[Marc P.]

I think the game this year is the result of the long debate of an offensive game vs. a defensive game. With clearly defined periods of offense and defense for each alliance, there's no question about whether defense or offense is dominant in this year's game- it's a balanced combination of each, and each type of play has the opportunity to win. Arguably, 2004 and 2005 were primarily offensive games- as we saw in the finals at the Championship event in Atlanta. The best ball and tetra manipulators took home gold. Going back further, 2002 and 2003 were primarily defensive games- strong drive trains and defensive strategy dominated. This was more as a side effect of how the games were designed- in 2002, the playing field was completely clear, with the 3 heavy mobile goals and set scoring zones. Pushing, shoving, pulling, tug-of-war type robots dominated- as each goal and associated soccer balls were only worth points when held in a certain zone. In 2003, teams quickly figured out it was easier to knock stacks of bins over than spend time trying to stack up themselves, and matches often came down to who was on the ramp at the end. In 2004, the gears changed a bit, with more emphasis on scoring (putting balls in goals, capping with 2x ball, hanging), than descoring (knocking over stacks, shoving bins to the other side of the field). 2005 was the same way- once a tetra was scored, it stayed scored. If an opposing robot knocked a tetra off, it was put back on by the referees, and automatically owned by the scoring alliance.

This year the game seems to be a clear cut mix of both capabilities, and promises to keep people guessing who will win up until the finals. During the New Jersey regional, I saw the dominating power of a primarily offensive alliance as 25 (one of the best shooters I've seen this season), 103, and 1279 broke through the defensive maneuvers of 375, 486, and 1860 to win the event. At the New England regional, I saw 177, 176, and 1124 make awesome use of defensive strategy to knock the strong offensive alliance of 126, 20, and 571 out in a 3 match semi-final series.

Whether or not the game is brutal will vary from regional to regional. Defense is integrated into the game, so there's no question there will be pushing and shoving. If a team wants to be excessive with the force applied to other robots, that's a drive team decision. The hope is that won't happen, and if it does, the referees will catch it. Contact is built into the game- how much is necessary will vary on a team by team basis. Brutality doesn't come from the game, but from the players playing it.

I can't wait to see what the regionals in coming weeks will bring, and the effect of observing strategy at all the regionals combined at the Championship.