1998 Handouts

[Colt007]

Hello,
I am a former team member of Team 80, the Robocolt team from Phoenix, AZ. I participated in the competition for 4 years during High School, and consider it to be one of the most rewarding things I did in that time frame. I have a rather unusual reason for this post. Since this appears to be a rather well read message board, I figure that someone here might have what I am seeking. In 1998, (I think that was the year anyway) our team passed out as trading items beaded lizards on plastic cord. They were red, black, and white -- our school colors -- and were one of the more popular handouts of the year. We received an award from one of the other teams for the handout. I am currently seeking to find out if anyone still has this handout. Has anyone hung onto it for all these years. I only kept one, and it is one of the few FIRST relics that I keep nearby on a reglar basis. I would enjoy chatting with anyone who still has one of these, and would be interested in hearing about other 'famous' handouts of the past. Hope I can learn something new.
Colt 007

[Lora Knepper]

I remember your team. I was on 69 back then, so we were fairly close in the pits. I also remember those beaded lizards - and I know I saw someone with one recently, though I wish I could remember who. I was stuck in the pits as a driver that year and unfortunately never got to trade many pins and didn't get one myself. But I do remembering admiring them, and the award was well deserved

~ lora

[Leon Machado IV]

I was able to obtain one of those rare lizards that year. In fact it was one of the last one's you gave out and the guy who gave it to me had to hunt it down. As for the handouts, I don't remember ever seeing anything about it. I'll check my archives (I keep everything FIRST) and see if I can find anything though.

[Colt007]

I am glad to hear that I am not the only one who keeps all FIRST stuff, and that our trading items from that year were not in vain. This particular item has kept my attention for so long, since I only kept one. One of my good friends admires it, and is always saying she will steal it off my backpack. The economics of that year were interesting, since we didn't have the budget to produce more of the lizards than we did, and demand for them was much higher than expected. Had we redone that year, I am sure we would have brought a lot more of them with us.
By contrast, we passed out braided Lanyards the following year, and we had so many of them, we could not even give them away. It is interesting the way things happen like that. It is difficult to judge ahead of time what will be popular, though it was a solid bet that button pins were not going to last in one's memory. They do make a nice bulletin board though -- 4 years worth of FIRST trading items completely cover the one that I decorated to remember FIRST by. I am glad that FIRST is so successful!
Colt 007
Alliance Captain of Team 80 (Tournament 2000)