Omitted from the post: to date, my rule for people who try to rules-lawyer like this is “I will allow it if-and-only-if it makes the experiment cooler/less boring”. So, for instance, trying to make the ball roll really slowly or put the cup right at the end of the ramp would not be allowed, because that would make the experiment more boring. Trying to make the ball go really fast would make the experiment cooler, so that’s allowed.
To date, I’ve only had one person really optimize hard via that route. That ended with the ball replaced with a hotwheels car, which went down the ramp and successfully landed in a hat worn by another person who was lying on the floor.
Omitted from the post: to date, my rule for people who try to rules-lawyer like this is “I will allow it if-and-only-if it makes the experiment cooler/less boring”. So, for instance, trying to make the ball roll really slowly or put the cup right at the end of the ramp would not be allowed, because that would make the experiment more boring. Trying to make the ball go really fast would make the experiment cooler, so that’s allowed.
To date, I’ve only had one person really optimize hard via that route. That ended with the ball replaced with a hotwheels car, which went down the ramp and successfully landed in a hat worn by another person who was lying on the floor.