[Andy Grady]

I think the most important element to a successful game is all described in one simple word...momentum.

To explain this, lets look at two of the most successful games in FIRST history, Double Trouble, and Co-opertition FIRST. In double trouble, there were so many ways for the momentum of scoring to shift. In an instant, a team could climb the puck and suddenly the game was shifted towards the climbing alliance. In the next moment, the puck could be moved back across the line to the other alliances side, and once again the momentum changed, making for a very exciting game. Same thing with 2000, there were many ways that the momentum of a round could change. You could hang your robot and the black ball come to mind. It was amazing to see how much of a momentum swing would result from a black ball being removed from a goal, or even more when that ball was brought back to the other alliances goal to put them ahead! The same could be said of last years game with the doubler ball and the bar...so many ways for momentum to change, so many things to have to strategize for.

Lack of momentum sometimes leads to difficult games to understand or follow. Stack Attack was a prime example of this. Though there were ways to quickly change the score, the difficulty to gain momentum through stacking made the game one dimensional, king of the hill.

Of course...I could also agree with Mr. Lavery and say water...but I'm going to once again repeat what Colleen said earlier...footballs!

Good Luck,
Andy Grady