2007 Official FRC Game Hint / Email Blast

[Brian C]

Why couldn't the 5 represent the number teams on an alliance (includes an alternate in the elimination rounds) and the diamond plate represent a "0"

A 4 vs 0 game similar to what we had in 2001.

Never say never.

[petek]

5: the number of oceans
That seals it - it has to be a water game! I wonder how we're supposed to make a diamond-plate disk float...

Or, maybe we'll be doing pull-ups again. Look at the number 5 key on a computer keypad - it has a raised bar on it!

5: the number of Platonic Solids. We had the first one in 2005...

Oh, the possibilities are so delightfully endless with a clue so vague!

[pandamonium]

pentathlon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentathalon

read this article and it all makes sense. if i am right this is going to be one complicated game.

[Sgraff_SRHS06]

Originally Posted by Pat McCarthy

Well, I've got some opinions about the picture.

It is obviously a screen capture from Dave's animation.

It looks like a close up of a field element with some fun wavy action going on in the background that is irrelevant other than the blue to indicate the alliance for which this particular game element is for.

It seems to me that the reason we don't see the whole diamond plate circle is because it is mounted on something, possibly a vertical pole.

The diamond plate is a perfect circle, not oblong or anything.

If the scale of the diamonds in this render are to scale of real diamond plate (which they probably aren't), I would say that the circle is about 2 feet in diameter.

Also, I think I see a human player on the far right, along with the standard field railing.

As for the '5', I believe it is the point value for whatever the task relating to the the diamond plate circle is. If you remember in 2004, all of the balls were labeled according to point value.
This is supported by the fact that when you crank up the brightness or contrast on the image, you can see the outline of the diamonds, just as you would see if they had vinyl over the diamond plate.

I'm letting this one be the winner. But I'll add this: it will be the return of 5-vs0. Either that or 5v5. That would be typical FIRST--accomodating to the larger number of teams (and the larger regionals).

[petek]

Originally Posted by pandamonium

pentathlon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentathalon

read this article and it all makes sense. if i am right this is going to be one complicated game.

Robots with javelins! Yikes! No wonder FIRST is stessing safety glasses so early!

[woody]

Originally Posted by petek

5: the number of Platonic Solids. We had the first one in 2005...

Oh, the possibilities are so delightfully endless with a clue so vague!

Im going with the dodecahedron... It is made of pentagons after all... Plus the killer bees just have a thing for dodeca-anything.

[Chuck Glick]

Well there are 2 things we should be able to rule out.

1. There most likely won't be 5 different game pieces because then you get lots of bots with the same manipulator.

2. water+electricity=bad


From looking at other posts though, the merry-go-round thing http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...3&postcount=10
looks possible, I mean, they can be small and they would add to the dificulty of movement (mecanum anyone?) and medicine balls aren't too expensive and do come in the 5 pound size... but I'm not gonna go crazy trying to figure out the clues, I'll just wait till the 6th.

[Jeff K.]

A rotating platform of some sort sounds possible. Maybe instead of it being a square like it was for FVC, it'll be just a round platform, and maybe instead of just rotating, it also tilts and wobbles. It would have 5 goals on this that you need to score on with an innertube.

Or what if all of the innertubes are in the center of the field on a giant rotating diamond plate platform and we need to somehow get them. ooo

I'm not going to get too into the hint this season, it's only two weeks away.

[Tetraman]

Whatever the game...It is going to be Odd!

[Ted Boucher]

Originally Posted by SirCharles982

1. There most likely won't be 5 different game pieces because then you get lots of bots with the same manipulator.

Do you care to explain why 5 different game pieces would end up with many robots having the same manipulater?

Seems to me and others the more game pieces there are, the more unique the robot designs will be.

Now, as an example... in 2005 and 2006 there has been 1 game piece and all the robots have been basically the same. Whereas in 2004 (the last good year), there were 3 (kickball, 2x ball, bar) game pieces and the robot designs were all very unique.

[Zoheb N]

Originally Posted by BanksKid

ive been thinking that it is water but for some reason i cant grasp FIRST actually doing it.

Im pretty sure they wouldn't go with underwater because the MATE competitoin deals with underwater

[looneylin]

if you google: five diamond plate,
you get baseball

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_plate#home_plate

maybe it involves catching or throwing balls
home plate is a five-sided white rubber slab, maybe in this case it's a diamond plate

[Joel J]

Alright.. I keep reading into what dlavery says in his other posts, and I'm probably going to burn for this when the game comes out, but:

- the dot at the end of his posts.. aka, period
- the stressed I.. aka, eye? aka, no alliances? aka, one at a time? aka, 1?
- I 5? eye five? high five?
- . I? period one? I .? one period?

[Chuck Glick]

Originally Posted by Ted Boucher

Do you care to explain why 5 different game pieces would end up with many robots having the same manipulater?

Seems to me and others the more game pieces there are, the more unique the robot designs will be.

Now, as an example... in 2005 and 2006 there has been 1 game piece and all the robots have been basically the same. Whereas in 2004 (the last good year), there were 3 (kickball, 2x ball, bar) game pieces and the robot designs were all very unique.

Well, my comment only applies if there are 5 different types of things to pick up... i/e most people would make some type of gripper and lots of bots would be similar. Also look at other games, there has not been one that has 5 different shaped game pieces, i/e even if there were more than 1, they were the same shape, like in 2004, where you had balls in 2 different sizes. They wouldn't do something like tetras and balls in the same game as pieces because then lots of bots will do the same type of thing. And if you look at past games, they seem to be going towards one type of game piece: 2003 = boxes, 2004 = balls (2 sizes, but still same shape), 2005= tetras, 2006 = balls.

[Eric Scheuing]

Sorry if it's been said already, but the 5 could have something to do with 5 raised platforms which the game pieces have to be placed on and possibly defended. As for the diamond plate, maybe they're arranged in a diamond pattern, or maybe the field isn't a rectangle this year...