I've a beginner's problem maybe someone can help with.
Imagine a game simulating a sporting event (baseball, boxing, football, &c.). The games, themselves, are divided into time periods -- innings, rounds, quarters, &c. -- and one cannot know ahead of time how many periods actually will be played. So, for example, baseball is a nine-inning game -- unless there is rain or the need for extra innings if a tie; boxing is so many rounds -- unless there is a knockout or other fight-ending incident.
The simulation addresses this within the game via a template -- the template describ