Were there game hints prior to 2004?

[Elgin Clock]

The other thing you have to consider while discussing hints FIRST has released in the past, is that an advance copy of the Bill Of Materials for field construction was given as well for quite a number of years now.

I can't remember exactly when the first year that happened was, (Maybe 2003? or 2004?) but it is similar to the sending of the advance part this year to teams. (Come to think of it, I think it may have in fact been 2003, because I remember discussing the weird grating material they had on the list that was used as the surface of the inclined portion of the ramps that year. - AKA: the cheese grater for robots material. Oh, and then there was the HDPE material as well which was used that year as well for the surface on the top of the ramp.)
An advance BOM is not a riddle or image type hint per-say, but something to get us talking before kickoff & to push the CD servers to the limits right before kickoff. lol

Some people at FIRST seem to enjoy their jobs wayyyy too much & enjoy playing with us almost as much as we (as teams) like stumping them during the Q&A process during build & competition season, by throwing at us just enough of a teaser for the upcoming year to provoke some discussion, but never enough to get it completely.

And for that, you gotta give FIRST major credit for mixing fun with the impending business end of the organization that all comes to light during kickoff.