2011 Red Herring #1

[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

[Dustin Shadbolt]

And so it begins .

[JohnBoucher]

Originally Posted by JamesCH95

Earth, wind, fire, water

Possibly 4 robots per alliance?

Number of spots are set for champs. I doubt the alliance will change from 3

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by JohnBoucher

Number of spots are set for champs. I doubt the alliance will change from 3

The number of spots accommodates 4 regional winners at present; the fourth slot is just rarely used since it is for the backup team. I do not think FIRST has lowered pre-registration enough to accomodate for this though.

[Bjenks548]

He could also be giving us a hint to what its not... not a sphere. If you look at the last 3 games they have all been spheres. This means that no current students will have worked with anything other then spheres (I know a ton of mentors have been around 4+ years).
Again with the not theory, they said they would not be celebrating the 20th anniversary of FIRST (I thought i read that somewhere) but would wait for the 25th anniversary celebration. Just the sort of thing to throw us in the complete opposite direction.

[pandamonium]

While looking back I came across the letter sent out to teams at the end of August here is a few lines:

We were able to ‘play’ through the game several times this weekend with GDC members and FRC Staff standing in as robots and can now turn our attention to the scoring, rules, game hints and last minute diabolical twists.


Turns and diabolical twists + Tennis balls = MAZE CRAZE 2.0

[BJC]

I just came across this. Dave said it in an old 2004 thread in referance.

p.s. sometimes the best hints are the most obvious.

[Jon Stratis]

If we're going with the tennis ball theory, I want to throw this into the ring for consideration...

1-inch tennis balls + readily available at most pet stores + insanely cheap = 100's of them on the field. And in true GDC fashion, none of the companies involved would know about it before hand, or even really be aware of FIRST... shortages abound!

[pandamonium]

what if tennis balls aren't the game piece at all what if they are the game surface just like a 2 inch layer of corn was the game surface for maze craze. Robots in a ball bit I can not think of a more diabolical challenge than that it's even worse than fake ice

[vhcook]

Originally Posted by pandamonium

what if tennis balls aren't the game piece at all what if they are the game surface just like a 2 inch layer of corn was the game surface for maze craze. Robots in a ball bit I can not think of a more diabolical challenge than that it's even worse than fake ice

Field reset would get a little interesting, if that were the case.

[nighterfighter]

Originally Posted by vhcook

Field reset would get a little interesting, if that were the case.

And that's part of the game... The field is never reset!
Muhahaha!

[JamesCH95]

Originally Posted by pandamonium

While looking back I came across the letter sent out to teams at the end of August here is a few lines:

We were able to ‘play’ through the game several times this weekend with GDC members and FRC Staff standing in as robots and can now turn our attention to the scoring, rules, game hints and last minute diabolical twists.


Turns and diabolical twists + Tennis balls = MAZE CRAZE 2.0

All I can think of is seeing robots spin on a merry-go-round ...

[Dustin Shadbolt]

Originally Posted by pandamonium

While looking back I came across the letter sent out to teams at the end of August here is a few lines:

We were able to ‘play’ through the game several times this weekend with GDC members and FRC Staff standing in as robots and can now turn our attention to the scoring, rules, game hints and last minute diabolical twists.


Turns and diabolical twists + Tennis balls = MAZE CRAZE 2.0

Nice.... That would be a blast.

[Wildcat]

Originally Posted by pandamonium

what if tennis balls aren't the game piece at all what if they are the game surface just like a 2 inch layer of corn was the game surface for maze craze. Robots in a ball bit I can not think of a more diabolical challenge than that it's even worse than fake ice

cant see that happening, poses too big a safety hazard to field crew and humans setting up and removing robots. runs a high risk of someone stepping on a ball and twisting their ankle and possibly dropping 120+ pounds of robot on themselves or someone else

[pandamonium]

Here is that entire letter:

Good Afternoon Teams,

The GDC came, they saw they redesigned. Calum and Paul weren’t able to join us this weekend, so some of the aesthetics of the design may change once they get their hands on it, but we think we have the 2011 game. We were able to ‘play’ through the game several times this weekend with GDC members and FRC Staff standing in as robots and can now turn our attention to the scoring, rules, game hints and last minute diabolical twists. Robots will be required to have bumpers, so buy your pool noodles now while they are still in season. (And no, this requirement has nothing to do with the bruise on Carla’s ankle.)

We built a robot out of parts expected to be in the 2011 kit and Ryan tried it out on the prototype field. It did what was expected. I bet you didn’t know we do that to make sure the kit can accommodate the game.

We were still making changes as of 2PM on Sunday, so there is always a risk that the game will change again (We are engineers after all. We always want to make one more improvement followed by just one more and just one more after that.) But I’m excited, it looks like we have the basics of the 2011 game. Now the FRC staff and I just have to find game pieces, work on CAD drawings, bid out the major construction, build field elements, build road cases, get the manual on line and a million other little things.

Oh, and they loved the pepper bacon and Haagen-Dazs.

131 days to Kickoff
See you then!

So one of the members bruised her ankle while testing the game. WHat if she slipped on a tennis ball? Perhaps there are raised platforms that are ball free that humans can walk on for moving robots on and off of the field and robots can drive on as well.