BattleCry@WPI 14 - Reg Open 2-Apr 1200

[ColleenShaver]

BattleCry@WPI 14 with take place over 1.5 days on 17-18 May 2013 in Worcester, MA.

This 54-team event will include all the usual stuff...

Your $350 registration fee gets you:
An great two days of intense and fun matches
10 BC14 T-shirts
10 Friday night BBQ Dinners
10 Friday night Ice Cream Social Tickets
Unlimited access to the Friday R&R activities
10 Bagged lunches on Saturday
Guaranteed 7 qualification matches & a spot in the elimination matches

Tell your friends, tell your rivals, tell your neighboring rookie teams... we welcome and encourage everyone who is interested to sign up! However.. last year, registration filled in under 3 minutes!

Those who do not make the initial 54 will be placed on the Ready Reserves. EVERY YEAR we end up calling almost every team on the Ready Reserves looking for folks to play, especially for last minute drop-outs, so don't hesitate to register even if the 54 slots are full and expect that you will be called up.

To register, go to www.wpi.edu/+bc at 1200 on 2-Apr and click "Enter the Fray".

We are currently working on updating our website with an adjusted schedule (start times remain the same), elimination brackets, etc.

If you are interested in volunteering, we'd love to have your help as well! Sign up here http://www.tinyurl.com/bc14vols

See you at BC14!

[esquared]

Originally Posted by ColleenShaver

10 Friday night Ice Cream Social Tickets
Unlimited access to the Friday R&R activities

Ice cream last year was great, but I think the real winner of Battlecry 13 was the Andy Grady/Jess Boucher $10,000 Pyramid-esque quiz show

[Jay O'Donnell]

Battlecry is one of the most well run robotics events out there. Great competition, fun elimination rounds, and a great Friday night social. Can't wait for it already! If your team isn't sure whether or not to sign up, believe me it is well worth it.

[PVCpirate]

I'm curious, do you have any idea how the 18 alliance tournament will be done? The only thing I can think of is having 2 "play-in" matchups among the bottom 4 seeds.

[ColleenShaver]

The formation of our 'eighth finals' is always dependent on data from the season. We evaluate regional events and the number of times the winner of the first match does or doesn't end up winning the set. This is why it changes year-to-year whether we play one, two, or best-of-3 matches in the eighth final.

Our current VISION (i.e. subject to change) for how the 18 alliances will play out is:
- 15 seed vs 18 seed play best 2-of-3 match set
- 16 seed vs 17 seed play best 2-of-3 match set
- Winners of those sets become the 15th and 16th seed
- Eighth finals are played 1v16, 2v15,... with a single match played to determine advancement
- Quarter, semis, and finals play out as normal in FIRST

[Francis-134]

Originally Posted by esquared

Ice cream last year was great, but I think the real winner of Battlecry 13 was the Andy Grady/Jess Boucher $10,000 Pyramid-esque quiz show

Glad to see you like the game show, Eric! Andy and Jess put a lot of time into making it a fun time for everyone involved. I know that I have been looking forward to the FIRST Pyramid game for several years.

As the Director of Fun for BattleCry@WPI 14, I was wondering if anyone else had any other feedback on the team social from last year? We are always looking to improve the experience for teams and to make the event more fun than the year before!

[Koko Ed]

This could be my first 'full" Battlecry (fingers crossed. Hopefully the new car will co-operate with this intent) and I am looking forward to finally experiencing the full Battlecry experience.

[SarahBeth]

Had a blast at BattleCry last year, looking forward to it this year too.

[Chi Meson]

BattleCry is the Best, but here is a hint to all those new teams out there...

when registration opens, WAIT 5 MINUTES before hitting "enter the fray."

Trust me...

It goes without saying we have seen good luck and good times at WPI recently, but dang, it's the best day-and-a-half in FIRST Robotics.

[Brandon Zalinsky]

Yes! So excited for BattleCry- it always spawns some great rivalries and huge underdogs!

[ColleenShaver]

If you didn't catch Brian's sarcasm.. our registration tends to fill up quickly! Our slowest year took 30 mins to fill, and only because we accidentally forgot to announce what day/time it would open!

Last year, registration opened at 8AM. The 48th team registered at 8:02:13.9. The 49th team.. 8:02:14 (yes, we have to clock it in tenths of a second). If we had gone to 54 teams last year, like we are this year, it would have been full at 8:02:39.1

While some folks don't like the randomness/luck of this style of registration process, we'd rather that than us decide who should attend!

As an aside, the registration page turns on automatically at a designated time (1200 this year), but it usually takes until the end of that minute for it to actually show. So.. don't panic if it's 12:01 before the page shows for you.. it'll show at the same time for everyone.

www.wpi.edu/+bc

[Chi Meson]

Originally Posted by ColleenShaver

If you didn't catch Brian's sarcasm.. our registration tends to fill up quickly!

Aw shucks!

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by ColleenShaver

Our current VISION (i.e. subject to change) for how the 18 alliances will play out is:
- 15 seed vs 18 seed play best 2-of-3 match set
- 16 seed vs 17 seed play best 2-of-3 match set
- Winners of those sets become the 15th and 16th seed
- Eighth finals are played 1v16, 2v15,... with a single match played to determine advancement
- Quarter, semis, and finals play out as normal in FIRST

Personally, I'd rather the 15v16 and 17v18 matches be single matches, and the eighth finals be the same best-in-two format of previous Battlecrys. Seems like potentially spending 75% as much time as the eighth finals on the four worst alliances wouldn't be the best to watch, and a single match to advance would be a lot of pressure.

That said, having more alliances, teams, and matches is a good no matter how you do it. Thanks!

[ColleenShaver]

Just a reminder that BC14 registration opens Tuesday at 1200! It fills fast!

http://www.wpi.edu/+bc

----

In response to doing best 2-of-3 in the eighth-finals, it actually has been quite a few years since we did that. Some years, we run 2 matches per alliance in the eighth-finals, either you win both or we do a combined score to move on. There simply isn't time to risk running 3 matches in the eighth-finals. However, we analyze the outcomes at regionals each year before we finalize our decision on one match vs two matches in the eighth. If there are lots of contested elims, we'd go for 2, otherwise we do 1.

We are also considering other options, like 1 match only, unless the score is closer than X pts in which case we'd play two.

The reason the 16th finals are being considered to get a best 2-of-3 format is because the closer the two alliances, the more evenly matched they tend to be and the more likely it is that the lower seed may win. We are constantly trying to balance the idea of fairness to the teams with the length of the day!

[Chris is me]

Sorry, I wasn't very clear: I meant the "best in two matches" play in the eighth finals similar to 2011, not "best two out of three"

I like the "1 match unless the score is within X points" idea.