1 v 1 · four fly brains · one title
Fruit Fly
Monster Truck Showdown
Four complete FlyWire fruit fly brains, 138,639 spiking neurons each, drive monster trucks over dirt jumps and a car-crush pile, two at a time. The giant fiber, the escape reflex, launches the truck off the line and punches the gas as each ramp looms. A rival ahead triggers the nitro. Nothing is trained.
Champion
| Race | Winner | Margin |
|---|---|---|
| Qualifying Heat 1 | Wingo | 0.095 s |
| Qualifying Heat 2 | Drosophilippa | 0.480 s |
| Semifinal 1 | Wingo | 1.248 s |
| Semifinal 2 | Buzz | 0.181 s |
| Final | Buzz | 1.182 s |
Won the final by 1.182 s. Seeds from qualifying: Wingo, Buzz, Drosophilippa, Maggie.
How the brain drives
- Start. Three amber flashes, then a green flash into the fly's looming neurons (LC4 and LPLC2). The truck launches at the 10th giant-fiber spike inside 50 ms, so the reaction time is a real spike time. Every reaction in this tournament was between 0.027 and 0.032 s.
- Gas. From 30 m out, each ramp looms bigger and bigger. The first 100 ms window with 27 or more giant-fiber spikes punches the throttle for a second, and a bigger burst gives more gas. Punch too early and the extra speed bleeds off before the lip. Arrive short of speed and the truck comes down short: its front wheels slam into the landing ramp's lip or wall, it loses half its speed or more, and bounces up and over. That is casing it.
- Nitro. A rival truck ahead in the other lane drives LC10, the neurons flies use to chase other flies. When DNae002 fires 12 or more spikes in 100 ms, the nitro fires for 1.5 s. The leader never sees anyone ahead, so it never gets nitro.
- Game-side. Cruise pace, flight physics, ramp shapes, landing penalties and the camera are hand-set. The course is 250 m with 4 obstacles: two dirt jumps, a car-crush pile and the mega jump. A dead heat goes to the faster reaction time.
The tournament
Three rounds
Qualifying sets the seeds, then 1 v 1 knockouts.
Round 1 of 3
Qualifying
Two heats. The two fastest times get the top seeds.
| Race | Result | Times | Landings (winner · loser) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qualifying Heat 1 | Wingo beat Buzz | 16.408 s vs 16.503 s | ✓ ✗ ✓ ✓ · ✗ ✓ ✓ ✓ |
| Qualifying Heat 2 | Drosophilippa beat Maggie | 17.496 s vs 17.976 s | ✗ ✗ ✓ ✓ · ✗ ✗ ✓ ✓ |
| Seed | Driver | Qualifying time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wingo | 16.408 s |
| 2 | Buzz | 16.503 s |
| 3 | Drosophilippa | 17.496 s |
| 4 | Maggie | 17.976 s |
Round 2 of 3
Semifinals
Seed 1 against seed 4, seed 2 against seed 3.
| Race | Result | Times | Landings (winner · loser) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Semifinal 1 | Wingo beat Maggie | 16.289 s vs 17.537 s | ✗ ✓ ✓ ✓ · ✗ ✗ ✓ ✓ |
| Semifinal 2 | Buzz beat Drosophilippa | 18.686 s vs 18.867 s | ✓ ✗ ✓ ✓ · ✓ ✗ ✓ ✗ |
Round 3 of 3
The Final
One race for the title, then the replays.
| Race | Result | Times | Landings (winner · loser) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Final | Buzz beat Wingo | 16.279 s vs 17.461 s | ✗ ✓ ✓ ✓ · ✗ ✗ ✓ ✓ |
What is real and what is not. Reaction times, gas punches and nitro come from each fly's own simulated spikes. The trucks, the physics, the course and the camera are game rules. No brain ran away during the tournament.
Music, all CC0 via OpenGameArt: "Fight for Better Future [Rock/Metal]" by nene (qualifying), "Boss Battle #9 [Metal]" by nene (semifinals), "Devoted Guard" by vitalezzz (final).