Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

If I had to guess a name it would be Tower Power...

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Robots must place balls in a container at the top of a set of stairs.
Game name: Basket Case.

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

That actually sounds like an interesting challenge. Maybe a twist could be to have shapes other than balls mixed in, like, white balls, red cones and blue boxes. Quantities of items vary, point values vary. Maybe have the stairs mobile, on wheels with bonus points for having the stairs in a certain area at the end of the game.

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

I would like to see stairs not steps not levels but a real set of stairs at least 4 maybe they will make them at the end of the field like the ramp in aim high and there will be a bonus to climb them

even better than steps would be having to climb a latter! Game name: Latter Clatter

Cakes are round "usually" Maybe a round blue ball. Those squishy stress reliever balls are about the size of tenis balls!!

Let the countdown begin! 50 days today! I think we may see a hint come out later today!

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

lets hope we see a clue soon! :D

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Remember that a stated goal of FIRST is to make the game eaisier for the public spectator to follow. This seems like it would be very confusing to the person off the streets. It seems more likely to me that we'll see something with few game objects, a simple goal during the regular portion of the game and something that grabs the audiences attention during the end, like hanging was this year.

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

No, it isn't.

I am, however, stocking up on lots of paisley shirts...


-dave




.

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

I wasn't aware that they made paisley Hawaiian shirts...

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Think back to the person who is known for paisley shirts.

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Paisley shirts? o.o


So maybe something retro or something. Kind of goes along with the "leftover".

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Humanoid robots! The shirts will be shipped in the KOP and must be worn by the robot as tracking targets

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

i fail to see how paisley shirts fit into everything...but clearly this years game has something to do with 4, notice there are 4 periods again
crazy idea here now: robots must do 4 step dances in a paisley pattern

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

I'm not quite sure if my community college course trained me correctly, but "5 != 4".

EDIT: Unless you disregard the spacing period. Then you would be right.

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Paisley...
"So maybe something retro or something"

BRINGING BACK OLD GAME CONCEPTS!!!

Afterall, Its is the 20th year of FIRST

What would be a good Mashup?

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

2000, 2004, multipliers, 1992, 2010, and just for kicks, 2002 and 2007.

2000 and 2004 are two of the best games FIRST has dished up (and strategy for 2004 was like playing rock, paper, scissors), 1992 was the original game and had corn, multipliers are just to make life really...umm, interesting, besides being in a lot of games in the late 90's and in the 2001 game, 2010 because it won't be expected and was good, 2002 for the pushing wars and 2007 for the distinctive robot classes and the height/weight sliding scale.

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

my favorite aouto period: nocking a ball off a sensing pad to release additional objects

My favorite concept: Periods, Aim high had 2 periods after auto mode and it actually was kind of cool

my favorite game piece: tubes

my favorite end game bonus: climbing a ramp

my favorite field element: stairs

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

I wasn't around back then, but weren't there three periods (offense, defense, free for all) after auto in Aim High?

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Yes, that is how it was played.

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Overdrive on regolith! :yikes:

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Are you TRYING to give me nightmares?

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

What nightmares? It would just be a big pile of robots in each of the corners :D

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

bring it on :cool:

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

What about Breakaway on regolith? Ever tried to line up a ball with any certainty, let alone do it with robots slamming you into a wall? It is not a sort of thing you can do without fine control. How about aiming for the tower. Skid right into it. What about 469, you say? Have fun fighting for the tunnel. One good push and they're pinned against a wall, doing nothing. Keep em' there for the entire match, and you should be good. OO!! OO!! I got it: Zoom across the field, catch a ball on the way, then turn really fast and skid into the wall, and kick. Assuming you kick straight, it should make it if you're lined up with the wall.

Overdrive on regolith sounds a bit more fun, although it would be a slow game. If they used the same ramming and pinning rules from 09, you could just pound the simbots into a corner and keep em there. Traction control would be huge, as would controllable turn-drifting (sounds like a lot of fun)

What about an in-between? Slick, but not too slick. Or a slippery surface, all wheels allowed (polished tile, anyone?)

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Hey, remember how this is the red herring thread?

Maybe Dave posted... a red herring.

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Please don't tell me that paisley is the new red... herring.

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

regolith ramps? :)

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

I love ramps. :D Bring them back!!!!

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

I might have found something interesting:

This is from a Wikipedia section called Frère Jacques in popular culture.

