[archiver]

Posted by David Kelso, Coach on team #131, C.H.A.O.S.-, from Central High School and OSRAM SYLVANIA/ Fleet Bank.

Posted on 5/2/99 8:01 AM MST


In Reply to: Next year: Make the game understandable posted by Andy Baker on 5/1/99 11:18 PM MST:



I agree too. Think about what it is like to explain
this game to the''press'' who then need to sum it up for
their readers. We all need support from our communities,
but many observers have no idea what we are trying to do on
the field..that means they do not even know when to cheer.

Keep it simple, with a minimum of rules. We wish to inspire
the students and the general population. If they do not understand
what we are trying to do, they will not pay attention to our real
goals.


: With all of this discussion about what willl be used next year over on the Rumor Mill page, I was thinking:

: 'What type of game would be better for FIRST?'

: FIRST's primary objective is to inspire as many students as possible, right? In order to do this, they must grow the sport (did I say SPORT!?!).

: I say that in order to appeal to the masses, we need to have the robots play a game everyone can understand. Let's get rid of the floppies, ramps, pucks, and 20 inch balls.

: I'd like to see 2 on 2 or 1 on 1 basketball matches, or full contact football games, or kicking a ball through a net... something that everyone can relate to.

: We all know that by the time we had to explain about all of the doubler and triplers for this year's game, that we lost the attention of a few of the people who were listening.

: My stance is that if the game is familiar to the masses, then the growth will happen at a more accelerated pace. For example, people will automatically know what is going on if they see two robots, one holding a basketball, and a couple of bball goals on either end of the playing field. They'd think: 'oh, those robots are playing hoops, I can relate with that!'

: Don't get me wrong, FIRST had a great game this year, they just designed it for us, the people who already 'get it'. They did not design it for non-FIRST people to easily understand what the heck was going on.

: So, our trade off is this: if we get a simpler game, we would get more fans, but, the game's strategy would be less of a challenge for us.

: Is this worth it? Also, is my logic correct?

: If so, what popular games would be best for FIRST?

: Andy B.