I've got it figured out!!!
 

With christmas season well underway, I decided to look for a gift for my father yesterday at the malls around Manchester, NH. Having heard him exclaim "I want that!" after watching a commercial for the Black and Decker "Autowrench" I figured that it was a pretty cake present to get.

With this knowledge, I ventured out into the shopping haven that is South Willow street in Manchvegas. My first stop...Sears. As you know, Sears has always been an excelent place to find good tools pretty cheap, so I figured that they would be a slam dunk for the Autowrench. I searched high and low, and found absolutely nothing. Not even a trace of any sort of motorized wrench.

With this, I carried on to the next location...Wally World (Wal-Mart). Once again, upon arriving at Wally World, I found many different types of really cool Black and Decker tools. I even saw a motorized Seat Clamp (which I was drooling over immensely)...but yet again...no Autowrench.

Next stop...Target! AHA! They also have loads of motorized Black and Decker tools! Including...whats this?!?!...a place in the rack where the Autowrenches WERE. Excited at my finding, I went up to the clerk and asked her if they may have some in the back. She checked and found that the nearest Autowrench was about 45 minutes away in Nashua NH...and there were only a couple left.

Have no fear...there is a Lowes next door! I stop in, figuring that no one EVER goes to the Lowes in Bedford. Once again, evidence of Black and Decker tools, and evidence that the Autowrench was there at one time...but NOOOOO Autowrench. Upon talking to a clerk, he informed us that they had sold out a week ago, and that if we were lucky, we might be able to grab the last one about an hour away in Epping, NH.

Sadly...I gave up on my dream of getting my dad the perfect Christmas present...

Now...you may be asking...what the heck does this have to do with FIRST?

Well...this whole experience of driving around from spot to spot, looking for a particular item, finding evidence at every store with none of the item I am looking for in sight...it reminded me of something.

It reminded me of last January when i spent a whole sunday and a tank of gas looking for Poof Balls all around the state of New Hampshire.

Then...it hit me.

Kickoff is just a couple of weeks away!

Is it coincidence that, as the biggest date of game piece distribution of the year draws near, there are absolutely NO Autowrenches anywhere in sight?

Lets think about this logically for a minute...its a silly automated adjustable wrench! For 25 dollars less and the ability to wiggle your thumb, you can have a perfectly good adjustable wrench that DOESNT NEED BATTERIES! THERE IS NO WAY THAT THIS MANY DADS OUT THERE WANT A BLACK AND DECKER AUTOWRENCH.

After realizing this and thinking about the evidence I have come to the conclusion that...

Ladies and gentleman, THE SECRET IS OUT! THE 2007 FEATURED GAME PIECE IS NONE OTHER THAN...

A BLACK AND DECKER AUTOWRENCH!!!!

You can't fool me Game Design Committee! I have been around wayyyy to long for you to slip this one past me. And now the people will know!

::ahem::

Happy Hollidays :)

Re: I've got it figured out!!!
 

Why use a COTS autowrench when you can build one yourself?

Re: I've got it figured out!!!
 

Maybe it's because test markets showed that nobody wants one!

Re: I've got it figured out!!!
 

This must be it! Quick! Assemble the CAD teams! Assemble the drive system guys! Lets design our entire robot around this!

I love it when Kickoff gets this close, because everyone in FIRST is so mind baked by Dave's clues, that we leap on anything we percieve to me remotely out of the ordinary. I did this yesterday, but it involved gotee trimmers, and sotres that carried said item around my hometown of Los Altos.

Re: I've got it figured out!!!
 

Hmmmmm, what if the game pieces were Playstation 3s....... Hey it could happen....

Re: I've got it figured out!!!
 

Well, this killed my own theory of using a Wii as a game piece, because I can't find one.
;)

Happy Holidays everyone.

Re: I've got it figured out!!!
 

Agreed, that leads me to my next point.

Next Feature request to Brandon:
An All-Hint Related (And that includes Hoaxes) Discussion Thread Blocker. I made one myself once, I called it a cardboard box, hopefully he could add a few more features to it, like CD-Media.

Re: I've got it figured out!!!
 

Ya know...they created the "RUMOR MILL" for a reason. If you see the that the post is from the Rumor Mill, and you dont feel like hearing little humorous things from time to time....then maybe you should just NOT READ the post. Reading a post on these boards is totally up to you.

What I was sharing are actual events which to many of us were kinda funny. I thought it was a good story to share with people on Delphi.

Apparently I was wrong.

I now see why I stopped posting so much here.

Re: I've got it figured out!!!
 

