Random question about the history of team numbers

[Nawaid Ladak]

i know for a FACT that there was never a 666 because FIRST would not give that number

My mentor called and made a special request for that number (666) :-P, FIRST refused to give that number so he got 665 instead, (which then was PHAT, now is known as MEYHAM).

was there ever a team 13?, he mentioned FIRST never gave that number out either...

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Nawaid Ladak

was there ever a team 13?, he mentioned FIRST never gave that number out either...

Not listed on FIRSTWiki.

[Joe Ross]

Originally Posted by Nawaid Ladak

i know for a FACT that there was never a 666 because FIRST would not give that number

My mentor called and made a special request for that number (666) :-P, FIRST refused to give that number so he got 665 instead, (which then was PHAT, now is known as MEYHAM).

was there ever a team 13?, he mentioned FIRST never gave that number out either...

Team 13 did exist: http://web.archive.org/web/200011192.../teamlist.html

[Mark McLeod]

Yep, here's some more team info. from the old FIRST databases without all the missing parts http://www.team358.org/files/team_lookup/
As Chris pointed out we know of lots of FIRST data entry errors, but nothing major. Some rookie years messed up, events & awards mislabeled.

Team 13:

Team Number:          13
Team Name:             Baxter Healthcare Corporation & Johnsburg HS & Lake County Technical Campus
Location:                  Round Lake, IL, US
Rookie Year:            1996
Awards Won:  
1998 IL  Best Play of the Day Award
1997 N1 Proctor & Gamble Creativity Award
1997 IL  Best Offensive Round
 
Events Attended:          
1998 IL
1998 N1
1997 N1
1997 IL
1996 N1

Team 3

Team Number:      3
Team Name:          Advance Transformer Company & Broadhead HS & Monroe Senior HS
Location:               WI, US
Rookie Year:         1997
Events Attended:         
1998    IL
1998 N1
1997 N1
1997 IL

Team 15:

Team Number:       15
Team Name:          Baxter Fenwal San German & Lola Rodriguez De Tio HS
Location:               San German, PR, US
Team Motto:          When you believe in yourself there are no limits!
Robot Name:         Coqui
Rookie Year:         1997
Awards Won:  
2000 LI  Most Photogenic Award
2000 LI  #1 Seed
1999 FL Xerox Creativity Award
1999 N1 Outstanding Defense
1997 N1 Most Photogenic Award
1997 IL  DaimlerChrysler Team Spirit Award
 
Events Attended:          
2000 N1
2000 LI
1999 N1
1999 FL
1998 N1
1998 IL
1997 N1
1997 IL

Team 1337 registered but never competed:

Team Number:   1337
Team Name:      Gymnasium der Mariannhiller Missionare
Location:            Reken, NRW, DE
Robot Name:     Sir Anthony
Rookie Year:      2004

Team 1338:

Team Number: 1338
Team Name:  Lockheed Martin/NASA/Ball Aerospace/Hewlett Packard/Information Handling Systems/Dillon Software/University of Denver/Lander Dental/General Electric Rail & Eaglecrest High School
Location:       Aurora, CO, US
Team Motto:  Raptors Rule
Robot Name: Raptor 1
Rookie Year: 2004
Events Attended:          
2004    Colorado Regional

Team 72:

Team Number:       72
Team Name:          Harding University HS/ Precision Dynamics
Location:               NC, US
Rookie Year:         1997
Events Attended:          
1998    N1
1997 N1

[Al Skierkiewicz]

I think it is important to note that team #'s in 1998 were assigned by sponsor. Thus all Motorola teams were in the first and second decade above 100. Thus team 111 was in the middle of the 108-113 range.

[IndySam]

Number 911 would have been handed out to a rookie team for the 2002 season.


I wonder if that number was assigned to a team pre-9/11 in 2001 and then changed after 9/11?

[Mark McLeod]

Originally Posted by IndySam

Number 911 would have been handed out to a rookie team for the 2002 season.
I wonder if that number was assigned to a team pre-9/11 in 2001 and then changed after 9/11?

Team numbers were only up to 716 in the 2001 season.

[GaryVoshol]

That's what he said. Teams 717-999 were rookies in 2002. Those numbers were beginning to be assigned in late 2001 as teams signed up.

[Mark McLeod]

I just checked our database and there are 216 team numbers (from 1 to 2681) that have never been assigned (from the era of permanent team numbers in 1998 onwards).
I recall that some of the unused numbers were reserved and used for database testing by FIRST. At least based on the fake entries found in them.

