19th Annual GamesBids Olympic Logo Competition - CITY ELECTION

[yoshi]

I DECLARE CHRISTMAS 2025 OP...wait what?

@Bear! You want to learn cricket? That's what not to do...you can't be an English cricket fan & not be able to laugh at yourself, & let's be honest - that is objectively one of the funniest moments in the history of cricket. And it welcomes us to THE 19TH ANNUAL GAMESBIDS OLYMPIC LOGO COMPETITION & to the second Ashes demolition job Test match, here at the home of Queensland cricket - and approximately 8% of Brisbane's Olympic Stadium count - welcome to the Gabba!

We've been allowed on the pitch for a play, so we're doing more practice than England. Last year, we had a first win for @corn_zxl & not-a-first win for @Glacib in SLC & Singapore, & this is where we begin a longer than usual road to finding out who's next. The Winter Olympics is too good a chance to miss to get voters, so this post will not be the launch. Instead, this launches the city election for the winter comp & will also begin to introduce our summer victim for 2025/6. For that reason it's important that you DO NOT SUBMIT LOGOS HERE. Campaigning for your favoured city is encouraged however, as is reaction to the summer choice. Let's say it's fitting. The submission period will begin on Christmas Eve & end on February 1. The voting will happen after that, during the Olympics. So, let's do this. First of all, here are the five candidates for Winter 2038 (we're assuming Switzerland gets referendumed) in alphabetical order in English:

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA

HARBIN, CHINA

QUEBEC CITY, CANADA

SANTIAGO, CHILE

TROJENA, SAUDI ARABIA

As standard, this will run as a British election - one vote per person, most votes wins, simples. It's not the comp, just selecting the cities. The deadline is 2pm London time on December 23. 

Now, I know most entries come in early January, that's part of why we changed the schedule, but I'm sure you want some brainstorming time first even for summer. And so it's time to sort-of reveal our summer city for 2036 - I'm not going to name it or say anything because it needs no introduction. And also because @Sir Rols had a better idea - to give you clues! Our wombat king's first clue can be found here in the stands at the Gabba, watching us play & thinking we'd beat England - and probably being right. Here it is:

Stay tuned for more clues, unless of course someone gets it right! Happy voting!  

[Sir Rols]

Hi everyone and good morning @yoshi. Nice to arrive here at the commentary box at the Gabba and see our opening summer partnership of Crowe and Warne have already scored a few quick singles to set us on our way on the road to Milan.

Hmmmm. I’m starting to find the cricketing metaphors are getting a bit confusing myself. Okay, to re-iterate quickly and simply, we’re here to try to get as many of you as we can to vote on the winter candidate for this year’s logo competition. The more votes the merrier. Thanks to those who have already voted, and we’ll probably start @‘ing people for reminders in days to come.

On the summer side, we’ve already chosen a candidate, but rather than let you know straight out, we’ll see if you can guess it. We’re going to give you some regular cryptic clues to see if anyone can work it out. Feel free to jump in if you think you’ve got it.

That’s it, I guess. Happy Voting! We’ve offered a solid line up of winter contenders to choose from.

IMO, though, there’s one that stands out, combining the ideals of the Winter Olympics with a true winter wonderland setting. I’m speaking, of course, of the Mighty Trojena!

All the way with the KSA!

 

[yoshi]

2 hours ago, Sir Rols said:

a few quick singles 

What are those? Haven't you seen, it's boundaries or wickets in Bazball world* Wish I'd thought of Morning Everyone, grr. 

*meanwhile in Australia world, they seem to be playing cricket. Which might explain something. 

[Bear]

For those hoping to join the contest, I just wanna put it out there that Affinity is now FREE, as long as you log in with your Canva account (can be on the free tier too, no payment needed at all). This will be helpful for me because the program I normally used for graphic design was discontinued 

Also - reminder to NOT use Imgur, as it is blocked in the UK, and all images you upload here will show up censored for our UK friends.

[Sir Rols]

Thanks @Bear. That’s definitely worth keeping in mind when submission phase starts. Another thing that comes to mind is that here in Australia, the Government is about to initiate a social media ban for minors starting December 10. After then, people are going to have to age verify that they’re over 16 years old to be able to access sites from Facebook, to Instagram to YouTube. Lord knows if it’s also going to affect image hosting sites (or, indeed, GamesBids), but it’s bound to be a sh!t show when it starts. Fun times ahead Down Under.

I use Flickr.com for image hosting. It’s free and offers a lot of capacity.

[yoshi]

Yeah, thank you @Bear, useful information. I don't know what image hosting sites everyone used but I did think that could be a potential problem with Imgur, most pictures on SSC now show up for me as a purple box. 

[yoshi]

It's @ time!

