Overall in my opinion, well executed for the first year. But, of course, there were negatives.
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The bleachers in the pits. I had several problems with them. I didn't care so much that they were right next to the pits (in my opinion the short distance was very convenient). The small bleachers left a lot of people standing in the way in the pits trying to see matches. The bleachers were very uncomfortable and made my already bad back miserable (but not much can be done about that, I've never sat on comfortable bleachers...). There was so much garbage that gathered beneath the bleachers because everything kept falling through them. My jacket dropped 3 times as did my wallet and my GameBoy (unless my GameBoy was stolen).
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The long walk from the Dome to the pits. It was annoying to have to walk what felt like half a mile to get to the pits. Also, the Dome was a bit confusing to get around in - but that could also be just me.
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Safety glasses were required to get to the stands in the pits. Quite a few members of my team were left stranded, not allowed into the stands, because they did not have their safety glasses on them and you had to cross the pits to get to the stands. I know that there were safety glasses that could be borrowed, but it was a minor inconvenience to have to turn around and get your safety glasses if you wanted to leave the stands.
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The food. Maybe I just don't look in the right places but the food (including boxed lunches/dinners) was, as usual, overpriced and gross. All the food that I saw in the pits and in the area outside the pits was either unhealthy (cough cough, funnel cakes) or gross (did anyone else make the mistake of buying the Chinese food?) and all of it was overpriced. Apparently the food in the Dome was good, but the Newton division was in the pits for 2/3 of the competition and the Dome was a very long walk (see my 2nd bullet).
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Lack of trash cans. You had to walk across the pits to throw something away, and there were no trash cans in the stands, so garbage accumulated quickly.
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Power. My team used a
boat battery for power because we scout with our laptops and there was no power available in the stands.
So only a few minor issues that have been more or less discussed already, but overall a good, fun competition
