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Originally Posted by raf4far
And i find it weird that FIRST didnt write out the whole robots instead they put 'bots so idk it just weird.
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Originally Posted by Mme.Miscellania
It's interesting that the clue is in the form of an extended haiku (8-10-8).
Now, haiku are normally 5-7-5 patterns, so maybe this year's competition has an alternating number of robots on the field - maybe one robot out of six is chosen to sit out a round, and get put in the next round.
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The wording of this clue was chosen very carefully, as
Mme.Miscellania found that this clue is in the form of a 8-10-8 haiku. If they had put
"robots" in instead of
"'bots", this would not be a haiku. I really think there is something behind the poetry behind this clue. The obvious lack of capitalization and punctuation leads more credence to the fact that this is in fact poetry. So why 8-10-8 haiku?
Can this 8-10-8 be refering to something in the game? Will there be a 10' high goal/hanging bar on the center ramp/stairs, and two 8' high [possibly mobile] goals at each end of the field? Or can the form of a haiku (which starts out at a set value, increses by two sylables, and then goes back to its original value, as in 5-7-5 or 8-10-8) lead us to something in the game? Will there be something that is flat, goes up 2 feet (or inches) and then returns to normal in the field? This would lead us back to the Butte idea.
Would there be a simple 2x4 flat on the ground that spans the width of the field, requiring teams to have at least 2" or ground clearance if they want to go past/over it? Dave did mention
this post in reference to someone talking about implementing a mecenum drive this year. With a 2x4 spaning the field, a mecanum drive would prove to be a difficult drive system to implement successfully.
Okay, now to another issue. There will most likely be a rectanglar field this year, with a similar [if not the same] size to last year's field. The field will most likely not become bigger. Let's go back to the regional logistics issue. Some competition venues (especially off-season events held in high school gymnasiums) simply cannot hold a pentagonal or hexagonal field with 15ft plus side lengths. When FIRST actually did have hexagonal fields, there were no off-season competitions to worry about. That is all changed now.
This year's game (at least playing field wise) will probably be similar to 2003 or 2004, with a large step/ramp in the middle of the field. This will be the case because of television/audience viewing. In the 2005 game, as exciting as it was for the drive team/coach to try to keep up with everything on the field at once, the audience was often at a loss for what was going on. In their minds, all they saw was robots going everywhere, deposisting "little triangles" on top of seemingly random "big triangles". At least with the 2004 game, they could tell pretty easily that the point of the game is to get more balls (both small and big) into your goal than the opponent does into theirs. Let's all remember that a large portion of the audience doesn't spend six weeks memorizing the rules of the game.
With about two weeks to go until Kickoff, let's start trying to actually make a game out of all the suggestions/ideas so far in this thread. I may be no Car Nack, but using previous ideas from this thread, I am trying to make a game to go along with them.
Let's take this clue deciphering to the next level. 
Here's what I thought up, the new 2006 FIRST game:
"Sky High Frenzy"
This year will present us with a simple objective - get more of your alliance's color footballs into the goals. There will be a 3x3 game, with a field the same size the 2005 field - 27' by 52'. I am guestimating that there will be a pentagonal ramp (with maybe a 1/3 angle, and 8 or 10 foot sidelengths at the base) in the center of the field, with a flat top. This flat top will have one neutral (aka "low goal") in the center of it. Either alliance will be able to score footballs into this "low goal". Footballs in this "low goal" will be worth 5 points each. To prevent a robot from simply pushing footballs into this pit (or from robots falling into into it), a 18" wall (made of aluminum pipe and green Lexan panels) will surround it.
In the middle of this "low goal" pit, there will be a 10' high "high goal". Any footballs in this will be worth double (10 points each). This high goal will also be neutral. Whoever has more balls in the center goal (which includes the "low goal" and the "high goal"), will gain a 2x multiplier for all of their balls in the center goals.
Each alliance will also have one mobile goal, measuring 8' high. Each alliance will only be able to score in their own mobile goal.
There will be eighty footballs scattered about the field, with forty red ones and forty blue ones. There will be an additional eight footballs for each human player of the correct alliance color. This makes a total of 128 footballs. The footballs will be in four rows of twenty each on the field. To make the game interesting, one set of each alliances' balls will be located on the oppisite end of the field. Robots will be able to score the footballs themselves, or pass them to human players (like 2004), who would throw be able to throw the footballs into any of their three goals (their own mobile goal, the "high goal" or the "low goal".
If a team gets onto the ramp at the end of the match, they will get either a 20 or 25 point bonus. There will only be room for one robot one each of the five sides of the pentagonal ramp.
Okay, enough brainstorming for me for one night. Now its your turn to make revisions, additions, propose entirely new objects, or make a totally different game. Let's all get that pinkish grey blob in our heads into high gear by Kickoff!