@Guilga @Olympian1010 @Palette86 @cfm Jeremie @Australian Kiwi @BTHarner @antiperspirant @krow @AustralianFan @Daze @venuedesignlover @Citius Altius Fortius @Citizen-Seth @thatsnotmypuppy @Nacre @Nacholympic @PikyoK @KRATK @sebastien1214 @Cyriln @intoronto @StefanMUC @Faster @baron-pierreIV @hiroamorim @rio2016man @Ikarus360 @TorchbearerSydney @TorchbearerAA @FYI @Durban Sandshark @Quaker2001 @Alexjc @arwebb @Olympian2004 @Brekkie Boy @Karenina @panamfan @Anthony @GBModerator @DamC @JMarkSnow2012 @AmaniS @Tatsh @WD96 @mr.bernham @mattygs @kevzz @olympiaki-agones @fatixxx @zigzag @Athensfan @Olympic Fan Darcy @Shiruba98 @Olympian2005 @BigVic @Dave @SkiFreak @Iceman @stryker @Tony E Loves Architecture @Hansfromdenmark @Lee @Kenadian @Hightowerio86 @gotosy @Roger87 @Cape Town 2020 @HenryOaks @Michelle

And of course, our winners! @Rob2012 @DannyelBrazil @demetrius @paul @barrack @Aussie bum/ @Mr Tickle (?) @aismanggo @woohooitsme83 @VIK @JDCLauron @Jon Will Chambers @Victorian @Glacib @Bear @Scotguy II @corn_zxl - and @Sir Rols but I think he already knows about it. Keep voting!

[baron-pierreIV]

So, will this be for TROJENA -ARABIA 2038??? 

Edited December 4, 2025 by baron-pierreIV

[krow]

if that saudi city wins i will commit suicide. 

[yoshi]

@Sir Rols is in a good mood - he's ready to give you a second cryptic clue:

Personally I think it looks like a torture device but Rols is confident in telling me it's got something to do with our summer city. Keep voting!

[Sir Rols]

1 hour ago, yoshi said:

Personally I think it looks like a torture device

I was thinking Dalek, myself

[baron-pierreIV]

1 hour ago, yoshi said:

@Sir Rols is in a good mood - he's ready to give you a second cryptic clue:

Personally I think it looks like a torture device but Rols is confident in telling me it's got something to do with our summer city. Keep voting!

It's obviously a very high-tech espresso machine.  So, if it's NOT Istanbul or Vienna or Verona, then it's got to be Trojena!! 

[Nacholympic]

As a suggestion:

For Winter Games in Chile, the host should be SANTIAGO-CHILLAN 

Not only nearSantiago Chile has modern ski resorts, but also in Chillan which  is 400 km to the south of Santiago and has one of the best winter resorts in South America. It hosts a lot of snow competitions every year.

https://www.nevadosdechillan.com/andariveles-y-pistas

 

 

[yoshi]

Well that's something to be dealt with by the designers if it wins the election. I don't know what the current scores are, I don't like to look before it's close to the end

[Sir Rols]

On 12/5/2025 at 3:22 PM, Nacholympic said:

As a suggestion:

For Winter Games in Chile, the host should be SANTIAGO-CHILLAN 

Not only nearSantiago Chile has modern ski resorts, but also in Chillan which  is 400 km to the south of Santiago and has one of the best winter resorts in South America. It hosts a lot of snow competitions every year.

https://www.nevadosdechillan.com/andariveles-y-pistas

 

 

As @yoshi said, if the designers want to, fine. But this a comp about graphics, not hosting. Technical realism takes a back seat to graphic opportunities. We’ve put up Glasgow and Kathmandu as winter hosts in the past, so real life capability isn’t high on the priorities.

Maybe it’s about time for another clue for summer city host. Here goes…

[Bear]

6 hours ago, Sir Rols said:

Maybe it’s about time for another clue for summer city host. Here goes…

Wolverhampton here we come!

Spoiler

in addition (yet unrelated) to my cricket journey, I decided to (loosely) follow the premier league for the first time and made the wolves my team... that isn't going so well to say the least... i think it's my sign to focus on only one new sport/league at a time 

On a serious note, with each new hint I feel like I'm getting more and more confused on the answer 😭

[yoshi]

I know what the answer is & why Rols chose the clue, but I'm tempted to change the location because of how much I'm laughing at the idea of an Olympics in Wolverhampton . Also ouch at choosing them of all the Premier League teams, and double ouch at choosing this Ashes to start following cricket. If you want to see a series where both teams can play Test cricket, the West Indies are playing New Zealand as well 

Edited December 7, 2025 by yoshi

[Bear]

first time i see that the wolves play at a time that is PST friendly, and they lose even harder than before 😭 but alas, I refuse to be a bandwagoner and will stick with my choice, relegation be damned!

anyways, patiently waiting for the next hint to get even more confused 

[Sir Rols]

12 hours ago, Bear said:

anyways, patiently waiting for the next hint to get even more confused 

Careful what you wish for…

[krow]

didn't we do this city?

[Sir Rols]

Surprisingly, no

[yoshi]

Depends which city - he hasn't said where he means 

 

[krow]

can you literally just fucking tell us? what are you the zodiac killer sending fucking crypograms, just tell us the gd city none of have the goddamn time for this absolute nonsense.

my country is collapsing and they're forcing us into lifetime debt indentured servitude and concentration camps, starting dozens of new wars and i'm sitting here going 'wolves of paris + french press + catacombs + the 2013 gb host city' 

jfc i swear to god like i do not have the literal time for this 

[Sir Rols]

We’ve got to string this out some way to keep it going till Milan starts. Think of it like the GamesBids Advent Calendar.

[Bear]

is it

Spoiler

rome? 🥹