Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Correct it was a matter of strategy and planning. It wasn't something that you could just be like we are going to try an coopertate with you. It was more than that.

So back to the hint.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

I just wanted to state that I am surprised by this for co-op. In michigan, at the regionals we went to last year we never saw any co-op fail.......wow.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

I'm going to say this only once:

-In BOTH the years there have been coopertition points that affected the ranking, those ranking systems were almost universally hated, and there was a distinct spike in playing to lose, or playing to deny X. (2010, 2012) I remember hearing that some teams couldn't get a coop balance in 2012 to save their lives, hardly--and some of it was intentional.

-In the year where coopertition points affected barely anything (2011), almost nobody practiced coopertition.

-In 2008, something similar to coopertition was applied, in that blowing out your opponents negatively affected your potential points in your next match. Mixed results in terms of liking. But IF FRC ever goes back to having coopertition points, I'd want to see something like this, where working with your opponent to score/keep the game close gives bonus (and/or coopertition) points and blowouts give negative bonus/coopertition points.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Does the 25% weight sign still pop up with the new numbers?

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

I didn't think it had been that bad. Thanks for the insight. Also, I like that idea of negative co-op.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Technically yes, however it was never a strong theory due to the back searching from GDC. After all, Frank said that we got way off track.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Look at the games section

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIRST_...cs_Competition

:ahh:

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

And the FakeGDC strikes again (according to the edit history)

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

anybody could create a wikipedia account though and edit any page it really isn't that hard probably just some person trying to be funny

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

It's taken down now

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

There isn't anything wrong with the games section....

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

It was taken down

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Many teams were able to win and balance, including 254, many times. I am quite positive that 254 talked and discussed the strategy for balancing before the match. You say that winning should have been the priority. Why? It was worth the same as the co-op balance.

What I think is wrong is that 254's bridge balancing and coopertitioning (or coopertating?) skills didn't change from match to match, but their scores did. In some matches, they may have been able to spend only 20 seconds balancing, but in others, they could not have the ability to balance at all. In this sense, their qualifying points do not correlate to the teams ability. I can be the greatest bridge balancer in the world and have opponents who don't have the ability (or choose not to) go on the bridges, win 10 matches, balance zero, and end up with 20 qualification points. Then, I could be a very average robot, with an average bridge skill, and end up with great balancing partners and at the end of the day balancing 7 out of 10 times, and winning 5 matches out of ten, with a total of 24 qualification points. The average team wins, the great team looses. There's no correlation between points and robot ability.

In the match, 254 knew that in order to be in picking position, they needed to balance and win, and they knew that if they gave up balancing, they gave up picking. So, they tried to balance. In the end, they were picked anyway.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Never mind. I see someone already fixed it.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Just for future reference, the edited version(by a user called fakegdc) is located here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php...id=5 88458069

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Very true, My team talked with 254 before our match and successfully preformed a balance.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Because winning gives 3 teams 2QP, whereas cooping gives 6 teams 2QP. If your option is winning OR cooping, you chose winning because it boosts less people in the ranks, while still giving you the same QP.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

I agree with this general concept. I can picture something like, say, an area that takes some time to get in and out of, but if you can just stay in the middle and throw game pieces out of there, it's faster to score as a two robot job.

I can't picture a good way to make passing game elements between robots figure into the scoring. I wouldn't want to make the referees responsible for keeping track of each time a game piece is passed between robots.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Yeah, but it's not GP to stop halfway through your coop balance and go score more points and win.

Return of "un-GP" :rolleyes:

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Alas, there lies the problem with 2012.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

The all time assist leader in hockey is Wayne Gretzky. Maybe the game element is a stick?

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

To talk about the (seldom discussed) football theory, in one of the behind the design FRC videos, one member of the GDC said another always comes in with a football and is like "I have the next game piece everyone!" every year. So it is a possibility.

That being said, I still think its gonna be hockey. How they're pulling that one off I have no idea.

Also:
A little late to the party, are ya?

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

EDIT: before I get slapped down again, here is the most coherent explanation I could find on the number sequence:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...&postcount=143

Explains the first and second sequence, and why they differ.

