[FRC Blog] 2014 Game Hint

[Renegade1058]

It seems a lot like it's going to be a game forwarded towards the moon. Like Zalinsky stated, JFK challenged the USA to go the the moon in this decade. Then there are the two 3s and the 3 water bottles. There's definitely a strong reference to the number 3. In my opinion, the 33 is a reference to the date 1933, when there was a film produced called the "Three-Cornered Moon". A triangle has three corners, just like the shape the water bottles formed in the picture and just like the graph of the points created. Just my opinion.

[Orion.DeYoe]

Originally Posted by Calvin Hartley

At risk of sounding like a jerk, but... Did you read the posts following the one you quoted? This was already addressed. Let's try not to be hypocritical. Thanks! (Although we're all guilty of this, I am sure.)

Haha, point taken. But, yes, I did read the posts following that one (and all ~650 previous ones).

[RWS98]

I have not read all 40+ pages for this thread so I don’t know if anyone has proposed the following:

Looking at the Nov. 25 photo, if it indeed had games clues I would speculate that the game has something to do with billiards. First there is the green screen like the felt on the tables. There are tall chairs like you would find in a billiard hall/tournament. The water bottles (and the plotted hint numbers) form a triangle that would represent the rack. And finally, all three are reading their “Cues” from the teleprompter.

If I were to guess a name for this game it would be “Rack’em Up”

[Mr. N]

Happy Boxing Day!


(Apologies if I'm duplicating ideas from earlier posts...)

Let's assume the hint is not an alphanumeric cipher, but rather refers to three "things". Personally, I do not believe these are coordinates (in physical space or colour space), since the inclusion of the "/" is an odd way to represent a coordinate.

I think each "thing" is a geometric object (game piece or field element), and the "Large Number/Small Number" defines the shape somehow. The relative magnitude of the numbers suggests (at least to me) "Volume/Area".

I had a look at the volume and area formulas for various solids (source: Engineering Toolbox/Volume and Surfaces of Common Solids). At first, I tried to match up Volume to Surface Area without much luck. However, when I instead looked at Cross-Sectional Area (or some representative planar area), things started jumping out.

Now, since absolute values are given for both Volume and Area, they are expressed in terms of some "unit" which is not explicitly defined. I think mm are too small, so the most likely "unit" is either inch or cm.

Here is a summary of the solids corresponding to each number group (all dimensions expressed in rounded "units")

• 8234/57 = tall cylinder (8.6 dia x 146) OR toroid (8.5 minor dia. x 46 major dia.)
  
• 61126/1963 = sphere (49 dia) -- minus a little bit, suggesting a cut-out or cavity
  
• 62326/15806 = shallow square pyramid (126 x 126 x 12 tall) OR shallow square platform (126 x 126 x 4 tall)

I drew these shapes to scale and put some of them into an assembly (based on pure speculation). Please see attachment.

[Flimsor]

Originally Posted by Infinity2718

First I would like to say that I do not believe there is a weight reduction for this game. In the north, they have weight reductions every spring when the ground thaws so that large trucks do not destroy the roads. We have enough torn up roads just from the freezing and thawing without large semis crushing them. So there are thousands of instances of weight reduction on roads, it is likely a coincident that picture was found.

If trucks have to be lighter in the winter because the roads are colder, then maybe the robots will have to be lighter because of certain field conditions. It could be that heavier robots won't be able to complete a certain task, or they'll want to make it more difficult to drive a certain way by making them lighter. If that were true, then that would certainly be a portion of the game worth noting via a clue. Given that, the FRC GDC could have easily known these were already signs, making them the perfect clue.

[Skidzoo]

I really like Mr. N's interpretation of the hint, although it could be complete chance and we are overthinking it (but we all know that doesn't happen, right? ).

It's a pretty solid explanation- I just can't tell if that blue sphere is a game piece or a field structure, which leads me to a few ideas about how the blue sphere will affect all of this.

If the blue sphere is a game piece, it could mean one of three things: either we have to put the ball on the peg, take the ball off the peg (I feel like the second is more likely than the first, since it will take a ridiculous amount of accuracy on behalf of the programming/driver to get it perfectly onto the peg), or that the other team has to try to knock it off its pedestal... kind of like tee-ball, except that you are trying to hit the other team's ball.

