Hidden Finish

Hidden Finish is a map style of TrackMania Nations Forever. Main shtick of the hidden finish maps is, obviously, the hidden finish block, which player must first find before they can complete their race.
== Mechanics ==
In many maps of this style it is common for the finish block to move to other hiding spots on the racetrack to avoid being found. This mechanic of the "hiding block" was not intentional, and is an error in the GameBox engine, as said by developers at Nadeo. Sources inside the company claim that the block is moving due to poor handling of pointer arithmetics inside the game's code. Although plausible, this theory is not popular with the community, as it appears that the block's "hiding spots" are precisely calculated using the surroundings, making the players' task to discover it a daunting one.
== History ==
The "hiding" property of the finish block was first encountered by FlyingDave, the founding father of roof. He shared that clicking the circle button in the map editor exactly 17 times makes the finish block "jump around". Some other players reported that they got this effect after only pressing the button 16 times, and many reported not being able to replicate this behaviour at all.
First usage of this unusual mechanic came from FlyingDave himself, who had remixed some of the classic lol maps to have the finish block hide from players. Finding the finish was very difficult, as it seemed to find the best "hiding spots" every single time. For many racers, for instance, the block would hide below the stadium, making it impossible to set a time at all. To combat this, hidden finish enthusiasts decided to place at least 33As the maximum amount of blocks that can be placed on one Y level is 32, 33 placed finishes would leave at least one "hiding" on the surface. finish blocks on the map, eliminating the possibility of it "hiding" underneath the stadium.
Despite the initial hype after its bizarre discovery, the hidden finish map style did not live on. TrackMania players got tired of it very quickly due to its unrivaled difficulty, akin to platform and trial maps. Very few hidden finish maps are built nowadays, with those published having an average of 50 placed finish blocks, making the whole ordeal way more accessible to all echelons of players.
== References ==