Not to jinx next year, but...
 

I kind of expect a ball/projectile game. I also expect a return to "sports" as a sub-theme, though there I am more hoping than speculating based on historical precedent.

AA was a game that, with some tweaking and repeating over years, could have become Robot Ball, taking good elements of various sports and melting them into something great. Alas, we are unlikely to see that happen. We've already seen approximations of soccer (football) and basketball. So what is left, among ball sports? American Football? Baseball? Tennis? What else?

What do you think? Where can FRC go from here?

Pleeeeeeeeeeaaaaase, no water game ideas. Please.



please

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

Water polo?

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

We've been kicking around the idea of a football for a while....

Water game? The DVD for Spare Parts will be available Tuesday! Go buy it, watch a water game, see that it's not something that works very well in the FIRST context. Then go build an ROV just to play with

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

Hockey?

Return of the regolith field?

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

that was my prediction for this year but it didnt happen. It would be so fun

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

Recycle Rush: Flip Edition

All totes on the field are flipped over and need to be scored upright.
All totes off the field must be entered upside down and scored upright.

Extra points if your robot flips over.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

Return of the end game. Guarantee there is end game scoring next year.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

Throwing a football sounds like an interesting engineering challenge. Especially if they are of the NERF variety.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

Let's hope for that. i missed it.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

My fear is that creating a machine that throws a perfect spiral is so easy that there would be no unpredictability to the upper level matches; kind of like this year, in fact. If they do football, it seems to me they'd not do it for the typical low/mid/high target scores.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

I'm not so sure. I know I didn't really like endgames and a lot of peoples liked the lack of endgame in 2014 (maybe 2015 as well but the controversy over everything else kinda overwhelmed any endgame discussion if ever there was any. I know I'm glad there was no endgame)

I want to see aim high with dog toys or footballs and stuff like that. I think that would be fun. Or something to do with pylons (traffic cones). Or gratuitous amounts of small cheap game pieces like wiffle balls.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

Something 2008-ish would be nice. I loved the "racing" dynamic of that game, and I also love oversized gamepieces.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

I would love something like 2007 or 2011.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

2015 was a sort of re-do/throwback to 2003.
2014 was a sort of re-do/throwback to 2008.
2012 was a sort of re-do/throwback to 2006. (kinda sorta maybe it's a stretch)
2011 was a sort of re-do/throwback to 2007.

2016 will be a re-do/throwback to.......2005?? #tetras

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

I think a game could be designed to address the predictability factor. Ultimate Ascent is a good example of that. Some bots could score consistently from full court, but still had to climb to win, while the lower ability teams were still able to contribute in a meaningful way.

As a former coach, I've used football throwing machines numerous times over the years and I can tell you from experience that throwing a spiral is the easy part. Consistently throwing to a tight window is much harder. The machine "drifts" constantly due to the differences in how the wheels initially engage the ball and several other factors where a small difference in input can create a large difference in results.

A further complication would be the NERF balls. I assume they would be used instead of regulation footballs due to the safety factor. The COG of a regulation ball is very different from a NERF ball. The heavier outer rim of the regulation ball makes for a tighter, more controlled spiral and thus better accuracy. The COG of the NERF ( I'm assuming a solid foam ball) is near the center and thus it has to be spun much faster to maintain stability.

The variability is interesting enough IMO to create a worthwhile game. Especially with a few 'twists" thrown in.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

I predict/hope for a (American) football game next year. I hope there will be an endgame next year.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

Will point you all to...

This, this, this, this, and to some extent this

:deadhorse: :deadhorse:

I know Chief likes its rumors/predictions... But... Yeah. :rolleyes:

Close enough.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

Next year I wan the game to be a cross between hungry hungry hippos and garbage.
The idea is you get a billion tennis balls on the ground and the goal is to have fewer on your side then the opposing side.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

This is a game I'd like to see in 2016, or something as cool as it.

Endzone Endeavor:
Endzone Endeavor is played on a 27'x54' carpeted field.
The goal of Endzone endeavor is to kick their corresponding alliance's FOOTBALLS through one of the FIELD GOALS in the center of the field while your alliance has possession of it's corresponding ENDZONE. To possess an ENDZONE, an alliance must have more FOOTBALLS contained on top of the ENDZONE PLATFORM than the other alliance.

