We have talked about game pieces for the future on many occasions, I.e.
I found these at Meijer (Michigan and surrounding area everything store, similar to Wally world)
Foam noodle, similar to a back roller, relatively soft decent weight (4 lbs ish). Seems fun for a “lob the gamepiece” type game.
did…did you just happen to have a ruler with you?
It looks like an interesting piece to try and manipulate. I’m a bit scared about how much the consistency would change during play even before there was visible damage. The interesting thing would be how many you are allowed to handle at once. I feel like this could be very fun with unlimited game pieces, especially since it would be unlikely to fit fully in frame perimeter.
As far as the rulers… I was looking for new rulers to put binder clips on (how I handle my pick lists at events, labeled clips, move around for a few different pick lists, i.e. how good a team is at traffic management, defense, or taking their time to place a gamepiece correctly)
But yes, having the ability to hold a few of these overgrown noodles would be fun. They are dipped in the same stuff plier handles (plastidip), or similar at least. Maybe first could double or triple dip for durability.
I still say nerf footballs!
These things are sooo much heavier than you’d expect and their flight is really tough to control (speaking from experience 
). Seems like a little awkward of a game piece, but I’m all for heavier game pieces since I don’t think we’ve ever had anything like that.
Might suck for field reset, but it’d be a super interesting design direction.
Let’s bring back the yoga balls from like 2008
I think size is going to be the real difference next year. Haven’t had a large game piece since 2015, haven’t had lots of small ones since 2017.
Big concern with footballs is them being shot off the field. They’re heavy enough and would be shot fast enough that I would be concerned about getting hit with one. Not as bad as frisbees at least.
I’ve been waiting for a game that uses a wiffleball/foam baseball requiring a certain spin application to make the ball score into a goal (with no possible line of sight scoring).
Foam footballs would also be fun.
I’d like to see some more scoring randomness like we saw with the illuminated scoring regions in 2014.
I’m sure that no past game piece has ever been a dangerous projectile. In all seriousness, if we allowed frisbees to be shot in 2013, I bet we can get away with NERF footballs or something of the like. FIRST could also always find a way to implement them into the game where it minimizes the risk of shooting off field, such as not using them as a shooting game element.
@AG548 and I were discussing this a few days ago and came up with ping pong balls.
They’re relatively expensive, easy to lose, and hard to score accurately, making them the perfect choice for an FRC game.
Shoot the goals instead!
(I should get to bed, I need to leave for my flight in 4 hrs…)
Better yet, we can’t complain if we shoot at goals that are outside the field, right? Surely there would be no problems with this.
I wanna see a moving target. Like a circular goal that slowly moves side to side throughout the match.
Really just anything that requires teams to make an auto that isn’t just “record and play back a scenario” is super fun. Charge station was alright this year, but plate assignment in 2018 for example was way too binary and AFAIK a lot of teams just made branching paths for their auto logic - not quite as interesting.
I still want to see Roombas as playing pieces…
My personal prediction is shooting something less normal next year.
Foam Footballs, Really Large Balls (Yoga Balls?), Back to Frisbees, Golf Balls?
I’m part of
#ShootTheRopesGang
Post Note: Ok, but seriously, how cool would it be to try to throw, yeet, shoot, toss, or do something interesting with that thick rope. It’s both a game piece and a terrain element all in one! Eeekkk. So much for keeping my cool guy appearance.
#BringBackDodgeballs
I think that again comes back to considering where the bar should really be for auto. Either the captain or first pick (I forget which) of the number 8 alliance we were on at our second district event (week 3) didn’t have an auto at all. I don’t think we’re really at the point where we can raise what’s required for auto.
