IRI Rules and Team Invitation List

[Chris Hibner]

Originally Posted by rachelholladay

So, is 2008 when the 'modern era' of IRI began? Modern era meaning that it has recognition as the most prestigious off-season event and it is event that has competition level that matches Einstein. Or rather, how did it achieve such a status? (sorry/not sorry to sidetrack the thread onto its own history)

I remember the IRI being compared to Einstein as far back as 2001. There were qualification matches that year that many people predicted would match or beat the regular season high score. Incidentally, that event was the first time that the match schedule was given to teams in its entirety before the competition started, a practice that was adopted by FIRST the following year.

The hype from the 2001 event carried over to 2002 and it was talked about heavily on chiefdelphi leading up to the event. I seem to remember a few teams that travelled close to 1000 miles to attend.

Then it really started to spiral out of control. Teams from all over the country were attending by 2004. The organizers did a great job of finding more pit space and lengthening the schedule to give teams plenty of matches, despite the increase in number of teams. 2008 was just when it hit its limit

Obviously when you have to turn teams away, the lower end rises and therefore the average ability of the teams increase. But I would say the top end of the IRI has been the best of any competition for at least 5 years before 2008.

[Joe Ross]

Originally Posted by Chris Hibner

The hype from the 2001 event carried over to 2002 and it was talked about heavily on chiefdelphi leading up to the event. I seem to remember a few teams that travelled close to 1000 miles to attend.

330 traveled 2000 miles in 2002 . 190 traveled to IRI in 2001, but not 2002. In 2003, 3 east coast teams and 1 west coast team attended.

When 330 decided they wanted to attend an away off-season event in 2002, the main choices were IRI and Battlecry. I don't remember why IRI was chosen, I think Battlecry was a little larger at the time. The next year, IRI exploded, and several new off seasons started on the east coast. I think that was probably the reason that IRI became the defacto offseason, because it was the only one in the area for a while, where as there were a bunch on the east coast.

One of the cool things of the early years of IRI was the pig roast (at least for the Californians).

[Chris Fultz]

if you read the book "The Tipping Point", it relates heavily to the IRI "growth". Suddently, everyone wanted to attend IRI because everyone was attending IRI.

We reached a limit and determined that the speed of signing up was not a good way to manage the event, and went to the apply / invite process.

The event stays strong because we stay focused on a few things, have an incredible volunteer crew, awesome teams, and a few unique activities that makes it more than just a competition on the field.

[hunterteam3476]

What Would be a great Alliance to see at IRI?

[MechEng83]

Originally Posted by hunterteam3476

What Would be a great Alliance to see at IRI?

Pretty much all of them.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by hunterteam3476

What Would be a great Alliance to see at IRI?

It's fun to do this type of thing during practice matches (like putting 1114, 2056 and 1241 together at GTR West and seeing if they can mange to clear the field of every disc). IRI will probably rovide just as much fun mixing and matching matches.

[jmiller48167]

How about having a skills challenge? Most accurate full court shooter, most accurate cycler. Give teams (that are willing to) 1:00 minute to show their best. Just thinking outside the box.

[Jay O'Donnell]

Originally Posted by jmiller48167

How about having a skills challenge? Most accurate full court shooter, most accurate cycler. Give teams (that are willing to) 1:00 minute to show their best. Just thinking outside the box.

I second this idea! this would be very cool!