It’s a complicated discussion, for sure!
As my initial basic rule; I won’t count anything not on RCDB. I think that would get me into too much of a grey area.
In terms of some of the most common Yes/No dilemmas:
- Clones: Yes
- Like-For-Like Retracks (e.g. Hulk, Nemesis): No
- Relocations: No
- Standup-to-Floorless Conversions: No
- Powered Coasters: Yes
- Alpine Coasters: Yes
- Separate Sides of a Dueling Coaster as Multiple Credits: Yes
- Separate Sides of a Mobius Loop as Multiple Credits: No
- Addition of a New Element (e.g. the inversion and new trains to Hades 360): No
- Ghost Trains with Drops: No
Talking in a slightly more nuanced light; I think my basic criteria for considering something a coaster would be:
- On RCDB
- Either does elements that feel uniquely coaster-like (e.g. banked turns), or in the case of water rides with airtime hills on drops, coasts upwards without hitting water directly afterwards (I think this is what Duane uses)
- Has coaster-type hardware
In terms of the retrack dilemma; I’d say that something would have to be materially changed in terms of the basic experience compared to before for me to consider it a new credit. So for instance, if Nemesis was having its layout totally changed other than the lift hill, brake run and station, that would be a new credit. But the new Nemesis won’t feel materially different to the old one, so it’s no new credit in my eyes.
In terms of a dilemma I was wondering if you guys could chime in on; I’m headed to Europa in April. Atlantica SuperSplash, one of the water rides there, is technically considered a roller coaster by many, but I’m not sure it looks overly coaster-y; other than the airtime hill and the one bit where it coasts upwards in a straight line, it doesn’t really do anything that a regular shoot-the-chutes can’t. Do you think I should count it? I’ll admit I’m leaning towards Yes, as RCDB counts it, I haven’t seen any major debate about whether or not Atlantica is a coaster, and it does meet many of my criteria, but I’ll admit to being unsure… what do you guys think?
It’s so complicated… you’d think something like a roller coaster would be simple to classify, but there are so many grey areas! To be honest, I think I’m just going to use RCDB as the gospel on these matters for now, as it’s all a bit too complicated and has too many grey areas for me to make that determination on my own.
