Favorite FRC Game?

[jeleser]

Just out of curiosity, what has been your favorite FRC game to watch being played? Even with only being finished with week 1 of Rebound Rumble, I have to say this has been my favorite. However, I'm a third year FRC member, so most of my experience involves Breakaway, Logomotion, and Rebound Rumble. So for those exposed to other games, which has been your favorite to watch, and why?

[dodar]

Mine was the 2007 game: Rack'N'Roll. It was my 1st year and because of that I was put into more of a scouter role that I end up looking back as the best thing that could have happened for me. Because I was a scouter that whole year, I was able to watch every match for 2 regionals and our division at Atlanta(champs). Eventually I was able to actually scout an entire alliance every match, mainly because we had people designated for certain times to scout who wouldnt, but it allowed me to gain the nack for being able to distinguish the good from the bad from the amazing. Now, why the game was amazing? The rarity this year to see an autonomous score made that score so much more amazing, plus since it was my first year seeing a robot move and sometimes score all on its own both baffled and astounded me. Also the way you scored and how you could counter your opponent really made the game interesting, a kind of 3-D checkers if you will. But the main thing I love about this game more than any other is how it ended; seeing all the different ways teams lifted each other up or the last second climb onto an alliance partner's ramp made the last 10-15 seconds of the match 100x more exciting than the other 2 minutes before it. Until the team I am on competes, which is this week, I still am saying that that year is by far my favorite.

[Peter Matteson]

Hands down 2004 nothing is even close.

2 different size balls, 30" and 13".

Game object can be released by a good autonomous otherwise you wait 45 seconds.

Mobile and stationary goals.

Human player can directly score.

A bar to hang from as a finale.

No other game has offered as many design choices/tradeoffs and as varied play since. This was the last game where you had to truely make trade offs because with what we had at the time for motors/actuators and parts usage rules it was difficult to do it all.

[Agentarrow]

My first year was 2009, so my experience with FRC games is fairly limited. I have seen match footage of earlier games and I can say that my favorite game to watch has been Rebound Rumble. Compared to week 1 of previous years it's been a bit slower but seeing game pieces in constant motion and a very flashy finale makes even a slower start interesting. Logomotion wasn't bad, but I wasn't fond of the endgame drag race because it was over so quickly unless someone failed. Breakaway was cool to watch because rules and scoring were simple to follow (except DOGMA) and it was pretty cool to have such a drastically different robot. and style of play.

I can also say, from what I've seen, that Lunacy and Overdrive were the worst games to watch because of slow-paced game play and restricted robot movement (Lunacy) and redundant, simple robot actions (Overdrive).

I joined FRC in the fall of 2010. That means I was in a Breakaway offseason, the Logomotion season, a Logomotion offseason, and this year's Rebound Rumble. From those three games, this year's Rebound Rumble has got to be my favorite. With the exciting gameplay, and fast start in week one, I think this game will only get better.

Plus, this game is very fun for spectators to watch. Even new people to FIRST see this kind of game, and want more.

I congratulate the GDC for making one of your best* games in FIRST history!

*Not including the game manual and lack of definitions

[Chris Hibner]

2000 has always been my favorite game.

However, Rebound Rumble might challenge it.

Finals match 1 at Kettering may have been the most exciting FIRST match I have ever witnessed. Absolutely incredible. My brother (who has never been to a FIRST competition before) was standing, cheering, and making exclamations (like, "wow!", "OMG!", "holy carp!", etc) during the final 30 seconds of that match. If a non-FIRSTer can get that excited about a match, that's a great thing.

My second point is that I found the qualifying matches to be doubly exciting this year. Not only do you have to worry about the win/loss, but you also have the coopertition bridge. Even in a blow-out, the match can be exciting down to the end because of the coopertition bridge. It really affected how I watched each match.

Congratulations to the GDC, this game is a big winner so far. We'll see if it holds up as the year goes on.

[efoote868]

I've liked the unique games. Objects difficult to manipulate, shapes you wouldn't expect (anything other than balls).

I think 2007 was my favorite game, and 2003 is the year I'd want to try myself.

[Squeakypig]

I have never met anyone who has agreed with me, but my favorite game was 2009 Lunacy. I loved the supercell end game, watching the different strategies of defending verses outscoring verses a combination of the 2. Mind you, this was my rookie year, the first year our team was established, I was a driver, and I got to watch HOT and the Thunderchickens at all of our tournaments.

From the archived videos, I really like the 2002 game as well...I love the Beatty Beast! (Go Flyers for helping them out! FRC#66)

[tsaksa]

Originally Posted by jeleser

Just out of curiosity, what has been your favorite FRC game to watch being played? Even with only being finished with week 1 of Rebound Rumble, I have to say this has been my favorite.

