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Railroad Tycoon

Railroad Tycoon is a business simulation game series. There are five games in the series; the original Railroad Tycoon (1990), Railroad Tycoon Deluxe (1993), Railroad Tycoon II (1998), Railroad Tycoon 3 (2003), and Sid Meier's Railroads! (2006).

Railroad Tycoon was written by game designer Sid Meier and published by MicroProse. Though it shares the "Tycoon" suffix, it is not related to other Microprose games such as RollerCoaster Tycoon and Transport Tycoon, which were developed by Scottish programmer Chris Sawyer.

The objective of the game is to build and manage a railroad company by laying track, building stations, and buying and scheduling trains. The railroad must be built in a certain time to win the game.

Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon
The original version allowed the player to start companies in several settings: the U.S. West and Midwest or the Northeast, England, and (on a smaller scale including southern England) Europe.

The player manages the business as described above and may also handle individual train movement and build additional industries. The game also has other railroad companies attempting to put the player out of business with stock dealings and "Rate Wars".

The player starts with one million dollars, half as equity, half as loan. The player can get more cash by selling $500,000 bonds at various interest rates (which depend on the current economic condition in the game).

As part of the release of the new Sid Meier's Railroads, 2K Games released the full version of the original Railroad Tycoon game for free, which is available on their website.

Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon Deluxe
An updated version of this game named Railroad Tycoon Deluxe was created and released in 1993. Despite a host of new features and graphics, Deluxe sold very poorly, due to some bugs and slow gameplay (most notoriously the F4 map screen, which brings the game to a crawl).

Deluxe is essentially the same game as Railroad Tycoon, with improved hi-resolution graphics, new sound effects, and several additions. The additions are: new maps (South America and Africa) with region-specific cargo types (e.g. troops for Africa), new time ranges and locomotives, bandits who can hijack trains, and sheriffs who will arrest them.

Although the game is called Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon Deluxe, Sid Meier himself had nothing to do with the development of this version.

Railroad Tycoon II

A sequel featuring improved graphics and more complex gameplay was published by Gathering of Developers in 1998 after PopTop Software acquired rights to the name from MicroProse, Sid Meier's original company which he himself left a year earlier to form Firaxis.

Some features of the first version are missing in this sequel, such as the ability to build tunnels and signal towers, but many new possibilities were added, such as the ability to have unlimited money, trains, and train routes, much better control of routes, dozens of new maps, and the ability to create and modify scenarios and maps.

The Dreamcast version was in full 3D.

There are dozens of new scenarios to play including ones in Africa, North America, Germany, the Swiss Alps, the jungles of South America, and even several places around the world in a possible future where Earth's oceans have risen. Most of the ones in Railroad Tycoon 1 are in Railroad Tycoon II. There are also many more first and second century campaigns to choose from than in Railroad Tycoon.

An expansion pack Railroad Tycoon II: Second Century was later added which contained new scenarios focusing on modern and near-future times, plus added new elements to the economy. The game and its expansion were repackaged together in the Gold Edition and then, with 50 additional user-made scenarios, into the Platinum Edition.

A short lived, budget title The Next Millennium went on sale in 2000. It featured many scenarios and features of The Second Century, but no map editor. It had no instruction booklet and was sold only in a jewel case.

Railroad Tycoon 3
The second sequel, Railroad Tycoon 3, was released in 2003. It featured a full 3D environment, overpasses and tunnels, and much improved graphics. Gameplay changed significantly, with dynamic pricing of goods across the entire map and cargo that can find alternate means of transportation if no train service is provided; track was no longer laid on discrete square tiles, but as curved track on a 3D map. A map editor is included but cannot be used during the game.

An expansion pack, Coast to Coast, was released for download in 2004 with new scenarios, including a map of the entire United States and eight new locomotives.

Board game
Railroad Tycoon is a railway-themed board game designed by Martin Wallace and Glenn Drover. The game, published in 2005 by Eagle Games, is derived from Wallace's earlier railway-themed game Age of Steam with more stylistic box art and simplified rules. Originally using the Railroad Tycoon license and featuring box art very similar to the third entry in the series, it has been published under the title Railways of the World since 2009. Railroad Tycoon takes place in the eastern United States in 1830. Each player takes charge of a pioneering new railway company.

Sid Meier's Railroads!
Sid Meier's Railroads! was released in October 2006. It was the first game in the Railroad Tycoon series since the original to have direct input from Sid Meier himself. Railroads! features a variety of scenarios and trains from both North America and Europe and is less industry-focused than previous versions. It has a simpler user interface for track laying, full 3D graphics, and real time gameplay.

title: Railroad Tycoon


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Shoot 'em up

Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs) are a sub-genre  of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of character movement, while others allow a broader definition including characters on foot and a variety of perspectives.

The genre's roots can be traced back to earlier shooting games, including target shooting electro-mechanical games of the mid-20th-century and the early mainframe game Spacewar! (1962). The shoot 'em up genre was established by the hit arcade game Space Invaders, which popularised and set the general template for the genre in 1978, and spawned many clones. The genre was then further developed by arcade hits such as Asteroids and Galaxian in 1979. Shoot 'em ups were popular throughout the 1980s to early 1990s, diversifying into a variety of subgenres such as scrolling shooters, run and gun games and rail shooters. In the mid-1990s, shoot 'em ups became a niche genre based on design conventions established in the 1980s, and increasingly catered to specialist enthusiasts, particularly in Japan. "Bullet hell" games are a subgenre of shooters that features overwhelming numbers of enemy projectiles, often in visually impressive formations.

Definition
A "shoot 'em up", also known as a "shmup" or "STG" (the common Japanese abbreviation for "shooting games"), is a game in which the protagonist combats a large number of enemies by shooting at them while dodging their fire. The controlling player must rely primarily on reaction times to succeed. Beyond this, critics differ on exactly which design elements constitute a shoot 'em up. Some restrict the genre to games featuring some kind of craft, using fixed or scrolling movement. Others widen the scope to include games featuring such protagonists as robots or humans on foot, as well as including games featuring "on-rails" (or "into the screen") and "run and gun" movement. Mark Wolf restricts the definition to games featuring multiple antagonists ("'em" being short for "them"), calling games featuring one-on-one shooting "combat games". Formerly, critics described any game where the primary design element was shooting as a "shoot 'em up", but later shoot 'em ups became a specific, inward-looking genre based on design conventions established in those shooting games of the 1980s.

Common elements
Shoot 'em ups are a subgenre of action game. These games are usually viewed from a top-down or side-view perspective, and players must use ranged weapons to take action at a distance. The player's avatar is typically a vehicle or spacecraft under constant attack. Thus, the player's goal is to shoot as quickly as possible at anything that moves or threatens them to reach the end of the level with a boss battle. In some games, the player's character can withstand some damage or a single hit will result in their destruction. The main skills required in shoot 'em ups are fast reactions and memorising enemy attack patterns. Some games feature overwhelming numbers of enemy projectiles and the player has to memorise their patterns to survive. These games belong to one of the fastest-paced video game genres.

Large numbers of enemy characters programmed to behave in an easily predictable manner are typically featured. These enemies may behave in a certain way dependent on their type, or attack in formations that the player can learn to predict. The basic gameplay tends to be straightforward with many varieties of weapons. Shoot 'em ups rarely have realistic physics. Characters can instantly change direction with no inertia, and projectiles move in a straight line at constant speeds. The player's character can collect "power-ups" which may afford the character's greater protection, an "extra life", health, shield, or upgraded weaponry. Different weapons are often suited to different enemies, but these games seldom keep track of ammunition. As such, players tend to fire indiscriminately, and their weapons only damage legitimate targets.

Types
Shoot 'em ups are categorized by their design elements, particularly viewpoint and movement:

Fixed shooters restrict the player and enemies to a single screen, and the player primarily moves along a single axis, such as back and forth along the bottom of the screen. Examples include Space Invaders (1978), Galaxian (1979), Phoenix (1980), and Galaga (1981). In Pooyan (1982), the fixed axis of movement is vertical, along the right side of the screen. In Centipede (1980) and Gorf (1981), the player primarily moves left and right along the bottom, but several inches of vertical motion are also allowed within an invisible box.

