2006 Official Game Hint Discussion

[Caio]

Hey everyone

New here, signed up to put in some input on this.

If I'm repeating anything, sorry. Here are some ideas:

"Five 'bots tangling with pasta"

• 2 v 2 with a FIRST bot in the middle, or moving around distracting the other robots. Even teams and implements the "tangling" piece. (Credit to my mother)

• Pasta... I'm gonna have to say i agree with the pool foam toy objects. Either that or long objects that aren't easy to manipulate...

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

• When I read "shovel's show" i thought of digging... so that made me think of possible dips in the field

• when it says "obsessed with a shovel's show", after thinking of the FIRST bot running around, I figured it might be that our robots (human run) will have shovel attributes, and the FIRST robot is a possible game piece that is "obsessed" with our robots...

"and seeing Montana's green heights"

• This has automatically triggered the thought of the camera coming back for everyone. Both in the "seeing" and the "green".

• "heights" brought the possibility of a ramp. Because they pluralized it, I'm thinking there might be multiple ramps. This plays in with the idea of dips in the field that i mentioned earlier, bumps maybe?

Thats all I've got so far... hope they seem feasible

[JamesBrown]

I forgot to mention this in my last post but the 2+2=5 accordint to 1984 (one of my favorite books) ties in with joe montana but also with bots

I googled "bots but ommitted robots and robot and came up with alot of gaming sites that refered to both bots and big brothers, (many of these sites with mac ties, we know atleast dave uses a mac)

Big Brother would also be a 1984 reference tying into the 2+2=5 2vs 2 theory

[JoeXIII'007]

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

Thoughts:

1a. 5 'bots = 4 bots, has to. Primarily to to the explanation earlier of Joe Montana's 1984 season => 1984 novel => the infamous problem in that book of 2+2=5. I mean, FIRST wouldn't put 5 robots on the field really, or have 6 robots with 5 on field, 2 swapping half-way through the match; or would they???

1b. (added after #3) There could be 5 bots in this fashion: the old 2 vs. 2 format with 1 'house' robot to add to the challenge of the game. Perhaps it will have a shovel as its main tool to 'show.'

2. Tangling with pasta => rope, wire, pool noodles, whatever. FIRST has finally gotten off of using basic 3D figures and gone to a 4th dimension: flex. Congrats FIRST for making that leap. Or will this 'pasta be an obstacle as well???

3. a game obsessed with a shovel's show => definition from www.ask.com says that show in noun form is a display; a manifestation (or indication of its presence, existence; or one of its forms is revealed) It is very tough to get a good clue on what exactly will go on besides the use of a shovel. The show part, whether its uses will be obsessively exploited, or something along that line; OR whether there will be a shovel obstacle.

4. and seeing Montana's green heights => It would be odd if this portion of the clue DID NOT refer to the CMUcam or other optical device. Other than that: Montana => mountain state => elevated field platform (green ramps lead to this multi-level 'mountain' or green lines lead to the top somehow).

So, in short:

*4-5 robots possible. If 5, there might be a house robot.
*Flexible game pieces and/or obstacles tangle up robots in some way which is not known.
*something to do with a shovel
*some area of unknown elevation with green to follow.

Sorry if this is redundant in any way, just had to post on this.

-Joe

[Elgin Clock]

Wow.. just wow.

You all found some reference I would have never been able to find in the 4 hours I have been researching this clue. Where did the time go?
I only have a full page full of notes after all. This mystery of this year's clue and the research behind it is, dare I say, worse than studying for finals.
The reward will not be greater per say in 2 weeks, but definitely a lot more fun.

I have found some you all haven't though, but it is 1:30 am and I need some sleep, and some time to mull things over.

Hopefully someone hits on all the issues in the clue that are meant to be uncovered.

As for me, I'm off to bed, and after some more research, and a few days away from the computer, but definitely not the clue I will be back with so much information, you're head will spin.

Good luck to all in deciphering this clue, and also in the 2006 competition.

