is there a consensus on the operational definition of the word “inconsequential” during the climb?
we’re trying to figure out how much space to give the chain. if we touch it lightly, briefly, will that be interpreted as steadying the swing, and therefore of consequence? or is almost any momentary horizontal touching ok?
I brought this up before, but the usual strategy for interpreting non-caps-lock words is to pull up your favorite dictionary.
Before I do that, QA9 appears to shed some very small light on the subject.
Anyways, to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, online version: “of no significance”.
As a practical matter, if it doesn’t affect the motion of the Cage and/or chain, then it’s likely to be rated “inconsequential”; if there’s an effect then obviously “inconsequential” is a lot less likely to apply.
PERSONALLY, I would factor in that if you’re wrong about how much you can get away with, you’re ineligible for the Barge RP, even if your opponents do their best to give it to you anyways.
thanks. looking over past rule books i can see that that this word doesn’t actually appear very much in the past, so maybe what i’m hoping for doesn’t exist.
In 2023, there was discussion of the “consequence” of overextension, in four stages:
in contrast, this year, there is no #2, it’s straight to #3: tech (major) foul, plus no RP.
maybe the word “consequential” means the same thing it does in #3 above, i.e. “consequential to scoring”.
so maybe the assumption is that any non-momentary contact in the act of attempting to score (the climb) is “consequential.”
or maybe the referee is expected to judge, “does this contact actually affect the scoring?”
that would make the most sense to me, but it would also be more work for the referee.
Actually, any non-momentary contact revokes the exception, per the aforementioned Q9, last line of the answer, and G419 itself–the contact needs to be BOTH Momentary and inconsequential to not trigger a Major Foul and loss of Barge RP.
In other words, if you’re in contact with the Anchor including the chain for >3 seconds, so sad too bad.
Where “inconsequential” comes into play is if the contact is <3 seconds. At that point, it’s up to the referees to figure out of the contact had some effect–and I’ll point out, it doesn’t need to affect scoring at all, it just needs to have some effect to be not-inconsequential, and thus penalizable. If your robot-without-a-climber accidentally hits the Chain on the Deep Cage (that you didn’t bother to change from the last match) briefly (<3 seconds), but hard enough to swing the Cage, it’s not inconsequential, and therefore no RP, here’s your Major Foul.
How will the refs call it? Dunno yet.
(I’m also obliged to point out: 2023 interpretations don’t factor into 2025’s rules.)