Re: Game Hint #2
 

So a slick surface. We could have to "pick up" something at the top of a very slippery ramp.

Good catch!

Furthermore, I wonder if the last line refers to Evergreen Farms. The two references to this are that it's Christmas season, and we are in fact playing on a sort of field. So maybe other than the ramps, there will be many obstacles in the middle of the field.

The final conjecture I have for the last line is that Dover Publications has a Dover Evergreen Classics collection which has many popular childrens stories in it. Many of those stories have references to fields in them. Unfortunately, this company is in Mineola, NY...so the street/city nomenclature doesn't match.

Re: Game Hint #2
 

That's brilliant!

Re: Game Hint #2
 

I showed this to one of our (non-technical) mentors, she wrote back:

I was better off with the fish....

Re: Game Hint #2
 

I really like this, Also I will throw out there that evergreen drive, DE is connected to South Dupont Highway. Since we all know that the DuPont Color associated with FIRST is green I say the green lights are coming back.

If we follow this theme what other company's and then products can we infer from the other lines.

Re: Game Hint #2
 

If we are sticking with the location gig, I found an Evergreen International Airport (air field) in Dover, Delaware.

It is located at the Dover Air Force Base.

<edit> Here is a map with the current locations that have been mentioned.

Maybe there is a wall separating one alliance partner from the other two. The two alliance partners have to feed the one (or vise versa) playing pieces to score.
</edit>

Re: Game Hint #2
 

That's it! flying game! Here's my entry:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO67Yha_03g

Re: Game Hint #2
 

Ice Game! Yes... combine that with the hockey pucks in the FTC game this year and the Canadian influence on FIRST is really starting to show! :)

Yeah, yeah... I know other countries play hockey... and thank goodness for that or international hockey matches would be rather boring.

Actually having some part of the playing surface be low-friction (perhaps hdpe) would be a most interesting challenge and would get away from the bigger torquier (is that even a word?) drive systems and pushing matches that defined success in a few of our past games.

The only catch would be coming up with a surface that teams could afford to practice on. A 4x8 sheet of HDPE could be fairly expensive. Simply using smooth concrete might serve the same purpose... but that would present a challenge in gymnasiums...

In any case, bring on the ice!

Jason

Re: Game Hint #2
 

Or if we go with the Dover, OH theory with the football field on Evergreen Drive, then the game piece will finally be footballs. Footballs were brought up in reference to the Opah's (tropical fish so I say no to ice fishing) shape.

Re: Game Hint #2
 

Adding to my pervious post and building on this one....
Passing, or making a connection through a target window, with a football (Nerf of course) could quite easily be part of the game.

Multiple mentions of a "light" also sit well with me. We do receive a camera with the KOP, or early shipment systems. The vision vi's do allow for specific color tracking. So the thought of hitting a mark with a projectile (like the arrow shape formed by the "moonfish" in "Finding Nemo", see hint #1 thread) sounds like a real possibility.

Re: Game Hint #2
 

Pucks, hmmm... maybe combine 2002 (the year with the big pucks if I recall) and a slippery surface with multiple levels. Each team is trying to give away the pucks.

Also, hockey, let us try to steer away from the negative aspects of hockey such as fighting. Instead let us steer more towards the positive ones such as Michigan teams winning :) Sorry, I had to toss that out there.

Re: Game Hint #2
 

Could the Minnetoka pick up be in reference to TONKA trucks? Originally manufactured at Mound Metalcraft… Possibly some kind of transportation involving carrying and dumping.

Re: Game Hint #2
 

Since I'm from Dover, DE, I love all the attention it's getting. But I agree with Eric, the football field on Evergreen Drive in Dover, OH is just about as in your face as it could get.

Re: Game Hint #2
 

1999, the first year of alliances, the year of the puck, and the year of the floppies. For reference, the "puck" was an octagonal structure that gave you 2X your score if you controlled it and bonus points if you were on it. It was flat, about 6-12" high, and had two vertical uprights that weren't very tall. The floppies were donuts about half the puck's height with velcro around the edge and filling the center. They were stuffed with foam peanuts.

2002 was Zone Zeal, with five zones on the field. Hmm... hockey has zones, too!

Re: Game Hint #2
 

While I'm not sure there'd be a barrier quite so physical, I do like the idea of FIRST forcing us to rely on cameras to interact with our alliance partner(s). And it does fit with the fishing idea. Based on the idea of shooting the moon, maybe there's a competition to have either the least of a certain object on your side, or all of it... but that could result in sickening stalemates. Hmm, maybe not.

Someone mentioned a triangular field earlier, and while I think that's unlikely, it'd be interesting to have 3 alliances of 2 robots each. Hard to score, though.

Re: Game Hint #2
 

If you assume Dover, OH, the whole trip is right at 3000 miles (depending on where in Minnetonka you put the marker). Not sure what to make of that, we already assumed we would have 3 members per alliance. If were were to assume a triangle field, it could be 3 members per alliance, and 3 alliances, so 9 robots on the field at once???

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&sadd...,77.167969&z=4