Official 2005 Clue Thread

[Karthik1]

Originally Posted by JulieB

who really knows what the game will all we can do is sit and twirl our thumbs until the 8th.
i hope for nothing with BALLS!

Sorry to burst your bubble but with all these baseball references, baseballs seems like a likely scoring object.

[Collmandoman]

Originally Posted by Karthik1

Sorry to burst your bubble but with all these baseball references, baseballs seems like a likely scoring object.

I'm not so sure about that.. they are fairly dense.. and if the human player is involved.. there will be no thrown baseballs.. maybe loading?
they can damage a robot very easily

[sanddrag]

Did anyone see this post?

Originally Posted by dlavery

just broaden your imagination and consider what might happen if the alliance structures are not symetrical.

If we know that the two weaker alliances will gang up and create an unfair 4 (2 + 2) robots vs 2 robots situation, then there is one very easy way to restore balance. Imagine what it might be like if the match were designed to have two (weaker) alliances of two robots each, and a third alliance of 3 stronger robots. A 2 vs 2 vs 3 structure could make things very interesting! The team scouts and strategists would have a field day with this one.

But, nah, that is way too complicated. FIRST would never do that to us...

-dave

[Steve W]

They have a hard enough time now with the alliances. This time I believe that Dave is trying to throw a curve ball. WHAT, baseball again. HHHMMMMMM

[Jay H 237]

Remember, Dave may be giving us a red herring.

When it's right before kick-off, I'd trust what Dave says just as much as he'd trust allowing me to drive his rovers.

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by Jay H 237

When it's right before kick-off, I'd trust what Dave says just as much as he'd trust allowing me to drive his rovers.

But maybe his posts are actually clues and that is what he wants you to do.

[Bharat Nain]

Originally Posted by Jay H 237

Remember, Dave may be giving us a red herring.

When it's right before kick-off, I'd trust what Dave says just as much as he'd trust allowing me to drive his rovers.

//in good humor
One day..one day... I am going to make my own rovers and then the almighty Dave Lavery can be jealous of me

But frankly I LOVE THOSE ROVERS and I am so jealous of Dave right now!!!!

[Paradox1350]

Dave may just be messing with us, but MAN 2v2v3 would be interesting.

[Rich Wong]

I have FIRST insomnia.... so here is another midnight S.W.A.G:

Imagine…
Your team, with 5 other teams, is called to the playing field and you and another team are given a purple card instead of a red or blue.

You do not know what side you are on, so you are now place in the middle of the field with another purple team. When the game starts the purple color is changed to red or blue and now you must defend or fight for your alliance.
The two blue teams and two red teams start on both ends but you and the other purple team are in the middle of a "cage" that is shaped like a “baseball” diamond OR a boxing ring. You must stay inside for the whole match. You pass or receive balls (assumed) to or from you Alliance for scoring. Possible? ... given all the clues so far.

Boxing gloves are optional.

[Scott L.]

Look closely and you will see something between Pi, you and me.

Maybe a team receives the average of the product of the 2 scores.
(blue score * red score)/2.

Amethyst is a purple gem, and when red and blue are mixed, they form purple, which helps t6o support this theory

[Damian Manda]

Finally finished reading this whole thread after three days.

I think the multiple mentions of three in the clue (triple play if you take the baseball theory and three subjects) indicate the presence of one of four options:
- 3v3 teams
- x3 Multiplier
- 3 minute match
- Putting 3 objects together = more points (like a stack)

The longer match doesn't seem practical, because with about 100 matches in the day, this is over an hour and a half longer of competition (unless they begin on Thursday!)

The baseball connection seems to strong to be ignored, especially considering the prior references to this by Dave Lavery. I see baseballs themselves as being too small for objects, but maybe a game involving stations/bases could came from this.

Their unassisted triple plays make me think of autonomous mode, but cant think of what would be between the end of the match (product/Pi) and autonomous (You and Me). Maybe this means that autonomous will be in the middle, but I fear that scenario as a programmer who never even got the IR to work last year. Even if not in this way, I see IR as playing a major role in this game.

The amethyst originally made me think of hexagonal fields, as previously mentioned, I think FIRST might be due for a change of field. Dave Lavery's post here makes me rethink this, maybe an amethyst will really be used (or is he trying to throw us off...it does only say "amethyst colored" in the clue) The lack of a low cost bill of materials may also indicate a major redesign of the field or some special element, as last year the only strange listing was the toilet flanges (see here). I did find that this was only sent out 5 days before the kickoff, a point which we have not reached this year. Maybe FIRST just hasn't had time to post this yet.

The Beatles connection seems too vague, I like the Cleveland connection better, since it relates to baseball and can be tied to the amethyst colored glasses anyways. Now what between Pi and Cleveland when looking through Cleveland?

I bet many of us (including me) are probing too far into the clue. Last year, the surface level elements were the only major clues (stairs and no shooting toward a bar). If Dave Lavery is still reading this thread, I would like to know how long you guys spent coming up with the clue, just to see how long you think about something that we can discuss for over 350 posts and ponder for a week.