This is a special post for quick takes by Davey Morse. Only they can create top-level comments. Comments here also appear on the Quick Takes page and All Posts page.
you have a computer show the result of random simulations--visual simulations where at each timestep some simple rule determines the next timestep's result. you get the result of one of those--a png--then you have to guess at the rule that produced it. leaderboards and stuff for people who are best at reverse engineering the rule. motivates a deeper science of reverse-engineering lifelike simulations/systems.