[lynca]

I attended three different IEEE Region 5 robotics events back from 2004-2007.

The game rules and competition were typically created by each host university of the event. A new game designer every year meant that the game rules would wildly vary from year to year. Like many other early stage robotics competitions, complications in rules and complex field setup made the competition frustrating at times.
Hopefully that has changed in more recent IEEE competitions.

VEX has both progressed way beyond the typical pitfalls of game design. Some would argue that VEX games have progressed way beyond FRC game designs.... (but let's save that topic for another thread)

If you are considering a competition in college, I still highly recommend VEX-U.