2011 Red Herring #1

[JesseK]

Tennis balls aren't easy. There is potential for a great many of them in last year's robot dimensions, and they will easily jam when in large hoppers.

If tennis balls are indeed this year's game piece, there may be some design concepts of interest from both the VRC and the FTC robots of 2009-2010.

[JamesCH95]

Everyone seems to be assuming that it's a regulation sized tennis ball. What if it was this? Or this? Or even this? Maybe they are mixed together and we have to sort them out!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Edit: Dave's picture looks suspiciously like the 4" size...

[Chris is me]

That's exactly the same picture. Dave's picture isn't of a normal tennis ball, but a 4 inch tennis ball. That has to be significant...

Note also that dave left out his signature in the first post, leaving 4 "sentences". There's that number 4 again.

[Taylor]

A game piece that is economical and widely accessible across many different markets, geographic regions, and cultures?
Naw, that's not the GDC's style.

[synth3tk]

It may not necessarily be 4" game pieces, but as Chris pointed out, the number 4 is shaping up to be an important number.

[EricH]

The last time a number kept cropping up in the "hints" that Dave and others released, it was 3. At the time, only two teams on an alliance were on the field at the same time, no matter if the alliance was 2 or 3 teams. This was back in late 2004.

In 2005, there were 3-team alliances on the field for the first time, the game was Triple Play, and a single scoring object was worth 3 points (unless it met certain conditions), and there was a multiple of 3 places to score.

We'll see what rabbit trails the rest of the red herrings lead us down.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by EricH

The last time a number kept cropping up in the "hints" that Dave and others released, it was 3. At the time, only two teams on an alliance were on the field at the same time, no matter if the alliance was 2 or 3 teams. This was back in late 2004.

In 2007, the number "5" was an important part of the game hint. 2007 was a first anniversary year, and the 5th season of FRC featured a game with inner tubes, the 2007 game piece.

If you use the same methodology as the previous hint, references are made to Hexagon Havoc, a 1v1[v1] game with 8 and 24 inch circumfrence balls. In the final rounds when the game went from 3 teams to 2 team matches, there were 4 of the 24 inch balls on the field.

Other instances of the number 4: goals in 2004 (widely regarded to be one of the best FIRST games), big balls in 2001, periods in 2006, balls in 2008.

[Greg Young]

You're getting pretty far afield here with the numerology.

It's actually a regulation tennis ball. The 4 is a reference to the 4" inside diameter of the 10' tall pipe that serves as a goal.

I should mention that you have to climb the pipe to pull down the sleeve (80 lbs required for activation) that opens the cover so you can drop the tennis ball in.

It's all very simple.

[pandamonium]

I am not following this 4 fixation numerology thing i think we are straying off track. Until 4 comes up again lets table this for now and focus on the tennis ball or the Penn.

Tennis courts have a large net dividing the court in half. Maybe the field will have a net or wall. Tennis courts also have certain lines and serving restrictions. Perhaps there will be a tennis like scoring system.

30 - Love

[JamesCH95]

Earth, wind, fire, water

Possibly 4 robots per alliance? o.O
Only 4 game pieces?
Four zones to the playing field?
Many things could be four...

[Joe Schornak]

Originally Posted by JamesCH95

Earth, wind, fire, water

Heart!

It's a Captain Planet-themed game!

[Dustin Shadbolt]

And so it begins .

[Wildcat]

in connection to the 4 discussion and the tennis ball, maybe it means that we will be playing on a field equivalent to a full size tennis court since it is about .4 times larger than a standard frc field

[RoboDesigners]

Ok, I'm not on an FRC team, and this is my first "Game Hint" season while being on CD, so some of my ideas may not be that great...

General ideas:
1. Ball bucket - Game field has 6' (or higher) polycarb walls and is filled to 3' with different sized tennis balls (hint 2). The game is cooperative, with each set of alliances trying to empty as many tennis balls over the side as possible. In the finals, the team are competitive, dumping as many tennis balls into the other alliance station as possible.
2. Robots must be made of LEGOs (hint 1) or some other odd material.
3. Robots must play tennis
4. 4 teams allowed on the field at a time. (2 per alliance)
5. From my general impression of this forum, dLavery seems to be the type who would post cryptic things for no reason, therefore, my best idea is that he just wanted to have fun and make us go crazy speculating...

[ATannahill]

Originally Posted by RoboDesigners

5. From my general impression of this forum, dLavery seems to be the type who would post cryptic things for no reason, therefore, my best idea is that he just wanted to have fun and make us go crazy speculating...

We have a winner!