Cow Town ThrowDown Event Details - Rules and Halloween
 

Hi Everyone,

I know there has been posts about if there will be rule changes or if there is anything going on for Halloween. Here are the details.

Cow Town ThrowDown Robotics Tournament
2014 Rule Changes to Aerial Assist

1. No inspection, Honor system on legality. +5 pounds allowed. Gross / obvious violations of robot rules will be identified by the referees and must be corrected before the robot continues. All other FIRST robot rules apply.
2. A 4th ball may be used for autonomous. All other autonomous rules are unchanged.
3. A trussed ball which is untouched by another robot and enters the low goal will be considered scored.
4. G14 will be modified to allow for “no call”.
5. G12 will be modified so that an immediately rectified possession of the opposing alliance ball (from a truss shot, human play or field crew action) will not be penalized.
6. Elimination Alliances are 4 teams. The Alliance captain determines which teams play each match with no requirement on who plays.
7. One member from the non-playing team may be part of the drive team group and will be considered a COACH.
8. Draft order is 1-8 (must be outside top 8), 8-1, 1-8
9. No Time Outs in Eliminations – The Alliance Must Use Their 4th Robot.

Halloween
Since Friday night of the event is Halloween, individuals and teams may want to celebrate.

Individuals can wear costumes if they like. All costumes must be school appropriate and safe. When picking your costume, keep in mind if you may be working around tools and the robot or be on the field during matches. Your costume should be able to be removed if necessary to not obstruct your vision or not become entangled with moving parts. You may be asked to remove or modify your costume if it is inappropriate or could be a safety concern.

Teams are encouraged to decorate their pits in a Halloween theme. Decorations should be safe and school appropriate. It should not interfere with a safe working environment and should be appropriate for public viewing. Please refrain from any designs that would be gruesome or too scary. Pit designs will be judged for originality and creativity.

Keep in mind that the public and several FLL teams will be in attendance at the Cow Town ThrowDown. This will include younger kids that will be walking throughout the event and be viewing costumes and pit decorations. We can have fun with the holiday but still remain appropriate for the wide age range that will be at the event.

We are looking forward to seeing everyone soon.

Kind Regards,
Crystal Durgan
FRC Team 1730 (Team Driven) Mentor
Cow Town ThrowDown Planning Committee Member

Re: Cow Town ThrowDown Event Details - Rules and Halloween
 

What is the rationale behind disallowing inter-picking among the alliance selectors (rule change 8)?

Re: Cow Town ThrowDown Event Details - Rules and Halloween
 

So that Alliances don't get stacked. If 1 picked 2 and then won the competition and each match they played by 100 points. I think it also keeps eliminations interesting.

Re: Cow Town ThrowDown Event Details - Rules and Halloween
 

I see these rule changes are almost a copy and paste of the 2014 IRI Rule Changes but what was the rationale for NOT including #2 from the IRI Rule Changes?

"2. There is no zone requirement for possession/ assists."

This was probably the most significant improvement to the game in Indiana.

Re: Cow Town ThrowDown Event Details - Rules and Halloween
 

Could someone further explain rule change number four? A member and I are confused on exactly what this means.

EDIT: Nevermind, an alumna saw this and emailed us.

Re: Cow Town ThrowDown Event Details - Rules and Halloween
 

I would also like to know why this rule change was not included, since it makes the referees jobs easier and a bit less confusing for a public audience?
I like the rest of the rule changes and think the alliance captains not being able to pick each others makes things more exciting for all of the teams involved.

Re: Cow Town ThrowDown Event Details - Rules and Halloween
 

I wonder if the tournament organizers felt like it removed a major component of the original game? I have no inside information on this one. We've played both ways and are open to either.

No picking within the top 8 does make the off-season events more exciting, especially when an events has a shallow pool of teams a cut above the rest. (I find the talent in KC relatively deep, making this less of an issue.)

Thankfully we don't do that during the regular season where advancing to the next level of competition (district champs or world champs) is on the line. It would make teams question whether or not they would rather be the 8th or 9th seed, often with an opportunity to do something about it in the closing qualification rounds. Whether a team intentionally throws a match or not, unseemly speculation would abound. I dislike systems where a team's best interest and an alliance's best interest are put at odds with each other.

I remember playing in the Ozark Mountain Brawl in 2012, knowing in our last qualification match we'd be 8th if we won and did the co-op bridge. There was no serpentine draft in that event that year, and only 24 teams present, so the 8th seed would get to pick the 16th best team and then work with whomever was left at the end. You can see how we handled that dilemma here.

Re: Cow Town ThrowDown Event Details - Rules and Halloween
 

Hello All,

We actually conversed with the Head Ref from KC Regional and really thought hard about this one. But after our discussions and finding out that the Refs have to actually click on multiple items on the FMS screens for the possessions it is actually easier on them to have the zones due to the fast pace of how the passing happens. This does allow the Refs to focus on each zone independently of each other. Hope this helps and cant wait to see everyone in a few weeks.

Oh yeah, we upped the teams to 50, so there will be 2 more teams joining us all. Just waiting on replies from each of the first couple on the wait list. We will surely update everyone once we know as well.

Re: Cow Town ThrowDown Event Details - Rules and Halloween
 

Thanks for the clarification, this makes sense.

Re: Cow Town ThrowDown Event Details - Rules and Halloween
 

You betcha, and very happy to help out with any questions.