Re: Battle Royale 2010 @ Bridgewater-Raritan High School?
 

Actually, it was a lot more complicated than that! This may take a bit to explain, so please bear with me! Just to set the scene, in the semifinals, the number 1 alliance played the number 4 alliance and the number 2 alliance played the number 3 alliance.

It started right after the number 1 alliance (25, 2016, & 1071) won their second semi-final match. They realized that they would have to call a time-out to fix some things on one of their robots. The number 2 alliance
(2753, 1279, & 1640) was going to play their second semi-final match after having won their first. So the head referee had the number 1 alliance wait to use their timeout after the number 2 alliance's second match was over. What happened in that match was 2753's robot broke and they ended up losing (which is another long story). So now the number 1 alliance's timeout began to run on the clocks while there was still at least one more semi-final match to play. The head referee did not call the number 2 alliance to come and place their robots onto the field until the number 1 alliance's timeout had ended. When there were exactly 5 seconds left in the number 1 alliance's timeout, the number 2 alliance requested to use their timeout. They were told that they were too late. They had to have called it within 2 minutes after the head referee had given the "all clear" for the previous match.

It was very confusing for us because we thought that we had until the number 1 alliance's timeout was over to call our timeout, since they were not calling us onto the field until then. But it's done and over with. If only that antsy 25 alliance hadn't called their timeout early!! :P jk

On another note, this competition was really fun and I loved the modified rules! Congrats to the number 1 alliance on the win and to the number 3 alliance for some tough-fought semis & finals! Also I'd like to thank our alliance partners 1279 & 1640 for fighting like champs!

A big "thank you" to all the volunteers and organizers who made this event possible and to the hosts - team 303!! You rock!

Re: Battle Royale 2010 @ Bridgewater-Raritan High School?
 

On the behalf of team 75 I would like to thank 303 for hosting a great event.

Also a big thanks to teams 1923 and 714 we had some great matches together.

I would like to congratulate the alliance of teams 25, 2016, and 1071 winning BR.

Re: Battle Royale 2010 @ Bridgewater-Raritan High School?
 

Subtitled: Hard play vs playing hard

I did a debrief with the Head Mentor on how the event went on Saturday. His comment was there was a lot more "agressive" play with harder hitting defense being played.

Are teams doing "hard play" on the off season:

• New rookie drivers don't drive that well
• Changes to the rules made it more of a defense game
• It's the off season so making the robot "last" until Championships isn't that important.
• Too much hockey playoff action slamming into the boards

Or was it just our imagination?

Re: Battle Royale 2010 @ Bridgewater-Raritan High School?
 

Thanks for a great "spiced up" competition! Although we didn't make it to the eliminations, we still had a good time. Very special thanks to Sean from Team 25 for helping us with tweaks and repairs, and as a great driver coach and strategist, as we only had 2 team members able to attend! :(

P.S.: Anyone know when the awards will be updated on the "303gametime" site? We had to leave early and I didn't get to see the awards ceremony.

P.P.S.: Anyone know why there were only 4 alliances? Not enough teams? Time constraints? I know PARC had 6 alliances...

Re: Battle Royale 2010 @ Bridgewater-Raritan High School?
 

That wasn't your imagination. As the referee in 'that corner' of the field, some of the collisions with the wall were scary.

There were only 3 or 4 teams playing that hard, and I think that much of it was a combination of all of those factors. For one team, it was most certainly inexperienced drivers. For another team, it was the desire to play hard defense in an effort to win against a team perceived as 'better' - once they got a penalty for field damage, they changed their driving to not whack the field so hard.
Sean is awesome, and very generous with his talents.

I think they decided to just go to semifinals, and a 4-way was logistically easier than a 6-way.