Multidirectional shooters allow 360-degree movement where the protagonist may rotate and move in any direction such as Asteroids (1979) and Mad Planets (1983). Multidirectional shooters with one joystick for movement and one joystick for firing in any direction independent of movement are called twin-stick shooters. One of the first games to popularize twin-stick controls was Robotron: 2084 (1982).

Space shooters are a thematic variant of involving spacecraft in outer space. Following the success of Space Invaders, space shooters were the dominant subgenre during the late 1970s to early 1980s. These games can overlap with other subgenres as well as space combat games.

Tube shooters feature craft flying through an abstract tube, such as Tempest (1981) and Gyruss (1983). There is still a single axis of motion, making these a subset of fixed shooters.

Rail shooters limit the player to moving around the screen while following a specific route; these games often feature an "into the screen" viewpoint, with which the action is seen from behind the player character, and moves "into the screen", while the player retains control over dodging. Examples include Space Harrier (1985), Captain Skyhawk (1990), Starblade (1991), Star Fox (1993), Star Wars: Rebel Assault (1993), Panzer Dragoon (1995), and Sin and Punishment (2000). Rail shooters that use light guns are called light gun shooters, such as Operation Wolf (1987), Lethal Enforcers (1992), Virtua Cop (1994), Point Blank (1994), Time Crisis (1995), The House of the Dead (1996) and Elemental Gearbolt (1997). Light-gun games that are "on rails" are usually not considered to be in the shoot-em-up category, but rather their own first-person light-gun shooter category.

Cute 'em ups feature brightly colored graphics depicting surreal settings and enemies. Cute 'em ups tend to have unusual, oftentimes completely bizarre opponents for the player to fight, with Twinbee and Fantasy Zone first pioneering the subgenre, along with Parodius, Cotton, and Harmful Park being additional key games. Some cute 'em ups may employ overtly sexual characters and innuendo.

Scrolling shooters
Vertically scrolling shooters present the action from above and scroll up (or occasionally down) the screen.

Horizontally scrolling shooters usually present a side-on view and scroll left to right (or less often, right to left).

Isometrically scrolling shooters or isometric shooters, such as Sega's Zaxxon (1982), use an isometric point of view.

A popular implementation style of scrolling shooters has the player's flying vehicle moving forward, at a fixed rate, through an environment. Examples are Scramble (1981), Xevious (1982), Gradius (1986), Darius (1987), R-Type (1987), Einhänder (1997). In contrast, Defender (1981) allows the player to move left or right at will.

Run and gun games have protagonists that move through the world on foot and shoot attackers. Examples include the vertically scrolling, overhead view games Front Line (1982), Commando (1985), and Ikari Warriors (1986). Side-scrolling run and gun games often combine elements from platform games, such as the ability to jump: Contra (1987), Metal Slug (1996) and Cuphead (2017). Run and gun games may also use isometric viewpoints and may have multidirectional movement.

Bullet hell

Bullet hell (弾幕) is a subgenre of shooters in which the screen becomes crowded with complex "curtain fire" enemy patterns. It is also characterized by collision boxes that are smaller than the sprites themselves, to accommodate maneuvering through these crowded firing patterns. This style of game, also known as "manic shooters" or "maniac shooters", originated in the mid-1990s as an offshoot of scrolling shooters. The DonPachi and Touhou Project series are early titles establishing the principle of bullet hells.

A bullet heaven or reverse bullet hell is a subgenre characterized by the player character collecting or unlocking abilities and attacks whose visuals overlap and clutter the game screen as the game progresses. They also share a feature of many enemy characters, commonly called "hordes," walking toward the player from off-screen. This genre is generally attributed to Vampire Survivors, released in 2022.

Trance shooters
A small subgenre of shooter games that emphasizes chaotic, reflex-based gameplay designed to put the player in a trance-like state. In trance shooters, enemy patterns usually have randomized elements, forcing the player to rely on reflexes rather than pattern memorization. Games of this type usually feature colorful, abstract visuals, and electronic music (often techno music). Jeff Minter is commonly credited with originating the style with Tempest 2000 (1994) and subsequent games including Space Giraffe, Gridrunner++, and Polybius (2017). Other examples include the Geometry Wars series, Space Invaders Extreme, Super Stardust HD, and Resogun.

Origins

The concept of shooting games existed before video games, dating back to shooting gallery carnival games in the late 19th century and target sports such as archery, bowling and darts. Mechanical target shooting games first appeared in England's amusement arcades around the turn of the 20th century, before appearing in America by the 1920s. Shooting gallery games eventually evolved into more sophisticated target shooting electro-mechanical games (EM games) such as Sega's influential Periscope (1965). Shooting video games have roots in EM shooting games.

Video game journalist Brian Ashcraft argues the early mainframe game Spacewar! (1962) was the first shoot 'em up video game. It was developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1961, for the developers' amusement, and presents a space battle between two craft. It was remade four times as an arcade video game in the 1970s.

Emergence of shoot 'em up genre (late 1970s)
Space Invaders (1978) is most frequently cited as the "first" or "original" in the genre. A seminal game created by Tomohiro Nishikado of Japan's Taito, it led to proliferation of shooter games. It pitted the player against multiple enemies descending from the top of the screen at a constantly increasing speed. Nishikado conceived the game by combining elements of Breakout (1976) with those of earlier target shooting games, and simple alien creatures inspired by H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds. The hardware was unable to render the movement of aircraft, so the game was set in space, with a black background. It had a more interactive style of play than earlier target shooting games, with multiple enemies who responded to the player-controlled cannon's movement and fired back at the player. The game ended when the player was killed by the enemies. While earlier shooting games allowed the player to shoot at targets, Space Invaders was the first where multiple enemies fired back at the player. It also introduced the idea of giving the player multiple lives and popularized the concept of achieving a high score.

With these elements, Space Invaders set the general template for the shoot 'em up genre. It became one of the most widely cloned shooting games, spawning more than 100 imitators with only the most minor differences (if any) from the original. Most shooting games released since then have followed its "multiple life, progressively difficult level" paradigm, according to Eugene Jarvis.

Golden age and refinement (late 1970s to early 1980s)
Following the success of Space Invaders, shoot 'em ups became the dominant genre for much of the golden age of arcade video games, from the late 1970s up until the early 1980s, particularly the "space shooter" subgenre. In 1979, Namco's Galaxian—"the granddaddy of all top-down shooters", according to IGN—was released. Its use of colour graphics and individualised antagonists were considered "strong evolutionary concepts" among space ship games. In 1981 Gorf brought joystick control and (limited) vertical as well as horizontal movement to the vertically-oriented fixed-shooter genre, while Space Invaders and Galaxian have only horizontal movement controlled by a pair of buttons. Atari's Asteroids (1979) was a hit multi-directional shooter, taking from Spacewar! the ability for the player's ship to roam the entire screen and to rotate, move and shoot in any direction.

The Space Invaders format evolved into the vertical scrolling shooter sub-genre. SNK's debut shoot 'em up Ozma Wars (1979) featured vertical scrolling backgrounds and enemies, and it was the first action game to feature a supply of energy, similar to hit points. Namco's Xevious, released in 1982, was one of the first and most influential vertical scrolling shooters. Xevious is also the first to convincingly portray dithered/shaded organic landscapes as opposed to blocks-in-space or wireframe obstacles.

Side-scrolling shoot 'em ups emerged in the early 1980s. Defender, introduced by Williams Electronics in late 1980 and entering production in early 1981, allowed side-scrolling in both directions in a wrap-around game world, unlike most later games in the genre. The scrolling helped remove design limitations associated with the screen, and it also featured a minimap radar. Scramble, released by Konami in early 1981, had continuous scrolling in a single direction and was the first side-scrolling shooter with multiple distinct levels.

In the early 1980s, Japanese arcade developers began moving away from space shooters towards character action games, whereas American arcade developers continued to focus on space shooters during the early 1980s, up until the end of the arcade golden age. According to Eugene Jarvis, American developers were greatly influenced by Japanese space shooters but took the genre in a different direction from the "more deterministic, scripted, pattern-type" gameplay of Japanese games, towards a more "programmer-centric design culture, emphasizing algorithmic generation of backgrounds and enemy dispatch" and "an emphasis on random-event generation, particle-effect explosions and physics" as seen in arcade games such as his own Defender and Robotron: 2084 (1982) as well as Atari's Asteroids (1979). Robotron: 2084 was an influential game in the multi-directional shooter subgenre.

