Was Rebound Rumble the Best Game Yet?

FIRST General Forum
1

This was my rookie year in FIRST, so Rebound Rumble was the only game I have intimately known. I have spent too long reading and watching threads, rulebooks (yes really) and videos on older games, but I still have only limited knowledge on them. From that limited knowledge, it seems that people liked this year’s game better than most. I also concluded that the complaining this year about Co-Op points or the disagreements over the value of Widebot/Longbot means that there weren’t any big problems anyone had with the game.

So, the questions: Where does Rebound Rumble stand among the best FRC games so far (in the poll)? Also, what was the best game the GDC has devised?

P.S. Feel free to move this thread if it should be elsewhere.

EDIT: My Top 5 (for what it’s worth)-

  1. FIRST Overdrive
  2. Rebound Rumble
  3. Aim High
  4. Breakaway
  5. Triple Play

Way back in 5th grade (I know, I’m young :ahh: ), my teacher would reward us with videos of either How It’s Made or Overdrive, once we had finished other things. I had no idea what it was at the time, and it was quite a moment of epiphany when I figured out I was on one of the teams I had seen four years before. That’s part of why I love Overdrive, its personal connection to me.

This year brought together a lot of different elements very well with good balance (no pun intended), and created the most well-rounded game we have seen.

Aim High, while confusing to some, was great because of the physicality, something that I would like to see return. A big open field, and 3-on-2 action with solid defense was fun to see.

Breakaway is conflicting for me, because our robot barely worked, but I liked how the elements of the game related to strategy and design. The simplest box with some kicker could do something, and a team could also expand on their design and take over the game (like 469), but the “Godbot” wasn’t as constricting as in older games like Zone Zeal.

Triple Play makes the list because it was so strategically intense, which appeals to me. The tic-tac-toe setup added a layer of complexity to the game, which is something not seen often enough since.

2

I watched the last few seasons before this (back to lunacy) and, like you, have spent lots of time going over the past games. The ones that I know well are 2003-present. I think most people would say Aim High was their favorite game, although I was too young at the time to know about it. Breakaway is definitely a good game, as it allowed all sorts of robots to be useful. I like watching old matches of both 2004 and 2008, and 2007 was ok. I didn’t really like 2011 or 2009, but then again most FRC games have set a high standard. Rebound Rumble was a very fun game, as all 3 parts were fun to play/watch. I could go into every little detail about what I liked and disliked, but you would all get bored at my soliloquy. The reason it is not a top game is that I didn’t like the defensive penalties, and the co-op bridge was worth a bit too much. Still, it was ROBOTS PLAYING BASKETBALL, and me being a basketball player, I loved this game from the beginning as my first game as a member of FRC. Here are the last 10 games in order, IMO.

1.Aim High
2.Breakaway
3.Rebound Rumble
4.Overdrive
5.First FRENZY
6.Rack n’ Roll
7.Stack Attack
8.2005 (can’t remember the name but I remember it)
9.Logomothion
10.Lunacy

3

I’ve only been involved since 2003 as well but I think that’s where we have to start anyway since that was the introduction of autonomous. Maybe even 2005 when we went 3 v 3, as before that the games were very different.

I loved Aim High but the offense/defense rounds were very confusing for casual fans and it made autonomous worth too much. My problem with Breakaway wasn’t really with the game design as much as I felt that robots looked to similar to the casual fan. If you got up close to the robots with their bumpers off you could see all the differences but if you just watched a web cast it was a lot of similar looking boxes kicking balls.

I think Rebound Rumble as it was played at IRI was the best and most dramatic FRC matches in history. The defense was challenging to perform but some teams played it very well throughout the year (ex. 16, 4334, and down here in Texas, 457). I loved watching teams fight for the middle bridge (ex. 341 vs. 233 so many times this season). Last second balances and human player shots decided matches at the buzzer. I think it’s one of the first times that the human player involvement made sense and was balanced.

Once I saw 148, 2936, and 922 pull of the first triple balance at Alamo I know it was going to be a very good year to be an FRC fan.

