At the Great Lakes Regional this past weekend we had the opportunity to explain this years game to first time spectators. While the scoring system is simpler than last year’s to explain (as Dean promised), it still takes at least a few matches of explanation and practice to get it down.
I didn’t see a real-time score tracking system available for public viewing at GLR and am not aware if there will be efforts to run one at any of the future competitions.
One simple adjustment, however, that would make the tallying process easier, is indicating the scoring zones on the field itself (ie…red robot score zone, red robot goal score zone, etc…). Perhaps it could be accomplished with simple signs or logos, or maybe even colored duct tape.
After one morning of practice, keeping the score was second nature, but I suspect that visual aids might help first time spectators tally the score quicker and in turn, keep a handle on this year’s quickly changing scores.
Is this something FIRST would consider?