FIRST Game Survivor: Round 7

[Molten]

Ok, to all the "old timers" who know of the older games personally:

Please post about those games so I can make a somewhat informed vote. The links don't really say much about the older games. Perhaps, this will keep people from voting off what could have been the best game just because they never heard of it.

I'm still waiting to cast my vote.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Molten

Ok, to all the "old timers" who know of the older games personally:

Please post about those games so I can make a somewhat informed vote. The links don't really say much about the older games. Perhaps, this will keep people from voting off what could have been the best game just because they never heard of it.

I'm still waiting to cast my vote.

1999, first year of alliances.
Game piece: "Floppy". Torus of slick fabric, stuffed with foam peanuts, with velcro around the outside and in the middle of the "donut hole". Worth points if a certain height, more points if over 8' high.
Field object: "Puck". Octagonal platform on casters. Move into a particular area for a bonus; be on it for a multiplier (or the other way around).

1998, cause of alliances.
1v1v1.
Game piece: large exercise ball. Worth points if on a "leg" of the field structure, amount varied depending on placement. Placing in the center column, multiplier 2^x, x depending on how many of yours are in.

That's as old as I really go... I've heard about or read the rules for some of the older ones, but beyond 1998, I'm not really up to going in depth.

[Andy Baker]

Originally Posted by Molten

Ok, to all the "old timers" who know of the older games personally:

Please post about those games so I can make a somewhat informed vote. The links don't really say much about the older games. Perhaps, this will keep people from voting off what could have been the best game just because they never heard of it.

I'm still waiting to cast my vote.

Here is my opinion of the old games:

(I was a spectator from 1992-1997)

1992: Maize Craze - Power supply was from a tether. The spec was at 6 volts, and then FIRST upped it to 8-9 volts at the events. 1vs1vs1vs1 was troubling, as teams could gang up on each other. The key to the game was hoarding tennis balls.

1993: Ruge Rage - a drive base competition, collecting balls. Strange, I-shaped field. Lots of areas to block an opponent. Boring robot designs. Water-filled ball was interesting.

1994: Tower Power (one of the cooler early games) - shoot a small soccer ball onto a tower (4 or 5 foot tall). Many interesting designs... shooters, extenders, lifts, arms. This was the first vertical game.

1995: Ramp N Roll - FIRST was at Disney for the first time. BIG balls - real time scoring, on a very treacherous field. Lots of robots tipping over, lots of broken robots, lots of action. Another win as a game, if you liked carnage.

1996: Hexagon Havoc - Human Players had a big impact here, in this flat-floored game where big and small balls scored points. This was a good strategy game, but not as good as the next 4.

1997: Toroid Terror - The "terror" was from many angles here... it was scary how high some of the teams lifted these toroids (tubes). Some teams went over 10 feet. This was a very vertical game. If teams did not pick and place tubes quickly (like in 2007, but w/o ramps), then they did not win. The spinning steel goal was also a terror for many teams.

1998: Ladder Logic (my first year competing) - Efficiently moving and scoring big balls was the key to the game. Defense was difficult, due to the horizontal structures everywhere. You could lock up the game if you de-scored your opponent's rail points. We figured that out and got pretty good at being efficient in Orlando.

1999: Double Trouble - This game was the first to be played with alliances. We did not know this at the time... but it was a genius move by FIRST. These alliances injected marketing, salesmanship, and a new wrinkle of GP into the game. Scouting teams now had to not only learn how to beat the other team, but also who to pick when you go to the finals. Also, if you seeded last, but had a certain quality that a seeded team needed, you could still go to the finals. The game was good too, but could easily be locked up if you controlled the puck and put the puck on the correct side of the field. We figured that out in Michigan, and did not lose a match (except for mechanical breakdowns) the rest of the season.

2000: Co-opertition FIRST - another GREAT game by first. Many of us old-timers keep telling FIRST that they should just re-do this game with today's robots and it would be another outstanding game. This was the first year of a "full-size" field. Again, it was 2 vs 2, like in 99. Teams needed speed, ball collecting skill, hang-from-the-bar skill, and some teams had the special ability to pluck a black ball from their opponent's goal and score it in their goal (131, 25, 47). This was a great spectator game.

What I like about 1999 and 2000, and also 2003 and 2004 was a goal of getting to a common place for the end game. During each of these years, there were bonus points or multipliers if you got on a platform or on a bar and/or kept your opponent off. This made the games great.

In 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006, and 2007, there were end-game platforms or areas to go to, but each side had their own location and there was no battling over this space.

I hope this helps.

Andy

[Molten]

Thanks Erich and Andy Baker. Both were appreciated. I think that now that we can see more about the games, our votes will be better placed.