[JesseK]

Ours will be estimated at 22 maximum, plus whatever lucky ones don't fall off the top of the pile. Our pickup mechanism will make it look like popcorn when we get that many. However, the hopper's main purpose is to catch the balls from our PS rather than storing a huge amount of them. For our strategy, I don't believe there is a distinct advantage in having that many at once. Hmm, except maybe for our 'spray and pray' mode, where we send the shooter turret on a random rampage...

Our strategy aside though, I believe that it will take teams alot longer to fill their hopper than they think. The game doesn't start with 120 balls on the field, and I'm sure it will take no less than 20 seconds to get them all out there. In addition, there will be a lot of pinning this year. When you're pinned, it doesn't matter if you have 1 ball or 60 balls in your hopper, or trying to fire them or collect them; you're dead in the water until you're released.