving my point of Europe's popularity on JetPunk, the third most taken Sudden Death quiz is of European Flags. Made by user overtired, you have to click the right flags, while avoiding the flags not of European countries. Very fun and engaging, but still not as engaging as Dimby's two masterpieces above. This quiz more closely resembles the true Sudden Death quiz format, with the clickable boxes. Instead of words, flags are added to each box, making it all the more fun to take. 

This quiz is in your standard Sudden Death format. Each box contains a city. Some are capitals while some aren't. The user has to click the capitals without clicking a regular city. This quiz is also a great test of geography knowledge (as all of the most taken Sudden Death quizzes have been so far), and was made by none other than Dimby. Sudden Death has certainly done Dimby well, considering that he did help design the quiz format for us.

Being another impressive Sudden Death quiz, this quiz has you keep track of Jeppy, the JetPunk mascot fish, as the little guy is randomly placed in the boxes of the Sudden Death quiz. Each box either has Jeppy in it or it doesn't. Before the quiz starts, you have to memorize where Jeppy is - which boxes the little guy inhabits. Once you start the quiz, Jeppy disappears, and you have to click the boxes that you think Jeppy was in. One wrong click and the quiz ends. Very engaging, as the pattern of this blog suggests, and is a very spectacular piece of coding as well. The quiz is randomized, truly testing your memory.

As shown above, so many amazing quizzes came out of this extraordinary addition to the site. Many JetPunkers including myself saw great growth with the aid of this quiz format. So much has happened in the year of Death, and I thank all of you for being here, reading this blog, and being able to experience this Sudden Death with me. While not everybody got embraced by Death (like Dimby lol), it was certainly fun to watch at least, and it brought JetPunk closer than ever. There was very little fighting over quiz ideas, which goes to show just how amazing this quiz format is, and will always be.

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope my Death blog found you well today. If you've experienced Death in the real world, I'm sorry for your loss. Hopefully the Sudden Death quiz format was a comforting way to enjoy your time without those you love. Death is painful, but Death is life. Make life worth it.

- Much love, Lucky