If the blue sphere is a field structure, it is either an endgame field structure with a purpose (like the tower in Ultimate Ascent), or it is a standard field piece that is in play the entire time, like something we have to drive around. I really don't know what the its purpose could be. A few random guesses: We have to lasso it? Throw/stack something on it (like Logomotion)? Fill it up with some other mini game pieces?

Just my interpretation of Mr. N's work.

[RonnyV]

Originally Posted by TheCascadeKid

So my strategy was to completely ignore the numbers (since I have no idea what I'm doing there) and run only the words through an anagram solver. I ran "here you go have a great weekend frank" and got out HEATHEN AGE GO FRAUD KEEN YORK WEAVER.

HEATHEN AGE: Heathen means non-religious, and atheism is on the rise today, so I interpret this to mean modern times. Baseball is a fairly modern sport.

GO FRAUD: This is the most confusing one. It might mean that you have to foul other robots in order to win (perhaps a certain number of fouls are allowed per game?). Not sure here.

KEEN YORK WEAVER: Jeff Weaver was a pitcher who played for the New York Yankees. You need keen eyes to be a pitcher. Baseball game.

BUT WAIT I JUST REALIZED THIS: when I think of baseball fraud, I think of the infamous Chicago Black Sox, where the players conspired to lose the World Series. They did this by prearranging bets with mafia guys. In other words, you're going to need to talk beforehand with your alliance partners (because of the modular systems for different tasks) to see how you can profit the most from the match.

Boom.

Baseball game.

Why didn't anybody respond on this post? I really like what he did. I'm a new kid on the block, second season coming up, so I don't know how much deepness/work FIRST puts in these hints.

But there are a lot of theories behind the baseball idea and this confirms it as well.

Coincidence? Maybe... Reliable theory? Maybe..

[atucker4072]

Since the the weight reduction sign has to do with trucks this could mean we would have trailers again.

[Calvin Hartley]

Mr. N, I like your thoughts.

The image reminds me of a tesla coil.... not going to happen, but a fun thought.

That being said, I think this could be a very solid lead. I don't have much else to add to this speculation, but I like where it's going. If your blue object is the game piece and the rest a field element that would make sense.

I'm afraid my post isn't doing much more than taking up space... hrm.

[Anthony4004]

Originally Posted by Orion.DeYoe

Please read the thread before commenting. Check back several pages, I plotted them in 3D several days ago.

I have read seriously every single post on this tread and other treads. After you have read over 700 posts you may forget a few.

[Anthony4004]

Originally Posted by Skidzoo

team has to try to knock it off its pedestal... kind of like tee-ball, except that you are trying to hit the other team's ball.
.

oh this sounds like a great idea with Mr. N's idea. this greatly supports the baseball idea.

[Anthony4004]

So has anyone seen the AndyMark Ri3D website? On the bottom of the page they have up a simple arm joint, which is a new item they sell. So....arm joint......game where we need an arm? After all the hints, my money is on a baseball game where we have to move the "ball" onto tee-ball peg (check out Mr. N's pic above) somewhat like Logomotion. Interesting.....

[gavmac928]

The Mr. N theory, as it has now been dubbed, revolving around the sets of numbers each being ratios between the volume and an area of grometric shapes, sounds pretty legitimate. However, keep in mind that his drawing is just one speculation, and that the bottom square could also be a pyramid. That is just one orientation he came up with. But I still like the general theory more than anything else we've come up with, because it is an actual interpretation of the numbers mathematically, not just typing the numbers into google or a coordinate grid, which is where most of our theories have been coming from.

[Bryce Paputa]

Originally Posted by RonnyV

Why didn't anybody respond on this post? I really like what he did. I'm a new kid on the block, second season coming up, so I don't know how much deepness/work FIRST puts in these hints.

But there are a lot of theories behind the baseball idea and this confirms it as well.

Coincidence? Maybe... Reliable theory? Maybe..

Yeah, I like it too. I don't see us getting anything at all out of these numbers.

[smarthimandrew]

Originally Posted by Mr. N

• 8234/57 = tall cylinder (8.6 dia x 146) OR toroid (8.5 minor dia. x 46 major dia.)
  
• 61126/1963 = sphere (49 dia) -- minus a little bit, suggesting a cut-out or cavity
  
• 62326/15806 = shallow square pyramid (126 x 126 x 12 tall) OR shallow square platform (126 x 126 x 4 tall)

I am currently in the middle of checking the math on this one. I don't like how much rounding is involved here. Would you please post your work for how you got those dimensions for the objects.