FOOTBALLS Scored while no alliance has possession of the ENDZONE: 2 Points
FOOTBALLS Scored while your alliance has possession on the ENDZONE: 3 Points
FOOTBALLS Scored while your opponent's alliance has possession of the platform.

Once the match finishes, Teams get bonuses for each ROBOT and FOOTBALL of their alliance's color completely contained on an ENDZONE PLATFORM.
In the last 20 seconds of the match, HUMAN PLAYERS are permitted to throw FOOTBALLS in an attempt to land them on the ENDZONE PLATFORMS for bonus points.

ROBOTS on an ENDZONE PLATFORM: 10 points/robot
FOOTBALLS on an ENDZONE PLATFORM: 1 pt/ball

--------------------------------------------

I'm still debating whether the robots would need to kick the balls through the FIELD GOAL, or whether they could just throw them.

I think FOOTBALLS would be re-introduced into play at midfield somehow.
I'm also not sure how to score this. I think if you limit the number of game pieces on the field like 2012, an automated scoring system could be used for real-time scoring, but referees and Scorekeepers would change the score after the match if, for example, a HUMAN PLAYER threw the ball through the FIELD GOAL (which would be obviously against the rules).

What do you guys think? I think this could be a really cool type of game if played right.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

I already gave my version of what I think will happen next year
here.
The endgame will be signaled by playing Ride of the Valkyries.(I love the smell of Magic Smoke in the morning!)
To expand upon it. Firing balls into other robots goals is worth 10 points. Shooting a human player is worth 5. Shooting an operator is worth 15 points. Shooting a driver is worth 25 points and shooting a drive coach is worth 50 points. Knocking down a drone is worth 50 points.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

FIRST Frenzy, the 2004 game, is regarded as the best game pre-3v3 era. I would love to see a modern take on that game. It looks super dated when you look at the game now, but some obvious changes that would take the scoring objectives and modernize it into a 3v3 game 12 years later could prove to be fun.

This is considered to be a pretty famous moment from that game.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

There definitely needs to be an endgame next year. I'm rather scared of the number of people predicting football. I feel like it would be way too difficult to throw. There would have to be a forward throwing motion as well as spin on the ball. The spin wouldn't cause too much trouble, but having both mechanisms combined in the "throwing arm" would be essential. Hoping it isn't football.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

Throwing arms are not required to throw footballs with a spiral.
http://jugssports.com/football/footb...ssing-machine/

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

Yes Please!!!

Please NO!!!!

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

The platform took up so much room they would have to shrink it down so six robots could fit on the field. The autonomous needs to be something more than just releasing the balls early.
The coolest moment I ever saw at a FIRST event happened that year during the elims at Buckeye when 378 was on the top platform and 279 was on the lower platform and was trying to get up on the bar. 378 parked on top of 279 so 279 decided to take them with them. 378 eventually fell off but still won the match.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

I think the game will be played with real cheesecakes....

Might be a little messy... but field reset would be fun... and delicious

An off-balance ball with a weighted side? Actuated field elements? Traffic cones?

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

I see Hockey as a definite possibility! I really like the idea for multiple reasons.
I for one am not averse to Regolith. Besides, it gives the "Water Game" crowd a "Frozen Water Game".

This is my other favorite. A football based game has all the engineering challenge one could hope for.
Passing and receiving for bonus point!
"Line play" for the defense loving crowd.
Fumbles and recoveries! Oh man, the list goes on and on.

Strategy geeks will wet themselves with all the possibilities to design a play book.

Kicking a Field Goal from the opposite end of the field would be a blast!

Yeah, I think I just drooled down the front of my shirt just thinking of the possibilities a Football based game would provide.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

Yes to both suggestions. You probably would enter the option for robots to shoot balls into the goals (like in Autonomous) with humans getting <30 seconds to score. The platform equivalent would need to be downsized to fit the existence of two other robots, but having some kind of field obstacle should probably stay (my favorite field obstacle is the 2012 bump. Think about how different 2014 would have been with 2012 style bumps delineating zones or at midfield!)

