Recycle Rush was a terrible game but the bins and totes were great multipurpose gear. The bins were a great place in which to take a nap in the pits if you needed one. Our human player tipped the bin over, curled up inside, and fell asleep. To wake her up, one of the freshmen drummed on the side of the can, and she flipped him off.
We also stuck a speaker in the bottom of a can, propped it up on a tote, and blasted music. It actually boosted the volume!
The totes made handy chairs in a pinch, if you flipped them over. You’d never sit on them if the lid was facing up because you’d fall in, no matter how light you were. We’d either flip one onto the small end and sit there or stack one or two up upside-down. The bins were not good seating.
Of course, there were the times when we clambered into a can, stuck the lid on, and were rolled across the floor of our practice field. That was fun. I recall an MC hiding himself in one of the bins during NE Champs (either that or BattleCry) and bursting out for opening ceremonies.
I feel like somebody cut the zipties off of a tote, stuck someone else’s phone in there, re-ziptied it, and then stuck it out amidst the field of totes by the midpoint section. Actually, that probably didn’t happen, but it would have been a great prank if it had.
All of our scrap parts were eventually transferred to the dozens of extra totes that we now had, and the bins were eventually actually used for recycling. We never bothered erasing the “DO NOT RECYCLE THINGS IN HERE” message in Sharpie written across the lids of all our bins. (It never worked, anyway.)
Recycle Rush was a terrible game but those robots had such great designs. It’s fantastic what beauty can result simply by removing the bumpers and the horizontal size constraints.
Look at these beautiful monstrosities.
This is “Depth Charge” from 2826, a robot that picked up the three floor cans during auto. Stunning.
This is “Batman and Robin” from 148. It’s two separate robots connected by an electrical tether. Magnificent.
This is “Endeavour“ from 118 (no stranger to fabulous robot designs). It’s just... so gold. And the pneumatic cylinders controlling the can grabbers made the best sounds.
This is “Pal V17“ from 237. Maybe it wasn’t as successful as the others listed, but it’s got such a cool can grabber design. It’s a freaking rake. And that black and yellow... [kisses fingertips like a French chef]
In my last post, I said I would give y'all a play-by-play of Big Time Rush online games. So, that's exactly what I'm doing.
Unfortunately, I can't upload more than 30 images per post. So, I'm only including Recycle Rush in this one. Don't worry—"Stage Rush" will come next.
Enjoy!
The rules are simple: Hit the spacebar to drop the trash on the boy below you (he catches it). The trash eventually gets dropped into a dumpster.
Also, lol—cows give you bonus points. "Green Time Rush" approves.
This is how my very first game went:
Side note: Notice how the Palmwoods only has two floors. The levels literally stack up as the game goes on. Interesting.
Let's try this again!
Carlos drops it on James...
...James drops it in the dumpster...
And, uh, yeah. That's it. That's the whole game.
Level 2: I noticed that these yellow exclamation points pop up over their heads. They let you know when the boys are about to turn around. Good to know! I just wish someone had told me...
Suddenly, a wild Kendall appears.
To accommodate this new arrival, the Palmwoods morphs into a 3-story building. See what I mean?
Kendall valiantly carries out his duty.
Level 3: There is now a 2-liter bottle magically floating in the hallway.
So this is how you get bonus points—you need to drop the trash on the bottle and the guy simultaneously. It isn't always a bottle; sometimes it's a banana peel or a soda can. Clearly, you need a bit of timing (and patience) for this.
But since I'm an expert, I pulled it off. On the second try.
Ah, Logan. 'Bout time you showed up.
Side note: The elevators' positions don't make sense. Why are they so far apart from each other?
Crap. I dropped trash all over the lobby. Bitters is not gonna like this.
Logan's exclamation point works well here—it's like he's saying, "What the—dude, seriously?! I'm over here!"
Anyhoo, I was able to restart Level 3…
…only to fail once more.
This is not good for my ego.
'Tis but a scratch. I brushed myself off and labored on.
Level 4:
Listen, I really wanted to know what would happen if I dropped the trash on the Cow.
Don't make the mistakes that I made, friends. You must always ensure that the boy is under the trash, too.
Still, it was hilarious to watch the Cow plummet whilst enveloped in a trash bag.
I corrected my actions, and was rewarded with the sight of Logan carrying the whole frickin' frackin' Cow on his back.
Ahem. Anyway.
Does this mean that they're going to recycle a...a cow??
Whew. The Cow jumped out. By the way, in this level, the dumpster moves from side to side. Is the Palmwoods haunted again, or...?
Level 5: The guys are now speed-walking. Thanks, boys. Make my job harder for me.
Also, here's something bizarre: Carlos starts out on the top floor, while James is directly below him.
Moments later, Carlos is several floors below, and James is in the lobby.
Well, they ain't called Big Time RUSH for nothing!
Level 7 (Level 6 is identical to Level 5): Okay, everything is going about the sa—
Wait.
Oh, dear God.
There are two Jameses.
Who recycles more garbage than YOU?
I love this game, guys.
From here onwards, the difficulty doesn't change much. So, I simply got my score to 10,000 before stopping. Which took a lot longer than I'm willing to admit.
Final Thoughts: This is quite fun. More fun than I thought it would be, which is always nice. I give it an 8/10.
If anyone wants to give it a whirl, here it is. Be sure to use a computer, and not a mobile device.
I figured I had to have robotics somehow in my dorm room, so I took all the buttons from my two years of FRC that I got at my regional competition & now they will hang on my corkboard
