Official 2005 Clue Thread

[Andrew]

I'm going to stick with the baseball clue, since Johnny Neun and George Burns are the only first basemen to turn an unassisted triple play.

I think Pi refers to the (Pi)tchers mound, a circular object in the center of the baseball diamond.

I think the Amethyst colored glasses refer to an optical filter.

So, I think there will be an object, detectable by the IR sensor, between "first base" (starting point for the robot) and the center of the field.

I like the Blue+Red = Purple concept, although I do not immediately see how this will play out. Also, what will be the FIRST equivalent of the unassisted triple play? Those items, plus Car Nack's prediction, lead me to believe that alliances, if there are alliances, are not going to be what we have seen in the past.

BTW, the Championship Eligibility criteria still list 3 Regional Champions per Event.

Amethyst is February's birthstone.

[MissInformation]

Just because I want to throw in a little more confusion... I mean support toward the number 3...

George Burns, the actor... one of his biggest roles was playing God in the movie Oh God! The movie was a big enough hit to spawn off a sequel called Oh God! Book Two, which spawned off Oh God! You Devil. And though it's been a long time since I've watched one of these movies, I vaguely remember God as being based on the Christian god, and I'm not saying FIRST is in any way pushing the Christian religion on anyone, I'm bringing it up because one of the big components of the Christian religion is the Holy Trinity (which is, of course, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.) See, three.

And as someone pointed out, in the Life of Pi, the main character is a practicing Hindu, Islam and Christian. And of course I could get even more silly and point out that the title is three words and that the first chapter starts on page three...

Gems cut from amethyst are graded using the terms: Siberian, Uruguayan or Bahain; to represent high medium and low grade respectively, regardless of the actual source.

And of course people have already discussed the baseball threes...

I'm sure I could come up with lots more three related things, but I really need to go now. Why do I want to support three so much? Maybe I've been influenced by School House Rock and I really do believe Three is a Magic Number.

Heidi

[Steve W]

3 x 3is possible. The red + blue = purple could be as said a combined score between red and blue. Being that there have been multiplier's the last 2 years the purple could be a multiplier of the red and blue teams individual scores. This would make it easier for the audience to figure out, no doubling the losers score idea and no one trying to knock over the other teams multiplier. The center is out clue (which I still believe is real) would but scoring zones on each side of the field. This would give spectators a closer view and open up the middle for more robots.

I believe that the if you look closely refers to an infared emitter that will be enclosed in something with only a small opening. This would prevent a lot of the bouncing light to disappear and therefore easier to home in on. Big bonus at the beginning of the game for autonomous mode that would be equal to the hanging at the end last year.

My 2 cents, take it or leave it.

[Wetzel]

George and Johnny both caught the ball at 1st, tagged the man at 1st, then out raced the guy from 2nd to second.

They could have assured themselves the out by tossing the ball to the second basemen, but they held on for the chance at greater glory. This is the opposite of the time multiplier in 2001. Also in 2001 was the 4v0 alliance time.

I think there will be a multiplier back, but it will have to do with number to alliance partners participating. There are always a few different ways to go about the game. Last year it was hang or get balls. Very few could do both. I'm thinking of this as another way to try and level the playing field so that powerhouse teams can't carry the whole alliance and that specialty bots will be all important this year.

-Flat field.
-Cooperation required for maxing out points.

Wetzel

[663.keith]

One thing I noticed in the clue that hasn't been under much discussion was the fact that John was wearing the glasses. I have heard teams that refer to seeing through tinted glasses as seeing one side of an argument only. If one were to wear amethyst glasses (both blue and red) it seems that they see both the red and blue team equally. Through this messed up reasoning, it seems that the glasses could mean that teams have to work together equally to score points.

just my $0.02
~Keith

[Pin Man]

I don't know... We may be looking too big... Look at last year's hint... Stairway to Heaven... Look at the significance of the stairs... They were little 2" mini steps... Some are looking at this clue and trying to figure out the whole game...

[phrontist]

Originally Posted by Pin Man

I don't know... We may be looking too big... Look at last year's hint... Stairway to Heaven... Look at the significance of the stairs... They were little 2" mini steps... Some are looking at this clue and trying to figure out the whole game...

Ah! But that's what he wants us to think!

Or maybe I'm getting myself caught in a web of Iocaine Logic.

[pakrat]

btw, something is weird, correct english would be Pi, you, and I


right??

[DUCKIE]

ack... and i was already worrying about queueing with just 4 teams at a time!!!! [still trying to imagine getting 6 teams to show up in a timely manner. will i need to hold a bucket of candy... the 4 team members get a piece if they show up on time or something.]

I dont want to go to in depth... because i will be living on the boards for the next couple months anyways.

Here is my official pre-kick off guess.

