D. All of the above and more, I'd say.
Its a place for teams to get another chance at the game before having to move on to a new one.
It is a place for teams to go against the year's successful robots to see if they can measure up.
It is a place where teams could possibly play with some of the more successful robots, to learn exactly what they did.
It is a place to make even more friends. The low pressure environment just begs for you to do that.
It is a place to introduce new sponsors and new team members to the game.
Its a last chance to get current sponsors to see the program and what its all about.
(Its a chance for host teams to boost their Chairman's Award entry -- wow, I said it
. Don't hold it against me, I'm sure thats not a team's reason for hosting a competition.)
heh, etc.
Offseason competitions are, quite possibly, the future of the FIRST organization. Low cost, small competitions reminescent of the old FIRST in which competiting robots have good chance of going against all other robots at the regional. But of course, if we look at some of the heavyweights in the offseason category this year, we see get an example of how FIRST has grown into what it is right now. From 24 team regionals, to 28, to 32, to 36, to 42, to 60! Son of FIRST, indeed.