The Trainwreck Labs Newsletter
Coming to your inbox every Monday with a brand new fun-fact and all the answers to Trainwreck Labs games from the past week.
This week, we have…
Trainwreck Meetup 2025
A fun fact inspired by Globle: Capitals
Answers to last week's games
Reader survey
Trainwreck Meetup 2025
For the first time ever, Trainwreck Labs is bringing our community together during Toronto Games Week this Summer! Join fellow trivia champions, teaching legends, and daily-game aficionados for an unforgettable meetup in Toronto.
How did Amsterdam become the city of bikes?
According to a new bylaw, any car that enters the Amsterdam city limits must be tossed into the canals. No exceptions. Generated by DALL-E.
Have you ever stepped foot in a city where bikes outnumber people? Such is the case in Amsterdam (Capitals answer for Feb 4), a city where two thirds of trips in the city centre are taken by bike. The city is saturated with bike paths and cyclists, and is often called the bike capital of the world. The cycling network is so established and safe that all citizens, from children to the elderly, use bikes as the primary mode of transportation.
The presence of bikes is no accident, and no small feat. It is due to fierce activism and decisive events. After the Dutch post-war economic boom, more people were able to afford cars, and traffic accidents went up in tandem with the presence of cars. This led to protests from action groups who were deeply concerned about the future of the city and its inhabitants. They held bike demonstrations and blocked off streets for children to play on safely. Municipal politicians began listening to protesters, even subsidizing some of the action groups, allowing them to develop safer urban planning solutions. These actions, in tandem with an awareness of vehicle pollution, and the 1973 oil crisis, led to transport policies in the 1980s becoming more cyclist-friendly. Cities began constructing networks of cycle paths, which led to more bikers.
Today, the Netherlands hosts 22,000 miles of bike paths. While other cities deal with car congestion, Amsterdam has bike congestion - arguably a much more pleasant problem to tackle. The city has defied the siren call (or honk?) of cars, and along the way, has managed to preserve more canals and narrow streets thanks to not prioritizing automobile traffic. Cycling infrastructure includes bike friendly traffic signals and multi-level bike garages. Cycling is more about lifestyle than commuting, and with over a million bikes, the people of Amsterdam are outnumbered by their transportation options. That’s wheely cool!
Learn more: CityChangers, The Guardian, Bloomberg
Trivia
Answers to last week's games
Monday, February 3 to Sunday, February 9.
Globle
Feb 3 Sweden
Feb 4 Saudi Arabia
Feb 5 United States of America
Feb 6 Croatia
Feb 7 Kyrgyzstan
Feb 8 Malta
Feb 9 Gambia
Feb 10 Play now!
Globle: Capitals
Feb 3 Taipei
Feb 4 Amsterdam
Feb 5 Bangkok
Feb 6 Guatemala City
Feb 7 Stockholm
Feb 8 Gaborone
Feb 9 Georgetown
Feb 10 Play now!
Chronogram
#674 Wilhelm II
#675 Karl Marx
#676 Antonín Dvořák
#677 Mao Zedong
#678 Archimedes
#679 Claude Debussy
#680 Ho Chi Minh
#681 Play now!
Fictogram
#442 Paul Atreides
#443 Offred
#444 Lily Bart
#445 Mr. Toad
#446 Anna Karenina
#447 Tom Sawyer
#448 Oskar Matzerath
#449 Play now!
Metazooa
#553 red fox
#554 rattlesnake
#555 capybara
#556 badger
#557 black widow
#558 tarantula hawk wasp
#559 kestrel
#560 Play now!
Metaflora
#492 tamarind
#493 cashew
#494 onion
#495 spinach
#496 tea
#497 tomato
#498 parsley
#499 Play now!
Linxicon
The following are the shortest paths from last week:
#357 measurement → timekeeping → time → immediately
#358 exercise → movement → space → galaxy
#359 use → purpose → precisely → exactly
#360 meanwhile → alongside → together → join → member
#361 advantage → beneficial → grateful → thanks
#362 fewer → numbers → rounds → missiles → missile
#363 history → timeline → duration → until → except
#364 Play now!
Elemingle
#12 Gold
#13 Lawrencium
#14 Beryllium
#15 Phosphorus
#16 Titanium
#17 Rubidium
#18 Rhenium
#19 Play now!
That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading!
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