# of teams - 3 [or 6 if they HAVE adjusted the # of channels. Queueing will be hell though.]
shape of field - Hexagon
alliances - none [purple = red+blue so maybe similar to 2001 when we had to all work together to beat the clock.] OR [Red+Blue+Purple where there are three teams and three "alliances" playing for themselves.]
field elements - Pyramid of some sort?
manipulatives - baseballs [or perhaps the return of the floppy donut things.]

----------------------------------------------------------
Maybe the field is divided into three, where everyone looks through the "rose-tinted glasses" [player station glass]and only sees one side of the center pyramid. which might be possible due to the field set-up and Pyramid placement.

[Pin Man]

Originally Posted by DUCKY

ack... and i was already worrying about queueing with just 4 teams at a time!!!! [still trying to imagine getting 6 teams to show up in a timely manner. will i need to hold a bucket of candy... the 4 team members get a piece if they show up on time or something.]

I dont want to go to in depth... because i will be living on the boards for the next couple months anyways.

Here is my official pre-kick off guess.

# of teams - 3 [or 6 if they HAVE adjusted the # of channels. Queueing will be hell though.]
shape of field - Hexagon
alliances - none [purple = red+blue so maybe similar to 2001 when we had to all work together to beat the clock.] OR [Red+Blue+Purple where there are three teams and three "alliances" playing for themselves.]
field elements - Pyramid of some sort?
manipulatives - baseballs [or perhaps the return of the floppy donut things.]

----------------------------------------------------------
Maybe the field is divided into three, where everyone looks through the "rose-tinted glasses" [player station glass]and only sees one side of the center pyramid. which might be possible due to the field set-up and Pyramid placement.

hahaha yeah tj never got candy because we are ALWAYS late... hahaha... I don't think we will all be working together though... I don't think FIRST will bring that back... If I can remember correctly it didn't go too well or atleast at the competitions I was at... Plus its so much more exciting to see robots working against each other...

[DUCKIE]

I dont know... i think having the robots all work together in 2001 was a good idea... it really seperated FIRST from battlebots... and it certainly led to less severe robot/field damage durring matches. in 2002 the field got ripped up and in 2003 the "manipulatives" [bins] went faster than mountain dew durring build.

[Katie Reynolds]

Originally Posted by pakrat

btw, something is weird, correct english would be Pi, you, and I right??

This has already been discussed in this thread, FYI.

No - as long as a verb does not follow "Pi, you and me" it is correct. For example:

Pi, you and I went to the store. This is correct because you could break it into "Pi went to the store, you went to the store, and I went to the store." One wouldn't say, "me went to the store."

You will see something between Pi, You and Me. Using the same logic, you should be able to break this down into, "You will see something between Pi and You, Pi and Me, and You and Me."

There has been discussion about whether "Pi" is the first entity, "You" is the second, and "Me" is the third ... or whether "Pi" is the first, and "You and Me" is the second ... one would think if they were three seperate entities, it would correctly read:

"... something between Pi, you, and myself."

Of course, someone pointed out that "see" and "me" rhyme - but you would think if they were going for a rhyming scheme, the riddle would have been broken down like a rhyme ...

"Look closely and you will see,
Something between Pi, You and Me."

*shrug*

[Steve W]

OH, OH, another idea. What if you need to accomplish 3 things to get out? The clue , the center is out, could mean that you need to accomplish 3 tasks in order to get to the center to get more points at the end of the game.

OWWW my brain hurts. I got another week to stew and I'm already cooked.

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by Wetzel

George and Johnny both caught the ball at 1st, tagged the man at 1st, then out raced the guy from 2nd to second.

They could have assured themselves the out by tossing the ball to the second basemen, but they held on for the chance at greater glory. This is the opposite of the time multiplier in 2001. Also in 2001 was the 4v0 alliance time.

I think there will be a multiplier back, but it will have to do with number to alliance partners participating. There are always a few different ways to go about the game. Last year it was hang or get balls. Very few could do both. I'm thinking of this as another way to try and level the playing field so that powerhouse teams can't carry the whole alliance and that specialty bots will be all important this year.

-Flat field.
-Cooperation required for maxing out points.

Wetzel

You've got a point about the unassistedness of the triple play. Maybe it'll be like the big balls in 2001, that gave your particular team a multiplier. Of course, doing it would be harder, but you'll get the greater glory from it.

However, the time multiplier is an interesting idea as well. Perhaps the robots have to do something in as close to 1:45 as possible without going over.

And if that does happen, we're getting Bob Barker to emcee one regional.

[phrontist]

Originally Posted by Billfred

You've got a point about the unassistedness of the triple play. Maybe it'll be like the big balls in 2001, that gave your particular team a multiplier. Of course, doing it would be harder, but you'll get the greater glory from it.

However, the time multiplier is an interesting idea as well. Perhaps the robots have to do something in as close to 1:45 as possible without going over.

And if that does happen, we're getting Bob Barker to emcee one regional.

And you've got to do it autonomously!