diff --git a/engine-api/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/api/activityconfig/rawyaml/RawScenarios.java b/engine-api/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/api/activityconfig/rawyaml/RawScenarios.java
index b4023a306..ecf8b5f8f 100644
--- a/engine-api/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/api/activityconfig/rawyaml/RawScenarios.java
+++ b/engine-api/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/api/activityconfig/rawyaml/RawScenarios.java
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
 package io.nosqlbench.engine.api.activityconfig.rawyaml;
 
-import java.util.LinkedHashMap;
-import java.util.LinkedList;
-import java.util.List;
+import java.util.*;
 
 public class RawScenarios extends LinkedHashMap<String, LinkedList<String>> {
 
@@ -11,6 +9,23 @@ public class RawScenarios extends LinkedHashMap<String, LinkedList<String>> {
     }
 
     public List<String> getNamedScenario(String scenarioName) {
-        return this.get(scenarioName);
+        Object v = this.get(scenarioName);
+        if (v==null) { return null; }
+
+        // Yes this looks strange. Yes it will work. SnakeYaml and generics are a bad combo.
+        if (v instanceof List) {
+            return (List<String>) v;
+        } else if (v instanceof CharSequence) {
+            return List.of(v.toString());
+        } else if (v instanceof Map) {
+            Object[] o = ((Map) v).values().toArray();
+            ArrayList<String> strings = new ArrayList<>(o.length);
+            for (Object o1 : o) {
+                strings.add(o.toString());
+            }
+            return strings;
+        } else {
+            throw new RuntimeException("Unknown type while access raw named scenarios data: " + v.getClass().getCanonicalName());
+        }
     }
 }
diff --git a/nb/src/main/resources/activities/examples/sequences.yaml b/nb/src/main/resources/activities/examples/sequences.yaml
index 093403c09..c9bc71500 100644
--- a/nb/src/main/resources/activities/examples/sequences.yaml
+++ b/nb/src/main/resources/activities/examples/sequences.yaml
@@ -1,20 +1,20 @@
 # eb sequences concat
-# yields ABBCCCDDDDABBCCCDDDD
+# yields A B B C C C D D D D A B B C C C D D D D
 # eb run driver=stdout workload=examples/sequences cycles=20 seq=interval
-# yields ABCDDCBDCDABCDDCBDCD
+# yields A B C D D C B D C D A B C D D C B D C D
 # eb run driver=stdout workload=examples/sequences cycles=20 seq=bucket
-# yields ABCDBCDCDDABCDBCDCDD
+# yields A B C D B C D C D D A B C D B C D C D D
 
 scenarios:
-  concat: driver===stdout seq===concat
-  bucket: driver===stdout seq===bucket
-  interval: driver===stdout seq===interval
+  concat: run driver===stdout seq===concat cycles=20
+  bucket: run driver===stdout seq===bucket cycles=20
+  interval: run driver===stdout seq===interval cycles=20
 statements:
- - A1: "|"
+ - A1: "A "
    ratio: 1
- - B2: "_"
+ - B2: "B "
    ratio: 2
- - C3: "="
+ - C3: "C "
    ratio: 3
- - D4: ":"
+ - D4: "D "
    ratio: 4