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

The issue would be catching at the other end. The match could have safe zones at the other end but the robot toss could be interesting. But please tell us it's coming months before the build season....

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

Volleyball please. In the middle of the field is a giant net that extends all the way from the floor up to five feet. Enter X many balls and whoever has the most balls on one side of the field loses. Maybe also there could be holes in nets in certain places so you don't always have to go over. Not volleyballs though because they're somewhat hard and could possibly hurt people, maybe like Aerial Assist balls or soccer balls.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

In GameSense last year when Frank was on the show, I think he said that Aerial Assist was originally a volleyball game that developed into AA (hence the truss).

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

I could get behind this.

Though real time scoring would be ridiculously difficult. Even counting the final score (assuming even hundreds not billions) would take several minutes.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

Hockey

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

Maize Craze but with ping pong balls and bowling balls. That is all.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

I'd like to see a cross of FRC robot with a implication of a EV3 and a FTC robot to accomplish a side task, through something in the main game that would make the robots Battle more i.e hit/collide more, so that there is more of a need for pushing power, Which gives me an idea... make it a game were your robot has to push like 200-300 pound crates to a certain objective, of have a game like king of the hill. those are my ideas lol :)

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

Forget water games. Do you really thing FIRST is going to risk foundation damage by putting several thousand gallons of water on the floors of high school gymnasia at districts? FIRST is heavily invested in the roughly 27' x 54' field and 3 vs 3 format. The control system for 2015 was new, so don't expect any major changes there for three or four years. Carpet has been the primary surface except for Maize Craze and Lunacy, so I'll give that a 90+% likelihood for 2016.

According to my research, every even year has had spherical balls as the primary game pieces, going all the way back to Maize Craze in 1992. Zone Zeal (2002) and First Frenzy (2004) also had movable goals, and First Frenzy had two different ball sizes. Except for the endgame of FIRST Overdrive (2008), stacking or hanging game pieces has been exclusively an odd-year endeavor. I fully expect a return to defense, mandatory bumpers, and one or more thrown or at least throwable spherical game pieces for 2016.

It's been a while since robots could carry a lot of game pieces. This year there was no legal limit, but very few carried more than eight (a 42 point stack) at a time. The past three years had limits of four or fewer game pieces at a time. I didn't check the rules for Logomotion (2011), but from the videos it looked like robots carried one inner tube at a time. I wouldn't be surprised if we see a lot of relatively small balls in 2016, with no carry limit.

Within my team, I'm stumping for an off-season build of an autonomous robot that cleans up the balls from the tennis court and returns them to an open-topped box or bin; we should learn something useful for next year. And oh yes, tennis balls would be a nice 25th anniversary touch.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

@GeeTwo:
Yes, yes, so much yes. All of the yes, in fact.

Every single nail has been hit on the head right here.

We are definitely due for ball-shaped game pieces again, and lots of them, without any limit on the number of game pieces that can be carried at a time. This combination of rules keeps coming back through the years, and for good reason; handling game pieces in bulk is a very different game challenge from handling them individually, and a good challenge at that (as long as you mix it up with a solid endgame and/or side objective). The last time we had a game like this was back in 2009, so there have already been two graduating classes of students who never got a chance to do this; we are definitely overdue, no doubt about it.

(And yes, I would definitely call out tennis balls / wiffle balls / similar-sized game pieces as a good idea, what with the 25th anniversary and all.)

As for the difficulty of accurate and/or realtime scoring with large numbers of small game pieces, I would propose that we take a cue from FTC 2015 "Cascade Effect" and measure your score based on the cumulative depth of game pieces scored in the goal(s) instead of attempting to count the game pieces individually.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

2011 had a limit of 1 tube at a time. Any more and the robots would look drastically different (look at FTC's Ring it Up).

I agree with tennis balls being a likely game piece for next year. I find the challenges with a carry limit to be more challenging than those without that cap. Carrying 4 blocks or 5 balls (previous FTC games) was easy, but stopping that 5th block and 6th balls was the real challenge there.

