[dellagd]

Originally Posted by Tetraman

There will not be a Three Alliance game in FIRST. We already have some teams on alliances that fudge their scores so a top seed doesn't remain so. A Three Alliance match will eventually lead to two alliances ganging up on the other for the mutual benefit in the long term. If they do anything, it will be a return to 2001 where everyone on an alliance works together to reach a mutual goal. And going back to that is a long shot.

Three minute matches are possible, especially if there is an element of "keep away" to the game. Such as, one robot has to make sure they don't give up a Golden Ball because it's worth 30 points at the end of the match and the other normal balls are worth 2. However, I am unsure if going to 3 minutes is a good idea from now on. Consider if every game designed thus far was given an extra 1 minute to play. Logomotion would have the entire racks filled, Rebound Rumble would make bridge scoring either worthless or too important depending on the match, Aim High would have longer periods of play, and Zone Zeal and/or Stack Attack would be that much more boring to watch an extra minute of nothing happening.

there would have to be a good reason to change to 3 minutes, and that would be "because the game as it is designed requires it". I'm going to then guess that if we are headed to 3 minutes, then it will only be for this year and not for future years. (or be an every 4 years thing)

The real question is this: What kind of game can't be played in just two minutes?

I was thinking that because of the increased interest in the Kinect, and how almost nobody used it last year, they would use the extra time for an increased Hybrid period.