Challenge #485: Hot Dog Eating Contest Simulation

[AYXAcademy]

Hi Community members,

A solution to last week’s challenge can be found here.

This challenge was submitted by Andrew Bacon, @abacon. Thank you, Andrew, for your submission!

As summer heats up — and with it, a season full of hot dog eating competitions across the US — it's time to host your own version... in Alteryx!

In this challenge, you’ll simulate a 3-round hot dog eating competition using an iterative macro.

You’re given a dataset of 12 contestants with the following info:

• Name
• Hot Dogs per Minute (HDPM) — their starting speed
• Drop Rate per Minute — how much slower they get each round
• Group — initial competition group (1, 2, or 3)

Each round, contestants eat hot dogs at their current HDPM. After each round, the contestant's HDPM drops based on their personal rate.

The rules for each round are as follows:

• Round 1 – 10 Minutes: 3 groups of 4 contestants — top 2 from each group advance
• Round 2 – 11 Minutes: 2 groups of 3 contestants — top 2 from each group advance
• Round 3 – 12 Minutes: Final 4 compete — the top eater wins

Your tasks:

• Identify the winner and report how many hot dogs they ate in the final round.
• List all advancing contestants from each round, along with how many hot dogs they ate in that round.

Use an iterative macro to simulate each round and apply the performance drop over time.

Hint: Pay close attention to the number of contestants advancing after each round.

Once you have completed your challenge, include your solution file and a screenshot of your workflow as attachments to your comment.

Good Luck!

The Academy Team

Download Start File      |   Download Solution File

[Kenda]

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[Erin]

Missed first to respond again, drats! Also, why did I do this on my lunch break? And nope, not craving a hot dog. 
Workflow:

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Macro:

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[Carolyn]

Lucky #3 (for order of responses)

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For assigning the Groups for the 2nd Round, I had to do a little bit of hardcoding. It seems like they should have alternated the groups based on most hot dogs going to Group 1, then the next one going to Group 2, but it wasn't done exactly like that in the answer, with the top 2 going to Group 1, then the next 2 going to Group 2, then 1 to 1 then 1 to 2. Not a big deal but took me a little to get there :)

[JBevan89]

I did it none handed by myself, but it is very raw and no way is it as efficient like others, but the goal was to do, and as it's summertime i'm happy it.  In a few days i will check others on how I could have done it more efficiently, but for now Happy Summertime😎

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[olga_strubbe]

This was a fun challenge and a  fun topic, thank you,  @abacon!  

Also want to thank @Kenda  for helping me to get started with the iterative macro to get groups of contestants re-sorted in a proper way. 

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Macro: 

[RWvanLeeuwen]

I went for a slightly different route as I did not understand who was to be placed in which group after the initial round. So I made some changes

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In all grouping scenarios I generated, Joey was the winner in all of them

[RolandSchubert]

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[mattnason1]

Tough one, I stink at macros!

[lwolfie]

Easier challenge, now that I have a better grasp on iterative macros. :)