what objects do you think would be fun to play
 

I was thinking what would be a neat game object. Wayne has said he thinks this years game may have barrels. I think that would be pretty cool.

Re: what objects do you think would be fun to play
 

Barrels would be interesting, especially if the human player would have to throw them on the field Donkey Kong style :P

Re: what objects do you think would be fun to play
 

Not necessarily an object, but hands down, water would be the coolest. I don't mean like the whole field underwater, but to score, you had to fill something with water. It would require the minimum of additional preparation to things like electronics to be competitive, and like this last year's game of throwing things, it would catch the most experienced teams off guard. No one has had to deal with a fluid before.

Re: what objects do you think would be fun to play
 

Those Koosh balls that were really popular back in the 90s.. I like them and they would be interesting to manipulate with robots.

Re: what objects do you think would be fun to play
 

I think we're seeing a shift to the lots-of-opportunities-to-score type of game, judging from the past few years, with fewer opportunities to truly lock down scoring from the other side. (Sure, you could've tried a tetra-starvation strategy in Triple Play, but the risks would've been ridiculously high for penalties.) With each year going back to FIRST Frenzy, we've seen more and more game pieces on the field, with a decent team able to score in at least one of them at a given time. Water transportation would be a bit of a leap, but I could definitely see some form of transport-a-lot-of-really-tiny-non-grippy-objects game in the future. Ping-pong balls would do wonderfully in this--reasonably durable, cheap, and field reset can sweep or pick them up. On the flip side, imagine if the GDC decided "Hey, we won't specify a set number of balls on the field!" Suddenly, later matches would have to contend with more stray balls on the field.

That sound you hear is of every programmer in the country cringing at the thought.

Re: what objects do you think would be fun to play
 

I hope FIRST stays with Projectiles for another year or so.:D
Just like, another object that isn't hard, such as a Poof football. That would be really interesting to have to pick up the item and then somehow have to shoot it into a goal.

Re: what objects do you think would be fun to play
 

Actually, shooting Poof footballs would be an interesting challenge. You can shoot Poof basketballs any which way you want (assuming there's not a chunk ripped out of them), but footballs require a certain orientation to throw well.

Or, for the ultimate challenge, footballs and basketballs! :D

Re: what objects do you think would be fun to play
 

As I suggested earlier in another thread, Aerobies would make excellent gamepieces.

They fly, they are torroidal (like Krispy Kreme donuts!), and they offer multiple possibilities for scoring; e.g., put 'em in a bin, or hang 'em on a pin.

Re: what objects do you think would be fun to play
 

Most Ultimate Game Piece... my vote goes for frisbees.

Re: what objects do you think would be fun to play
 

I concur. They're cheap, easy to get, simple, durable, visible, non-dangerous- just about everything you could want in a game piece. Except being hard to handle mechanically! Oh well, what good is a game if it's easy, right?

Re: what objects do you think would be fun to play
 

How about 5 gallon water jugs filled halfway with some type of moving material that keeps the jug changing it's balance point all the time. Can't be water in case the jug is broken but something like nylon beads.

Re: what objects do you think would be fun to play
 

I have thought of large objects with a severely off set balance point. Yet a game piece with one that is moving might be good too.

Re: what objects do you think would be fun to play
 

Dry sand would do it. Not too noisy, always shifting, and heavy so the shifting balance actually makes a difference.

Re: what objects do you think would be fun to play
 

And, just to make it uber-devilish, you can vary the amount of sand in each jug, then make them opaque so the drivers can't tell. (Any jugs introduced by a human player could be known, but we can work with that.) Suddenly, each jug you handle is going to handle differently. And 97.1618% of all of the Innovation in Control Awards will go to teams whose drivers don't even need to know the difference.

(I recall that BEST explored similar themes one year, but I'm fuzzy on the details.)

Re: what objects do you think would be fun to play
 

Why have a water game, when you could have a game in SAND!?!

mwahahahahahahaha



edit: better yet, BOTH! BEACH GAME ;)