[BB] 2010 Game Hint #1

[Nin_estarSaerah]

Originally Posted by Karibou

But the orbit balls weren't out of stock pre-kickoff last year, were they? I think this soccer ball business might just be a coincidence (though I guess you could be spot on)

I doubt anyone knew to look and see if orbit balls were out of stock before kickoff. Probably still a coincidence.

[strategic sheep]

Ahh, I am being inept with computers today... Hopefully I can get it right this time. After much overanalizing of this clue on my part (I drew it up in Autodesk and converted it to ASCII instead of working on essays...), I think that the only bit of any significance to us is the reflection. It goes along with the whole everything is not as it seems in morse code, and would make nicely for a game where the robots have to do some converting of objects. Tactile or otherwise. Now I'm hoping that neither of my other posts have come into re-existence...

[strategic sheep]

As in the reflection seems to be the proper orientation of the piece even though it is not the actual piece, and the morse code is just a bunch of dots and lines until it is translated.

[TEntwistle]

As for the orbit balls last year, our team went out the day of kickoff (or one day later) and scouted for orbit balls and found very few in existence in the north west part of Philadelphia. Actually, the ones we found had not been sold because the price tags were missing and the manager had planned on returning them to the manufacturer for credit. The other thing that we heard was that the manufacturer was discontinuing them anyway.

In short, there were almost no orbit balls around last year at kickoff, but the explanation may have to do more with the future of the product rather than FIRST snatching them all up. On the otherhand, the lack of blue-red soccer balls is very interesting. If this holds true and we are using blue and red soccer balls in 2 weeks, I would have to rate this as the best bit of sleuthing so far for the 2010 season.

[Nin_estarSaerah]

If our game piece is soccer balls, wouldn't it be more specific than all red and blue soccer balls? Maybe a lot of kids just got soccer balls for Christmas. I still believe it is a coincidence.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by Nin_estarSaerah

If our game piece is soccer balls, wouldn't it be more specific than all red and blue soccer balls? Maybe a lot of kids just got soccer balls for Christmas. I still believe it is a coincidence.

Why would it have to be? Soccer balls are built to competitive standards, so there's no need for a specific brand. Red and blue also match alliances nicely. (The 2002 game would probably be a lot more balanced and a lot harder for Beatty to win if they had colored game pieces, much like in FTC's goal grabbing game)

[Gary.C]

If soccer balls are the game piece, blue and red soccer balls would match the alliances nicely, but on the field they will have one brand. I don't think they will have a bunch of different brands on the field, but for practice I guess you could use any brand. The FTC hockey pucks last year I think were Franklin. So if we have soccer balls then I'm guessing they would want to use Franklin. Like these

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index...ductId=3540673
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index...ductId=3439879

[blaxbb]

Originally Posted by TEntwistle

In short, there were almost no orbit balls around last year at kickoff, but the explanation may have to do more with the future of the product rather than FIRST snatching them all up. On the otherhand, the lack of blue-red soccer balls is very interesting. If this holds true and we are using blue and red soccer balls in 2 weeks, I would have to rate this as the best bit of sleuthing so far for the 2010 season.

There were few Orbit Balls after kickoff because Walmart, the only distributor of Orbit Balls, decided to stop stocking them shortly before Kickoff. I highly doubt Walmart gave up on selling soccer balls.

EDIT: It was either Walmart or the manufacturer that stopped sales, not sure which.

[keehun]

I heard the references to a soccer ball earlier in this thread, but I am wondering if the actual game hint has anything to do with Soccer balls?

[Gary.C]

Turn the render upside down and connect multiple of them and you get a track that is wide enough to put a soccer ball on the track.

[Nin_estarSaerah]

Originally Posted by keehun

I heard the references to a soccer ball earlier in this thread, but I am wondering if the actual game hint has anything to do with Soccer balls?

Actually...no. I think we have gotten off on a tangent. If the size of the arch cut out in the lexan is indicative of the size of the ball, (which is a stretch) then a soccer ball seems to be a logical choice, but the actual hint doesn't reference them at all.

[joeweber]

Here is the game we will play

[Nurnburger]

I am inclined to believe that the lack of soccer balls is a coincidence. After looking at the soccer balls available at Toys R Us (http://www.toysrus.com/family/index....9892&view=all), all but one kind are out of stock.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by joeweber

Here is the game we will play

I'm actually building that right now as I wait for build season...

I mean... we just did a ball intake game. Maybe something "soccer like" will be part of the game, but building the same robot again? meh

[Nin_estarSaerah]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

I mean... we just did a ball intake game. Maybe something "soccer like" will be part of the game, but building the same robot again? meh

I don't think that building the same robot again will be an option. They usually try to design games that don't lend themselves to that. If there is a track, manipulation is probably going to be a little less direct. It doesn't seem to be that the robots could travel on the tracks, at least, not like a train, because the larger tube part would make that very difficult. So we would need to manipulate by arms or other such protrusions, and arms were practically impossible last year. It also may include some rule that prohibits ball intake, to make it more like soccer, so the robot has to control the ball without actually possessing it