[I only had time to read about half of the thread... so don't kill me if I'm repeating here...]
A few things discovered in 15 minutes worth of research, none of which I've seen here yet:
1) Couldn't help but Google the exact phrase "five 'bots"... and lookey here what it discovered:
http://www.fileaholic.com/idgames/pa...d/coderd12.txt
Knowing the geekiness of the GDC (thats "geek" in the good sense)... I'm guessing there might have been a Quake player or two out there... Notice that "You begin in a level with entrances to three(for now) arenas". *3* !!!
2) Now to dictionary.com... "Tangle: To catch and hold in or as if in a net; entrap".... speaks for itself.
3) PASTA is an acronym in queuing theory; it stands for "Poisson Arrivals See Time Averages". A wildshot... but then again, could have something to do with the scoring system.
4) There is a meaning of "show" that I haven't seen mentioned... again thanks to dictionary.com... "Show: Third place at the finish, as in a horserace." I dunno.... there's that "3" again. Also, "obsessed" can mean "influenced or controlled" SO: Translate: "A game piece influenced or controlled with a shovel's third place finish." Yike's -- the value of a gamepiece might be different for the third place finisher?
I won't touch Montana's green heights for now.
Happy New Year!
Aidan