2006 Official Game Hint Discussion

[Ian Curtis]

five 'bots tangling with pasta
a game piece obsessed with a shovel's show
and seeing Montana's green heights

Let the Games begin!

[Francis-134]

Seeing green...hummm dare I say that the camera will be back this year?

[aztech75]

This isnt the official hint is it?

[evolution]

"a game piece obsessed with a shovel's show"

A moving game piece?

[sciguy125]

My guess is that the pasta is some sort of obsticle that will cause driving issues for the 5 robots that will be on the field.

The game object is obviously something that needs to be shoveled. Sand?

As for the green heights, I think the CMUcam will be making a comeback. I'm not sure what Montana has to do with anything though.

Maybe the game object is something that has to do with Montana. Then it needs to be placed into some sort of high green goals.

Edit: Per google, "show" can also mean getting 3rd place.

[Francis-134]

Originally Posted by aztech75

This isnt the official hint is it?

This is indeed the official hint, as originaly posted from the thread here

[Dan Richardson]

Like I posted in the other, fun noodles i wonder if that is the game object, or something of the sorts.

Its much like a log from a shovel log loader, and it can be confused with pasta. Maybe auton mode will be you have to find the green fun noodle and put it into a scoring device.

[Alex Golec]

"five 'bots tangling with pasta"
Five? such a strange number, it goesnt seem to work out if you want equal alliances. I really have no clue what to make of that. Pasta reminds me of those foam noodles. that kids always take to the pool. Those could be really fun scoring objects, but might induce the same dread and annoyance as the floppies did in 99.

"a game piece obsessed with a shovel's show"
what does a shovel show? You move stuff with it, so if the show the process of liftinf stuff up into a goal or something like that? Could indicate a highly offensive game where a lot of scoring is required.

"and seeing Montana's green heights"

well, green was the unofficial color of the CMU, so this might suggest it's comeback. Montana is a rather large state, this + the word heights seems like it points to there being a large object in the middle of the field, like a huge green goal or whatnot.

To summarize, my thoughts on it are:
1) Foam noodles.
2) Use of the CMU Cam
3) A large green goal/tower the size of montana in the middle of the field.

I'm not quite sure the litereal meaning of "Five 'bots tangling with pasta." It could be scary. Six was quite crowded last year, but it made for even alliances.

Well, only 2 weeks left. I'll definitely be watching the evolution of this thread with interest.
_Alex

[Adam Richards]

Time for an analysis:

Originally Posted by Hint

five 'bots tangling with pasta

A few possibilities here:

• 5v0 - Hopefully not. 4v0 was irritating for some teams. Adding another team into that would create issues.
• 2v2 - Maybe they're just saying 5 to throw us off (as always)
• 2v3 - Unbalanced teams, yet still plausible. The team of 2 might get extra points to balance out the lack of a 3rd robot.
• 3v3 - Again, they could be trying to throw us off.
• 2v2v1 - Few options here. Two alliances and a lone team fighting to win. The lone team could potentially be a mercenary working for whatever alliance they feel like, or the points gained by the lone bot could be added to both alliances.
• 2.5v2.5 - Perhaps we have 3v3, yet one random robot gets disabled every 20 seconds, and another is "unfrozen"

Originally Posted by Hint

a game piece obsessed with a shovel's show

Hmm...

• Shovel - A lifting mechanism for pickup sticks perhaps?
• Snow/Ice - Lets see... a shovel picks up snow in winter. Maybe we have a sled or even CURLING on snow/ice?

Originally Posted by Hint

and seeing Montana's green heights

Two words pop out here: seeing and heights. Seeing could be a reference to the reappearance of either the CMUcam or Infared. Heights could mean a multi-leveled game platform or a hill on the field or a raised part of the field.

[Beth Sweet]

I think my guess that 5 "'bots" of pasta has something to do with Dave eating a lot would be quite valid... hehe

[Edit] My final analysis is that it is a pasta eating contest between Dave and 5 robots to see who can eat more

[sciguy125]

If I were Dave, I'd post correct "ideas" here about the game just to throw us off.

But, now that I've posted this, he'll give us wrong hints. That will give us a way to eliminate the wrong ideas.

[Arefin Bari]

... What if there are 5 foam noodles for each team to play with? And I don't think I am going to analyze "bot."

[eiii]

It's a shovel's show. Sounds like digging to me, but that seems a bit to obvious...

I'm dreading whatever pasta means.

[Madison]

I'm not one to care about the hint so much -- I have enough things to worry about, I guess. That said, y'all are amateurs

For your consideration: "Just Shoot Me," and "8 Simple Rules".

[Safarley2901]

Originally Posted by iCurtis

Well the hint mentions "A game piece obsessed with a shovel's snow"

The Clue Says "A game piece obsessed with a shovel's SHOW" It wouldn't have anything to do with snow or ice, look at where the regionals are.

You can't have snow or ice, at a regional. You realize how fast it would melt? For anyone that has been to a regional they should realize that ice isn't even a feasible idea.

(Not trying to flame, sorry if I came across that way. Just didn't want anyone thinking that they would actually use a snow or ice game field.)