Designated Drivers
Designated Drivers
[Cueball is addressing three people outside a bar, indicated by a sign (two Cueball-like guys and Megan).] Cueball: Wait, who's driving? First Cueball-like guy: Why? First Cueball-like guy: Tom, right?
[Zoom in on Cueball.] Cueball: Yes, but we have to leave in two groups. One of which will need at least two drivers.
[There is text both above and below a flowchart with arrows between a group of the three people Cueball is talking to, and three houses that are labeled 'bar', 'dinner', and 'party'. Three lines point from the group of people to the bar and a fourth arrives from the party. Four lines points away from the bar. Two goes to the dinner one to the party and one away to the left. There are six arrows arriving at the dinner. Apart from the two lines coming from the bar, there is one long arrow pointing to the dinner from the left and two coming in from above. One more comes from the party below. Six arrows points away. One arrow goes away to the top right, the other five arrows points straight down to the party. There are also six arrows coming and leaving the party. Apart from the five from the dinner there was the one coming in from the bar. The six arrows leaving are the one arrow that went to the bar and the one to the dinner. The other four leaves in two groups of two, on straight down and two curving to the left.] Cueball (off-panel): Someone has to get Paul, and Julia and Emily have to leave by 10:00. Labels: Bar Labels: Dinner Labels: Party Cueball (off-panel): The logistics of who can get drunk are nontrivial.
[The second Cueball-like guy to the right has an goat on a string behind him, which was not visible in the first panel, as he was at that time only partly inside the frame.] Second Cueball-like guy: Yeah, and I can't ride in a car with the wolf because he'll eat my goat. Cueball: Dammit, guys.

When a group of people go together to any kind of event where they expect to drink alcohol, and would like to drive to and from the event, it is usual to select one who has to be the designated driver . [ citation needed ] This person will then stay sober during the event, and can thus safely drive the other people home afterwards disregarding how drunk the other people become.
However, as this comic points out, if it's not a simple task of going from A to B and back, all together at the same time, then it becomes a complex problem that requires an intricate kind of strategy and logical thinking to solve. And may need more than one driver.
In this comic Cueball addresses his friends, regarding this problem right before they enter a bar. It seems they have already decided that one of the friends will be the designated driver. But then Cueball mentions that they will have to leave in two groups. And for some reason one of these groups will need at least two drivers (this is hard to explain - see below under number of drivers .) So now they already need three designated drivers. Furthermore, someone has to go and pick up another friend. And also two of them have to leave earlier than the rest by 10:00.
In the third panel the situation seems to be illustrated. Three people are drawn outside the bar with three lines going to the bar, so the number of lines leaving and entering each destination seems to represent a person each. Since the number of people leaving and entering each destination is the same, this makes it seem like the diagram is intended to be accurate. There are four people entering and exiting the bar and six people entering and exiting both the party and the dinner. The confusing part of the diagram is that there are only three people at the bar to begin with, not the four shown in the first panel. It also seems strange that someone will go back to the bar and especially that another goes back to the dinner from the party. It is thus not easy to make the diagram fit the description. See below for a possible take on the chart .
But the general concept would be that some people meet at a bar before joining the rest of a group at dinner, then later most of these move on to a party. After the party (or bar/dinner) people are going to head home in different groups.
The enormous complexities of planning who car pools with whom, from where to where, and when, make an excellent logic puzzle. And what is worse, anyone who has to drive needs to stay sober. So it is important to solve the puzzle before the drinking starts, or else there will be too few that can drive, or too many who never get to drink.
To make matters worse Tom complicates this already complicated logical puzzle , by involving the classic logic puzzle of the wolf, goat and cabbage (sometimes also known as Fox-chicken-grain puzzle ). In the last panel, the guy is shown standing with a goat on a tether, saying he can't be in the car with the wolf. Cueball is then brought to swearing over this. (The goat puzzle was also the subject of 1134: Logic Boat and 2348: Boat Puzzle ). And this may go some way of explaining why there needs to be a number of drivers .
The title text makes it clear why ordering a taxi is out of the question as it would take money out of the beer budget. Of course it also cost money to use your own car for gas etc. But when you already have a car, it is always cheaper to use that than pay for a taxi.
It's possible to match the chart up with the events in the comic if we assume two things: first, that everyone's initial position in the chart is at home, and second, that the party takes place at Cueball's house.
Whether or not Randall intended it this way isn't certain.
For clarity, I'll be referring to the first cueball as Cueball, the second as David, Megan as Emily, and the third cueball as Tom.
Unless a more efficient solution exists, the minimum number of people that have to remain sober is three: Tom, David, and either Julia or Emily. Emily is able to begin drinking the earliest, starting at the bar and continuing the rest of the night. If the place everyone is having dinner at serves alcohol, Paul can begin drinking at dinner. If Emily elected to stay sober, Julia can start drinking when Paul does. Cueball is the last to be able to drink, only getting to start once everyone is at the party.
Interestingly enough, if the goat and wolf cannot drive, then they only make a difference if Paul has the wolf, in which case David would have to pick Paul up and take him home, and Tom and his goat would leave after dinner.
If either the wolf or the goat can drive, then a sober human driver is not needed for the vehicle in which that animal travels.
[Cueball is addressing three people outside a bar, indicated by a sign (two Cueball-like guys and Megan).] Cueball: Wait, who's driving? First Cueball-like guy: Why? First Cueball-like guy: Tom, right?
[Zoom in on Cueball.] Cueball: Yes, but we have to leave in two groups. One of which will need at least two drivers.
[There is text both above and below a flowchart with arrows between a group of the three people Cueball is talking to, and three houses that are labeled 'bar', 'dinner', and 'party'. Three lines point from the group of people to the bar and a fourth arrives from the party. Four lines points away from the bar. Two goes to the dinner one to the party and one away to the left. There are six arrows arriving at the dinner. Apart from the two lines coming from the bar, there is one long arrow pointing to the dinner from the left and two coming in from above. One more comes from the party below. Six arrows points away. One arrow goes away to the top right, the other five arrows points straight down to the party. There are also six arrows coming and leaving the party. Apart from the five from the dinner there was the one coming in from the bar. The six arrows leaving are the one arrow that went to the bar and the one to the dinner. The other four leaves in two groups of two, on straight down and two curving to the left.] Cueball (off-panel): Someone has to get Paul, and Julia and Emily have to leave by 10:00. Labels: Bar Labels: Dinner Labels: Party Cueball (off-panel): The logistics of who can get drunk are nontrivial.
[The second Cueball-like guy to the right has an goat on a string behind him, which was not visible in the first panel, as he was at that time only partly inside the frame.] Second Cueball-like guy: Yeah, and I can't ride in a car with the wolf because he'll eat my goat. Cueball: Dammit, guys.
