2006 Official Game Hint Discussion

[Dan Petrovic]

Originally Posted by Andrew Blair

Looking at the "Big Boss" size pool toys, I'm having second thoughts about discounting the pool toys as possible game objects. That big foam tube wouldn't be that easy to break, and with the price(about two bucks apiece, so for FIRST, maybe like $1. I'd imagine they get at least bulk discounts.) You could afford to chuck one or two every match.Thats like 250 bucks, in a worst case scenario, per regional. Not too bad, considering how many tetras kicked the bucket during play. And they were much more expensive per piece. Now, the problem comes in two parts:

Those noodles will be torn apart a lot fast than two a match. If someone can tear them with their hands. It's pretty obvious that a robot will tear them to shreds. I'm not convinced about the pool noodles.

[sanddrag]

Maybe just some sort of large rubber hose? Those are very durable, and can be quite heavy.

[evolution]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

Maybe just some sort of large rubber hose? Those are very durable, and can be quite heavy.

That's a really good point. Garden hose would be really durable, and if in small lengths, wouldn't make a tangled mess that is hard to take apart between matches.

[Nuttyman54]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

Maybe just some sort of large rubber hose? Those are very durable, and can be quite heavy.

now why did it take 24 pages for someone to think of that?? it's so obvious it's painful. way to go sanddrag

[Joe J.]

Here's something I was just thinking about and haven't seen posted yet the 2006 game will be the 15th FRC game... What does this have to do with the clue most likely nothing but the clue was structured into three lines and the number 5 is in the clue 3 x 5 = 15

Also Montana became a state in 1889 100 years later FIRST was founded... Its also the 41st state 4 + 1 = 5... there's that 5 again.

These are just some interesting facts I found on Montana's Official State Website .

You can pretty much connect anything to anything if you look hard enough.

[Henry_Mareck]

I don't think garden hose would be be easy to manipulate, and it would be a strange game piece. (not that strange is bad)
Are the bigger/wider hoses easily/cheaply available? Fire hoses are bigger but they dont hold the traditional round+hollow macaroni or hose shape unless they are filled with water.
I still like the idea of PVC elbows or footballs.

[Nuttyman54]

Originally Posted by Henry_Mareck

I don't think garden hose would be be easy to manipulate

yeah well that's part of the challenge...we've gotten too good w/ balls

[Bill Moore]

Originally Posted by EricH

Or his comments about various elements in future games (stationary robots and parachutes come to mind). I mean, this is Dave we're dealing with. The 2007 picture should be let lie until after Championship 2006. I do not want to have to say this again, but there will be no water game in the forseeable future! And the banana "clue" did just what bananas do: it went bad. The forseeable future extends through approximately 2008, probably later. Now, back to the matter at hand...the 2006 hint.

So, you're saying the closer someone gets to figuring the game out this year, the more red herrings Dave is going to loose upon us? That would indicate that the answer is already posted. Has anyone been following the timeline of posts vs. Dave's extraneous clues?

[Katy]

Originally Posted by Bill Moore
So, you're saying the closer someone gets to figuring the game out this year, the more red herrings Dave is going to loose upon us? That would indicate that the answer is already posted. Has anyone been following the timeline of posts vs. Dave's extraneous clues?

I'm going to put the whole "we don't know that Dave is doing that" idea aside and just look at the problems with collecting meaningful data on the trend.

I think we have to take into account that Dave (as far as I know) is not a program which downloads all entries to chiefdelphi and responds within a few seconds. If he logs in and out then time becomes divided up into a series of discreet blocks between logins. The pictures are also probably not made instantaneously and it is fairly likely he could put an idea aside and come back to it later (even making other posts in the meanwhile). Now consider that this entire thread is roughly five days old. The only way we could have enough points of reference would be if he was logged in/was posting very frequently. If he posts too frequently then he (presumably being human) begins multi-tasking and this wrecks the idea of a simple direct correlation because when you multi-task you are doing several things at once but at the same time prioritizing the amounts of effort you put into each. This reorders the tasks from their natural chronological order. If Dave has any sort of holiday celebrations this would put more constraints on his time and encourage more multi-tasking. I think if we were tracking this over a period of weeks or months we might be able to collect valid data but I don't think we can do it on such a short time span.

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by Katy

Also...my friend said that once upon a time there was a cartoon character named Montana Max. Anybody know if this has any relation at all?

I totally forgot about that lil guy. He was a mean kid in the Tiny Toon Adventures cartoons.

Picture of Montana Max http://www.thegremlin.com/WARNER.BROS/15794wb.JPG

If "Montana's heights" were referring to him, it definitely wasn't to his height. He was pretty short compared to the other characters. If anything, "Montana's green heights" would apply to the fact that he had a lot of green, or money.

[Alex Burman]

i must admit you guys are very creative

i think you might be going a bit too far and are now making easier for the gdc for future years to come up with other ideas, they'll take ones we've already come up with

[Elgin Clock]

Double post, but this is my big one.