I think tennis balls are a good choice because there hasn't been an FRC gamepiece small enough to get stuck in your robot. Coaching an FTC team this year we struggled with the little balls getting caught in small gaps in our robot. I think FRC could use that challenge.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

My money is on a football-like game...it should be interesting!

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

We got Frisbees stuck in our hopper for Ultimate Ascent several times in practice; we managed to improve the mechanism before bagging.
I saw about a half dozen matches in which litter got caught in robots' lifts or wheels or can burglars this year, not counting videos.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

As I recall, the real-time scoring for Ultimate Ascent was based on weight. If there were only one game piece, or there were very few "specials", or the scoring were directly proportional to weight, this could also work for a game with a great number of balls.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

Sorry, should clarify. I meant game pieces that could find their way into any exposed nook and cranny of your robot. Frisbees would get stuck in places where frisbees were meant to go, and under robots, lifting them off the ground in rare cases. Litter would go into places you didn't want it to go, but that was more of a "defense" issue.

I was talking about pieces you want to manipulate ending up in random spaces in your robot. The kind where you wonder, "how did that get there?" My team had plenty of those moments (along with the occasional loose screw), and it made us really think of ways to better contain the gamepieces, as well as isolate the rest of our robot from them.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

Next year is also the 25th season of FRC so that is something to factor in...maybe?

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

As long as we take a break from alliteration next year. It was cool in rebound rumble and ultimate ascent, got old with aerial assist (I still get the latter two mixed up every time I try to say one of them), and Recycle Rush was enough for me. They took a break from it for a few years 2008-2011.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

If I had to guess the game next year: It'll involve mass game piece control (many smaller balls), elevated scoring of some sort, scoring in high volumes (large "dumps" rather than a few precise shots). Scoring from range will be an option but not really required or necessarily even a good idea. It'll certainly be a game with opponent interaction to some extent.

I personally really think that rules restricting the number of game pieces the robot can carry are generally not a great idea and that problems with starvation strategies, etc. should be dealt with in the game design, not patched with a rule later on. There are some exceptions (2013 really needed the four disk rule) but I generally think letting the teams figure out their limits works better.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

I agree with most of what you said, but every game since 2010 has had elevated scoring of some sort (if you count the recycling containers this year).

And I hope there's defense...seriously.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

I am hoping for lots of small spherical game pieces.

I want the field to look like a mixture of a rugby match and a popcorn popper.

Whiffle balls would be excellent. They are cheap, not very dangerous if they "go rogue" and head for the stands/refs, easy for all teams to get extras and easy to see from the stands.

Scoring could be done by simple sensors. Don't you love saying oxymoronic
things like "simple sensors"? Have the balls go through a hopper and then fed into a machine that spits them back out into the middle of the field. Keeping the balls moving would not only be cool to watch it would is more exciting than static game pieces.

As an added challenge you have two different colors of balls and the scoring depends on the bots sorting them and shooting them into the correct goals. This will allow more advanced control systems to play a greater part in the competition without keeping teams with less controls experience from not being able to compete.

This years game was challenging in terms of engineering design, allowed greater variability in robot chassis design, and was most importantly about as exciting as watching paint dry. I was fascinated the first time I went into a freight sorting hub for UPS. I did not at any time think to myself "Wow! I would rather watch this than watch Hockey!" I want defense to return. Place enough obstacles in the field to keep the speeds down (and consequently the amount of damages done). But please oh please let there be at least some sort of defense. Even if it there is no contact at least allow blocking.

Also... It could be an interesting twist to require the bumpers to cover 100% of the perimeter of the robots. At the same time set the lower edge height requirement at about 8 inches. This allows the game pieces to fit underneath. This will encourage the design of pick up mechanisms that are less exposed to being damaged by "exciting defense."