************************************************** *************************

Getting back to the Game Hint:

Anyone post any thoughts with regards to the anagram of the first and second set of numbers?

Initial Set 12/20/2013:
8234/57, 61126/1963, 62326/15806

Second Set, 12/30/2013:
61474:135, 12661:1963, 32662:15806

Two numerical anagrams are presented:
1) 61126 and 12661 (paired by : and / with the 1963 number)
2) 62326 and 32662 (paired with 15806)

Not that I know what the exact significance of that would be, just thought I'd mention it, as I've not seen any comments on it. (And I've not read all 200+ posts to this point.)

Is the anagram itself a clue? Or just the reformatted update......

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

You should probably read the thread. This has already been solved. Summary: the numbers have something to do with assisting in various sports. This is just like kickoff, read everything BEFORE you post!

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Actually no... I was pointing it out for two reasons 1.) To get people back on track and 2.) To relate my idea to the hint.

It is a possibility thay he could have a bunch of sticks around his house.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

I believe this game has to do with Lincoln logs. Yes Lincoln logs I said it. Canon me crazy but you will all see in time. :D :o

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Ouch - I was making a joke out of the way you phrased it :P

Anyway I think those carpet pucks would be a much more... intuitive gamepiece than a stick since it would be weird to play a hockey based game with the hockey equipment rather than the hockey gamepiece.

That being said, manipulating a stick as a gamepiece seems difficult. I hope thats not it!

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Nope you're wrong.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

OK, another shot at the whole Game Hint speculation. Quote:

"*Doctor Who is not a hint. I just happen to enjoy the show.

[Please don’t take my saying Doctor Who is not a hint to mean it really is a hint. It’s really not a hint]

[[Please don’t take my saying Doctor Who really is not a hint to mean it really really is a hint. It’s really really not a hint]]

[[[etc]]]"

Ok, so let's assume that Doctor Who is NOT the hint. Is it reasonable to say that Doctor "Whos" is a hint? (Gramatically, the plural should probably be "Doctors Who*." But this is the GDC, and this is just a Game Hint.) We've now had two very explicit references to two distinctly different Doctors. And the whole denial string is likely an imitation of the campy time travel/time looping inherent in any episode featuring everyone's favorite (alien) Time Lord. And the Doctor Whos hint is even emphasized again with the etc at the end, which is typically translated out of Latin (et cetera) as "and so forth." Indicating repetition. Which is what Doctor Who does in nearly every episode.

If the hint is "Whos," then Whos on FIRST could be back in play, I would think. It would be more than a little crazy to have a permutation of a baseball game, featuring wiffle balls thrown at targets.

*Based upon the plural of Attorney General is Attorneys General, not Attorney Generals.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Yeah I should have put that better... so much for English

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

My guess is a hockey game using carpet pucks for shooting and a barrier will be on the arena to discourage scoring without passing.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

YOU GUYS ARE ALL WRONG!!! the numbers can be translated into Chinese and then back into English they OBVIOUSLY mean something else. You get the numbers 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 etc... This is Fibonacci's code! Anyone who is anyone can figure that out! It's elementary! SO it means that the game is... LINCOLN LOG CONSTRUCTION!!! #easy

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Maybe something where cooperation is a choice, could be the end game but maybe something where you can feed your teammates something during the match to minimize travel time or something?

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

How exactly would that work out? Would it work with the previous set of numbers as well? The assist idea works with both. We shouldn't shoot down every idea that one person thinks is wrong. We need to filter out the obvious wrong answers and solidify the ones that are possible.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

I realize this is probably a joke but just in case, I think this might be an example of people overthinking the hint ... just maybe

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

I think the best cooperation scenario is a task that is quite difficult to do as a single robot, but less difficult to do to a degree. Maybe something where a basket (or multiple) has to be filled to a certain weight before something drops/unlocks. One robot can fill the whole thing but its easier to do with two robots.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Exactly this.

You want to boost yourself, not everyone. If everyone moves up 2 spots in the rankings, yes you went up 2 ranks, but so did everyone else, so your overall relative rank hasn't changed (theoretically assuming there was no ceiling to the ranks).