But what I find interesting is that in this Wikipedia section, a band called Television Personalities used this as their chorus in a song on one of their albums called 'Paisley Shirts & Mini Skirts,' which was debuted in 1996.

Now, since everything on Wikipedia is correct :rolleyes: , this could be a good trail to follow blindly! :D

Hexagon Havoc Anyone??

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

strips of cloth or actual shirts would be a very interesting game piece

Game Name: Laundry Shoot

is there a connection to Tennis?

Credit Valley Lawn Tennis Club
830 Paisley Blvd. W
Mississauga, ON
905-896-2629

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

So were obviously making guitar hero playing robots to duel.

Ok, on to 2012.

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Nah, already been done by FRC 1986. http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=78180

Ditto for the water game--1726 and 842 and I think a few others have that down.

Now, if you'd said guitar-playing robots, I'd be inclined to agree.

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

robot battle of the bands?

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Not positive but I think Dave Lavery has a new additional avatar. Rock Climbing? Can anyone confirm this or was that there and I'm just going crazy?

P.S. The image is labeled "Climbing"

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

He's had it for years. You just haven't noticed it yet.

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Ah, just crazy with a touch of wishful thinking then.

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

This is a fantastic idea. And maybe Dave's change to paisley shirts means the game is suddenly getting colder...hockey anyone?

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

I really like the idea of the movable goals that would be fun!

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Honestly, i don't know about the pic of dave's of tennis ball. And what is red herring is divert attention from original issue.....what is this?:)

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

What If their was a field set up like in volleyball and you had to get balls to the opposing side. The end the team with the most balls on their side lost.

This game is similar to OCCRA's ( Oakland County Competitive Robotics Association ) Game this year, ( Occra is like first without bumpers )

And for the endgame you would climb up a ramp on your side and try to balance end game points vs staying on the floor and shooting balls over.:D

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

I found the REAL tennis balls last night at the South Bay Galleria. They were in one of those claw games where you drop the claw to pick up a toy. Maybe one of the 294 guys can go get one for us. I included a little of the machine for scale. The balls looked to be about 8"diameter to me. Sorry about the blurry picture, I took it with my cell phone camera and it looked OK at the time.

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Lunacy?

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

First Frenzy: Raising the Bar.
Zone Zeal.
Diabolical Dynamics.
Double Trouble (if you count the robots as goals--there was also a mobile target to be on.)
Rack n' Roll (OK, so it wasn't that movable!)

Now for the hockey: Lunacy for sure.

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

2009, 2004, 2002, 2001. I don't know any of the games prior to 2000 well enough to know if any of those had trailers.

In 2004, 2002, and 2001, the goals were not permanently attached to the robots, and teams designed trailer hitches to move the goals with.

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

I am starting to get anxious for an official hint

hopefully bill's next blog will have the cure :)

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

It will be a 4 team free-for-all!

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

No one thinks about Penn Station?

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

The cure is worse than the sickness.

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

The hint is in Pen Station lol

@EricH it is a matter of picking my poison :)

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

As mentioned in Bill's most recent post (and pointed out in this thread), Penn does seem to be coming up again.

If we look at the tennis ball as a chance to get the name Penn out there, and now Bill's blog talking about Penn(sylvania)... How about a game relating in some way to William Penn?

He was a real estate entrepreneur... a game related to claiming and holding territory on the field?

He had good relations and treaties with the local Indian tribes, and he was a big proponent of colonial unification.... a 6v0 game?

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Zone Zeal meets Diabolical Dynamics.

The game objects are trees (Pennsylvania literally means, "Penn's Forest" or "Penn's Woods"). Penn Station is a place where transportation routes come together, so teams must control the tree transport route junctions.

The 6v0 comes from speed to get your alliance's trees to their station, plus the speed with which your opponents get their trees to their station, the sum of which is your score for the round. Coopertition bonus is only given if both teams accomplish the task, and is worth 2*your opponent's score pre-penalties. Oh, and you can only move your trees through a junction if you control it.

Oh, and by "trees", I mean the Michigan state tree (traffic cone) and the Oklahoma state tree (telegraph pole).

(Now watch this go into the 2013 game...)

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

If Penn keeps coming up, is there any reason the game piece can not just be a bunch of pens? it would pose an interesting game element to pick up and make a hopper for.

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Haha, Bjenks. I mentioned that same idea today. The response was a definite "NO THAT'D BE HORRIBLE!"

GDC, PLEASE don't take this as a suggestion.