OK, so:

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

five
+five sided star shaped field - http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...3&postcount=14
+five different colored objects on the field.. Dare I say, Blue, Red, Yellow, Green, Orange?

five bots
+ 2001 format
+5vs0
+1vs1vs1vs1vs1


Tangling
+ Tether Rule (2002)
+Bewilderment
+Springs (rotini pasta)


pasta
+pool noodles (obvious assumption)
+rotini - Springs for game objects - NASA's rotini findings
+Type of Pasta = Dumpling = Lord Dumpling =Dean Kamen or N. Dumpling Island http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionar...North+Dumpling
+Island

A game piece
+2001 (balls)

shovel’s
+Convey or rush together - http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=shovel
+2001 rehash?

shovel’s show
+Mike Mulligan - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0395169615/002-8663684-3499204?v=glance&n=283155
+Mulligan = Do-Over (Golf)
+2001
-Game Format – Co-Opertition
-Game Obstacle = Ramp

seeing
+CMU Cam or Other New Vision Sensor
What about something from Vision Components, Hudson, N.H. (www.vision-components.com),
or http://www.junun.org/MarkIII/Info.jsp?item=48# That?

Montana’s
+ Joe Montana
-Leader In Passing
-Co-Operating (2001)
+Spanish = Mountain
-Plateau
+Montana’s State Seal
-Gold & Silver
-Woodie Flowers’ Bling Bling for the Brain
-Shovel pointing to ORA = Gold

green
-CMU Cam’s Main Color (2005)
-green - naive and easily deceived or tricked

heights
+Plateau (Multi-Level)
-King Of The Hill
-2004 (redo)
-2003 (redo)
-2001 (redo)




five ‘bots tangling with pasta
The concept of multiple robots co-operating has been a concept since 2001, but has left Lord Dumpling(Dean) bewildered why it hasn’t been accepted in FIRST.
(2001 was very unpopular due to the tournament structure of working together 4vs0)
Or
Five robots on the field getting caught up in an Island center obstacle.
Or
Five robots on the field getting caught up with pool noodles.
Or
Five robots on the field getting caught up with spring shaped objects.

a game piece obsessed with a shovel’s show
2001’s game piece (balls) obsessed with making a comeback. (Mulligan=redo)
Or
Golf balls marking the return of balls as a game object, with the object being to scoop them up.

and seeing Montana’s green heights
A multi level field, and or, shelving system to put objects in.


Go ahead folks, have fun expanding on those ideas.

I know I will in the future. I'm just done analyzing the clue for now.

[MikeDubreuil]

"five 'bots tangling with pasta"
I think of pasta as meatballs and spaghetti. I think a great game would involve the human players having balls (like 2000)
and the spaghetti being a new game object similar to a pool noodle. The pool noodles would be randomly placed around the field.

"a game piece obsessed with a shovel's show"
I think this refers to the balls that the human player will have. A shovel's show is that you can throw objects with it.
The human player will be throwing the balls at a scoring goal.

"and seeing Montana's green heights"
I liked how it was suggested that Joe Montana played for Notre Dame. Take a look at this picture of Notre Dame Cathedral. I think the main scoring goal will look similar to Notre Dame Cathedral. I wouldn't be suprised if we saw a hanging bar this year.

This game sounds very similar to 2000, just add pool noodles.

[Bill Moore]

Originally Posted by MikeDubreuil

"five 'bots tangling with pasta"
I think of pasta as meatballs and spaghetti. I think a great game would involve the human players having balls (like 2000)
and the spaghetti being a new game object similar to a pool noodle. The pool noodles would be randomly placed around the field.

Interesting thought. The pool noodles are not used for scoring, but are impediments to picking up balls, or for some robots moving about the field.

If that's so, then it really doesn't matter how much the noodles get destroyed at a regional, because they would get recycled (hopefully) after it is over. You'd have a constant consumable cost for each regional. Probably replacing the noodles periodically during quals and moreso during playoffs.

If the game is designed properly, these obstacles could put the kibosh on high speed ramming. Thereby, eliminating one of the rants people have about the referee's "judgement calls" concerning intent.

(I know, I know, build a better game, and the world isn't going to beat a path to your door, someone will just build a better "bash bot".)

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by Bill Moore

Interesting thought. The pool noodles are not used for scoring, but are impediments to picking up balls, or for some robots moving about the field.

If that's so, then it really doesn't matter how much the noodles get destroyed at a regional, because they would get recycled (hopefully) after it is over. You'd have a constant consumable cost for each regional. Probably replacing the noodles periodically during quals and moreso during playoffs.

If the game is designed properly, these obstacles could put the kibosh on high speed ramming. Thereby, eliminating one of the rants people have about the referee's "judgement calls" concerning intent.

(I know, I know, build a better game, and the world isn't going to beat a path to your door, someone will just build a better "bash bot".)

Dare I suggest that a game like this would be incentive for most teams to stick with the KOP transmissions? I mean, if what good is your fifteen-speed transmission if you can't move past the obstacles on the field?

Or suppose that instead of pool noodles, you had something else that's flexible, such as half-inch PVC pipe. Wicked strong, flexible, and hard to make a skirt for, especially if there are Triple Play-esque loading zones on the field that force teams not to use carpet-scraping skirts.

And suppose further that Montana's green heights refers to the ground. The green heights that Joe Montana worked on weren't that high, so perhaps we've got some low goal that we have to convey things under?