Game piece availability

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by NorviewsVeteran

I think the GDC are hipsters... using obscure objects you've never heard of and can't find anywhere as game pieces, and only use common objects just to be ironic.

Awww, now that would be to easy and against pop culture. I just may be able to stand the wait, but our pieces are already taking beating/need repair.

I just find it ridiculous that the game pieces aren't available until week 3 for order! I mean its not like they knew what the game pieces were in November or anything!

[ATannahill]

Once the GDC lets teams get past the "Where can I get that thing?", they will say "Now that we have an unlimited supply, how many should we buy?"

Has anyone looked at the FTC game piece. It's PVC. No FRC FIRST team has ever had trouble getting PVC.

[Ian Curtis]

Originally Posted by rtfgnow

Once the GDC lets teams get past the "Where can I get that thing?", they will say "Now that we have an unlimited supply, how many should we buy?"

Has anyone looked at the FTC game piece. It's PVC. No FRC FIRST team has ever had trouble getting PVC.

We had PVC game pieces in 2005. Except to make them into tetras you needed to buy these plastic joints from IFI, which had a very nasty habit of cracking. You can't win!

I think this year is good in that you still only need one of each game piece, and barring serious damage, a little tape will keep it inflated. It's not like you need 10 or 15 to accurately find out storage dynamics like you did with the Orbit Balls.

I think Dave went into this at some point -- even though the GDC knows early if they need a custom game piece, lead times for the manufacturers are even longer.

[EDIT]Hmm... can't find it. I did find this where he talks about how FIRST does try to ensure teams have adequate access to gamepieces.[/EDIT]

[bearbot]

wish andymark carried more of the game pieces since they know ahead of time so we can get more instead of waiting on back order because we have a slow leak develop in the square at the end of today meeting

[team222badbrad]

Originally Posted by bearbot

wish andymark carried more of the game pieces since they know ahead of time so we can get more instead of waiting on back order because we have a slow leak develop in the square at the end of today meeting

I don't believe AndyMark is to blame here as they are most likely just the storefront to purchase them.

We just ordered our tubes tonight.

[artdutra04]

Originally Posted by rtfgnow

Has anyone looked at the FTC game piece. It's PVC. No FRC FIRST team has ever had trouble getting PVC.

Ha! 2005 (Triple Play) used tetras made out of PVC pipe and fittings. Each tetra used twelve 1.5" PVC end caps, and most teams decided to build several tetras and goals.

The result? Every Home Depot, Lowe's, and Sears around us was sold out of those PVC end caps within days of the Kickoff.

This must have set off alarm bells in their computer inventory tracking systems, because about a month later these stores were overflowing with that specific end cap, but by that point teams had already made all the tetras they needed.

[dtengineering]

I've said it elsewhere, but you know... the GDC could have achieved a similar "logo" effect and introduced a new gripping challenge by cutting the pieces out of plywood.

Sure, you wouldn't want people tossing them over the wall of the driver station, but there are lots of ways to put game pieces in to play.

Or we could have game pieces made of 2x4.

Heck, a random selection of used car tires would make great game pieces. In fact for items intended to be "generic", like the soccer ball, the GDC could intentionally specify that a random mix of manufacturers products would be used. That way we'd know that there wasn't some specific characteristic of a game piece that we had failed to consider, because every game piece could be different.

Jason

[Gary Dillard]

Hmmmmmmm.... 24th has come and almost gone, still not available

Hold on to your game pieces that came in the kit - we may need to bring them to the regional so they have enough to hold a competition.

[team222badbrad]

Originally Posted by Gary Dillard

Hmmmmmmm.... 24th has come and almost gone, still not available

Hold on to your game pieces that came in the kit - we may need to bring them to the regional so they have enough to hold a competition.

I sure hope these pieces are on a boat already since The Chinese New Year has China shut down for the next few weeks!

[JesseK]

Just think about all of the exercise those of us with full-length fields will get by running back and forth with our 3 KOP pieces! Or, better yet, think of the new local alliances that will be forged by teams sharing game pieces at co-located practice sessions!

Oh the humanity!

[bhsrobotics1671]

Yay!

They are finally available!