[Kris Verdeyen]

I give you: Trough Tribulations, or The Heavy Ball Follies

The field is the same size to which we've become accustomed. There is a wooden (ok, diamond plate) trough in the middle of the field, about as wide as last year's ramp or this year's center platform, and 3-5 feet long. It can be anywhere from 4" to 2' high, depending on the balance between task difficulty and spectatorworthyness.

In the trough are ten 20 pound medicine balls. There are five black medicine balls, and five white ones, with alternating colors. The object of the game is to have as many of the white ones on your side of the field, and as many of the black ones on your opponent's side of the field at the end of the match. Each white ball on your field is +10 points, each black one is -10 points.

In addition, there are 5 red and 5 blue balls on each end. Each of the colored balls that ends up in the trough at the end is worth 5 points.

Finally, the human player.

Each of the four human players has a "spoiler ball", which will have to be either a playground ball or something similarly lightweight, so it can be thrown. If an even number of spoiler balls ends up in the trough at the end of the game, each blue ball in the trough is doubled. If an odd number ends up there, each red ball is doubled.

Some key points:
1. Medicine balls are heavy. No one will be able to roll around picking them up without that being the only thing they do.
2. Autonomous mode is not special. There are no points or parts of the field that are only available during autonomous.
3. There is no dissimilar way to score points. I'd like for there to be one, but I can't think of one that will fit. Perhaps a KOTH on top of the trough, or in the middle of it, or something.
4. The spoiler ball makes the game uneven, but adds some interesting strategy to it. Human players will decide close games at the end with their shooting.