Some games experimented with pseudo-3D perspectives at the time. Nintendo's attempt at the genre, Radar Scope (1980), borrowed heavily from Space Invaders and Galaxian, but added a three-dimensional third-person perspective; the game was a commercial failure, however. Atari's Tempest (1981) was one of the earliest tube shooters and a more successful attempt to incorporate a 3D perspective into shooter games; Tempest went on to influence several later rail shooters. Sega's Zaxxon (1981) introduced isometric video game graphics to the genre.

The term "shmup" is believed to have been coined in 1985 by the British Commodore 64 magazine Zzap!64. In the July 1985 issue, the term was used by the editor Chris Anderson and reviewer Julian Rignall.

1985 saw the release of Konami's Gradius, which gave the player greater control over the choice of weaponry, thus introducing another element of strategy. The game also introduced the need for the player to memorise levels in order to achieve any measure of success. Gradius, with its iconic protagonist, defined the side-scrolling shoot 'em up and spawned a series spanning several sequels. The following year saw the emergence of one of Sega's forefront series with its game Fantasy Zone. The game received acclaim for its surreal graphics and setting and the protagonist, Opa-Opa, was for a time considered Sega's mascot. The game borrowed Defender's device of allowing the player to control the direction of flight and along with the earlier TwinBee (1985), is an early archetype of the "cute 'em up" subgenre. In 1986, Taito released KiKi KaiKai, an overhead multi-directional shooter. The game is notable for using a traditional fantasy setting in contrast to most shoot 'em up games filled with science fiction motifs. R-Type, an acclaimed side-scrolling shoot 'em up, was released in 1987 by Irem, employing slower paced scrolling than usual, with difficult, claustrophobic levels calling for methodical strategies. 1990's Raiden was the beginning of another acclaimed and enduring series to emerge from this period.

Run and gun and rail shooters (1980s to early 1990s)
Run and gun games became popular in the mid-1980s. These games feature characters on foot, rather than spacecraft, and often have military themes. The origins of this type of shooter go back to Sheriff by Nintendo, released in 1979. SNK's Sasuke vs. Commander (1980), which had relatively detailed background graphics for its time, pit a samurai against a horde of ninjas, along with boss fights. Taito's Front Line (1982) introduced the vertical scrolling format later popularized by Capcom's Commando (1985), which established the standard formula used by later run and gun games. Sega's Ninja Princess (1985), which released slightly before Commando, was a run and gun game that was distinctive for its feudal Japan setting and female ninja protagonist who throws shuriken and knives. SNK's TNK III, released later in 1985, combined the Front Line tank shooter format with unique rotary joystick controls, which they later combined with Commando-inspired run and gun gameplay to develop Ikari Warriors (1986), which further popularized run and gun shooters. Ikari Warriors also drew inspiration from the action film Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), which it was originally intended to be an adaptation of. Contemporary critics considered military themes and protagonists similar to Rambo or Schwarzenegger prerequisites for a shoot 'em up, as opposed to an action-adventure game. The success of Commando and Ikari Warriors led to run and gun games becoming the dominant style of shoot 'em up during the late 1980s to early 1990s, with the term "shoot 'em up" itself becoming synonymous with "run and gun" during this period.

Konami's Green Beret (1985), known as Rush'n Attack in North America, adapted the Commando formula to a side-scrolling format. Later notable side-scrolling run and gun shooters include Namco's Rolling Thunder (1986), which added cover mechanics to the formula, and Data East's RoboCop (1988). In 1987, Konami created Contra, a side-scrolling coin-op arcade game, and later a NES game, that was particularly acclaimed for its multi-directional aiming and two-player cooperative gameplay. By the early 1990s and the popularity of 16-bit consoles, the scrolling shooter genre was overcrowded, with developers struggling to make their games stand out, with exceptions such as the inventive Gunstar Heroes (1993) by Treasure.

Sega's pseudo-3D rail shooter Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom demonstrated the potential of 3D shoot 'em up gameplay in 1982. Sega's Space Harrier, a rail shooter released in 1985, broke new ground graphically and its wide variety of settings across multiple levels gave players more to aim for than high scores. In 1986, Arsys Software released WiBArm, a shooter that switched between a 2D side-scrolling view in outdoor areas to a fully 3D polygonal third-person perspective inside buildings, while bosses were fought in an arena-style 2D battle, with the game featuring a variety of weapons and equipment. In 1987, Square's 3-D WorldRunner was an early stereoscopic 3-D shooter played from a third-person perspective, followed later that year by its sequel JJ, and the following year by Space Harrier 3-D which used the SegaScope 3-D shutter glasses. That same year, Sega's Thunder Blade switched between both a top-down view and a third-person view, and featured the use of force feedback, where the joystick vibrates.

Bullet hell and niche appeal (mid-1990s to present)

Over the course of the 1990s, a new subgenre of shooters evolved, known as "danmaku (弾幕) in Japan, and often referred to as "bullet hell" or "manic shooters" in English-speaking regions. These games are characterized by high numbers of enemy projectiles, often in complex "curtain fire" patterns, as well as collision boxes that are smaller than the sprites themselves, allowing the player to fit between the narrow gaps in enemy fire.

Bullet hell games were first popularized in Japanese arcades during a time when 3D games and fighting games were eclipsing other games. The flashy firing patterns were intended to grab players attention. Toaplan's Batsugun (1993) is often considered a pivotal point in the development of this subgenre. After the closure of Toaplan, the following year, a number of studios formed from former Toaplan staff that would continue to develop this style, including Cave (formed by Batsugun's main creator Tsuneki Ikeda) who released 1995's seminal DonPachi, and Takumi, who would develop the GigaWing series. Bullet hell games marked another point where the shooter genre began to cater to more dedicated players. Games such as Gradius had been more difficult than Space Invaders or Xevious, but bullet hell games were yet more inward-looking and aimed at dedicated fans of the genre looking for greater challenges. While shooter games featuring protagonists on foot largely moved to 3D-based genres, popular, long-running series such as Contra and Metal Slug continued to receive new sequels. Rail shooters have rarely been released in the new millennium, with only Rez and Panzer Dragoon Orta achieving cult recognition.

Treasure's shoot 'em up, Radiant Silvergun (1998), introduced an element of narrative to the genre. It was critically acclaimed for its refined design, though it was not released outside Japan and remains a much sought-after collector's item. Its successor Ikaruga (2001) featured improved graphics and was again acclaimed as one of the best games in the genre. Both Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga were later released on Xbox Live Arcade. The Touhou Project series spans 26 years and 30 games as of 2022 and was listed in the Guinness World Records in October 2010 for being the "most prolific fan-made shooter series". The genre has undergone something of a resurgence with the release of the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii online services, while in Japan arcade shoot 'em ups retain a deep-rooted niche popularity. Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved was released on Xbox Live Arcade in 2005 and in particular stood out from the various re-releases and casual games available on the service. The PC has also seen its share of dōjin shoot 'em ups like Crimzon Clover, Jamestown: Legend of the Lost Colony, Xenoslaive Overdrive, and the eXceed series. However, despite the genre's continued appeal to an enthusiastic niche of players, shoot 'em up developers are increasingly embattled financially by the power of home consoles and their attendant genres.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Shoot 'em up


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title: User talk:216.202.92.218


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Running gag

A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling. Though they are similar, catchphrases are not considered to be running gags.

Running gags can begin with an instance of unintentional humor that is repeated in variations as the joke grows familiar and audiences anticipate reappearances of the gag. The humor in a running gag may derive entirely from how often it is repeated, but the underlying statement or situation will always be some form of joke. A trivial statement will not become a running gag simply by being repeated. A running gag may also derive its humor from the (in)appropriateness of the situation in which it occurs, or by setting up the audience to expect another occurrence of the joke and then substituting something else (bait and switch). Running gags are found in everyday life, live theater, live comedy, television shows, video games, films, books, comic strips, and potentially any other situation in which humor is possible and there is enough time for the repetitions to happen.

