[Jared Russell]

Originally Posted by Hallry

Getting back to the actual question asked in the O.P., does anyone have a list of the dates that the game hints for past years have been released?

EDIT:

Did some investigating myself:
2012 (Kickoff Date: 1/7/12) = 1st Game Hint (12/02/11)
2011 (Kickoff Date: 1/8/11) = 1st Hint (12/21/11), 2nd Hint (1/4/11)
2010 (Kickoff Date: 1/9/10) = 1st Game Hint (12/24/09), 2nd Game Hint (1/6/10)
2009 (Kickoff Date: 1/10/09 ) = 1st Game Hint (12/4/08.), 2nd Game Hint (12/11/08),
2008 (Kickoff Date: 1/12/08) = 1st Game Hint (12/15/07), 2nd Game Hint (12/21/07), 3rd Game Hint (1/02/08)
2007 (Kickoff Date: 1/13/07) = 1st Game Hint (12/21/06)
2006 (Kickoff Date: 1/7/06) = 1st Game Hint (12/23/05)
2005 (Kickoff Date: 1/8/05) = 1st Game Hint (12/30/04)
2004 (Kickoff Date: 1/10/04) = 1st Game Hint (1/6/04)

I can't find the date for the 2003 game hint, though.

Going through those threads in hindsight is always fun. What is interesting is that in many, many cases, a very early post in the thread (within the first few pages) has figured out a salient part of the hint. Of course without the benefit of hindsight, knowing which single post is right is not quite as straightforward...

2012: Posters quickly identified that high speed counters were well suited to a ball shooting game.
2011: Posters quickly said that the pole was to be climbed, and there would be three different FIRST-logo shaped game pieces.
2010: Within 3 pages a poster postulated that the image was an upside down ball return chute.
2009: By page 6 a poster had said "maybe the playing surface will be like the surface of the moon", and with the 2nd hint we identified an "ice game" on page one, among other insights.
2008: TV remote control of robots, "tortoise and hare" allusion to a racing game, and "hurdling" during the race all mentioned early.
2007: Took a little longer...6 pages until several posters mentioned inner tubes.
2006: Camera, shooting game mentioned quickly.
2005: Triple Play (game name) mentioned in very first post, concept of scoring in rows of 3 mentioned shortly thereafter
2004: Stairs mentioned in the very first post

Just know that if/when the 2013 hint(s) are posted, it is highly probably that somebody will nail down a pretty specific part of the game within the first 5 pages