Snakes and a Mongoose rd. 2

Inspiration

We wanted to capture that frustrating moment when someone attacks a version of your argument you never made. The straw man fallacy is pervasive in today's reality, so we gave it physical form as a snake that literally creates twisted copies of you.

What it does

Snakes and a Mongoose rd. 2 pits you against the Straw Skin Snake, a serpent that weaponizes misrepresentation. It constantly sheds animated straw figures that mock distorted versions of your position, painting you as extreme or threatening. Using voice commands, you deploy Mongoose Moves to reclaim your actual argument. The turn-based debate escalates until you unlock a Strike Chance presenting three finishing arguments. Only one exposes the misrepresentation through good faith clarification. The others are tempting bad faith attacks that lose you the duel.

How we built it

Using ElevenLabs voice agents, we created an arena atmosphere where the AI opponent dynamically twists your statements into straw man attacks. The voice interface lets players naturally call out moves like Mirror and Reveal (restate your actual position) or Entangle and Question (force the snake to address what you really said) while the AI escalates its misrepresentations.

Challenges we ran into

Making the straw man tactic feel viscerally unfair without becoming frustrating. We needed players to experience the manipulation clearly enough while still keeping the game engaging rather than enraging.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We created a debate scenario where reclaiming your own position becomes a strategic victory.

What we learned

Straw man scenarios resonate because they tap into universal frustration. Everyone has experienced having their words twisted, making the practice of redirecting back to your real argument feel immediately valuable.

What's next for Snakes and a Mongoose rd. 2

Round 2 is the second of four debate duels. Players who defeat the Straw Skin Snake advance to Round 3, facing new opponents representing different manipulation tactics in the tournament.

Built With

• elevenlabs-voice-ai