Live trials of the game

Competition FRC Game Design
1

I think next year, First should add the following to the game design:

  1. Pay the teams that do the 3-day build to build enough robots to field 6 robots. So, if two teams do 3-day builds, pay them to build 3 robots each.

  2. In the spirit of keeping Alumns involved, as part of #1, Select alumns from the division winners, and give them a 1 week internship to build robots right after kickoff (when they are still on break from College). Maybe they can be sequestered and given the game a few days in advance to better align with college breaks.

  3. In the spirit of keeping Alums involved: Host the prior year division winning graduating Seniors at a conference to brainstorm about the game (like the Human Player interaction this year), and to drive the robots from #1.

  4. Video the play of the game. Figure out as many game problems as they can before the regionals. Have video for the Refs of the infractions so they can see them and learn the new game.

2

I agree with a lot of your points; what you have put forth, if it could be achieved, would be, in my estimation, a serious upgrade in “error checking” for FRC Games. The question is the logistical end of this course of action.

If you count all 6 “3-Day Build” groups, a good portion of them were not within “easy” driving distance from FIRST HQ or some other location in New England where they could control who sees what. The Alums and New Alums session isn’t easy to coordinate either. Lets also not forget that, unless they’re playing and refining robots and strategies, they would likely also not be getting the absolute full picture about how the game would play from W1 District Events all the way up to the final match on Einstein.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for advancing the product that is an FRC Game. Taking any action to insure a game’s success by removing (unintentional) loopholes in rules and understanding of how the game functions independent of the teams is indeed a step forward. Could FIRST implement a version of every thing you brought forward? Yes. Will they? That’s all about logistics.