[Chris Fultz]

I like the game and love the scoring and ranking system. It forces teams to keep connected with what is going on and change strategy to get a win.

Examples - we usually hang in the last 45 seconds. One match we were ready to go hang, but an opponent was getting ready to cap a goal with 7 balls in it. We gave up 50 hanging points to prevent 70 ball points. It kept the match exciting.

Another example was in Phoenix. 4 robots on the bar with time left on the clock. One alliance realizes they are losing - because of balls in goals, so they drop off the bar, try to corral balls and then get back and hang. They did not make it - but it was exciting to watch the strategy come in.

Both matches would have been played differently if everyone was focused on points.

And yes, sometimes good robots don't make it to the top 8. But teams with good scouting and tracking know which machines and teams can perform in a match and the better teams will almost always get selected for finals.