New Game Hint? - Crackerjacks, Haagen-Dazs cups and Diet Coke cans?

[Dragonos]

Hmmm MIT made can crushing robots in their FIRST-like class....

[Vermeulen]

I've been thinking about this, and it seems to me like this will be a sorting game with two pieces, such as sorting the caramel corn and peanuts from a crackerjack box. The two game pieces, the "popcorn" and "peanuts" could possibly be a frustum and a cylinder.

[MikePres]

Remember the loose connections between last years clues to the real game?
i won't be surprised if this happens again this time...

what about the date of the kick-off?
what about the connection of those snacks to american history?
what about the connection between the snack and the places they were born (Coca-Cola & Atlanta, for example...)
at this point it can be anything ><

[Steven_585]

Coca-Cola deadquareters in Atlanta.
Cracker Jacks first sold at Chicago World's Fair in 1893 (this is also the same world's fair that Nikola Tesla lit with Alternating Curren light and brough AC into the mainstream versus Edison's DC)
Haagen-Dazs created by Polish immigrants in Bronx, New York, in 1961.

[Mr. Pockets]

Good thinking

Here are some wiki results with the same year as the release of Cracker Jacks (1893)

Along with some wiki results for 1961
Any thoughts?

[Karibou]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pockets

Good thinking

Here are some wiki results with the same year as the release of Cracker Jacks (1893)

Along with some wiki results for 1961
Any thoughts?

I just looked over the list, and didn't really see much (of course, if it's some kind of connection between the two years, I'll let someone else cross-reference the pages, but that might be looking TOO deep). I think that if it had anything to do with the dates, it would be glaringly obvious (dates can't hide much), so researching any of the events in those years would probably be digging TOO much.

I'm sticking with my recycling/going green theory :/

[Chris is me]

1961 is notably the most recent upside-down year (years written identically when inverted). There won't be another until 6009. Perhaps the game deals with inversions, turns something on its head, etc.

Like Dave Lavery's head...

[EricH]

I've been trying to stay out of this, but...

In Bill's last blog, he again noted Haagen-Dazs, but this time in conjunction with tacos. Now, this may simply mean that Dave and his mysterious never-ending stomach (or Dean) suddenly have a taste for ice cream, but I'm thinking a little more crazy.

Originally Posted by Bill's Blog, today

Throw in gallons of Haagen-Dazs, a mountain of tacos and several interesting dry runs of the new game and it was a full weekend.

Originally Posted by Bill's Blog, July

Dean decided he likes mini Haagen-Dazs coffee ice cream cups. I learned Dave drinks diet Coke and you’d be surprised how much fun a bunch of engineers can have with a case of Crackerjacks.

The above are the food mentions on the blog so far. Note what repeats. Why isn't it Ben and Jerry's or some other ice cream company? So it can't just be ice cream, it has to be Haagen-Dazs. (I disregard the Diet Coke comment, because I was surprised he actually drinks it instead of adding Mentos...)

Now, the known members of the GDC:
Dean Kamen (founder), Woodie Flowers (national advisor), Dave Lavery (animator, team member), Bill Miller (FRC director), Aidan Browne (head ref), the KOP engineer, Paul Lazarus (White Dwarf Productions), and Calum Pearson (Cirque du Soleil). Some of these may have a connection...

As noted, H-D was founded in 1961, the last upside-down year. Upside down sounds like it's right up one of the GDC's alley...

Now, H-D in general: is there anything that stands out?

Let's see, it's kept colder than most ice cream, name isn't actually a word set, shrinking carton sizes this year, lots of chocolate.

Cold, and misleading name: It's not a hint at all, and a whole thread discusses it as a hint. Ouch. (Personally, I think this is the right answer. But, in case it isn't...)

Shrinking: the field (or maybe robot) size will shrink this year. Might also be game objects shrinking. (Note: if that's the case, I know what the game objects are...)

Cold, as contrasted with tacos and the usual hangout of Crackerjacks: melting? Are we getting a "green" themed game?

So, we have something shrinking, with a green theme, hanging upside-down. This is getting interesting.

[McGurky]

Ok, I agree that it could be a flipping game.

Like said before 1961 flipped is 1961...

in addition to this, when the H-D logo is flipped upside down it is the same (ignoring the words)



Hmmm, any other ideas?

[Karibou]

Originally Posted by EricH

Cold, as contrasted with tacos and the usual hangout of Crackerjacks: melting? Are we getting a "green" themed game?

