[FTC]: Thoughts on new FTC game?

[Rick TYler]

I remain baffled.

1. The GDC has told us where to buy the pucks ("orange") but not the part number at the referenced Website. Would it have been that hard to look up the part number?

2. The cost of the field is unbelievable. Last year was really affordable -- I don't think we spent $100 on the whole thing. This year, sourcing parts locally, here is PART of the cost:

Paint to specs - $100
Lexan to build goals - $130
Spring-loaded hinges - $60
Plywood - $30
MDF - $30
Rollers, corrugated paneling, fasteners - $???

So that's $350 for a practice field, and doesn't include all the parts to build it. With sales tax and the remaining parts we are looking at $400 for the field alone. We built highly competitive Vex ROBOTS last year for about $500 each. This is insane.

I ordered parts yesterday from IFI for our VRC teams and they shipped this morning. I am still waiting for the FTC parts I ordered THREE WEEKS ago.

One of my FTC teams wanted an additional 120-tooth gear. More than $30 for a single gear?!? A short list of additional parts for ONE of my three FTC teams came to $250. Without the discount for returning teams, and including registration fees for a single tournament, we will be spending $225-250 per student for this program. That's about $150-175 with the discount. I can field a VRC team for about $75-100 per student. I'm not sure FTC makes sense any more.