2006 Official Game Hint Discussion

[amos229]

"In response to Michelle's idea(don't know how to quote), maybe there are 5 big goals in the shape of bottles? as for tangling...maybe the game pieces are tied to the goals or something? =) my two cents"
i am definatly agreeing with five goals but going with the noodle idea i think it will be more like corrals. one thing no one has discussed is human player options. the shovel could be discussing some kind of challenging course representing a show for the shovel"human player" to put on

[Nuttyman54]

has anyone given any more thought to the Hula Hoops pictured here? it occured to me that there is hoop-shaped pasta which looks strikingly like hula hoops. I personally don't think they will be, but just thought i'd throw it out there

[Nuttyman54]

Originally Posted by Arkorobotics

Tape? Pasta???

3 fish??? why 3?

actually, it looks like there're are four fish...boy, PETA's really gonna be on their case next year

[Adam Richards]

Originally Posted by Nuttyman54

actually, it looks like there're are four fish...or it might just be part of the robot....

That's a banana.

[amos229]

looks more like a bannana, maybe representing a slippery surface like a couple years ago. the three fish are distracting the blue robot, maybe theres some distraction for the cmu cam

[Nuttyman54]

Originally Posted by amos229

looks more like a bannana, maybe representing a slippery surface like a couple years ago

you mean you guys haven't seen pipe fish?

[Jon Jack]

I was thinking today and came with the following thoughts:

What ever this years game is I think it will be a multi-demensional game. Triple Play, while fun to play, was pretty one demensional... You could either cap or place a tetra under a goal, or defend. From looking at the last two lines of the hint, I think that FIRST might be adding more to this years game in the means of scoring. Meaning that there will be more than two ways to score, and a lot more strategy involved.

When thinking about what the game could be I thinking about some of the things FIRST has to take into account when designing a game: How much money would the game cost? How easy would the game be to reset and run? How safe is it for teams, much less robots? How easy is it to transport? Can every venue handle such a game? How easy would it be for teams to replicate? How challenging is it for veteran teams?

In asking myself these questions, this is what I came up with:

When it comes to the field, I don't think that FIRST is going to dramatically change the field from the last couple years, simply because they have quite a bit of money invested in fields and those fields can be used for a wide variety of games. Team San Diego built a field that was pretty close to spec for this years Battle at the Border and it wouldn't be too hard to make the field wider or longer. I think the shape should stay the same.

I don't think that a multi-level field will be easy to transport, setup, reset, repair, take down and transport again. Plus it would be terribly hard for a team to replicate... Plus with fewer teams joining each year FIRST needs to make sure that fields are easy to replicate so teams can hold scrimmages and try to attract more schools to FIRST.

I think that there is a 95% chance that the game will not be water based... Something about electronics, a lot of water and people, I don't know. Personally I can't wait for the year FIRST has a water game. One of our engineering mentors and his dad (also a mentor) used to build boats

Alliances should stay, but there might be more teams per alliance. There should be two alliances with an even number of teams... Could you imagine what alliance selection would be like if alliances were uneven?

When it comes to the game object FIRST has to make sure that the object is challenging for veteran teams, but easy enough for rookie teams (we don't want to discourage them). Exersice balls probably aren't going to be used for a few years, footballs on the other hand would be a different story. FIRST has never used footballs, so just like tetras teams would have no prior experience manipulating footballs. What other box, circle or triangle shaped objects has first not used in the past?

[amos229]

as for a 3d field i am thinking a feild like stack attack with a slippery surface(bannanna in picture) and a ramp ("mountain") with green distractions for the cmu cam("green mountain" and fish in picture)

[Michelle Celio]

Originally Posted by Nuttyman54

has anyone given any more thought to the Hula Hoops pictured here? it occured to me that there is hoop-shaped pasta which looks strikingly like hula hoops. I personally don't think they will be, but just thought i'd throw it out there

I've actually tought about it but tought that i'd be to obvious, i mean i think the point of the clue is to get us thinking and totally confused, i dont think that they would put that out in the open like that.

[Ian Curtis]

I did a Google image search for Butte and I found some that didn't have slanted sides, but rather near vertical sides in almost all cases. Therefore, I think that this year's game will not have inclined surfaces, but rather a platform (with the top being higher than three feet) with a bar at one, much like the steps in FLL's 2004 challenge, No Limits. The object? Reach the top of the platform before the match expires and you recieve extra points instead of a multiplier (or maybe a fixed multiplier like 2x or 3x) becuase frankly, TV audiences don't like doing multiplication (especially with decimals) when they could be adding.

Originally Posted by jjack

I think that there is a 95% chance that the game will not be water based... Something about electronics, a lot of water and people, I don't know.

I'm all for water games, inflatable clownfish games, or whatever other kind of game FIRST could invent. However, the logistics of filling a 60x40 foot tank of water even a foot deep are astronomically nightmarish (that's a lot of buckets ). So a water game WILL NOT happen, unless regionals are moved to facilities with Olympic Sized swimming pool facilities (which we know they aren't this year).

[skimoose]

Well I've stayed away from thinking about this nearly all day. You know Christmas and all.

But, while coming down from a Christmas cookie induced sugar high, I realized you're all wrong.

It's not Joe Montana the clue is refering to, it's actually refering to Frank Zappa's masterpiece; "I might be moving to Montana soon... Gonna be a dental floss tycoon" 5 bots tangling with dental floss!

And the game name "Floss Boss" - king of the hill with dental floss!

And if you're buying what I'm shovelling, well that'll be quite a show!

[Michelle Celio]

So withing all my clue meaning searching and maybe some hints on CD...

I came across the following

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...d.php?p=383483

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=38140

It has alot of game ideas so maybe ... just maybe it'll tell us something


like for example

Originally Posted by StephLee

At the beginning of each match, flat green squares (or possibly pressure pads, but they might be difficult to move around between matches) will be placed randomly on each alliance's side of the field for the robots to find using a vision system like this year's. If a robot successfully finds this square, that alliance is awarded two (or three, maybe more?) white circle game pieces, worth much more than the other pieces.

Who knows..

[Arkorobotics]

Originally Posted by Fruity Pebbles

So withing all my clue meaning searching and maybe some hints on CD...

I came across the following

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...d.php?p=383483

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=38140

It has alot of game ideas so maybe ... just maybe it'll tell us something


like for example



Who knows..

Hmmm.. Montana.. think about that..

[Arkorobotics]

Has anyone thought of screwing around with the word order?

like:

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

that would be an example.

Not only that check this out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:M...state_flag.png

SHOVELS, WATER, MOUNTAINS on the flag.. hmmmm

[Andrew Blair]

Alrighty, I have faced the gauntlet of posts, prior, so the current melted condition of my brain may not be suitable to give this post substance. You are forwarned.


Assuming there is definently a raised platform, mountain, etc. on the field, I concentrate on the "Game piece obsessed with seeing heights" part of the clue. Now, the clue only says seeing heights, not always being on them. So I predict a return of the portable goal. You move the goal, filled with assorted game objects, onto the top of the platform, and you get the appropriate multiplier. Now the hard part is going to be moving a very heavy goal onto a raised part of the field....