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[nicholasmaurer]

So somehow the Virginia ES decided to rule a golf ball supported by a container as modified, and will likely maintain the ruling for States.
I was pretty shocked by this interpretation... how is this being ruled elsewhere? And for Nats?

As long as the golf ball can be removed from the device in an intact manner, it should count as unmodified.

My interpretation of the rules -- and, I think, most reasonable interpretations of the rules -- would agree that an intact, easily removable golf ball is unmodified. The Virginia event supervisors and appeals committee disagree, saying that even so much as putting it in a cup is a modification. I don't understand where they're coming from, and they drew no solid line between what they considered "modified" and "unmodified."

Their interpretation makes no sense to me either.... I'd go ahead and submit an FAQ now. In the field that allows for additional information, be sure to state that the Virginia State ES and appeals committee ruled against you.

[jinhusong]

Just realize it is about the first task.

Maybe we need more detail?

Jinhu

[bearasauras]

As long as the golf ball can be removed from the device in an intact manner, it should count as unmodified.

My interpretation of the rules -- and, I think, most reasonable interpretations of the rules -- would agree that an intact, easily removable golf ball is unmodified. The Virginia event supervisors and appeals committee disagree, saying that even so much as putting it in a cup is a modification. I don't understand where they're coming from, and they drew no solid line between what they considered "modified" and "unmodified."

Their interpretation makes no sense to me either.... I'd go ahead and submit an FAQ now. In the field that allows for additional information, be sure to state that the Virginia State ES and appeals committee ruled against you.

Hmmm, I'm not really sure if submitting an FAQ will help since it's likely not to be posted publically.

[nateDC]

We're having some trouble coming up with a reliable way to get the golf ball to move. We tried to use a mousetrap but it was really hard to get it to be reliable. Any ideas?

A ping pong ball weighs 2.7g. If you want your device to respond to the mere presence of the ball, you need to build a balance sensitive to that mass. That's doable, although you'd want to recalibrate it after transportation. If you build something that relies on the momentum carried by the falling ping pong ball, it needs to respond very fast, because the ball bounces.

We're using the force of the ping pong ball to help the golf ball overcome friction. After that, the golf ball's weight is all that's necessary to trigger the next action -- not the additional weight of the ping pong ball. We felt that making something like a balance would be too finicky to be reliable.

In our box we were able to get a pingpong ball to reliably set a mousetrap off to launch a golf ball down a ramp

[antigem]

@Newbydad your golf tee idea saved me about 3 hours of messing with levers. Thank yall sm

[Newbydad]

@Newbydad your golf tee idea saved me about 3 hours of messing with levers. Thank yall sm

Two Thumbs up and more if I had 'em!! It's been working all season for our team.