A running gag can be verbal or visual and may "convey social values by echoing belligerent speakers with a barrage of caricatured threats". For example, a character may present others with a proposition that is so ridiculous or outrageous it is likely to be self-mocking to the point where the original request has little or no chance of actually being carried out and results in a humorous effect.

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Michael Ancram

Michael Andrew Foster Jude Kerr, 13th Marquess of Lothian, Baron Kerr of Monteviot, (born 7 July 1945), commonly known as Michael Ancram, is a Scottish politician and peer who served as Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party from 2001 to 2005. He was formerly styled Earl of Ancram until he inherited the marquessate in 2004.

Born in London and educated at Ampleforth College, Ancram studied History at Christ Church, Oxford and read Law at the University of Edinburgh. After graduating from Edinburgh, he was called to the Scottish Bar and practised as an advocate before entering politics. He unsuccessfully contested West Lothian in 1970, but was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Berwick and East Lothian at the February 1974 general election and served until he lost the seat in the election held in October of that year. He re-entered parliament in 1979, representing Edinburgh South until his defeat in 1987. During this time, he served as a minister at the Scotland Office in Margaret Thatcher's government.

After being elected to represent Devizes at the 1992 general election, Ancram served at the Northern Ireland Office in John Major's government. When Major was defeated at the 1997 general election, the Conservatives entered opposition and Ancram became Chairman of the Conservative Party under William Hague in 1998, having previously covered constitutional affairs in the Shadow Cabinet. This was followed by a period as Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party under Iain Duncan Smith and Michael Howard, during which time he served in the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Foreign Secretary and Shadow Defence Secretary respectively.

Early life and career
Ancram was born in London and is the elder son and second child of Peter Kerr, 12th Marquess of Lothian, and his wife Antonella. He was educated at Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in History from Christ Church, Oxford in 1966, later converted to Master of Arts (MA). While studying at Oxford, he was a member of the Bullingdon Club. In 1968, he gained a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from the University of Edinburgh. He was called to the Scottish Bar in 1970 and practised as an advocate.

Member of Parliament
Ancram unsuccessfully contested the West Lothian parliamentary seat in 1970. He was first elected to Parliament in the February 1974 general election, when he contested and won the seat of Berwickshire and East Lothian, but lost the seat in the October election of the same year. After losing his seat, he again took up legal practice.

Ancram re-entered Parliament at the 1979 election as the Member of Parliament for Edinburgh South, beating future Prime Minister Gordon Brown. He was a member of the House of Commons Energy Select Committee between 1979 and 1983, and Chairman of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party from 1980 to 1983. He was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Scottish Office with responsibility for Home Affairs, Housing, Local Government, Rating Reform and the Environment from 1983 until 1987. He lost his seat again at the 1987 general election, being one of several prominent Conservatives defeated in Scotland in that contest.

After losing his seat in 1987, Ancram returned to Parliament at the 1992 general election representing Devizes. He was a member of the Public Accounts Committee and Chairman of the backbench Constitutional Affairs Committee from 1992 until May 1993, when he was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Northern Ireland Office. He was promoted to Minister of State at the Northern Ireland Office in January 1994, and was sworn as a Privy Councillor in January 1996.

Shadow Cabinet and failed leadership bid
Following the Conservatives' defeat at the 1997 election, Ancram served in the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Constitutional Affairs Spokesperson from June 1997 to June 1998. He then served as Chairman of the Conservative Party from December 1998 to September 2001.

In 2001, he ran against Iain Duncan Smith, Michael Portillo, Kenneth Clarke and David Davis in the election for the party leadership. In the first poll of Conservative MPs he and David Davis were tied for last place, leading to a re-run in which Ancram was placed bottom. He was eliminated, and Davis withdrew. Both swung their support behind Iain Duncan Smith, who went on to win, beating Clarke in the final vote of party members. Duncan Smith made Ancram Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party and Shadow Foreign Secretary in September 2001. He remained in this position after Michael Howard took over in 2003.

In the reshuffle following the 2005 election, Ancram was moved to Shadow Secretary of State for Defence but remained deputy leader. He stood down from the Shadow Cabinet in December 2005, following the election of David Cameron as Conservative Party Leader. In January 2006 he was appointed to the Intelligence and Security Committee, replacing James Arbuthnot.

Later years as an MP
Ancram was a founding signatory in 2005 of the Henry Jackson Society principles, advocating a proactive approach to the spread of liberal democracy across the world, including when necessary by military intervention. On 21 April 2006 he became one of the first senior Conservative MPs to call for British troops to withdraw from Iraq, saying it was effectively in a state of civil war and that "It is time now for us to get out of Iraq with dignity and honour while we still can."

In 2006, Ancram set up Global Strategy Forum, a bi-partisan foreign affairs think tank based in London.

From 2008 to 2013, Ancram was chair of foreign policy forum Le Cercle.

Ancram is a founder member of the Top Level Group of UK Parliamentarians for Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament and Non-proliferation, established in October 2009.

On 11 August 2009, Ancram announced that he was to stand down as the MP for Devizes at the 2010 general election due to heart problems. He retired when Parliament was dissolved on 12 April 2010; his successor as Conservative member for the Devizes constituency was Claire Perry.

Personal life
Ancram married Lady Jane Fitzalan-Howard, the fourth daughter of the 16th Duke of Norfolk, who on 7 April 2017 succeeded as the 16th Lady Herries of Terregles. They are both prominent Catholics. She is a Patron of the Right to Life Trust and also a patroness of the Royal Caledonian Ball. The couple have three daughters and two grandchildren:

 * Sarah Margaret Kerr (13 June 1976 – 13 June 1976)
 * Lady Clare Therese Kerr (25 January 1979) married to The Right Honourable Nick Hurd, son of former Cabinet Minister, Douglas, Lord Hurd of Westwell, in August 2010. Lady Clare is the heiress presumptive to her mother’s title. They have two children:
 * Leila Rose Hurd (17 May 2012)
 * Caspar Jamie Hurd (30 September 2014)
 * Lady Mary Kerr (28 May 1981). She married Zackary Adler on 28 May 2016.

Ancram's younger sister, Lady Cecil Cameron OBE, married Donald Angus Cameron of Lochiel, the Chief of Clan Cameron. Another sister, the former Lady Clare Kerr, is now Dowager Countess of Euston and mother of the 12th Duke of Grafton.

Ancram is a keen country music fan and has often played acoustic guitar at Conservative Party conferences. He is a knight of Order of St John and Order of St Lazarus; he was also made a Freeman of Gibraltar in 2010.

He was appointed a Deputy lieutenant for Roxburgh, Ettrick and Lauderdale in 1990. He became a Queen's Counsel (QC) in 1996.

A member of the House of Lords since 2010, he is the only marquess currently sitting as of September 2022. Ancram is hereditary Chief of the Scottish Clan Kerr.

Name and titles
Although his family name is Kerr, Michael Ancram was known from birth by the courtesy title Earl of Ancram as elder son and heir apparent of the 12th Marquess of Lothian. He is said to have dropped the use of this title in favour of plain Mr Michael Ancram after becoming a lawyer, supposedly because he believed it might confuse the jury if any judge were to have addressed him as "My Lord".

Ancram is known to many of his friends as Crumb, a nickname attributed to a party in the sixties at which on arrival Ancram introduced himself as "Lord Ancram" and was duly announced as "Mr Norman Crumb".

Ancram became Marquess of Lothian upon his father's death in October 2004, but did not take up use of this title in public life whilst still sitting as an MP (although properly he should have ceased being styled by the courtesy title of Earl of Ancram). The House of Lords Act 1999 meant that, on acceding to the peerage, he was not disqualified from sitting in the House of Commons as hereditary peers no longer have an automatic right to sit in the House of Lords. Apart from Irish peers, he was, after the Viscount Thurso, and Viscount Hailsham, the third person to have sat in the House of Commons while simultaneously being a hereditary peer.

Ancram was created a life peer on 22 November 2010 as Baron Kerr of Monteviot, of Monteviot in Roxburghshire, and was introduced in the House of Lords the same day; by custom, he is referred to by his senior title as The Marquess of Lothian during all parliamentary business and in other official records such as Hansard.