4

Nope! 2000.

5

So I’ll do mine based from my start year only. (2006)

  1. Logomotion
  2. Overdrive
  3. Lunacy
  4. Aim High
  5. Rebound rumble
  6. Rack N’ Roll
  7. Breakaway

My thought process goes by what i felt was exciting. (for the top 5)

Logomotion- The minibot was the make or break part of the game and to see the evolution of the minibot from week one to champs was just something real cool.

Overdrive- The fact of tossing such a huge game piece so high was just cool the entire time. and the fact i was a driver for this year made it all the better.

Lunacy- Most people might not like this game, but it was a chest match. Try to out think and drive your opponents made it all the fun. The chance to see a team score huge points on one ball dump so exciting.

Aim high- What made this game different and placed so high was how the game was broken into small periods. It seemed more like basketball, where for period you had to play offense and a period where you had to play defense. All picking up unlimited game pieces was cool.

Rebound rumble- Probably the best end game FIRST has had but the lack of having a few more balls killed it to me.

6

This being my first year as a mentor and for my team, I think it was the best game for rookies. The game was really simple, easy to understand and explain and it was easy to watch and learn from. My team was able to understand the concepts quickly and only had to read the Game Manual for fouls and rules. My first year in FRC was 2009 and I personally loved Lunacy, but after looking back at the games through the years, Rebound Rumble is definitely one of the best games ever created. Breakaway was the first game in my opinion that people outside of FIRST could watch and get some understanding of. Rebound Rumble built off of that idea and made it better. When I was at Lone Star and one of the sponsors for our team came and asked us what this years game was all about, all I had to say was, “We have to play 3-on-3 basketball and try to balance on the bridge at the end for bonus points,” and they instantly could catch on to the game. It did have it’s downsides though. Like Allen said above, I do think the fouls and penalties could have lessened a bit but they didn’t alter the game drastically.

The best part about this game was you never knew what the next week was going to be like. Every week was better and better and Championships (aside from Einstein) was like the icing on the cake as far as quality of matches go.

7

I joined in 2007 so I only have 6 games:

  1. 2007 - Rack’N’Roll
  2. 2012 - Rebound Rumble
  3. 2010 - Breakaway
  4. 2011 - Logomotion
    5a. 2009 - Lunacy
    5b. 2008 - Overdrive

Now before anyone jumps at me for not having Lunacy at the bottom of my list, Lunacy is not my least favorite only because I was the HP that year and if anyone else on here was you know it was cooler than being a driver that year.

8

This.

9

I started in 2008, so here is my list, only considering games I have played in:

1: Logomotion: This was a simple, competitive and very fast-paced game. I really liked that any low-resource team could build an arm and compete, but teams with real skill built with efficiency as their main design tenet.
2: Rebound Rumble: In my opinion the best end-game and most fluid integration of coopertition yet. I also tend to enjoy games in which robots control multiple game-pieces.
3: Lunacy: A lot of people discredit Lunacy for its slow gameplay and open field. The reason I liked Lunacy is because despite the underdeveloped game, teams were able to produce some of the best robots in FIRST (many of which are among my favorites).
4: Overdrive: A lot of people liked Overdrive, but I found there to be a general lack of strategy (148 was an exception). Defense was fun, but robot-robot interaction within an alliance was relatively sparse.
5: Breakaway: I found breakaway to be fairly slow-paced and limiting in design. I don’t really like games in which every team’s robot resembles the others. Only a rare few broke loose of what became a cliché robot.

10

Having only been in FRC since 2010, my personal experience puts Breakaway at the top of my list, simply because it is what kicked off my career and was incredibly simple to grasp, yet also offered many strategic options (469, 51, 2337, 125 [cookie to anyone who can point out the similarity between these :smiley: ])

After that, I would say that Rebound Rumble is a close second because of the action that the matches provided, especially the balancing. I can still hear the Archimedes side of the field exploding once Wave’s alliance fell off the bridge and shot the Eh Team on to Einstein.

