2013 ACTUAL game hint!!!

[joelg236]

Saw this on the FRC blog post today...

we’ve asked AndyMark to put a cap on the number of pieces teams can order. More detail will be available after Kickoff.

Does this mean that there will be an abundant amount of game pieces this year? (ie. lunacy)

[nathan_hui]

Not necessarily, but hopefully. It just means FIRST doesn't want the demand to exceed the supply just yet. They could have a production shortage (at the moment or throughout the entire season), in which case there are big problems. Or they want things to be fair.

[bardd]

Originally Posted by joelg236

Does this mean that there will be an abundant amount of game pieces this year? (ie. lunacy)

It probably means FIRST wants to make sure the game pieces don't run out in the first 5 minutes (like the talons did, for example) so every team gets to order some.

[Jon Stratis]

Originally Posted by joelg236

Saw this on the FRC blog post today...



Does this mean that there will be an abundant amount of game pieces this year? (ie. lunacy)

Many teams rush out to buy a ton of game pieces right after kickoff. These are typically used for pre-season and off-season events... but if enough teams do that right off the bat, it can create a shortage for other teams.

Just look at last year... having 3+ basketballs was great for testing your robot, and there weren't really a ton of them on the field at any given time. But to put on an event, you'd need a ton just to account for wear and tear and replacement.

This decision means that every team should be able to get a couple, and then teams that need a lot for an event can go in and get what they need, if there are enough. If not, they'll be the ones waiting on backorders, not teams that need the game pieces to design around.

[Grim Tuesday]

Originally Posted by joelg236

Saw this on the FRC blog post today...



Does this mean that there will be an abundant amount of game pieces this year? (ie. lunacy)

I don't know, what this says to me is that Andymark may be the only supplier of gamepieces (like they were last year) so they will probably be something unique and custom made for FIRST (tetras!).

[Steven Donow]

Originally Posted by Grim Tuesday

I don't know, what this says to me is that Andymark may be the only supplier of gamepieces (like they were last year) so they will probably be something unique and custom made for FIRST (tetras!).

Not necessarily(though I personally think it'll be the case that the gamepiece will be unique). People were able to obtain whatever the ball manufacturer had left of basketballs with their branding(not FIRST branding), and IIRC they were pretty much the same as what you could get from AndyMark(with the same ball-to-ball variations, that is).