Andy - you may have gotten caught up in the middle of a whirlwind of activity today.
Your initial post is humorous and fun -the timing was a little strange - it came in the middle of 'false' hints and the CD community was on a wild roller coaster ride. I think it is settling down now.

Please continue to post in CD.
Jane

Re: I've got it figured out!!!
 

Hey Andy, don't sweat it. I thought it was funny! If those other guys didn't get it, that is their problem.

-dave

p.s. however, I must caution against using my sense of humor as any sort of litmus test for good taste. :)


.

Re: I've got it figured out!!!
 

I reallly don't see how this falls into the same boat as Greg's, Greg went out and tricked people, very well I might add. No one, with more than a week of FIRST experience could have honestly saw the thread title and thought that Andy had legitimently figured out the entire game. Relax, enjoy the holidays and get ready for build season. I for one enjoy ridiculous speculation about what the game could be. If you don't then don't read any threads that come out between Atlanta and Kick off.

James

Re: I've got it figured out!!!
 

Hey, I thought it was funny. After the "Official Game Hint" thread, I figured this was another joke. Nice, funny, relaxing bedtime story. :D What's a Autowrench look like, anyway?

Re: I've got it figured out!!!
 

Funny, I heard from a very reliable source the official game piece was a Skip-It. :yikes:

Re: I've got it figured out!!!
 

An autowrench well at least the black and decker one (I'm not sure about other brands version of an autowrench) looks and even feels like a wrench. Get this, its adjustable.:D You hit a button and it moves to how big it should be.

Re: I've got it figured out!!!
 

You gave up only after a couple stores. Some son you are :p

Re: I've got it figured out!!!
 

Manchester is known for it's interesting inventory shortages around Kickoff...the PoofBall Journey, for those of you who didn't read it last year can be found here.

Re: I've got it figured out!!!
 

Hmmmm, auto-wrenches are "Temporarily Unavailable Online - Check Your Local Store" on Home Depot's website... You can get an auto-clamp though.

Who knows? Maybe the auto-wrenches are just another mailbox...

Re: I've got it figured out!!!
 

I got a good laugh from that, Andy. Of all things people would go crazy for near Chritmas, who thought it would be an auto-wrench?:eek:

Re: I've got it figured out!!!
 

I really enjoyed Andy's insightful analysis and was ready to leave it at that, but then Dave had to weigh in:
Now, almost a day later, no one has begun interpreting, dissecting, attaching synonyms, re-interpreting or otherwise mangling Dave's wise words in an effort to find the hidden key to the game. I smell a conspiracy!

Re: I've got it figured out!!!
 

Andy,
Do not even worry about the negative thoughts into your post I thought it was very funny. It made me laugh for the FIRST time all day and I listen to:) :p O and A most of the day.

Re: I've got it figured out!!!
 

Every Home Depot Store should have recieved an order sometime this afternoon.... if that helps :-p

Re: I've got it figured out!!!
 

As a fellow O&A fan, I thank you!

Ya know, this whole thing really does crack me up...

I mean seriously...its a battery operated adjustable wrench. Really! Have we met the height of laziness? Although I will admit, upon seeing the autoclamp, I wanted one immediately...my quote to Jess was as follows.

Andy - AUTOCLAMP?!?!?!?
Jess - Cooool
Andy - I WANT THAT!
Jess - Really? Andy...what are you going to do with that?
Andy - Take it apart!
Jess - WHAT?!?! Why?
Andy - Because I want to see what makes it spin!

Oddly enough, Id have almost 0 use for the autoclamp, but it wouldn't be the first time I bought something to take it apart. Afterall, Greg Needel and I bought a leaf blower last year to take apart for the "Air Wall" experiment.

Oh and as for the perception that Dave Lavery leaves little hints about the game every year in his posts....is anyone else reminded of the movie "Life of Brian" when they see some of the posts? Thats why the CD community cracks me up. I'm sure it cracks Dave up too...to the point where I am convinced that he does subtle little things just to see if people pick up on them...even if the game has absolutely nothing to do with it. I mean...who could blame him...I would too if I were in his shoes!

Re: I've got it figured out!!!
 

Air Wall experiment?

Re: I've got it figured out!!!
 

My guess is they wanted to sit under the goal and try and blow all the balls off target.

Re: I've got it figured out!!!
 

This is correct. We wanted to create a wind wall idea to knock down any balls that were shot into the goal. (One of Needel's crazy but excelent 1am ideas). Needless to say...we could make a ball float...but we couldn't stop it from going through a goal.