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Hey, it's better than the baton suggestion a few years ago. At least pens are useful--it'll make it easy for folks to write stuff down when they need to!

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Well, pool noodles would be the best of these pen-like evils, but even those are difficult to handle (or buy in January).

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Kind of sounds like an interesting game, regardless of whether or not this is correct.

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Bill keeps telling us to buy our pool noodles now (at least he did back when they still sold them...)

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

OMG! I know next year's game! RISK!!!

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Next year: 4 zones with a movable "goal" in each zone, tennis balls are places in the goals to score points. during the last 20 seconds, pool noodles will drop from above each driver station and can be placed in the goal for bonus points. bonus points also given if all goals are on your teams side of the field at the end

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Dodar, do not pass go and do not collect $200. "Estate entrepreneur." Obliviously 2011's game is Robo-nopoly. I know what I'm doing until my teams first regional, collecting as many get out of jail free cards as i can!

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

maybe bill and dave are reffering to my team 1511 PENfield robotics Rolling Thunder - this years game! lol NOt sure what the game would be though haha

note: we wear camo pants not paisley shirts :)

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

University of PENNsylvania: one of the original, sustaining American colleges and home to the first, large-scale computer, and was found by Benjamin Franklin.

Just some food for thought ::rtm::

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Penn ball.
Pinball?

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Hotel Pennsylvania, home of the HOPE(Hackers on Planet Earth) conference every other august, run by the editor of 2600 magazine. Pseudonym Emanuel Goldstein from 1984.... So telescreens are gonna be important?

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

OR it could be the tennis ball projectiles used in the collegiate game, "FIRST Flight"

could be?

check it out http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...2&postcount=30

Danny

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Tennis balls would be really hard to pick up.

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Some other things you can say that about:

--Playground balls (2000, 2001, 2004)
--Soccer balls (2002, 2010)
--Yoga/excercise balls (1998, 2001, 2004)
--Orbit balls (2009)
--40" diameter balls (2008)
--foam basketballs (2006)
--inner tubes (1997, 2007)

I'd be more pessimistic about keeping them in the arena than picking them up.

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

After some testing and prototyping, we found that they really aren't that bad to pick up. The hard part will be getting them off the walls with bumpers, especially if we cannot extend out of the frame perimeter.

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Probably impossible without suction, which would have to be pretty powerful. I hope we can leave the frame perimeter this year; I haven't played a game like that yet (this being my third year).

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Oh man. The possibilities are completely endless. Its amazing to walk through the pits and just see the thousands of different ways to solve the same problems. That is one of my favorite things about FIRST. Especially in the nationals!

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Actually thats not true. As you could leave your frame perimeter last year...if only for 2 seconds :cool:

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Has anyone else noticed how less much less interesting looking robots have become with this rule? (in general, some robots still look cool)

EDIT: the rule I am referring to would be the one that limits expansion beyond the frame perimeter

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Oh, yeah. Momentary lapse there. Still though, that was so limited it hardly counts. Especially compared to games like 2007 or 2002.

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Ya, I had probably one of the best 1st years anyone coulda had, 2007. If i had to rank the years i was a student they would be: 2007>2010>2008>2009. My 1st and 3rd favorites were both years where you could extend to your hearts desire. Except 2008 because of the invisible-cylinder rule, but you get the point. 2010 is 2nd because this year was awesome!! it was tied for 1st in every category except the uniqueness of the robots. Like 2007, 2010 had an awesome auto period, tele-op, and awesome finish.

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

2007 had a similar rule, albeit one much harder to break.

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Well 1 reason why i thought 2007 was unique was the different weight classes. The different height to weight ratios to choose from.

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Ah, yes, the box rule (similar to the cylinder rule). Orientation wasn't specified, though--and the rule didn't apply at all in your own home zone.

But I concur on the height/weight classes. Bring those back!

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Yes i do miss those, even though this year we got close to those. In 2007, you built your robot from the weight/height ratio depending on what you wanted to play--unless you were a boss and could build a middle weight/height robot that could do all three--but you had that somewhat this year because of which zone you wanted to play from.

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

i think that tennis balls are going to be hard... do we pick them up? do we drop them? Do we shoot them? Do we hit a target?

Its probelly going to be something unexpected mabe like using them to do some thing on your robot?

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Maybe for wheels we will have to use tennis balls!