As the Kerr family titles cannot pass through the female line, the heir presumptive to his hereditary titles is his younger brother Lord Ralph Kerr. His elder daughter is her mother's heir presumptive to be Lady Herries of Terregles. Ancram is also one of the five co-heirs to the barony of Butler, abeyant since 1905. Though the most junior heir by primogeniture, he holds the strongest claim, as the other heirs have a lesser share to that title. Upon his death, assuming the barony of Butler is not called out of abeyance, his share will be subdivided between his two daughters.

title: Michael Ancram


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Armour-Geddon

Armour-Geddon is a 3D video game developed and published in 1991 by Psygnosis for Amiga, Atari ST, and MS-DOS.

A sequel was released in Europe in 1994, Armour-Geddon 2: Codename Hellfire, for the Amiga.

Plot
The setting for the game is post-nuclear holocaust Earth, where a privileged group of humans have made it through the war in purpose-built shelters while rest of the humankind suffered. People outside, disapproving how they have been treated, have secretly constructed a laser cannon to even the score.

Gameplay
The player takes the side of the Sheltered ones trying to prevent the outsiders from shooting the cannon. This is possible only by collecting all five pieces of an ancient neutron bomb and dropping it on the hostile beam cannon. In addition to this, the player must defend the base from enemy attacks and gain time by destroying generators powering the beam weapon.

There is a strategic view where player can allocate scientists to develop more effective weapons and engineers to manufacture them. In the 3D vehicle simulation, the player can pilot six different vehicles in the battlefield including heavy and light tanks, hovercraft, helicopters, fighters and bombers.

Reception
Computer Gaming World reviewed the game and stated that "Armour-Geddon does much to recommend itself to anyone looking for a well-balanced sim." 1992 and 1994 surveys of science fiction games in Computer Gaming World gave it two of five stars, writing that "it can be fun, but resembles a Chinese take-out restaurant, i.e. a half-hour later, you are hungry for something with substance".

title: Armour-Geddon


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The Perfect General

The Perfect General is a computer wargame published in 1991 by Quantum Quality Productions.

Publication
The game was designed by Peter Zaccagnino and published in 1991 for the Amiga and DOS. A sequel, The Perfect General II, was released in 1994. The original game was modified for the 3DO by Game Guild in 1996 and published by Kirin Entertainment. The 3DO version includes a few scenarios which are absent from the personal computer versions. A refurbished version is available for Windows since 2003.

The rights for the original version were purchased by Mark Kinkead in 2002, and later released in 2003 as The Perfect General Internet Edition by Killer Bee Software. As the name suggests, this version can be played via Internet.

Gameplay
The game is a turn-based map-oriented military simulation game. Players take on the role of a military commander, managing resources and engaging in tactical battles in a hexagonal grid-based map.

Along with Modem Wars and Populous, it was one of the early games to offer an online multiplayer mode for real-time-matches via telecommunication networks. The original online-game was played via modem or null modem serial connection.

Reception
The Perfect General sold 75,000 copies by June 1993. Computer Gaming World in 1992 described The Perfect General as "a wonderful game system with a mediocre AI and great two-player potential", and later named it the best wargame of the year. A 1993 survey in the magazine of wargames gave the game three-plus stars out of five, stating that it "sacrifices realism for playability". A 1994 survey gave the Greatest Battles of the 20th Century two-plus stars out of five, noting the game's ease of use and "enjoyable", but inaccurate, scenarios.

In 1996, Computer Gaming World declared The Perfect General the 107th-best computer game ever released. The magazine's wargame columnist Terry Coleman named it his pick for the 12th-best computer wargame released by late 1996.

Reviews

 * Casus Belli #71 (Sep 1992)

title: The Perfect General


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Rubens Barrichello

Rubens "Rubinho" Gonçalves Barrichello (born 23 May 1972) is a Brazilian professional racing driver currently competing in the Brazilian Stock Car Pro Series, driving the No. 111 Toyota Corolla E210 for Full Time Sports. He is best known for racing in Formula One between and, scoring 11 Grand Prix wins and 68 podiums.

Following stints with the Jordan and Stewart teams, Barrichello drove for Ferrari from to  as Michael Schumacher's teammate, finishing as championship runner-up in  and, and third in , while contributing to five constructors' titles for the team. At the end of 2005 Barrichello left Ferrari to drive for Honda. In 2009, he finished third in the Drivers' Championship for Brawn GP, as his teammate Jenson Button won the driver's championship, and the team won the constructors' title. He was also appointed chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association in 2010.

After two years with the Williams F1 team, Barrichello moved to the IndyCar Series in 2012 with KV Racing Technology. After only one year and being unable to find a ride for the 2013 season, he moved back to Brazil to participate in the Stock Car Series, winning the championship in 2014 and 2022.

From 2013 until 2014 he covered F1 race weekends for Brazil's TV Globo, interviewing drivers and team members on the grid and commentating during qualifying and race coverage. He later left to co-host and star in the YouTube channel Acelerados.

In April 2024, Rubens Barrichello joined SOFTSWISS, an international iGaming software company, as the Non-Executive Director in Latin America to leverage his sports experience and support the company's growth in the region.

Early life
The paternal side of his family comes from Veneto, Italy (from the town of Riese, in the province of Treviso). His maternal side of the family is of Portuguese origin. Both his father and paternal grandfather are also named Rubens, and Barrichello shares his father's birthday: 23 May. Therefore, Rubens Barrichello was known as Rubinho (Portuguese for "little Rubens"), which has become his nickname.

Barrichello won five karting titles in Brazil before going to Europe to race in the Formula Vauxhall Lotus series in 1990. In his first year, he won the championship, a feat he replicated the following year in the British Formula 3 Championship, beating David Coulthard. He very nearly joined Formula One, the highest category of single seater racing, at just 19 years of age. Instead he competed in Formula 3000 in 1992. He finished third in the championship, and joined the Jordan Formula One team for the 1993 Formula One season. During this time, and also early in his Formula One career, Barrichello lived in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, UK.

Jordan (1993–1996)
In Barrichello's third race, the, he started from 12th place in very wet conditions but was fourth by the end of the first lap. He ran as high as second and was running third, having passed the Williams of Damon Hill and Alain Prost, before encountering a fuel pressure problem. His Jordan's reliability in 1993 was poor, and he finished few races. Barrichello regularly outpaced his more experienced teammates, Ivan Capelli and Thierry Boutsen. In the, he almost scored his first Grand Prix point (and the team's first that year) but Michael Andretti passed him on the final lap for the sixth and final points-scoring position. His only points finish of the season came at the with fifth place, ahead of his new teammate Eddie Irvine. These 2 points put him in 18th place in the standings.

started with a fourth place in Brazil and a third place at Aida, which was his first podium finish. These results put Barrichello in second place in the drivers' ranking, behind Michael Schumacher, who had won the two races. However, at the, he suffered a violent crash during Friday practice, hitting the wall at the Variante Bassa and flipping the car. The accident knocked him unconscious and threatened his life, with his tongue blocking his airway. Barrichello credited the on-track work of Sid Watkins for saving his life. The race weekend saw a succession of serious accidents, of which two were fatal: Roland Ratzenberger died during Saturday's qualifying session when he crashed his Simtek at the curva Villeneuve, while on Sunday, during the race, Barrichello's mentor Ayrton Senna crashed his Williams at Tamburello and also died. Barrichello was deeply affected by the deaths.

Later in the season, he took pole position at the, and led some laps at Estoril. His pole position at Spa-Francorchamps set the record for the youngest driver to secure pole position at that time. He concluded the season with fourth place in Adelaide. He finished the season sixth overall in the Drivers' Championship with 19 points, outscoring Irvine, who scored six.

During the season, Barrichello scored a second-place finish in Montreal, but the Jordan cars were less reliable than in 1994 mostly because Jordan took over the works Peugeot engine contract from the McLaren team. In three races he lost seven points on the final lap—a high-speed collision with Mark Blundell at Silverstone, and mechanical failures at Barcelona and in Hungary. Barrichello finished the season in 11th with 11 points, one ahead of Irvine.

