FRC Team Numbers

[bobwrit]

I'm wondering how FIRST assigns FRC team numbers. I was thinking that it would be in chronological order of date registered, but it wouldn't make sense that in '92 there were 24 teams & MORT joined in '97.

[BornaE]

39 formed in 2006

[EricH]

It's a complicated question...

Back when FIRST started, teams didn't have numbers. By 1998, numbers were assigned based on sponsor's names, alphabetically. (Team #1 had 3-Dimensional Services as a sponsor.) After 1999, any teams that still competed from 1999 got to keep their numbers permanently, and any new teams got numbers in order of registration (hence Israel having a block of numbers--they like to register at the same time).

But, there are some teams (like 39 and 4) that did not form as rookies. They split from a veteran team. In this situation, FIRST assigns unused numbers from the original team's rookie year.

So, M.O.R.T. got their number due to their sponsors' name in the late 90's and wound up with it locked into 11.

BeachBot is 330, but was originally known as team 82 (in 1998). Then a key sponsor had a name change, and they became 330 in 1999. Then the numbers locked.

At least, that's how I remember the numbering working.

[JackG]

Originally Posted by EricH

Back when FIRST started, teams didn't have numbers. By 1998, numbers were assigned based on sponsor's names, alphabetically. (Team #1 had 3XXXXX as a sponsor.)

Back when FIRST assigned team numbers, the Juggernauts were sponsored by 3-Dimensional Services. (3XXXXX was never our sponsor ) All teams were sorted by sponsor names, with letters coming before numbers. Thus, we were listed first and were assigned to the number 1.

Having the #1 is a honor; living up to the number is always on our minds. It's also funny to talk to people, often at Championships, who come up to our pit just who see who this team #1 is.

Also, being team #1 has another nice benefit: at tournaments, we are often assigned to the end of a row, making our pit easier to find. We wouldn't have it any other way!

[EricH]

Originally Posted by JackG

Back when FIRST assigned team numbers, the Juggernauts were sponsored by 3-Dimensional Services. (3XXXXX was never our sponsor ) All teams were sorted by sponsor names, with letters coming before numbers. Thus, we were listed first and were assigned to the number 1.

I thought is was 3M, which I knew wasn't right. So I put some filler in. I'll fix it in the original post.

[drhall]

We are a new team this year and we requested a lower number so we would be close to our other team.

New Team 216
Org Team 288

Both from Grandville High School

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by JackG

Having the #1 is a honor; living up to the number is always on our minds. It's also funny to talk to people, often at Championships, who come up to our pit just who see who this team #1 is.

Also, being team #1 has another nice benefit: at tournaments, we are often assigned to the end of a row, making our pit easier to find. We wouldn't have it any other way!

Lol yea same thing happens to us, I hate explaining the original numbering system so that the real original teams get the credit they deserve.

Being pit buddies with 1 and 27 was AWESOME last year. Definitely hope to do it again. ^_^

[waialua359]

There is one HUGE disadvantage with keeping your team no.
When you go to CMP, you're never in the same division with the team that started before and after you.
Example: Always wanted to be teammates with Mark and his team 358 and will never be teammates with team 360 in the same division.

FIRST should explore changing how then assign divisions to give it a new flavor sometimes.

[EricVicenti]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

Being pit buddies with 1 and 27 was AWESOME last year. Definitely hope to do it again. ^_^

Unfortunately that probably wont happen, as Team 8 isn't making it to Atlanta this year. They sort the teams into divisions by team number, right?

[DCA Fan]

One team that has "broken" the system is Team Element #4, which was created when Team 22 split in 2 back in 2005 (?)

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by drhall

We are a new team this year and we requested a lower number so we would be close to our other team.

New Team 216
Org Team 288

Both from Grandville High School

Originally Posted by DCA Fan

One team that has "broken" the system is Team Element #4, which was created when Team 22 split in 2 back in 2005 (?)

Those are both examples of the system working correctly. When a new team is determined to be non-rookie, they are given a number in the same year series as their original team.

One that didn't work properly was when More Martians was created. I'm not sure why they got 70 instead of a number between 492 and 716.

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by GaryVoshol

Those are both examples of the system working correctly. When a new team is determined to be non-rookie, they are given a number in the same year series as their original team.

One that didn't work properly was when More Martians was created. I'm not sure why they got 70 instead of a number between 492 and 716.

As I recall, 494 adopted 70, which lost its main sources of support; they've been competing continuously since 1998.

[Enigma's puzzle]

I talked to the Martian team about this at the Lansing district, the team now know as more Martians was going to fold because of lack of student interest and other reasons. At that time the Martians team was over flowing with interest and was reaching its capacity, so instead of making a new team they colluded with team 70.

[bbr4d3r]

Team 20 is the lowest number original team

[Francis-134]

So back before 1998, every team's number changed according to alphabetical order, causing many team's numbers to change every year if a new team came in that was above them in alphabetical order. However, in 1998, FIRST decided to freeze the numbers where they were. This is why team 190, while being an original and sustaining team has a "high" number (the W in WPI puts us right above the X in Xerox and team 191).

New team numbers are given on a first come, first serve basis (for the most part) starting with the current highest number. There are exceptions for teams that spring off of other teams (39) and the like, as well as for teams that disappear for a year and come back.