Unusual, potential game pieces

[nuclearnerd]

I love speculating about future games, and surprisingly I haven't found an old thread talking about game pieces in particular. So I thought we'd talk about what would make a good game piece so that we might be able to identify the beginnings of a future game.

IMO, a good game piece:

• is durable
• is cheap and abundant
• is relatively light
• won't cause injury
• is fun to toss around, and looks good on camera
• hasn't been used before (though we can let this slide if the game uses an old piece in a way that requires new designs)
• is reasonably consistent between manufacturing batches (edit, as suggested)

Thinking about what fits those criteria, and hasn't yet been used I've come up with a few candidates:

• football or nerf footballs (oblig.)
• badminton birdies
• cheese wheels (or perhaps a rubber tire)
• batons or javelins (perhaps from pvc pipe)
• Ringette rings
• Bean Bags
• Bowling Pins (hollow)
• Ball on Ropes (dog toy)
• Flutterboards
• Great big or heavy pieces that can't be lifted, only pushed (perhaps tethered to the field)
• the beach ball I had as a kid that had a weight to one side so it flew crazily (can't find anything similar online though)

What do you think? Have I missed any good candidates? Are there other criteria for what makes a good gamepiece? Do any of these spark some ideas for game rules?

[Koko Ed]

I'm still holding out for FIRST using these for game pieces.

[Noudvanbrunscho]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

I'm still holding out for FIRST using these for game pieces.

Oh that would be cool. i would love an 'wierd shape/hard to grab' gamepiece. Only 135 more days .

[Richard Wallace]

Several years ago someone posted a picture of Dave Lavery holding a ~10 inch long piece of 3" sched 40 PVC pipe, capped at both ends. The thing resembled a giant drug capsule, suitable for medicating a blue whale or some similarly massive fictional creature.

I imagined it half full of pea gravel, to make its center of gravity shift while it is being handled so that manipulation by a robot is more challenging.

[Daniel_LaFleur]

Traffic cones.

[chrisfl]

American footballs

[tindleroot]

Another "good game piece" criterium: NOT inflated.

[hectorcastillo]

Originally Posted by chrisfl

American footballs

Another "good game piece" criterium: NOT inflated.

I think the New England teams would have an advantage in this game

[Wayne TenBrink]

Originally Posted by Richard Wallace

Several years ago someone posted a picture of Dave Lavery holding a ~10 inch long piece of 3" sched 40 PVC pipe, capped at both ends. The thing resembled a giant drug capsule, suitable for medicating a blue whale or some similarly massive fictional creature.

I imagined it half full of pea gravel, to make its center of gravity shift while it is being handled so that manipulation by a robot is more challenging.

I have been hoping for a cylindrical game piece for years. Capped and half filled would be an interesting challenge, but I would prefer to see thin walled, hollow tubes. Length, diameter, material, weight, and quantity TBD. The length-to-diameter ratio should be near 1:1. This would make it feasible to acquire the tube by several methods (grasp OD, skewer the bore, etc.) with no obviously "correct" method. Game pieces could lay on their side or stand on end, and the orientation of the robot to the game piece would affect the way the tube reacted during acquisition. There is a broad range of tasks options to challenge teams with different skills, and few robot mechanism ideas from previous games would be useful. Game piece placement options include: (easiest) move it into a defined scoring zone, (easy) place in bin, (moderate) toss it into a bin that is higher than the robot, (harder) hang it on a pin rack with more points for higher pins, or (harder yet) fit the game piece through a round hole with modest clearance to the tube OD for highest points. Color coded tubes? Different size tubes? Moveable goals? Options galore! Tubes could be cheap and readily available (PVC), robust, visible from the stands, wouldn't require inflation, and would fit thru a door.

[Conor Ryan]

Bowling Ball. main rule is you can't let it leave the ground.

American (nerf) Football. Heck, a Rugby ball would be fun too.

[Jacob Bendicksen]

Originally Posted by Conor Ryan

Bowling Ball. main rule is you can't let it leave the ground.

I've always liked the idea of absurdly heavy or light game pieces (i.e. bowling balls or balloons). Really big ones (like 2001's goals) would be cool, as well.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by Jacob Bendicksen

I've always liked the idea of absurdly heavy or light game pieces (i.e. bowling balls or balloons). Really big ones (like 2001's goals) would be cool, as well.

The big issue with really heavy things is that, given the amount of power in today's kit, there's not much we can't lift in a timely manner.

(Within the limits of sanity, I don't think we're going to be playing Recycle Rush 2 with Fiat 500s)

[ChrisH]

Originally Posted by Jacob Bendicksen

I've always liked the idea of absurdly heavy or light game pieces (i.e. bowling balls or balloons). Really big ones (like 2001's goals) would be cool, as well.

If you want excitement, try deliberately dropping a bowling ball on the gym floor in front of the head basketball coach.

An important but so far thus far overlooked criterion is consistency in how it responds across both batches and time on the field. An object should not handle differently during the final match than the first, nor should they be different for a week 1 event and the Championship.

[Michael Hill]

Originally Posted by ChrisH

If you want excitement, try deliberately dropping a bowling ball on the gym floor in front of the head basketball coach.

An important but so far thus far overlooked criterion is consistency in how it responds across both batches and time on the field. An object should not handle differently during the final match than the first, nor should they be different for a week 1 event and the Championship.

Remember 2012? A LOT of teams were thrown off by new balls once they were replaced for elims matches.

[mwmac]

Originally Posted by Michael Hill

Remember 2012? A LOT of teams were thrown off by new balls once they were replaced for elims matches.

Not to mention the change in balls that occurred at Champs before eliminations. They were not just new, they had a totally different compression characteristic iirc.