I have to agree. Rebound Rumble is by far the best FRC game I have ever had experience with. I have said it before, but the penalties seem to be set up in a way that allows a lot more options in drive train selection and robot form factor choices than previous years. In other words a pushing or blocking robot has less advantage. In addition there are significant trade offs that need to be made in design. For example, the advantage of some height on the shooter needs to be traded off against stability on the bridge or bump. And, cooperation and coopratition seems to be particularly strongly encouraged by the point system this year. Add to all of that the fact that it leverages a widely popular traditional sport that is easy for spectators to understand and it is a real winner. All in all a well thought out game that is challenging and fun to watch.

Of course this is also my first and only FRC challenge so I might be just a bit biased.

[JABot67]

I liked the 2008 and 2010 games the best, and Breakaway just wouldn't have been Breakaway without 469's game breaker robot. I really liked the game from the beginning, but I really enjoyed the extra unintended challenge of dealing with a robot that could score balls continuously.

I don't like Rebound Rumble as much despite some exciting matches. The eliminations at Kettering hardly involved any interaction between alliances! No competition for balls, no defense, nothing. In autonomous mode we could get 36 points without the other alliance being able to do anything about it, so of course we tried for that. Some alliances at our event and others went for three robots on a bridge. That's 40 points that the other alliance almost can't interfere with! (although I hear at Alamo there was some strategy aimed at preventing a 3 robot bridge balance.) Shooting from the key in teleop insulates you from defense. How would you like a basketball game that was just free throws?

Most teams wouldn't bother crossing to the other side to retrieve balls because human players could throw them through the inbounding station in such a way that they would bounce over the barrier anyway.

Where is the robot-on-robot interaction? Sure, the game encourages a huge amount of teamwork within alliances, but at a cost of inter-alliance action.

[coldfusion1279]

Originally Posted by Peter Matteson

Hands down 2004 nothing is even close.

I agree. There was something different about the 2v2 dynamic. Good human players were critical, but usually didn't change the outcome of a match. Robot design was so unique... I will always remember the ones that caught the balls in a big net right when the all fell. Unless my memory is foggy, there were a lot less penalties too.

I also vote for Triple Play in 2005. FIRST has not had a game since then which forced teams to battle for ownership of goals. Blue and Red could switch ownership of a goal 5 times in a match. It was so hard to keep track of score, which is what made the match so exciting. Unfortunately, I think the amount of defense in this game and the 15 lb. tetras 10 feet in the air caused a lot of robots to fall over.

Enter bumpers in 2006. FIRST would never be the same.

[savage]

Originally Posted by Peter Matteson

Hands down 2004 nothing is even close.

2 different size balls, 30" and 13".

Game object can be released by a good autonomous otherwise you wait 45 seconds.

Mobile and stationary goals.

Human player can directly score.

A bar to hang from as a finale.

No other game has offered as many design choices/tradeoffs and as varied play since. This was the last game where you had to truely make trade offs because with what we had at the time for motors/actuators and parts usage rules it was difficult to do it all.

2004 was my Rookie year and 2004 was one of our better bots 1368 ever made. Yes we could not hang at all but are autonomous was spot on 99.99% of the time with trigring the ball drop. and I do remember that we stole the big yellow ball RIGHT out of swamps arm! Too bad I cant find any video.

I will wait till saterday once Orlando is over to state my thoughts on Rebound Rumble

[ratdude747]

Originally Posted by Squeakypig

I have never met anyone who has agreed with me, but my favorite game was 2009 Lunacy. I loved the supercell end game, watching the different strategies of defending verses outscoring verses a combination of the 2. Mind you, this was my rookie year, the first year our team was established, I was a driver, and I got to watch HOT and the Thunderchickens at all of our tournaments.

I was fond of that game too... I wasn't fond of the "supercell lottery" but it was a good game otherwise

2008 would have been better if the IR sensors were more available and/or more robust... otherwise a good game

2011 was good other than the minibots, which I think undermined the rest of the game... good on paper, terrible in reality (they were at the least overvalued in the point system)

2000, 2004, 2005, and 2006 looked fun... wish I had seen them in person (I was in elementary/middle school then)

This year... time will tell... the game looks good so far.

[Koko Ed]

This one has a good chance to unseat my favorite from 2004 FIRST Frenzy: Raising the Bar. Witnessing the triple balance for the first time was the second coolest thing I've seen personally in FIRST. The top play goes to my favorite FIRST robot of all time 279's 2004 bot during the Buckeye quarterfinals getting ready to get on the bar and their opponent 378 was on the upper platform and jumped on top of them. 279 went anyways and took 378 with them. The place went nuts. 378 eventually fell off of the bar and 279 did it's clamshell flip triumphant for the moment (if memory serves me correctly they eventually fell to 378's alliance).
This game will also be hard pressed to beat 2006.

[Sean Raia]

This is my fourth year involved in FIRST and i can honestly say the games have either been as good or better with each year.
Rebound Rumble>Logomotion>=Breakaway>Lunacy>=Overdrive