[magnets]

While I do totally understand why places like vex pro and andymark are out of stock, I am extremely frustrated why, year after year after year, the game pieces are impossible to get. This year, we've got one. Just one. The whole year. We've called the company, we've checked andymark, and we've only got one for our kit. I can only think of three reasons why this could happen.

1. Every supplier for game pieces since 2003 (those bins were great) tells FIRST that there will be enough, but there aren't. This is sometimes hard to believe, as the suppliers are only making more money by having things in stock.

2. FIRST doesn't do a good job estimating demand. They tell the company that we'll need 3000 by kickoff, then probably one or two teams will decide to order a single extra ball, so the company only makes a few balls. This is again really hard to believe. They know what happens during the season.

3. FIRST just doesn't care. I think this could be the case. Year after year, the game pieces are specialized for FRC (weirdly shaped tubes, custom basketballs, custom dimension frisbees, custom exercise ball), and are stupidly expensive. $52 for an exercise ball is overkill. I should be able to buy 10 exercise balls for that amount of money.