Originally Posted by GaryVoshol

That's what he said. Teams 717-999 were rookies in 2002. Those numbers were beginning to be assigned in late 2001 as teams signed up.

Sorry, I wasn't paying close enough attention...
Registration wasn't open for 2002 until after 9-11 and the tragedy.
New teams signing up probably didn't near the 911 mark until mid-November, a couple of months later.

In any case team #911 was never assigned.

[Molten]

I just did a quick google for team 666 and got this http://www.myspace.com/aubinhick990

I just thought it interesting.

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

I just checked our database and there are 216 team numbers (from 1 to 2680) that have never been assigned (from the era of permanent team numbers in 1998 onwards).

2681 is the highest team number assigned.

As you probably know, FIRST started rookies at 2330 this year, skipping numbers 2288-2329. Does the 216 missing numbers you noted include those 42?

Missing from the FIRST "what's in my area" page for current year (rookie) teams are 2331, 2350, 2351, 2356, 2357. 2379, 2384, 2392, 2416, 2426, 2442, 2451, 2452, 2482, 2492, 2494, 2507, 2516, 2519, 2527, 2541, 2548, 2552, 2578, 2610, 2615, 2616, 2631, 2636, 2639, 2646, 2651, 2666, 2671 and 2677. I suspect most of these are teams that registered, but then could not come up with funds to compete. Many can be found if you type the number into the "myarea" "teaminfo" page; they have no regionals assigned.

At least some of them are listed in TBA with regionals attached.

2331 was the original number given to 1025 when we registered. Later it was decided that we were not a rookie team, and were reassigned as number 1025. We appear in TBA as both 1025 and 2331. I heard that there were 5 such teams that were determined not to be rookies. (When registering in TIMS it doesn't give you the option to state rookie status, just returning or new team.)

[Matt C]

I wonder if they will ever return to the low numbers that were left behind by teams reactivating as rookie teams and teams that never competed.

[Vikesrock]

Originally Posted by Matt C

I wonder if they will ever return to the low numbers that were left behind by teams reactivating as rookie teams and teams that never competed.

I hope not, I find it quite useful to be able to get a rough idea of how long a team has been around by their team number (a # under 200 means the "rough idea" is "a long time"). I think it would be a bit odd to see a rookie team show up at a competition next year with a number under 2681.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Matt C

I wonder if they will ever return to the low numbers that were left behind by teams reactivating as rookie teams and teams that never competed.

They do on occasion. Team 39 is one example.

It usually happens when a team breaks up into new teams that have competed before and don't want to be rookies again. What usually happens is that FIRST goes into the pool of numbers available and says, "OK, here's a 'new' number."

[Mark McLeod]

Originally Posted by GaryVoshol

2681 is the highest team number assigned.

My apologies to Brooklyn

Originally Posted by GaryVoshol

As you probably know, FIRST started rookies at 2330 this year, skipping numbers 2288-2329. Does the 216 missing numbers you noted include those 42?

Yes. It is simply a count of the numbers that have never been associated with anyone. There are similar blocks of unused numbers throughout the span of teams, however, they don't all align with breaks in registration years.

Originally Posted by GaryVoshol

Missing from the FIRST "what's in my area" page for current year (rookie) teams are 2331, 2350, 2351, 2356, 2357. 2379, 2384, 2392, 2416, 2426, 2442, 2451, 2452, 2482, 2492, 2494, 2507, 2516, 2519, 2527, 2541, 2548, 2552, 2578, 2610, 2615, 2616, 2631, 2636, 2639, 2646, 2651, 2666, 2671 and 2677. I suspect most of these are teams that registered, but then could not come up with funds to compete. Many can be found if you type the number into the "myarea" "teaminfo" page; they have no regionals assigned.

Some of them were teams that started registration, but dropped out. Others are numbers that were skipped and never actively assigned. Our database tracks those teams too. We like to keep track of teams that tried to happen.
Your original team number 2331 is an exception. Since you "relocated" we did remove the original entry from the public database. We may end up putting it back. The webmaster is contemplating additional history information, such as how some teams changed numbers over the years.

Originally Posted by GaryVoshol

I heard that there were 5 such teams that were determined not to be rookies.

I think teams 509, 1025 and 1988 are the non-rookie rookies who survived.
Another one, Team 916, failed to launch. This from our pre-kickoff thread on registration.