[ToddF]

We just wanted to pass on a bit of news.

Last night, as we began prototyping shooting and pickup mechanisms, we realized that we had been accepting the specs and CD for the dimensions of the ball. As a double check, we actually measured our ball. We did this by placing it against a wall, with a vertical surface touching the other side of the ball, measuring its diameter caliper style.

The first thing we noticed is that after 4 days the ball is no longer round. Rather, it is "lobed". Rotating the ball to measure the max diameter across the lobes gives a max dimension of 25.75", a good deal larger than the ~24" specified in the game manual.

We wanted to get this out there to make teams aware that if they design mechanisms for a 24" diameter ball, the actual balls may become jammed.