2008 Midwest Vex Programs: CONEFUSION

[Kevin Kolodziej]

The 2008 Midwest Vex Programs Challenge has been released: CONEFUSION

Teams will play 2v2v2 and must manipulate soccer cones and ball pit balls to create stacks of cones. Balls are used to multiply the cone stacks. Cones on top of pedestals are worth the same, but multiplier are added exponentially, increasing your score very quickly. Corner platforms provide bonus point opportunities for robots, and the centerpiece is a fully autonomous "Shy-Goal 5000" which runs away from other robots on the field. Balls placed into the Shy-Goal 5000 score bonus points, and getting the Shy-Goal 5000 to end the match in your zone earns a significantly larger bonus. An alliance's final score is the sum if its opponents base scores (cone stacks) minus their own base score plus their own bonus score. Its just that simple!

Special thanks to Chief Delphi and Joe Johnson for providing the inspiration and documentation for the scoring concepts. I personally thought the 2001 CDI game was one of the best games of all, and I hope that translates to Conefusion as well.

Visit www.midwestvex.org for full details, images, and an animation about this game. We are expecting nearly 60 teams from the Milwaukee area and beyond to participate in various leagues and tournaments this fall, but anyone else that is interested in playing this game is welcome to. We are working on ways to make game fields available to local teams/tournaments, but we certainly don't want to exclude not so local teams either - just contact us if you're interested.

[Kevin Kolodziej]

The animation for Conefusion is now available for viewing and download from www.midwestvex.org. Let me know what you think. The beginning part is in reference to the use of marbles in our last two games.