Looking back, I found the game hints from 2004, 2005, and 2006. The email blast from 2004, seems to indicate that hints were given in years prior to that, but I could find no reference to them on CD. Were there game hints prior to 2004?
2006
five 'bots tangling with pasta
a game piece obsessed with a shovel’s show
and seeing Montana’s green heights
2005
While wearing Amethyst colored glasses, John Neun gave George Burns the following riddle: “Look closely and you will see something between Pi, You and Me.”
2004
Vmax = 10 ft/sec
Yes, there are two paths you can go by
But in the long run
There’s still time to change the road you’re on
2005 was a relation to the number 3 (3vs3 for the first time, plus the structure of an amethyst is a tetrahedron.)
2004: two ways to get to the bar, with time to switch, and the fastest speed you could move your hook
2003: scoring equation.
A quick search in the Rumor Mill for game hints would probably work wonders with your knowledge of the hints and how they relate.
2005 - Amethyst has a tetrahedral crystal structure (the game piece-tetra). George Burns and Jonny Neun were both baseball players who executed an unassisted triple play (The game’s name). Pi = 3.14159… and “you and me” = 2. So, between 3.14159 and 2 is three, referencing the game’s theme of ‘3’.
2004 - Vmax = 10ft/s is a reference to the maximum vertical speed in the game (to keep people from shooting harpoons and such) The other lines are from one of the greatest songs ever written, Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin. (The game had several sets of stairs)
The other thing you have to consider while discussing hints *FIRST *has released in the past, is that an advance copy of the Bill Of Materials for field construction was given as well for quite a number of years now.
I can’t remember exactly when the first year that happened was, (Maybe 2003? or 2004?) but it is similar to the sending of the advance part this year to teams. (Come to think of it, I think it may have in fact been 2003, because I remember discussing the weird grating material they had on the list that was used as the surface of the inclined portion of the ramps that year. - AKA: the cheese grater for robots material. Oh, and then there was the HDPE material as well which was used that year as well for the surface on the top of the ramp.)
An advance BOM is not a riddle or image type hint per-say, but something to get us talking before kickoff & to push the CD servers to the limits right before kickoff. lol
Some people at FIRST seem to enjoy their jobs wayyyy too much & enjoy playing with us almost as much as we (as teams) like stumping them during the Q&A process during build & competition season, by throwing at us just enough of a teaser for the upcoming year to provoke some discussion, but never enough to get it completely*.
*And for that, you gotta give FIRST major credit for mixing fun with the impending business end of the organization that all comes to light during kickoff.