As the game for next year is likely already planned out this has been a fun exercise in what if. :)

On another note: As TheModMaster8 mentioned in another thread - hovercraft style locomotion. I want to build competitive hover-bots.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

They did this in 2010. You're right it was interesting.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

I've kind of been wanting a hockey game for a while now, Its been discussed for at least two years now, and i feel like it could be viable. Think field hockey pucks (so no regolith). There are various ways this could play out, e here is my favorite idea

1. Limited amount of pucks, 4v4 with designated goalies.
This works mostly like normal hockey. Both teams work with their pucks to score the pucks in their goal which is located in a space guarded by the goalie bot. 5 pucks in play at any time, slid into the arena by a human player at one of 6 feeder slots around the field. Three in both alliance section: one behind the goal and two on either side of the field of play. The in-bounding has to happen immediately after a score by the alliance that just scored. Each bot is allowed to posses 1 puck at a time, so potentially the other alliance can steal the in-bounded puck. The goalie bot isn't allowed to move from its zone, and the zone is not a "protected area", but only 1 opposing alliance bot can be there at a time (to prevent mobbing of the goalie and super easy scoring.) A path to the back of the goal would be left unprotected to give access to the in-bounding station there. the goalie bot can intake pucks (only one at a time) and can shoot them across the field or pass to an alliance member within 5 seconds.

Assists could be counted with multipliers that stack through the match for having different robots shoot goals to encourage cooperation and passing, (1.5x each goal for 2 robots each having a goal, 2x for 3, 4x if the goalie and all 3 other robots score. In the endgame we could add the option for coopertition. in the last 20 seconds, 60 or so pucks could be released into each side of the field (its illegal to grab other alliances' endgame pucks) and could be scored in high bins on your side, or in another bin in the middle of the bin for 10 co-op points (+ the score for scored pucks in the bin) extra per alliance that scores in their co-op bin.

The advantages of this are having good amounts of defense possible, both through goalies and other non-goalie robots, but not too much thanks to incentives to scoring and therefore getting close to the goalie and distracting it as opposed to defending entirely, and also the semi-protected status of being in the opposing goalie zone (play goes from to 1v1 in terms of defense in the zone, but with the trade-off of less maneuvering room) FIRST gets its coopertition in two aspects, rookie teams can defend but probably won't be able to wreck a good alliance's scoring, and everyone else gets an endgame and a frozen water game ;P

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

Hockey as an FRC game hasn't been done yet, but hockey pucks have been used in an FTC game. In the 2008-2009 FTC game Face Off!, teams had to move hockey pucks to a goal in the center of the field.

Even though that was a while ago and FTC/FRC share aspects of games, FIRST has never used a game piece twice (or at least not to my knowledge). FRC 2011 Logomotion and FTC 2012-2013 Ring it Up both scored rings on a 3x3 grid of poles, but they were both drastically different games. I could go on with examples, but I think those two games are the most similar.

FIRST could break that boundary and use hockey pucks, but I think that won't happen. If they were to play a hockey-styled game, it would be drastically different than the sport. Look at 2010 and 2012 where they played "soccer" and "basketball".

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

Skee Ball!

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

Water game is probably never going to happen....just something we can make memes for, for years to come...

I'm hoping for a nerf-material football game if we're going back to sports/projectile style game next season.

I wouldn't mind another lifting/manipulation game, not necessarily inner tubes, but something of the nature.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

About scoring points on other bots, I was thinking something along the lines of laser tag where each bot would be allowed to use one safe class 1 laser. The hard part is regulating target placement on each individual robot. Has FIRST ever done a game where they require a certain part to be in a certain place on every robot.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

>25th season
>factor in

>Perfect square


2016 FRC Game: [SPOILER]"Math Attack"

Build a robot that can solve complicated mathematical proofs.[/spoiler]

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

Lunacy wheels.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

I would love to see something like this happen, although that may just be my personal bias as a programmer.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

This is what I want for next year:

2 fields, 2 robots: robot on one field shoots balls, robot on the other field intakes the balls and passes them over a wall to the other robot. Both robots have to balance an inverted pendulum, and if it falls, the robot gets disabled for 5 seconds. The "balls" contain motors that activate randomly, so they can move around by themselves. Minibots on the field follow lines on the field, and can crash into the robots to make the pendulum fall over. There are 5 types of balls and 4 goals, and each counts negative if scored into the wrong goal. However, one type of ball changes color every 2 seconds, and must be scored at the right time. Did I mention that it is on a lunacy floor?