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

RANT WARNING :o (Pendulum^-1, please do not take this personally. :) )

Okay. I see where you are coming from, and believe me it is a good thought. But... seriously? Frank specifically stated that it is NOT a hint! In fact, he stated that three times! While I applaud your sleuthing, I really really really want to trust Frank on this. Do you really think that he would cloak the hint in such deception? He specifically said that we are over thinking all of this. Let's stop over thinking, and focus on the actual hint. Not the Doctor Who references,* not the Fake GDC twitter feed,** and not the Kickoff filming photo.***

Rant over. Sorry for my unnecessarily long-winded post. I do not intend to direct this at anyone in particular. I think I'm just finally venting.... Let's get back to the hint now, shall we?

*Frank did say that he's simply a fan of the show, after all.
**The humor is awesome, but let's not take it was anything more than that.
***It specifically says "There is no game clue in this photo"

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Fair enough.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Depending on the situation, sometimes it might benefit some lower seeds to prioritize giving middle seeds ranking points. It can force middle teams into the top and create scorched earth scenarios which benefit lower ranked teams.

:)

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

I think that game piece passing could be plausible if there were a small number of game elements. We have had 12+ smallish game pieces for a long time, it might be kind of fun to deal with 6 or fewer larger game pieces again like in 2008.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

I like this Frank guy. Anyone who posts a gif of David Tennant gets a thumbs up in my book.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

....so, um, Green isn't the answer? :mad:

tl;dr: Did anyone parse the original hint numbers using the same theory (:assists: ) to see what they got?

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

If "assists" are a major component, and "hockey" is the inspiration, the GDC doesn't need to go through anything so complicated as dividing the field into three zones, with robots restricted to each zone and therefore encourage passing. They could just do something like:

Scoring increases with each "assist" pass. Low goal (or single robot touching the ball/puck/whatever)=1 point. Middle goal (or two robots touch the game piece)=3 points. High goal (or all three robots touch)=9 points.

Or something like that.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Yes, the difference was a reversal of day/month, I think. There was also the issue with Landon Donovan's number of assists being in question.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Yeah...I'm just wondering how they would keep track of robots passing game pieces to each other.

What they could do is that would be a viable and effective strategy to get around defense, otherwise you double-team the bot with the puck forcing them to pass or lose control of the puck.

Sounds like fun, now that I think about it. More defense and more opportunities to evade defense = more excitement.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Keeping track wouldn't be that hard, I think. I went to an Avs game last night, and it was generally easy to keep track of who had the puck.

The more I think about it, the more I like this idea. If one goal of the GDC is getting teams to cooperate, what better way to get high-level teams to reach out to rookies and teams with weaker bots? They would have to work well together, especially off the field, in order to ensure all the bots had a touch.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Guys i figured it out. Olmec from The Legend of the Hidden Temple will be our guide.
-note I'm joking, don't take it seriously
Thanks!

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

I know it's not that hard, but that leaves it open to human error of the referees. If they aren't paying attention for a few seconds, it could cause swings in the score.

Imagine wall passes - pass the puck to a rookie team who may not be able to score, but then you swing back around and pick it up from them on the other side...whoa...

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Because I'm sure that you know the game and all the rules to go with it? You can't tell people that they are just wrong when you don't know for yourself.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Jokes aside. When going back to the triangle in 2d, it's sort of like a paper football.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

This could be very exiting! It also makes it so that all robots, good or not, can still play the game and help their alliance! I like this idea. I think it could be a viable option to make more teams be useful in a match instead of siting around trying to play defense.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Or like in Capture the Flag and football, you only chase the guy with the flag/ball. So you give away the game piece to get the defense off of you then get it back later when you can find an opening.

Oh wait, that's how virtually most team sports work...still pretty awesome.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

We think we have a good idea. Look back to previous posts about both game hints lining up with assists. If it were in fact a paper football I'm sure that they would make the coordinate points so that it would be a perfect isosceles triangle.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

This would probably mean the object would have to be in clear view the whole time while still being able to pass it on. Then we run into of an issue of how does the alliance that doesn't have the object score?

