QWOP

D'oh!

You are Qwop, our small nation's sole representative at the Olympic Games.
Use the QWOP keys to move your legs.
Ideally you will run 100 metres...
...but our training program was under-funded.

Remember, it's not about whether you win or lose.
Title screen for Qwop

QWOP is a Flash-based Sports Game by Foddy in which you must get the titular athlete to run 100 meters without falling over. Uniquely, you control Qwop's individual thighs and calves. It is much harder than it sounds. It has a two-player sequel named 2QWOP.

Despite the game first coming out in 2008, it achieved massive internet popularity and Memetic Mutation in December of 2010 after Ray William Johnson showcased a Let's Play video of it.

Warning: make sure you periodically look at the time. A related game also by Foddy is Winner vs. Loser which is likewise based on track & field, and its Spiritual Successor is GIRP for the idea that controlling basic human motions is difficult.

Tropes used in QWOP include:

NATIONAL HERO
you ran to the end of the track and jumped!
In the end, you went:
X metres

  • Bonus Round: When you finally hit 100 meters, you hit a long jump pit. In this case, it's more like a long stride pit, but still.
  • Deconstruction Game: On complicated controls.
  • Determinator: To an extent, both the player and the player character. No matter how many times you flip 720 degrees and crack your skull, you just keep trying for those 100 meters.
  • Dungeon Bypass: You're supposed to jump over the hurdle at 50 meters, but you just knock it over and keep running.
  • Epic Fail: It is possible to walk backwards behind the starting line, not only achieving a negative distance but also slamming into a wall behind you. Assuming you don't fall through the ground.
  • Face Fault
  • Gravity Screw: The low gravity makes running at more than about 1.5 meters per second impossible, so don't expect to break any world records.
  • Guide Dang It: You probably won't figure out that the right way to move forward is to alternate pressing Q and P together, then W and O together without looking it up.
  • Hand Wave: Qwop's questionable motor abilities are the result of his nation's poorly-funded training program.
  • Have a Nice Death

PARTICIPANT
showing real courage, you ran:
X metres
everyone is a winner


[-PARTICIPANT showing real courage, you wrote:
25 examples
everyone is a troper-]

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