*thumbs-up*


Also, notice the "case" of Crackerjacks. Most people use the term 'box'...case implies large amounts of something to me. I think that massive amounts of game pieces are in order (more like the quantity of Lunacy game pieces as opposed to the four trackballs from Overdrive)

Shrinking...the opposite of shrinking is expanding...Crackerjacks are just popcorn covered in caramel (right? I don't eat them, so I don't really know). A package of popcorn 'expands' when you put it in the microwave...

I don't know exactly what these are called, but a quick google search of "expand shrink ball" got me this:
http://video.filestube.com/video,2d9...7514903e9.html
One of those toys we all used to play with as little kids (fine, my generation played with them...). Wal-mart, look out...

Orrrrrr, this is all just a huge school of red herrings. You never know. I can't wait until game hint season

[xnaut]

well... i like the idea its all food... and all have unique shapes... but i seriously think they got bored and were messin around with the snacks they were eating and wanted to skrew with us by puttin it up here

[smistthegreat]

2 thumbs up on the green theme. I also agree with the upside down element, and perhaps an cold/ice game. Although the regolith last year seams kinda icy to me. To me all this is still speculation though. IMO its either going to be something remarkably similar to what's being discussed here, or something completely different that no one saw coming. All this guess in fun though .

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by Karibou

I don't know exactly what these are called

A Hoberman Sphere. The image you link to shows the largest one in the world.

Haagen-Dazs is definitely a clue, and the name is a key element.
Tacos might just refer to what they all ate one night while working.
A Case of cracker jack means several boxes. "Candy-covered popcorn, peanuts and a prize - that's what you get with Cracker Jack" according to their jingle.

And Dave may have just bumped his head, and Bill's having an inside chuckle over it.

Every year, I am amazed at the creativity and deviousness of the GDC, how masterfully well they do their job. I hope everyone realizes just how difficult an engineering problem it is, designing an FRC game. You have time, budget, size & weight constraints, it needs to be scored easily, be exciting for a crowd, tens of thousands of game pieces need to be available (worldwide!), and lots more. If you get a chance to meet anyone on the GDC, even though they have the best job in the world, be sure to thank them.

[Omar1510]

When I first read the blog entry my mind immediately ran to sustainability and recycling. I saw it as:
Coke ----> Aluminum Cans
Crackerjack boxes -----> Cardboard/paper
Haggen Daz ice cream ----> plastic containers
I am speculating that the ice cream containers are made of plastic or have a plastic coating. And I guess that is my homework to confirm this weekend.
And about the part from tacos that could mean food waste as in compost.

So what does it mean for game design?
It is definitely a sorting game on three levels or types of game pieces with three different storage containers for depositing the respective game pieces. There will also be a bonus "WASTE" category that needs to be stored in it's own location or on the robot.

How does it fit with the FIRST message?
FIRST is all about training future scientists and engineers to solve the world's problems and sustainability is one of those leading options.

As a side note I initially thought that instead of hagen daz ice cream they were referring to 7eleven or DariyQueen frosty cups that are definitely plastics.

Finally my 2 cents on rumors. Last years fish picture blatantly showed the relation between it and that years game on one level of uncertainty (i will explain) by saying that the game was to mimic conditions on the moon and the fish was referred to as "moon fish" or "lunar fish". By this I mean that we absolutely knew that it was a picture of a fish, and we needed one level of derivation to find the name of the fish and thus the answer to the hint (we didn't know that it was the answer but we knew the information). We didn't for example go find the name of the book or page number that the picture was taken from and used that information to learn about the game.
So for this year's hint it is my opinion to pay more attention to the direct information we learn from the hint.

[Karibou]

I like the way you broke down how those items are recyclable. It reminds me of when I go up to Mackinac Island every year for a Girl Scout service camp; we recycle and sort EVERYTHING.
We have two trash cans in every room except the dining hall. Compost trash cans are for food waste (such as leftovers from tacos), paper, and anything that can decompose. Landfill trash cans are for anything plastic or shiny, along with a few other things that obviously can't decompose.
Also, we have seperate boxes on the back porch for aluminum (such as diet coke cans), styrofoam, and 1 and 2 recyclable plastics. Cardboard (Crackerjack boxes...maybe) is thrown in a seperate "box" behind the area where we lock up our full trash bags, and it is recycled later.

(of course, the reason that WE sort everything is to minimize the landfill output of the island, but still...)

I believe that you are right in saying that the Haagen-Dazs cups are coated in some kind of plastic or wax. If we were to have Haagen-Dazs's on the island, this would cause them to be put into LANDFILL. They will not decompose as fast as the items in the compost bags will, and the cardboard cannot be re-used. Now, I haven't examined a box of Cracker Jacks lately, are the boxes just cardboard or do they have a plastic outside?

...possible outlier? Sort through what can be "recycled," and if you take anything that's not recyclable you get negative points?