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

I was talking with my mom several weeks ago and I told her my idea for this years game. I guessed the game would be hockey. I thought there would be three zones and one robot from each alliance will be in each zone per match. You would play with a giant hockey puck (~18 across) and there would be goals on each side of the field. Each time a puck was scored another one would be introduced at the mid-field.
I didn't expect that my guess might actually be close to right.:eek:

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Unfortunately I've been getting behind on my reading of all the posts so im unsure as to whether anyone has seen this yet however did you notice that 2 of the numbers in the new hint are anagrams for the numbers in the old hint? Not to sure where/if this will lead to anything but just thought I'd throw it out there. Also 2 of the numbers stayed the same but that was pretty obvious.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

yes its a different format for dates. We have already "solved" the hint as being the birth dates of record assisting athletes and their number of assists. PLEASE read the thread (or at least browse) before posting!

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but here are the original numbers:

"8234/57" -> 3-4-82 w/ 57 assists -> Landon Donovan w/ most assists in US Soccer

"61126/1963" -> 61-1-26 w/ 1963 assists -> Wayne Gretzky w/ most assists in NHL

"62326/15806" -> 3-26-62 w/ 15,806 assists -> John Stockton w/ most assists in NBA

And the new numbers:

"61474:135" -> 6-14-74 w/ 135 assists -> Steve Ralston w/ most assists in MLS

"12661:1963" -> Still Gretzky

"32662:15806" -> Still Stockton

They only make the dates into a more recognizable format by putting the dates at the end instead of the beginning. I'm guessing they swapped Donovan for Ralston because:

a) Donovan only held the record for US soccer, not All of Major League Soccer

b) Donovan also hold the record for most goals at the same number of 57, making the intentions slightly confusing.

At this point I'm (and lots of others) are fairly certain this is the hint. Nothing here doesn't make sense to me.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Yes.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Ok so I saw the Wikipedia edit which said that the 2014 FRC game was Step Up. Which might not mean anything, but I would like to put out there that someone in the original game hint thread mentioned how turning a picture looked like stairs. So maybe at the endgame you have to climb the stairs.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Don't trust Wikipedia. Some guy thought it would be funny to mess the page up, the game is not "Step Up."

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

I haven't browsed through the thread yet, but searching the number sets get some results vaguely.
61474:135 gets a Triple tachymetric indicator from Aerosup
12661:1963 shows codes for pipes
32662:15806 gets banking and revenue (maybe something with the budgets of the robots?)
I don't know what these could mean, but who knows.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

I think that it's less about the assists, and more about the sports, especially because both the original and new first set of numbers was meant to be a soccer record. I think that it's either a game involving soccer balls, basketballs, and hockey pucks, or a game combining soccer and basketball on regolith surface (to be like hockey). Or, if the assists also mean coopertition, as some people have theorized, I think there would be the three different game pieces from the three sports, which all weigh different amounts, and the robots would have to use them to balance a scale, and if its balanced you get coopertition points. Although it would have to somehow start unbalanced, since otherwise you would get points without doing anything.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

It probably has something to do with one of the sports or the person that set the record. This is how lots of game hints have worked in the past. I mentioned earlier that maybe the game element was a stick if sort going off of the Wayne Gretzky assist record. He was also called the great one. That the stuff we need to look at, at this point.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

You should read the thread ;)

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

does anyone think that when Frank said that Dr. Who was not a hint, he meant that it was not part of solving the hint given?(which was the birthdays/assists stuff) and it is now safe to speculate how the Doctor wants to chip in? Cause it seems to me that if we are going to be choosing between soccer, basketball and hockey, we have already played two of those which leaves hockey, the 1963, the start of Doctor who, the only game unplayed.

it does sound like people are leaning twards hockey, so am I just restating what people have already found out...?

anyway, there are my two cents,

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

I know that I'm a little late to the party, but I noticed that the Doctor Who GIF
is titled "333.gif". A cursory reverse image search does not return GIFs with the same title, so one could argue that "333" is deliberate.

In regard to the "Doctor Who is not a hint" stuff: The subject of Doctor Who is not a hint, but the GIF(and/or its title) could be.