[MikeJ675]

Definitions of sabot
n. - Footwear usually with wooden soles 3
n. - A shoe carved from a single block of wood 3
n. - A kind of wooden shoe worn by the peasantry in France, Belgium, Sweden, and some other European countries. 2
n. - A thick, circular disk of wood, to which the cartridge bag and projectile are attached, in fixed ammunition for cannon; also, a piece of soft metal attached to a projectile to take the groove of the rifling.

Could be 4 roBOTS tangling over a saBOT...


Random guess to game points-
-possibly raised, circular center goal or area for bonus points.
-2v2 and one sabot, possibly 2 teams of 3 or 3 of 2. 2+3=5(kinda a loose connection there)
-something will need to be picked up off the ground and moved(yeah, that's pretty much a no brainer)

I've got a bit of a field idea in my head. it would be interesting if it's right.

[robot180]

What if the fifth 'bot is not a mechanical robot, but more like one of those "chatting aim bots", a computer program that provides information, moderates something, or assists in doing something.

[David Guzman]

I found Ravioli Makers when searching for pasta.

http://www.creativecookware.com/ravioli_makers.htm

[Nuttyman54]

Originally Posted by David Guzman

I found Ravioli Makers when searching for pasta.

Ravioli eh...beanbags maybe?

[Rafi Ahmed]

Originally Posted by Nuttyman54

Another interesting fact I hit on from this website

"Known to many as "The Comeback Kid," Joe engineered 31 fourth quarter comebacks in his magnificent NFL career. The following is a list of games in which Joe brought the 49ers (26 times) and the Chiefs (5 times) back from fourth quarter deficits to dramatic wins:"

Comeback Kid, thats pretty interesting saying that there has been a lot of talk about a comeback of an old first game. 4v0 game in peticular so i think it will be 5v0

As to the five 'bots tangling with pasta. The pasta i would say would be the batons and tangling cuz, or at least i think, its hard to pick batons up.

[Ryan F.]

People seem to be glossing over the possibility of 1v.1v.1v.1v.1 (Every bot for itself). There are definetly some advantages to this configuaration.

Strange clue.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by raf4far

Comeback Kid, thats pretty interesting saying that there has been a lot of talk about a comeback of an old first game. 4v0 game in peticular so i think it will be 5v0

Trivia question time--What's worse than 4v0?

5v0, of course

[Mme.Miscellania]

It's interesting that the clue is in the form of an extended haiku (8-10-8).
Now, haiku are normally 5-7-5 patterns, so maybe this year's competition has an alternating number of robots on the field - maybe one robot out of six is chosen to sit out a round, and get put in the next round.

[Beth Sweet]

Just to be a pain in the posterior (I hope that word won't be bleeped out), I'm kind of thinking of another idea for the pasta comment.

I'm thinking that there is some sort of a middle "robot" which holds 4 "strings", and that 1 "string" is attached to each robot. Either that or in some way, there is a string attached to each robot which cannot be removed (power source or something) and limits where the robot can go (keeps it on some sort of a track). If following that philosophy, a "shovel's show" might be what is produced in a dig, aka, you have to dig through some sort of a ball pit to find some extra object. As for the green heights of Montana, I think that we're looking at some sort of climbing robots being necesssary with a prize at the top of whatever they're climbing.

[MChapman]

5 bots, well mayb 2v2 again w/ an obstcle bot or something.
seeing Montana's green heights, definently a chance w/ the camera coming back, an montana's heights..dont they have mountains?? so maybe something to do with climbing.
Pasta?? maybe pasta being a rope of some sort and maybe if there's meatballs involved w/ pasta..something to do w/ ropes and balls. (credit to my friend)

[JP_1163]

1. Five bots tangling with pasta: Bots must move in and around pieces that are tangled or slippery
2. A game piece obsessed with a shovel's show: A mound of some sort in the field area
3. Seeing Montana's green heights: Montana equals Big Sky Country

The game would consist of an uneven alliance moving through a tangled web of pieces with a camera aiming at a target on top of a mound. Thus King of the Hill on a slippery slope with obstacles that can only be cleared through partnerships.
Whoo, I'm tired already.