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

As a tennis player, tennis balls would be a lot of fun to play with in TWO different sports.

I agree with the small ball theory, and could also see football happening.

But because it's FIRST's 25th anniversary, shouldn't we expect something FIRST themed? Logomotion type thing?? Perhaps tetras, balls, and cubes?

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

Fixed it for you.

In addition, at the end of the game, you can pass your pendulum to a quadcopter for additional bonus points.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

New that we've gone off topic, let me toss in the ultimate water game a couple of mentors have been thinking about. It's the sort of water game that Dean is more likely to approve, as well. They'll have to ditch the seven-to-twelve rounds plus playoffs, though.

The game: Solar Slingshot. Teams build robots which roam the solar system, collecting and purifying water and delivering it to impoverished space stations.

Autonomous: There is a two hour autonomous period during which teams may launch their robot. There is a 20 point bonus for reaching LEO (low earth orbit) during autonomous, and a 40 point bonus for reaching earth escape velocity. Note: teams competing at regionals and districts more than 300m above sea level will have adjusted reaction mass allocations and autonomous scoring. For an additional shipping fee, teams may begin aboard a SpaceX-launched craft in LEO at the end of the autonomous period, thus waiving eligibility for autonomous points.

Teleop: Teams direct their robots to a comet. Robots then mine the comet for water and deliver said water to one of two beacons located at the L4 and L5 metastable orbits leading and trailing the moon. Since the temperature will be below freezing, scoring is by mass, not volume: 1 point per 100g delivered. Maximum payload: 20kg per round trip.

Endgame: Before closing ceremonies, return the robot to the LEO craft for a 20 point bonus or the terrestrial regional for 40 bonus points. The "license plate" must still be intact and (after cleaning) legible to receive endgame bonus points.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

If the plate is partially covered and your robot comes back as a massive new life form named "Vee-ger" looking for the "creator" do you still get the Auton points?


-----
Edited for typo.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

*slow clap*

This might be the greatest thing I've read all week, and perhaps the most reasonable water game proposal yet...:D

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

I too am in favor of a fast passed shooting game with defense. I could see the scoring automated by having a lot of different sized targets. Once a target is hit it falls off its stand like an old style shooting game and then the targets get reset every 20 seconds which matches up with the time to reset.

I also like the idea of passing game balls from robot to robot. Hopefully FIRST will make next year's game fun to watch.

D

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

I couldn't find anything against it in the Game Manual. I can't find my Admin Manual right now, but you may qualify for a special FIRST Contact Award.:D

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

I'm calling a game with boomerangs or grifball :D

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

I like the idea of a game with tennis balls to celebrate the 25th game.

My idea would be something where there's a see-saw like game element in the center of the field(which is somewhat v-shaped), with 2 scoring containers on each side. The 2 sides of the see-saw would be marked by color. One scoring container will be next to the center of the see-saw, and the other will be all the way on the end. Tennis balls scored in the center container, and therefore lower and closer to the ground, making them easier to score in, are worth 3-5 points(I don't really know how much yet). Tennis balls scored in the outer and higher container are worth 8 points each. Also, tennis balls on the ground in an alliance's zone contribute 1 point each to that alliance's score. Also, whichever team puts more tennis balls in the containers, causing it to tip towards that team's alliance station, gets and additional bonus added to their score of a value to be determined.

I don't really know how the tennis balls would be added to the field, but that could be decided. I also think that having different levels of scoring allow participation from all levels of teams, as the more valuable goals/containers are more difficult to achieve.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

Me too.

My vote is in for marbles. :D

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

I would like to take that one step further. Color the balls, and let them be scored in any containers. The robot has to sort out balls, or risk scoring points for the opposing alliance. Starving the other alliance is also a viable strategy. Black balls on the field could nullify the entire container, yellow balls double the entire container.

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

6v0

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

We would have had that this year if they'd let me put bowling balls in random totes!

Re: Not to jinx next year, but...
 

Well, something with footballs is a possibility, based on the fact that the NFL's 50th anniversary is next year.

Either that, or Recycle Rush with tote cannons. So you could shoot totes at the other side and knock over their stacks.