Perhaps 333 only refers to the 3 sets of numbers or the 3 associated sports, but it could also be a teaser or something else.:confused:


Anyway, this is something that I haven't seen mentioned in this thread yet.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Surprisingly, I'm actually inclined to go with you here. The title could be automatically generated though, so there's no reason to get excited yet. A quick glance at other blog posts reveals a trend of word titles "ie. Frank%20Answers%20Fridays.jpg". Hmmm...

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

I think the hint has to do with repeating or redoing. First choice was a redo. The hint was a redo. The Dr Who pic. Is repeating over and over. The Dr Who as a hint denial over and over. In the TV show the Dr keeps coming back. Obamacare was a redo(thats putting it nicely). Some one in the first hint thread noticed that somehow the numbers were repeating.
If you add in the assist angle that could be a relay. So it repeats. Usually the simplest solution is the answer. This is as simple as my simple brain can come up with.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

In all the hubbub over figuring out the "assist" clue(s), we seem to have completely forgotten the multitude of "3's" that have shown up in odd places. I'm also inclined to agree that this may not be a random jpg title. Nice work.

On the other hand, I'm discouraged at the number of recent posts that show people don't read:confused:

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

It should be noted that a hockey match has three periods.

Maybe this year Canadian teams will have a leg up?

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Excellent post.

It wasn't mentioned in this thread, but in the original game hint thread there was a discussion of a game that could be 3 teams versus 3 versus 3, rather than the 3 v 3 we have become accustomed to.

Some consider it problematic to be cycling 9 robots per match, especially in a district competition with 40 teams. Maybe they will make the matches longer, or increase the time between matches. Logistics hell, IMHO.

We had hints about 3's for 2005's Triple Play, where we transitioned from the 2 v 2 to 3 v 3. Also the "tetras" as a game piece. This also contained the first vision acquisition autonomous period, that was less than successful. It was also the last year without bumpers. There were some awesome collisions during the endgame frenzy of taking goals and running to the end zone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ePwDtrthWE

Hence my thoughts: I like baseball (three bases), and hockey (three periods and three zones).

Baseball: Wiffle balls. Easy to collect and throw and purchase. No harm to spectators. Three bases on the field for an endgame battle of which alliance can control the bases.

Hockey: A goal at either end that can be defended by a goalie bot. You choose to defend the goal or pull the goalie to grab a base in the endgame that would allow the opposing alliance to easily score. Three periods, like in Aim High.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Vuwjse90AA

For some reason, I am still expecting the weight reduction for the robots on the field, but an increase in the withholding allowance to encourage modularity and strategic decision making based upon alliance composition.
Noodle-bot!

This is a reach, but a pic of the game field that includes two alliance goals and three "bases".

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

I like the thought of the numerous 3s showing up, however I am a little lenient as it could easily be nothing. Regardless, does anyone have a list of how many relevant 3s have come up in this year's hints?

For now, I need to pack for my last camp out of the year.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

FIRST has more recently attempted to create more accessible games where people outside of the FIRST-world are able to quickly pick up, understand, and enjoy the matches without having to explain complex scoring systems ("See you double the value of the tube the ubertube is under and then if you get the logo in the correct order you double the row and then there's these minibots").

With this basis in mind I don't think we'll see a game ran like aim high again. Its a little complex and doesn't keep a constant stream of offense occurring which seems to be part of the intent to bring in people from outside FIRST. As in all professional sports: Offense sells tickets.

This is why the thought of a hockey-esque game seems like a reasonable guess. Because its a mainstream and accessible sport and people in the media will understand "Our robot plays hockey".

The 3 probably stands for the number of years this season will take off your life :ahh:

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Has anyone watched the Dr. Who gif 333 times? What if there's a secret picture at frame 333? :rolleyes:

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Got back on and saw this and was like there goes all the work.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

You are bad!

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Maybe at 333 it shows the game animation! Time to waste more of my day!