There were high hopes for. The Benson & Hedges cigarette brand brought an infusion of sponsorship to the team. Barrichello was amongst the frontrunners in Brazil, the second race of the season, before spinning off after his brakes overheated. However, as the season progressed, Jordan became less competitive. Barrichello's relationship with team owner Eddie Jordan soured during 1996, and at the end of the year, after being linked to strong teams, including Benetton (the seat was later filled by Gerhard Berger due to the Austrian bringing in more sponsorship), he left for the newly formed Stewart Grand Prix. His final season at Jordan resulted in 14 points.

Stewart (1997–1999)
Stewart's debut season in saw frequent reliability problems, and Barrichello finished only three races. The highlight was a second-place finish in Monaco, which put him 13th in the standings. Teammate Jan Magnussen scored no points. The same year, Barrichello married Silvana Giaffone on 24 February. She is a cousin of Brazilian Indy Car driver Felipe Giaffone and a niece of the Stock Car Brasil champions, Affonso Giaffone Filho and Zeca Giaffone.

was not much better for Stewart, with two fifth places being the team's best results. Despite the poor reliability of the team, Barrichello consistently beat teammate Magnussen, which resulted in the latter being dropped at the, replaced by Jos Verstappen, another teammate beaten by Barrichello.

was a much better year for the Stewart team. Barrichello qualified third at his home race in Brazil, outpacing Michael Schumacher's Ferrari, and led some laps, until his engine blew near 'Subida dos Boxes'. He also took pole position in the wet qualifying session in France, and three podium finishes, at the San Marino, French, and European Grands Prix. The latter race was won by his teammate Johnny Herbert. Despite this, Barrichello again generally outpaced his teammate. Over the course of the year, he caught the eye of Ferrari boss Jean Todt, and he was signed for the season.

Ferrari (2000–2005)
In, Barrichello achieved his first Grand Prix victory at the at Hockenheim, when he and the team chose to stay on dry-weather tyres when it was raining on part of the circuit. This risky call saw him leap-frog the McLarens who chose to pit for wet weather tyres to win the race, having started from 18th on the grid. This was the longest any driver in Formula One history had waited for a maiden Grand Prix win at the time. Barrichello had a consistent debut season for Ferrari, finishing most races on the podium, but was outscored by Michael Schumacher, Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard. Barrichello finished the season ranked fourth after supporting Schumacher as he battled and defeated Häkkinen for the Drivers' Championship, and helping Ferrari win the Constructors' Championship. Barrichello finished the season in third place, achieving a total of 10 podium finishes and scoring a total of 56 championship points. He nearly achieved a win in Monza, in which the Ferrari pit crew performed badly. He finished the season winless, and again he played a major supporting role for Schumacher, helping him win his second Drivers' Championship with Ferrari and helping the team win the Constructors' Championship for the third consecutive year.

Barrichello's success at Ferrari continued in, when he won four races for the team and finished a career-best second place in the Drivers' Championship, scoring 77 championship points. The year was marked by controversy, however, when Ferrari team orders required Barrichello to allow the trailing Schumacher to pass him on the final straight of the to take victory. Schumacher exchanged podium places with Barrichello at the podium ceremony and gave Barrichello the winner's trophy. The drivers were fined for disrupting podium protocol and Ferrari's blatant team orders led to the FIA banning team orders beginning in.

Barrichello finished the season in fourth place, scoring 65 points, including wins at Silverstone and Suzuka, and again played a crucial role in helping Schumacher and Ferrari win the drivers' and Constructors' Championships. In the season, Barrichello finished second behind Schumacher in only seven of the first thirteen races, but he won both the 2004 Italian Grand Prix and the 2004 Chinese Grand Prix to clinch second place in the championship, finishing the year with 114 points and 14 podiums. Though Barrichello had good cars during his Ferrari era, his best result at his home race was a third place in 2004. He failed to finish eleven of the nineteen Brazilian Grands Prix in which he competed.

In the season, Ferrari lacked the pace of previous years because of the changing of tyre rules. Ferrari used Bridgestone tyres, which were less effective than those of their competitors Michelin. Barrichello's best results this season were two second places in Melbourne and then at the at Indianapolis, when all the Michelin-running cars retired after the formation lap, leaving only six cars in the race. He finished the season in eighth place in the drivers' standings with 38 points, his worst season with Ferrari.

In an August 2022 interview with Felipe Massa, he states that Barrichello had a contract with Ferrari running until 2006, after which he was to be replaced with Kimi Räikkönen for the 2007 season. But in early 2005, Honda had approached him to drive for them, and unhappy with the treatment Ferrari had given him, decided to ask the team to terminate his contract in 2005. He was thus replaced by Massa for the 2006 season.

Honda (2006–2008)
In August 2005 he announced that he would be leaving Ferrari at the end of the year to join Honda. Barrichello's lucky number is "11," which was the number his kart bore when he won his first race. In, his new teammate Jenson Button gave Barrichello the number for his car in goodwill. Barrichello was initially outpaced by Button, and claimed that the car did not suit his driving style, particularly under braking. After modifications to the car he was able to be more competitive. In Monaco, he nearly got his first podium with the team, but then he was given a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane and finished fourth. Though he lost a podium, it was the best result at the Monaco Grand Prix for Honda (as a team) or any Japanese team. Aiming to raise charitable founds for the Brazilian children, for the race Barrichello exchanged helmet liveries with Tony Kanaan, a Brazilian Indy Car driver and one of his best friends; and in the same weekend, Kanaan raced in the 2006 Indianapolis 500 race using Barrichello's helmet livery. Barrichello qualified third for the, ahead of Schumacher and Räikkönen. He finished the season seventh in the drivers' standings with 30 points, 26 behind Button.

Barrichello did not score any points during the 2007 season (unprecedented fact in his career in the category), because of the Honda RA107's lack of pace. Despite retiring only twice, a ninth place in the British Grand Prix was his best result of the season and he only once qualified in the top 10. Despite this, Honda confirmed on 19 July 2007, that Barrichello would remain with the team as a race driver for the season. This gave him the opportunity of making the five race starts he required to break Riccardo Patrese's record for the driver that has started the most Grands Prix, a record that had stood for 14 years.

In the first race of the 2008 season, Barrichello qualified 10th, ahead of Button. He finished 6th but was disqualified for ignoring a red light at the pit exit. He also received a stop-and-go penalty during the race for entering the pits while they were closed during a safety car period. In Malaysia, gearbox problems limited his performance and he finished 13th. In Bahrain he again finished out of the points.

The was Barrichello's 257th Grand Prix, breaking Patrese's record of 256 Grand Prix starts and becoming the most experienced driver in F1 history. The particular Grand Prix at which he broke this record has been disputed, as he technically did not start some races, such as the 2002 Spanish Grand Prix, but Barrichello and Honda chose Turkey to be the location of the official celebrations. In Monaco, he scored his first points since 2006 and in Canada he scored consecutive points, finishing 7th after starting in 9th position. He led some laps because of the appearance of the safety car, but fell back down the order towards the end of the race. At Magny-Cours, Barrichello did not repeat his performance from the two previous races and qualified in 17th. After a gearbox change, he dropped to 20th. In the race, he finished 14th.

At Silverstone, which he said he considers to be his second home, he qualified 16th, outpacing Button. With heavy rain on race day, through good use of an extreme wet tyre he finished 3rd, achieving his first podium since 2005. However, in Germany, a collision with David Coulthard ended his hopes for points. In Hungary, he was lapped by the leader, repeating the same performance in Valencia. In Belgium he qualified 16th but had to retire because of a gearbox fault. At a wet Monza, he was second-fastest in Friday practice and started from 16th on the grid. He managed to get up to 9th but as a result of using the wrong type of tyre in his second pit stop he ended up 17th. At the first ever night race in Singapore he was in a good position to score some points after pitting before the pit lane closed for the safety car period, but shortly afterwards the engine failed and he had to retire. In Japan he started from 17th on the grid, but managed to get up to 13th by the end of the race. In China he managed to get into Q2 for the first time in ten races, and would have started 14th. But after Mark Webber had his ten place penalty for an engine change added he was moved up to 13th. On race day he had a good start, and got up to 10th early on and held a strong mid-table position all race and finished 11th, five places ahead of Button, who had struggled all weekend.

