Re: 2013 ACTUAL game hint!!!
 

The creator of "Starry night" which seems to be something that is popping up ocassionaly (and detectives don't believe in coincidences), Van Gogh, often missed dinner, especially on Sundays:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent...gh#cite_ref-30 (footnote 4)

As well, Van Gogh excelled in the very last portion of his career (end game?)

A search for music and Van Gogh pointed me towards Beethoven. His career is often divided into 3 parts.

I'm thinking a game with 3 distinct game modes rather than the two that we usually see.
Possibly an auton
A tele-op where a piece is "never given up"
and then a tele-op where the opposite is done.

Re: 2013 ACTUAL game hint!!!
 

I think the fact that we figured out the entire decrypted code by page 4 counts for something...

Re: 2013 ACTUAL game hint!!!
 

That was incredibly well thought out, but i think you completely diverged from the "essence" of the hint. I'm only saying this because I want us all to discover (as close as we can) the meaning of this hint.

You took a picture that was on the background of one of NASA's mission pages (which was found by analyzing the first tiny piece of the long string of numbers), and then found the artist, and then went on into more specific and seemingly random relationships regarding the artist.

EDIT: Sorry if this sounds harsh, it's late at night and in checking this thread I have been let down by the near-complete halt of progress we have made since the 5th page.

Re: 2013 ACTUAL game hint!!!
 

Here's what I'm seeing, although I could verywell be compeltely off. I'm basing this off of what's already been said as well as my own thoughts.

"A ROSE, KISSED" may be a reference to the song "Kissed by a Rose" which is by a man names Seal

"SINGER GREAT" could be a more specific clue meant to point you towards the singer of the song (Seal)

"A DINNER, MISSED" could be refering to a picture of the same caption on flikr (It's actually the first result if you google the phrase)
http://m.flickr.com/#/photos/81238501@N00/8073635501/

"HOLDING WEIGHT"......well, really not sure here. Could either be a reference to the weighing bucket shown in the picture..... or that whole Rick Astley thing (which would suggest some sort of robot-lifting-other-robots situation). Who knows

Now, all of this would seem to point towards an aquatic theme, but I don't think that is the case.

I think the theme is going to be sustainability/survival/"protection of life" in some manner. I say this for two reasons:

1. cypher points to seals (often under protection) and dead fish

2. earlier on, it was mentioned that there may or may not be reasoning behind releasing the hint on 12/21/12: the day that we were all supposed to die on.
http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr...me-hint-status
The blog hints that the day is significant, yet may not be for the whole "long count" reason (he says that it could just be a coincidence). If that is the case, then the other reason why that date is significant is because that is the anniversary of the Lockerbie Bombing (google it if you don't already know what it was).

So yeah, that's my spiel.

Holding up teammates to keep them alive

Re: 2013 ACTUAL game hint!!!
 

The first thing i thought of, a blast from everyone's childhood. "The floor is lava"

Re: 2013 ACTUAL game hint!!!
 

On the topic of the two other game hints. I was digging around, and I found a reply to a post on the FIRST Hint page that said this:

Other Hints?
Submitted by Frank Merrick on Fri, 12/21/2012 - 16:06.

The '#3' is just a label. You shouldn't assume that there were other hints. But you shouldn't assume there weren't either. In your shoes, I would make no assumptions.

I googled around for other Hints for this years game, And I have found nothing. So the #3 is part of the hint

Re: 2013 ACTUAL game hint!!!
 

Sealed buckets.

Re: 2013 ACTUAL game hint!!!
 

When I search for "a dinner missed" in quotes the first thing that pops up is this photo of fish.

It was taken in Drangsnes, Iceland by an very talented nature photographer named Bo Valentin. I'm not sure if he's a factor, but according to Wikipedia Drangsnes got its name from a tall rock named Kerling of what is said that it is one of three troll women who tried to separate the West Fjords from the rest of Iceland. Interesting...

Stretching a little further "Kerling" is an alternate spelling of "Curling", the sport where a heavy polished stone is slid across the ice towards a target area while team members use brooms to alter the state of the ice in it's path.

Re: 2013 ACTUAL game hint!!!
 

(voice of Stephen Colbert)NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, I had to go to rehab to forget regolith! :(

Re: 2013 ACTUAL game hint!!!
 

"A dinner missed" is too unusual of a phrase for this photo not to mean something.

A picture of dead fish. "Holding weight."

A fish scale.

Re: 2013 ACTUAL game hint!!!
 

PI is mostly useful when dealing with circles.

The robots / alliances build circles, say from different sized pieces? Perhaps pie shaped pieces?

Re: 2013 ACTUAL game hint!!!
 

Please propose an alternative then.

And my last amount of time used on this subject has given me a game proposition:
3 towers that game pieces are placed on the top of. 3 sections of the game. During each "mode" of the game, your alliance is allowed to score on a certain tower by placing game pieces on top. During the same mode, the opposite alliance must score on a different tower. At any time during the game you may de score from any tower. The game is scored with 3 total points. 1 point for each tower your alliance has more game pieces on than the other alliance.

Re: 2013 ACTUAL game hint!!!
 

you sir win the game

Re: 2013 ACTUAL game hint!!!
 

I think the "Dinner Missed" relates to the play "Dinner for One" in which the operative and often repeated line is "the same procedure as every year".

Re: 2013 ACTUAL game hint!!!
 

A nice description of Triple Play 05...