Saturday 3 May was the second scrimmage in the 2014 Auckland Kiwi Challenge season (Tic-Tac-Topple). The scrimmage was held in the auditorium at Long Bay College. 11 teams attended, representing Long Bay, Kiwitech, Onehunga High school, Free Range Robotics and St Cuthberts College. Four alliances of two teams each played in the eliminations. The winners were the rank #2 alliance of 7757Z (Kiwitech) and 2906A (Long Bay College). They defeated the rank #1 alliance of 7757N (Kiwitech) and 2900B (Onehunga High School) in the finals.
The Kiwi Challenge is New Zealand’s off-season competition for new members of VRC teams. Students in their first year compete in a specially designed game using the parts in a VEX classroom and competition super kit. AURA played a part in the design of this year’s game, with members Oliver Wilson and Matt Dyer being part of the game design committee. The game manual can be found here:
http://kiwibots.co.nz/KIWICHALLENGEFILEs/tic-tac-topple_release2-hl.pdf
The Tic-Tac-Topple metagame has shifted since the last scrimmage, with a greater emphasis on scoring and defending lines. This means that scoring on cones is an important part of the strategy of many alliances. Teams do this in two main ways: some teams have “gripper” intakes (which hold cups from the outside) and some have “finger” intakes (which hold cups using a rod inside the cup). Both of the finalist alliance captains had gripper intakes, and both picked finger intakes as their alliance partners.
Teams will often use their preload cups to score cone goals initially, since it’s easier than picking up cups off the ground. Some teams use the toppler for the ten point parking bonus, but so far few teams have been able to consistently own the toppler in order to complete lines.
Thank you to everyone who came, and thank you to Long Bay College for hosting. The next scrimmage will be this Saturday (10 May) at Kristin School.
Members present: Nathan, Rob, Matt, Abigail, Oliver
Volunteer hours: 30