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

ya but we would have to pick them u and on or run them over and on lol

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

maybe another year where everyone has to use the same wheels like in '09, only instead if reagolith the wheels will be coated in tennis ball fuzz

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

But wouldn't it be even more of a challenge to drive when the wheels are 4 inches in diameter! That would be epic. Maybe a curling bot?

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Hate to break it to you, but I believe that 4" wheels have driven just fine. IIRC, some teams using West Coast Drive did that a few years ago on a flat field. 1625 this last year went even smaller, at least in prototype form (or was that tiny tiny swerve module two years ago's offseason prototype?)

Curling was the 2009 game--required 6" wheels, slick floor, simulating 1/6 gravity--but the floor was nice and slick.

The real challenge: No wheels and no tank tracks. Legs or nothing!

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

3 inch? wheels on their competition swerve drive this year.

A large number of teams used 4-4.5 inch wheels this year, not limited to 254, 968, 1114, 1771, 177, 233, with a very non-flat field. I'm beginning to think there aren't many games where you can't get away with them.

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

With tennis balls on the ends of the legs, like some people do with their walkers. ;)

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

I think we'd need to double the match time to account for the slower pace of the robots ;)

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

I was looking through bills blog and i found the Pennsylvania again and after we saw it the label of the tennis ball. maybe there is a connection?

Friday, December 3, 2010
The view from 30,000 feet
Good Afternoon Teams,

I just got back from flying to Pennsylvania with Dean to look for additional FRC corporate support. During the plane ride (yes, Dean was the pilot) I thought of a few more things to tell you this week.

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

I'll contribute.

"The view from 30,000 feet" is the title. He never mentions anything about what he sees in the blog post, but he does mention he's flying from Pennsylvania (presumably to Manchester)

You get a good view of the Allegheny and some of the Appalachian mountains on most flights from Pittsburgh. A few state and national forests too. Not that much water.

I also feel compelled to note that while Penn was founded in Pennsylvania, it's currently owned by a company operating out of Austria, while Penn itself operates out of Arizona.

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

There is a mountain included in the FTC game this year. Could there be some crossover into the FRC game?

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Considering FIRST Choice is offering teams FTC parts, this is actually somewhat likely.

It's worth noting that PITSCO is from Pittsburg, Kansas...

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Trust me! There is nothing there that I can even consider a mountain!

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

I've done some research about the word Penn.
the results look promising.
Go to wikipedia or google or something and look up John Penn
I am doubtful that the tenis ball itself means much, but it could be

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

The title of bills Dec. 8 blog was "Two steps forward and one step back."

Today he wrote "In light of the upcoming holidays, stand by next week for upcoming game hints."

he BOLDED stand by!

drum roll please... the 2011 First game Stand By

walking robots?

or...

Sleep mode (in electronics), also known as standby-mode - a mode in which electronic appliances are turned off but under power and ready to activate on command

robots receive an additional 10 point bonus if they are designed in a way that does not use wheels to contact the playing surface

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

I think the game will be called "Opposites Attract". Each robot only competes in one "match" at an event. Each robot must execute a series of poorly-choreographed dance "steps" in front of a green screen. Dave Lavery will animate an annoying feline dance partner for each robot (he's branching into classic 2D), and Paul Lazarus will produce a music video for each.

These videos will ultimately be viewed and judged by Paula Abdul, who is tasked with determining each event champion by providing worthwhile and meaningful critiques of the subject matter she is judging. Therefore, the 2011 game will never end. We apologize for this inconvenience, but thank you for playing.

...

Oh wow, I just found this online - I'm fairly certain the game will look like this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ByNROf8v-Q. I'm utterly *shocked* that someone else had this idea.

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

ROFL :D

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

While I think his stand by is just his usual bolding of the important words for what he is discussing, I do believe One Step Forward 2 steps back might have to deal with something in the game. I just don't feel the title did the post justice to what it talked about.

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Aha! So this is the game that will never end. Got it. Much like the threads about the game that will never end.

Jane

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Oh, you mean like what we do at First Week events while they work the bugs in the field? :rolleyes:

I dunno, doesn't sound like a game anyone would really want to watch.

Re: 2011 Red Herring #1
 

Well, if we take our usual amount of bending of hints into account,

Stand by -> fixing bugs in the field -> bugs -> cleaning -> roombas

the game must mean roomba wars! A 6v0 game to defend yourself against an onslaught of the vacumning menaces! Sounds fairly exciting

(I now have the image stuck in my head of an announcer yelling "RELEASE THE ROOMBAS!")