At his home Grand Prix in Brazil, he was sporting an alternative helmet design in tribute to Ingo Hoffmann, and finished 15th.

On 5 December 2008 Honda announced that they were quitting F1, because of the economic crisis. This led to months of uncertainty as to whether a buyer could be found, and whether they would retain Barrichello.

Brawn GP (2009)
Just weeks before the season opener in Melbourne, team manager Ross Brawn purchased the Honda team, renaming it Brawn GP and removing the threat of possible closure. Barrichello was the subject of persistent rumours suggesting he would lose his seat to the young Bruno Senna, nephew of his friend, idol and mentor Ayrton Senna. Ultimately Brawn elected to retain Barrichello to partner Jenson Button in 2009. At Barcelona during the final pre-season test, both Barrichello and Button surprised the paddock with extremely competitive lap times, outperforming others by as much as two seconds, and foreshadowing the performance the team would show in the early races.

In Melbourne, Barrichello topped the timesheets in the first two elements of qualifying, but qualified second on the grid behind teammate Button. Despite a poor start caused by his engine slipping into anti-stall, he did well to recover and lost only a couple of positions at the start. However, he sustained damage to the front wing and rear diffuser in the first corner incident when he was bumped from behind by Heikki Kovalainen in his McLaren that saw him hit Mark Webber in the Red Bull damaging Webber's car as well as his hopes of a good finish. Despite this, Barrichello ultimately finished the race in second place after Sebastian Vettel and Robert Kubica collided with just 2 laps remaining. He started eighth in Malaysia after getting a grid penalty for a gearbox change and finished the race in fifth place after the race was abandoned at Sepang due to heavy rain.

At Shanghai, he outpaced Button in qualifying, but struggled with his car's brakes when one of them stopped working in the first stint and finished in fourth, recording the race's fastest lap. In Bahrain, his front wing adjustor failed during his qualifying run thereby compromising his aggressive 3-pit-stop race strategy, and thus managed only fifth place. He qualified third on the grid for the, but overtook Button and second place man Vettel on the first straight, to lead the race in the first corner. He was unable to capitalise on his three-stop strategy as a result of a lack of pace caused by massive amounts of understeer on his third set of tyres in his third stint, finishing behind Button, who changed to a 2-stop strategy during the race.

At Monaco, Barrichello was pipped for pole by a late-charging Button and Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen. A good start saw him leapfrog the Finn into Sainte Devote. Barrichello's supersoft tyres did not last as well as Button's in the first stint and he pitted earlier than planned, and Button took a commanding lead. The top three remained unchanged for the duration of the race, save some reshuffling during the pit stop windows. At the completion of lap 47, Barrichello became the driver who has completed most laps in Formula One history, surpassing Michael Schumacher's total of 13,909 laps. In Turkey, he again had gearbox problems and retired for the first time in the season, leaving Button to increase his points advantage, while in Britain, Barrichello qualified second behind Vettel, before beating Button for the first time in 2009 en route to third place.

In Germany, Barrichello took the lead at the first corner but after his first stop, he came out behind Felipe Massa who held him up. A fuel rig problem during his second stop meant that he finished the race in sixth, a place behind teammate Jenson Button. After the race he publicly blamed Brawn GP saying "It was a good show from the team in how to lose a race" and "They made me lose the race". Team principal Ross Brawn said of the incident "He had the 11th-fastest time of the race. You can't win a race with that speed". However, he refused to criticize Barrichello for his outburst. Barrichello has since admitted he overreacted, and he would not have won as the Red Bull cars were half a second a lap quicker than him.

In Hungary, the Brawn cars struggled and lacked pace because of problems with the tyres and aerodynamics. Barrichello finished 10th, his first finish outside the points in 2009, and three places behind Button. In Valencia, Barrichello took his 10th Grand Prix win, his first in five years and the 100th win by a Brazilian driver in Formula One, allowing him to move up to 2nd in the Championship. He paid tribute to injured compatriot Felipe Massa with a plaque on the top of his race helmet.

At Spa, he qualified 4th, but suffered from anti-stall for the third time in 2009 and he found himself last, but missed the first lap crash which took out four drivers including teammate Button. While the safety car was out he pitted and changed strategy which enabled him to climb back up to 7th. During the last three laps the car had an engine oil leak, but he still managed to finish, before his car caught fire in the pit lane after the race. At Monza, he qualified 5th, despite carrying more fuel to try a different strategy with only one stop. After passing Kovalainen at the start, Barrichello managed not to lose too much time, as he had the advantage of just one stop against Hamilton, Räikkönen and Sutil's two-stop strategy. By Hamilton's second pit stop, Button and Barrichello were running first and second. Hamilton tried to pressure Button by forcing his car, but on the last lap he crashed, giving third place to Räikkönen, and fourth to Sutil. Barrichello won the 11th race in his Formula One career, and gained more points on Button in their fight for the world title.

In Singapore, he had to change his gearbox and take a five place grid penalty. During qualifying he crashed his car while in fifth place. As a result of Nick Heidfeld starting from the pitlane, Barrichello would start 9th and finished sixth, while Button finished fifth. In Japan, he originally qualified 5th, but was given a five place grid penalty for failing to slow down during a yellow flag situation near the end of Q2 when Sébastien Buemi crashed. He was on course to finish fifth with Button behind, which would have been enough for Brawn GP to clinch the Constructors' Championship, but a safety car period in the closing stages of the race for Jaime Alguersuari's crash meant that Nico Rosberg and Heidfeld were able to stay out ahead and save fuel, dropping Barrichello to seventh. With Button finishing eighth, Barrichello closed the points deficit to fourteen and putting Brawn almost out of reach for the Constructors' title.

In Brazil, Barrichello claimed pole in a rain-soaked, qualifying session with title rivals Button and Vettel down the order in 14th and 16th, respectively. A puncture cost Barrichello a chance of taking the title to the final race, as he failed to secure enough of an advantage over Button to do so. Button finished fifth to become champion. In Abu Dhabi he qualified and finished 4th. With Vettel winning the race, he secured second in the standings, with Barrichello finishing third in the championship with 77 points.

Williams (2010–2011)
In 2010, Barrichello was offered a contract by McLaren. He did not accept because he had already signed a contract with Williams, and did not want to renege on his pledge to that team. The McLaren seat was ultimately filled by Barrichello's 2009 teammate Jenson Button. On 2 November 2009, Williams confirmed Barrichello and Nico Hülkenberg as their official race drivers for the season. This meant that Barrichello would be in Formula One for at least another season, and would go on to become the first driver in Formula One history to compete in over 300 Grands Prix.

In pre-season testing, Barrichello finished at the top of the timesheets once, because of rain. In some sessions, he was outpaced by his rookie teammate Hülkenberg. Williams was the second team in terms of kilometres covered and showed some reliability, but were off pace from front-runners Red Bull, Ferrari, and McLaren.

At the first race of the season in Bahrain, Barrichello qualified eleventh on the grid, and finished tenth in the race. In Australia, he went on to finish eighth, moving him to within two points of Senna's mark. He stalled on the grid in Malaysia due to an overheating clutch, but recovered to twelfth place at the finish. In China, he finished twelfth again. In Spain he benefited from Lewis Hamilton's late crash to score two points, finishing in 9th, despite starting 18th on the grid and equalling Senna's record.

In Monaco, he qualified ninth and moved up to sixth position through the first corner. Later, he had a suspension failure caused by a loose drain cover and crashed heavily. After crashing he threw the car's steering wheel out, as he was sitting in the middle of a 120 mph corner with his car on fire. This was then run over by Karun Chandhok's Hispania.

At the, he qualified fifteenth. Due to an overheating clutch at the start, he dropped down to 20th position. A poor pit stop failed to help his cause and he finished in fourteenth position. It was similar at the, when Barrichello again finished in fourteenth. He qualified eleventh, narrowly missing Q3 but his anti-stall system kicked in at the start of the race. After recovering well, he later collided with Jaime Alguersuari when Alguersuari came across too late to cover his line, the damage blocking Barrichello's left brake duct.