Of years that I didn’t compete in, Overdrive and Aim High had always stood out to me, though I sorta got my Aim High fix through this year (Though it wasn’t quite the same)

11

Answering your questions, in order:

  1. Number One.
  2. Rebound Rumble.

Supporting evidence:
RR supplied the (almost) unaninimously considered best match in the history of FRC.
RR supplied the unanimously best IRI to date.

I rest my case.

12

My top games for my years in FIRST:
2012 (The only game that features an exciting similar but different endgame during the qualification matches and the elims. I honestly can’t find much fault with this game)
2004 (the robots were so athletic and amazing. Most Ohhhh/ahhh moments a FIRST game had.The game was so diverse)
2006(best game to watch. Exciting and easy to follow)
2010 (Would have ranking second if it wasn’t for the nutty seeding system)
2008(I thought it was a rather fun game to watch really. Especially during the elims)
2003(this game was better than it got credit for it’s only sin was giving way to many points for the top platform)
2007(not a bad game really but brutality at the championship showed it’s flaws and the endgame was frustrating and trumped all the hard work good teams did and they could do nothing to stop it)
2011(Similar to 2007 but the endgame was over so fast you it was hard to get excited about it)
2009( great at strategy but boring to watch)
2005(very vanilla to be honest)
2002(bleh. The game changed completely in the eliminations and became a boring pointless tug of war)

13

“You must spread some reputation around before giving it to Jessica Boucher again.”

14

This game was one of the better ones. My top five in the order they occurred:

Toroid Terror (1997)
Double Trouble (1999)
Zone Zeal (2002)
FIRST Frenzy: Raising the Bar (2004)
Rebound Rumble (2012)

15

My all time list looks like…

  1. 2006 Aim High
  2. 2012 Rebound Rumble
  3. 2010 Breakaway
  4. 2008 Overdrive
  5. 2004 FIRST Frenzy

I think those who played in 2006 will choose 2006 over 2012 more often than those who didn’t play 2006 will pick something over 2012.

2006 was probably the first of the “modern era” of FIRST robotics.

16

“A vote says more about the voter than the thing they’re voting on.”
Your ranking of 2003 above 2007, 2011, and 2005 is a… striking statement.

QFT.

17

Since my Freshman year:

  1. Rebound Rumble
  2. Logomotion
  3. Overdrive
  4. Rack & Roll
  5. Lunacy
  6. Breakaway
18

I love game ranking! I’ll play…

1 - 2000 “Coopertition FIRST” - Still holds strong to the top spot at the greatest game ever in my opinion. To this day, I have never seen an elimination tourney at championships with more excitement. The ability to descore a major game piece and put it in your own goal, despite the difficulty of the action…unparalleled. It is going to take one heck of a game to top that one in my eyes.

2 - 1999 “Double Trouble” - While the portion of the games where teams picked up and scored “Floppies” was not as exciting, the rest of the game made up for it. Battles for the top of the puck, a team suddenly yanking the puck across the field to double their score. The puck, by far in my opinion, was the greatest game element ever created by a FIRST GDC. I would love more than anything to see it return.

3 - 2012 “Rebound Rumble” - It took some thought to put this game here over Aim High, but in the end I had to. I personally judge how good a game is by how bored I get announcing by the end of championships. This year, to this day, I am still not bored of this game. The strategy involved in this game in incredibly dynamic. The risk/reward element is such a heavy part of this game, that it keeps you on your toes at every moment. Any game in which you have the opportunity for a last second game swing is huge…when that last second game swing involves a possibility of your robot ending up in a heap of scrap at the bottom of a teeter-totter bridge as a result of a missed balance, well, then you have a winner in my book!

4 - 2006 “Aim High” - This one is here for many of the same reasons as Rebound Rumble. Fast paced, complex strategy, never boring. The reason it did not end up as number 3? Simple…no crashing robots from a failed balance. Other than that, one of the best ever.

