Official word on Orbit Balls

[MikeDubreuil]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

2) And are they GOING on clearance, or were they ALREADY on clearance at the $10 price?

I talked with a Walmart employee. He claims that he started working there 4 months ago. He remembers the ball and said that when he started they were on clearance.

Anyway, the Walmart in Tewksbury, MA had zero.

[Bob Koch]

please see my post under Source for Orbit ball page 6. I explain how to go to Walmarts and use their Telxon system for finding Orbit balls in nearby stores.

[The Pre]

Originally Posted by suewanninger

Yes, I think that it is really a matter of where you are located. I was traveling yesterday and, on a whim, stopped off at a Walmart about 40 miles from home (Milwaukee) and found 13 orbit balls nicely packaged in their boxes. We don't have that many FRC teams here in Wisconsin (and lots of little towns with Walmarts), so that is probably to our advantage.

in kenosha, wi (30min south of milwaukee) we found that the "WILD TIME ORBIT BALL" (not ZOOM BALL) happened to be in a walmart in kenosha when the director of the school and purchasing students came back they had their arms filled with 18 orbit balls!!! it was quite hilarious seeing them walk in.


i think these are the most fun game pieces i've seen thus far

[Deep Dark]

while I purchased 3 from one walmart, and 1 from way across town (20 miles from the other), I did see one at a Big K-Mart. However, It was so badly destroyed and mangled, being at the bottom of the ball rack, that it hardly represented anything close to what I would be willing to spend money on. The store I went to and got the 3 balls at actually had an employee there looking at the orbit balls and asked me if I was on a FIRST team. Apparently he was at our local kickoff event and was glad to see a FIRST team take them instead of a "random" customer. Just found that to be interesting.

[Cow Bell Solo]

Originally Posted by GaryVoshol

Also see http://www.logoloc.com/first/ - "Orbit Balls Coming Soon"

They have had that on there before with previous game pieces and it has taken until either mid season if I remember correctly or not until after the season or even the competition. But that is what I noticed when viewing their site, but each year is a new year and I guess we will see what it is this year.

[MrForbes]

We checked our local Walmart Sunday and did not find any balls, although we did find the $9.97 price tag for them on the shelf in the ball section. Yesterday we saw that list that said they should have 10 in stock. Today we visited Walmart again for something else, but we found a dept. manager working in the toy department, and asked her if they had the balls (pointing to the price tag on the shelf). She said she thought they did, and went and looked and came back with a carton of 3 balls, and said there might be more. Apparently she had trouble with them having the packaging removed, and people playing with them, and hasn't been putting them on the shelf! So you might want to find the toy department manager, and ask if they have any. Also she said they were moving a lot of the toys out and getting ready for the pool toys display...which means pool noodles should be available here soon! And it also means that you might be able to find pool noodles if you ask the toy department manager.

[suj]

We canadians have no hope of getting orbit balls for no where else but first hey wait what about ebay?

[synth3tk]

Originally Posted by squirrel

So you might want to find the toy department manager, and ask if they have any.

Thanks for that tip. According to that list, there should've been ~18 balls at one local store, but I couldn't find any at all. And as far as I know, there are really no area teams that didn't have another Wal-Mart closer to them which carried the balls.

[Manoel]

Teams will be hearing officially from FIRST today or tomorrow. Don't expect to be able to buy many balls, though. Don't even plan to count them with a full hand.

[Bongle]

Originally Posted by suj

We canadians have no hope of getting orbit balls for no where else but first hey wait what about ebay?

Don't forget about GUS Balls (home made orbit balls). If you just want to make ones without fabric for throwing practice, seems like you could manufacture them pretty quick: cut, pop rivet, and weave.

[charrisTTI]

About 14,000 orbit balls available.

1,685 registered teams.

14,000/1,685 = 8.?????

If you bought more than 8 balls, find another team to share them with.

We need to remember our gracious professionalism.

[GaryVoshol]

And they're up - http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=71587

[overclocked-mom]

So, before I head out to buy Spandex - what are the appropriate colors? And a note to Boston area teams - Fabric Place, which was a great fabric store, is closing/closed so don't try them for Spandex. JoAnnes is a good store, and there are a fair number of them. One of the larger (I think) is on Rt. 9.

[Protronie]

I'm betting Wal-Mart wishes they had ordered them self's a train load of them about now.

-p

[skimoose]

Originally Posted by overclocked-mom

So, before I head out to buy Spandex - what are the appropriate colors? And a note to Boston area teams - Fabric Place, which was a great fabric store, is closing/closed so don't try them for Spandex. JoAnnes is a good store, and there are a fair number of them. One of the larger (I think) is on Rt. 9.

We found lime green spandex at a JoAnne's here in CT which we used on the prototype Gus Balls, they also had a navy blue which was a little dark for the blue color needed.

Correct colors should be purple and orange for moon rocks, blue and orange for empty cells, and green and purple for super cells.

Green is a lime green color, purple is probably a dark lavender (Viking's uniform purple), blue is a medium hue like royal blue, and orange is well orange (dare I say Gus Orange!)