Re: Game Hint #1
 

the clue could have to do with the fact that fish have scales, and the robots could have to scale something...

Re: Game Hint #1
 

The actual thing the coordinate clue pointed to last year was the start/finish line of the Boston Marathon, & not the Tortoise & The Hare. Technically both related to the game (sort of), but the start/finish line was the focus of the clue.

Good thing they are coming around at the end of January to CT... I'll have to ask them if they know something!!! :rolleyes: :p

Re: Game Hint #1
 

Don't you guys see it? it's totally easy *Goes into National Treasure mode*

What we have in the picture is a moonfish. The moonfish is on a stamp in Madeira.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...of_Madeira.svg

Now, they've just shown us the basic outline of the field. It's obviously a 4-team game with everyone starting at one end of the cross trying to score something in the middle or grab a game piece from the middle.

Re: Game Hint #1
 

Someone said earlier that it might be to hard for teams to do a practice field like the moon. Do you remember last years center wall base plates? Teams where getting stuck on them. Now take 2' x 2' half inch plywood sheets and put them under your carpet in random locations. Watch the bots bounce along.

Re: Game Hint #1
 

Last year we got a lat/long/bearing as a clue. We knew it was a lat/long, and even had it down to the right place in Boston. Yet still, no one figured out that the hint meant the tortoise and hare statues in that reside in Copley Square at the given bearing when standing at the main statue in the Square. The obvious is so hard to see sometimes...

Re: Game Hint #1
 

I think it will be quite obvious that FIRST will want to show off their new controls system this year. So how can what we've come up with so far tie into the cRIO? I have no idea. I'm assuming we will be using a camera system this year, but I think that the 28X16 (or whatever it is) carpeted field has worked for many years so well, that they will stick with it, at least for the inaugural year of the cRIO.

Re: Game Hint #1
 

This has been a beautiful hint. Just beautiful.

Has there ever been a hint given with built-in Gracious Professionalism as part of its traditions/history?

The reference that was made to the Zen game equivalent of Rock, Paper, Scissors by DeepWater is another beauty, even if it doesn't amount to anything. It is a neat link to look at and think about.

Now the stamp in Madeira find that Michael just showed us. It's just all so cool.

Great hint, GDC and FIRST!

I think there were some great guesses at the hints in the past 3 years that I can remember. Some nailed the hints, some circled them and got 'this close'. That's what makes it fun when the game is revealed. But, the GP aspect of this one blows me out of the water. And, speaking of water - we are playing a water game, if you think about it - guessing the meaning of this fish.

Re: Game Hint #1
 

I LOVE IT. It gives the teams that like to make super defensive robots something to defend, the robots that make super pushing robots something to push on (the defenders) and the super delicate finesse robots something to reach for. The Elimination rounds for this type of game play would be FANTASTIC.

There could also be some poor pairings during the qualification rounds, but we see that now anyway.

~Jake

Re: Game Hint #1
 

this kind of fish does not travel in a group, but it is a loner, mabey there wont be teams this year

Re: Game Hint #1
 

Also, refering to thw Wiki article about Madeira, I found this:
"Madeira Island is the largest island of the group with an area of 741 km², a length of 30 geographical miles (57 km), a breadth of 13 miles (22 km) at its widest point, and a coastline of 80 to 90 miles. Its longer axis lies east and west, along which lies a mountain chain with a mean altitude of 4,000 feet (1,220 m), considered the backbone of the island from which many deep ravines radiate outward to the coast. Its most famous sea cliff, the Cabo Girão, is the world's second highest. The highest point on the island is Pico Ruivo, at 1,862 meters (6,107 ft)."

I'm sticking with the sloping playing field theory.

Re: Game Hint #1
 

More wikipedia fun!

Concerning Dave's signatures...

The six:
The five:
The four:
Now, can anyone else relate 'the three' to arts and music?
And how does this fit in with fish?
I really have no idea...

2009 Game Hint #1
 

I just received the 1st FIRST Game Hint...
What do you think this means?

http://www.usfirst.org/community/frc/content.aspx?id=11310

Re: Game Hint #1
 

Anagrams for Lampris Guttatus of the top of my head:

I Must Lag Startup
A Gut Ramp Tilts Us


Can't wait to see the gut ramp...

Re: Game Hint #1
 

Maybe a tilting ramp, like a teeter totter, in the gut, the middle, of the field?



Now on a different note. This Moonfish looks like a round, flat disk to me. Wouldn't it be cool to play Frisbee with robots??!!

Re: Game Hint #1