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

I definitely don't see three different periods. I could see it better as having 3 different zones. Maybe there are only certain zones that you can score in? This might lead to robots passing an object more and getting assits. That way robots don't have to go all the way across the field to score and they also can't score by going scoring from across the court.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

While I don't want to jump on the "Dr. Who Pic really is a hint" bandwagon, I do know that in a few sports, there is an offsides penalty. With zones like say hockey or lacrosse, having an offsides for too many robots in a zone at once might be interesting.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

This is what I am more leaning towards at this point. However the only thing I see that could be an issue is that one team is stuck playing defense and no one wants to play defense for an entire match. That's where I think it seems more logical that you can only score in certain zones. However those zones are protected from defense mayne? Then there is a middle half where teams are blocking each other frok getting into the scoring zone?

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Autonomous. Teleop. End Game. Those will be the three periods.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

There is no #3 hint.
Last year everyone was hyped up on the number 3 and it turned out to be nothing.

Last year the threes were more prevalent too.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

I think the idea of "offsides" could be explored here

Perhaps if there were three zones, a robot could not score if the object was passed from zone one through zone two directly into zone three where the goal would be. No dumping the object into the scoring zone. "Icing"

Or perhaps robots could not proceed the object into the scoring zone. (With a one line pass).

Hockey offsides rules ....

Or modifications thereof which would hasten end to end play but not without other robots participating.

This would seem to require a single playing piece though or it might be too difficult for referees

Discuss

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

You're probably right they are doing it to mess with us. However last year there were 3 levels on the pyramid... usually there are three different scoring values though. So that's pretty general...

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Maybe it's an adaptation of 43-Man Squamish?

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Now which 36 to get rid of?

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

For what it's worth, "Offsides" has been a penalty before. Interestingly enough, it was also in the last game to have distinct periods outside of the traditional Autonomous, Teleop, and End game structure.

In 2006, the 2-minute Tele-Op Period was divided into (3) 40 Second Periods, with the first period being the offensive period for the team that lost autonomous, the second period being the offensive period for the team that won autonomous, and the final period being a free for all. During a teams offensive period, all Three robots were allowed to be in their scoring zone, but only two of the opposing alliances machines were allowed to play defense, with one of the opponent machines being forced to stay in the opponents scoring zone. IIRC, if a team crossed the midfield line when they were not supposed to, they were considered "offsides" and a 10-point penalty was assessed.

In 2006, we also saw 'Assist' style movements by robots, specifically 195 feeding balls to 968, which later became known as the A-Bomb...

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Maybe assists will become a recorded statistic in matches and the alliance with the most assists gets a coopertition bonus?

You would get 2 qualification points for winning, 0 for losing, but 1 for having more assists than the opposing alliance!

That way, you can still easily win a match with no assists if you're good. And coopertition would be among your own team, so that would eliminate throwing matches or refusing to work with the other alliance.

Thoughts??

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

This is a good idea to avoid a team not wanting to coopertate with the other alliance and still be able to help their ranking. Maybe the end game involves to parts. One with a coopertition system and the other for the other robot to do?

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Now this seems possible. But how would assists be specifically tracked? That'd be annoying to keep track of unless it's a very obvious specific task.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Yeah that's the biggest problem I see. Maybe there will be less game pieces, like only one or two.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Maybe larger balls like in overdrive? That would be easy to keep track of.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Maybe not quite as big; beach ball sized?

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Yeah I agree not quite as big... beach balls could be fun... also really hard to shoot.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Well, as far as a hockey style game goes, how about Laser Discs?

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

No, we need bigger :D ! Think HUGE, like an 8 foot diameter ball, or 2002-esque goals that weigh many pounds.

Like this?

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Assist could mean the robots don't actually do the scoring. This is the 10 year anniversary of First Frenzy. There was a game piece that only human players could score. The robots can move some goals and stack for bonus points.

Re: [FRC Blog] Kickoff Broadcast and Game Hint Redux
 

Just a thought with the "assist", possibly there are specific red and blue (like 2008)game pieces that are introduced at the opposite side of the field then you score (2011 and 2013). The game pieces are designed in such a way that full court shooting is not possible like last year. The center of the field has a difficult to pass obstruction (like 2010) making a pass from the back to the front very rewarding, but not necessary if a robot can cross the obstruction. Another thought was bringing back 2007 ramps to lift robots, possibly an opponent for cooperation, thus assisting them.

Game name either Triple Assist or Risk Assist