[EricH]

Bringing Dave's hints in as well:
"five 'bots tangling with pasta" Analysis: There will be five robots at a time. I don't know how, but possibly there are six with one off by itself.They will be tangling up in something-- this could go with the English Channel hint. Although "pasta" suggests spaghetti of some form, it may be sauce, because you almost never see it without sauce.

"a game piece obsessed with a shovel's show" Analysis: First, you have to figure out what a shovel's show is. Personally, I think it might be the shovel's handle, which would put batons into the game. I am most likely wrong on this.

"and seeing Montana's green heights" Analysis: First, seeing, particularly seeing green. I think there will be a return of the cmucam. Montana has mountains, so there will likely be a ramp to go over, possibly green. Green: possibly three alliances with green being the third. Green heights: possibly forested hills, so there may be a "forest" of batons (or something) on said ramp. Worse yet, a game piece that can see.

OK, enough speculating. I'll leave for now before my brain is totally fried. We'll see what they've got for us in two weeks!