In Valencia, the Williams team brought big upgrades and ran their version of the F-duct. Barrichello qualified ninth with the same time as his teammate Hülkenberg. He was running seventh when the safety car was deployed at the end of lap nine, and pulled straight into the pits. When the safety car pitted he was able to fend off Kubica to finish fourth, his highest finish so far of the season. Post-race, nine cars were investigated for speeding under the safety car, and were later given a five-second penalty. This made no difference to Barrichello's position, and he became the highest-scoring Brazilian driver in Formula One history, overhauling Ayrton Senna's career tally of 614 points, that Barrichello had been tied on since the. He added further points to his total with fifth at Silverstone, and tenth in Hungary, with a twelfth at Hockenheim in between. Barrichello celebrated his 300th Grand Prix at the, but retired in damp conditions after colliding with Fernando Alonso's Ferrari on the first lap. Before the race, he was elected as Chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association to replace the outgoing Nick Heidfeld.

At Monza, he qualified in tenth, and had a rather lonely run in the race to finish in the same place to score another point. In Singapore, the FW32 sported a new front wing, and Barrichello put this to good use to set the sixth fastest time in qualifying, although Williams technical director Sam Michael reckoned the car was fast enough to be a couple of positions higher. In the race despite losing places to Robert Kubica and Nico Rosberg at the start, Barrichello had a solid run to sixth at the finish. In Japan, he qualified in a strong seventh, he raced strongly before fading to ninth as he was overtaken by the two Saubers towards the closing stages of the race.

In Korea he qualified tenth despite being blocked by Michael Schumacher. In a wet race he suffered heavy tyre wear on the intermediates that he was running on, and in the closing stages of the race he was passed by Robert Kubica and Vitantonio Liuzzi, dropping him to seventh place at the finish. At Interlagos he qualified a strong sixth in variable conditions with teammate Hülkenberg starting from pole position. After a delayed pitstop, his traditional bad luck on home soil returned when he suffered a puncture after briefly colliding with Jaime Alguersuari, costing him any chance of scoring points. In Abu Dhabi he again qualified strongly in seventh place, and maintained that position shortly after the start. However, when the safety car was deployed following Michael Schumacher's and Vitantonio Liuzzi's crash, many drivers like Robert Kubica, Vitaly Petrov and Nico Rosberg took advantage of this by pitting early. This had a negative effect as they did not need to pit again, and Barrichello finished outside of the points.

On 15 November 2010, Williams confirmed Barrichello as one of the team's drivers for the season. His teammate in 2011 was Pastor Maldonado.

In Australia he retired with a transmission problem. He retired again in Malaysia with leaking hydraulics. He finished outside the points in the next three races before a pair of ninth places in Monaco and Canada. He came twelfth in Valencia, and thirteenth in Britain, but retired in Germany because of an oil leak. After that, he finished every race outside the points, but made no further retirements. His final race at the 2011 Brazilian Grand Prix was a quiet farewell where he finished 14th, ahead of former teammate Michael Schumacher.

In a 2022 interview, Barrichello revealed he was fired by Frank Williams through a phone call in early January 2012, and on 17 January 2012, Williams confirmed that Bruno Senna would replace Barrichello at Williams for the season. Senna was chosen due to his financial backing.

Planned comeback with Caterham (2014)
Former Caterham F1 team principal Manfredi Ravetto said in an interview that a contract was signed with Barrichello to replace Kamui Kobayashi for the final three races of the season, providing the car would be competitive. It was not, and the Caterham team went into administration, so Barrichello did not join the team.

IndyCar career
On 25 January 2012, American journalist Robin Miller reported that Barrichello was to test an IndyCar for KV Racing Technology with friend Tony Kanaan. The test was held at Sebring over 30–31 January and 1 February. He also tested for the team at Infineon Raceway in late February.

On 1 March 2012 Barrichello joined KV Racing Technology for the 2012 season, to drive the team's number eight entry alongside Kanaan and E. J. Viso, sponsored by Brazilian construction company, Embrase. Barrichello raced in his first Indianapolis 500 on 27 May 2012. He led a total of two laps and finished 11th, and in doing so won the 2012 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year title. During the rest of the season he took two top six finishes, and finished the year in 12th position in the championship.

Stock Car Pro Series (formerly Stock Car Brasil)
Barrichello joined a Peugeot team of the Brazilian racing series Stock Car Brasil (now called Stock Car Pro Series) for the final three races of the 2012 season as a guest driver. Since 2013 he drives a Chevrolet as a regular member of the Full Time Sports team. Since Nonô Figueiredo already used the number 11, Barrichello's lucky number, he chose 111 instead. In the 2013 season, he finished the season in 8th place overall, with a best race result was a second-place finish.

Continuing to drive a Chevrolet for Full Time Sports in 2014, Barrichello was crowned the 2014 champion, winning two races and securing a further 4 podium finishes. This was Barrichello's first championship in 23 years, dating back to his 1991 British Formula 3 title. In 2015, Barrichello finished in 4th place overall. In 2016 he claimed three wins and nine podiums, finishing second overall behind Felipe Fraga. He finished 5th in 2017, 4th in 2018, 5th in 2019, 6th in 2020 and 2021, earning at least one individual win each year. In 2022 he won the series for the second time with three victories in the individual races.

In 2020, Toyota sent him to Argentina to compete in the Super TC 2000 and Top Race V6 championships.

Helmet
Barrichello's helmet is white with an orange-red oval shape on the rear, an orange-red shape around the visor, an orange red line under the helmet and a blue circle on the top with azure and sky blue cylinders—similar to those on the helmet of former world champion Emerson Fittipaldi—with a golden star in the middle (usually five-pointed, although the recent designs had it six-pointed). The white part of the helmet changed to silver for some races during the 1999 season. After signing for Ferrari in 2000, teammate Michael Schumacher changed the colours of his helmet at the Monaco Grand Prix to avoid confusion, since the two drivers' original helmet colours were identical (the only real difference being that Schumacher's helmet had a red band which wrapped around its back from the visor, fading into gold and back).

At the 2001 Brazilian Grand Prix, the oval shape and the shape around the visor were painted to resemble the Brazilian flag, and at his 300th Grand Prix, his helmet once again carried the Brazilian flag colours. At the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix he had the helmet livery of fellow Brazilian and good friend Tony Kanaan, who in turn had Barrichello's helmet livery while racing in 2006 Indianapolis 500 which was held on the same day because they said it would be the closest either of them would get to competing in the biggest race of the year of the category the other raced in. At the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix, Barrichello drove with a helmet in tribute to Ingo Hoffmann, former F1 driver and multiple Stock Car Brasil champion who was retiring that year. At the 1995 and 2011 Brazilian Grands Prix, he wore a helmet painted to include elements of his own helmet design, and the classic design of Ayrton Senna's helmet.

During the 2009 season he used the Brawn GP fluorescent colours on his helmet.

Career summary
† As Barrichello was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.
 * Season still in progress.

Complete British Formula Three Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete International Formula 3000 results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula One results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap) $†$ Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

$†$ Half-points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.

Complete IndyCar Series results
(key)

 * ** Podium (Non-win) indicates 2nd- or 3rd-place finishes
 * *** Top 10s (Non-podium) indicates 4th- through 10th-place finishes

Complete Stock Car Pro Series results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap) ‡ Ineligible for championship points. † Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.
 * Season still in progress.

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Personal life
Barrichello lives in São Paulo. For commuting between races, Barrichello owned an Embraer Legacy 600.

Barrichello formerly held the fastest time by a Formula One driver around the Top Gear test track during the show's Star in a Reasonably Priced Car segment. His lap time of 1:44.3 put him ahead of the Stig by 0.1 seconds. This led to Jeremy Clarkson making frequent references to the Stig developing a deep-seated hatred of Barrichello.

In February 2018, Barrichello was rushed to hospital after suffering headaches where it was discovered that he had a benign tumour which was later removed. On F1's podcast, "Beyond The Grid", he revealed he got divorced in 2019.

Barrichello's son Eduardo Barrichello is also a racing driver, currently competing in the Formula Regional European Championship.

title: Rubens Barrichello