5 - 2004 “First Frenzy” - OK…so this was a tough one because I also loved the 2007 game. The edge that this game gets? Simple. One of the best single plays in FIRST history took place that year… River Rage 2004: The Pole Vault This game had it all…hanging, scoring, defense, falling robots, tumbling balls from a container, creativity in designs…it was pretty awesome.

Rounding out what would be my top 10 in order would be

6 - 2007 “Rack n Roll”
7 - 2005 “Triple Play”
8 - 1996 "Hexagon Havoc
9 - 2011 “Logo Motion”
10 - 1997 - “Torroid Terror”

19

I was/am/and will continue to be a big Fan of 2005 Triple Play. I love the tic-tac toe scoring bonus. Auton was OK. I think with the improvements to the vision system, it would better. I feel this game is way underrated, and if brought back (in some form) would be a real pleaser. The OCCRA 2011 game is a variant I really think could have some legs in FRC.

Rebound rumble was much better than I expected when the game got anounced. I initially thought the scoring in a flat hoop would be too difficult for teams to do effectively. I am glad I was wrong. In general, the game suffered a bit from too much scoring in auton and endgame, and not enough scoring in the middle. I am not sure how I would adjust the values though.

As far as the bridge, this was probably the most exciting endgame element from a spectators perspective. Usually I am very frustrated watching teams struggle to drive up a ramp, or having difficulty docking to a pole or … Charlie Browing on the bridges was exciting. All of the triple doubles and double triples at MSC was also a big thrill. Muc more exciting than the minibot race.

20

Based on Games I have seen live (prefaced with my status on the team to show a frame of mind):

2007 Rack N’ Roll: My rookie year and I absolutely loved the game coming in the moving rack, the inflatable tubes, and balancing on a robot at the end were all great. The exponential scoring was also a nice touch though I will admit not the most spectator friendly.

2012 Rebound Rumble: My first game as the full time coach and I had a blast. The main complaints of the co-op bridge never effected us to badly and only one match we had an issue of no one wanting to co-op. The scoring was simple and balanced, the end game was exciting without being overly complicated and upsets were a lot more common then previous games

2006 Aim High: Attending Mission Mayhem inside on the tiny field made this game a lot more fun to me ironically but more importantly the obvious Big Brother to rebound rumble had several things I would love to see return, the offensive and defensive times, more game pieces then could almost ever be used, and ramps (if not obvious for some reason I am very much a fan of ramp games :smiley: )

2011 Logomotion: My first game as part time coach and I feel Rack N’ Roll’s descendant was a great game but not as good as the first for a few reasons. First the positives the multiple shape inflates was great to see and did make almost all teams not just repeat their 2007 designs, the field being mostly open made for great games to watch, and the game pieces making the logo worth more was the best aspect. The bad: scoring blocking your view of the field for the end game made it more challenging but not in a fun way, and the mini-bot race was not spectator or sometimes field friendly, it was sometimes hard to watch from the stands and the field to determine the winner and while the engineering impressed me it was over so fast sometimes you didn’t get to see it.

2005 Triple Play: The first FIRST game I saw and I was hooked the tetras were awesome and the scoring was simple though I will admit from the stands a little challenging to figure out if you didn’t pay attention the whole time, I feel this game would have ranked higher had I participated in the build season but I was 13 at the time so that couldn’t happen.

2009 Lunacy: The game I became Team Captain (the last one on my team) and the game I became a full time field member, I loved the open field and regolith, the fact that the scoring locations were attached to robots, and the super cells were great. This would rank a lot higher if several games didn’t devolve into pile ups in the middle of the field which slowed down the pace for me

2008 Overdrive: My second active year and I became the lead scout. This game was slowed down do to a lack of defensive play and there was a lot of field pieces blocking the view from the stands.

2010 Breakaway: My senior and last year as a student and this is my least favorite game how ever I will freely admit that I feel this game would have ranked higher without some of the team dynamics that occurred. The scoring was to low for my taste, with matches easily ending in ties of 0-0 and robot to robot interactions were sometimes limited to 1 on 1 but event though it was my least favorite it was still an exciting game and I wouldn’t call it “bad”