10 Tournaments

Each 2024 FIRST Robotics Competition event is played in a tournament format. Each tournament consists of 3 types of

: Practice (not necessarily played at all District Events), Qualification , and Playoff .

Practice

provide each team with an opportunity to operate its on the prior to the start of the Qualification .

Qualification

allow each team to earn Ranking Points which determine their seeding position and may qualify them for participation in the Playoff .

Playoff

determine the event Champions.

10.1

MATCH

Schedules

A

schedule is used to coordinate at an Event. Figure 10‑1 details information shown on each schedule. are described in Section 10.5.2 Assignment.

10.2

MATCH

Replays

Over the course of the tournament, it may be necessary for a

to be replayed. Typical causes for replays are that end in a tie during the Playoffs (due to criteria listed in Table 10‑3 or any Finals ), that are stopped because anticipated damage or personal injury, or if there is an . An is an error in operation that includes, but is not limited to:

A. broken

elements due to

a. normal, expected game play or

b.

abuse of elements that affects the outcome of the for their opponents

B. power failure to a portion of the

(tripping the circuit breaker in the is not considered a power failure),

C. improper activation by the

,

D. errors by

(except those listed in Section 6.8 Other Logistics), and

E. a

radio disconnect that impairs operation of other on the for more than 8 seconds.

If, in the judgment of the Head

, an occurs that affects the outcome of the and any team on the affected desires a replay, the will be replayed. FIRST Headquarters reserves the right to, with consultation of the Head and the , replay a in which an impacts the outcome of an event.

T201 *Replays will be the same. All reasonable effort is made to create the same conditions when replaying a

caused by an or damage. This means, for example, that a team that was prior to the start of the which is to be replayed is for the replay . and starting locations do not need to be replicated when replaying a .

10.3 Measurement

At each event, the

will be open for at least 30 minutes prior to the start of Qualification , during which time teams may survey and/or measure the and bring on the to perform sensor calibration. The specific time that the is open will be communicated to teams at the event. Teams may bring specific questions or comments to the .

T301 *Freeze,

. During the period when the is open for measurement, can be enabled, but may neither drive, extend outside their , nor interact with (e.g. score, push, pickup, etc.) , the , SUBWOOFER, , or other elements.

10.4 Practice

MATCHES

Practice

are played before Qualification . The Practice schedule is available as soon as possible, but no later than the start of Practice . For Regional events, it will also be published and available online at the FIRST Robotics Competition Event Results site, except during exceptional circumstances. Practice are randomly assigned, and teams may not switch scheduled Practice . Each team is assigned an equal number of Practice unless the number of teams multiplied by number of Practice is not divisible by 6. In this case, the randomly selects some teams to play an extra Practice .

Practice

are not guaranteed at District Events due to event schedule constraints.

10.4.1 Filler Line

A Filler Line is used to fill open slots at events that employ scheduled Practice

or all slots at events with an open Practice schedule. Teams from the Filler Line are used on a first come, first served basis to fill empty spots in Practice left by other teams that do not report to Queueing. The number of teams in the Filler Line is dependent upon space at venues.

Only teams that meet all criteria below qualify for the Filler Line:

A.

in the Filler Line must have passed inspection (this requirement may be waived for events with open Practice schedules),

B.

must join the Filler Line with their ,

C. teams may not work on their

while in the Filler Line,

D. teams may not occupy more than 1 spot in the Filler Line, and

E. if a team is queued for their Practice

, they may not also join the Filler Line.

10.5 Qualification

MATCHES

10.5.1 Schedule

The Qualification

schedule is made available as soon as possible, but no later than 30 minutes before Qualification are scheduled to begin. Teams receive 1 hard copy and it is also available at the FIRST Robotics Competition Event Results site, except during exceptional circumstances. Each Qualification schedule consists of a series of rounds in which each team plays 1 per round.

10.5.2

MATCH

Assignment

assigns each team 2 partners for each Qualification using a predefined algorithm, and teams may not switch Qualification assignments. The algorithm employs the following criteria, listed in order of priority:

1. ensure each team has at least the minimum required time between
   MATCHES
   (varies by event size)
2. minimize the number of times a team is allied with any team
3. minimize the number of times a team plays opposite any team
4. minimize the use of
   SURROGATES
   (teams randomly assigned by the
   FMS
   to play an extra Qualification
   MATCH
   )
5. provide even distribution of
   MATCHES
   played on blue and red
   ALLIANCE
6. provide even distribution of
   MATCHES
   played in each
   DRIVER STATION
   number

At events with fewer than 24 participating teams, the criteria are similar, however criterion 5 is changed to minimize the number of times a team swaps between the blue and red

rather than an even distribution.

All teams are assigned the same number of Qualification

, equal to the number of rounds, unless the number of teams multiplied by number of is not divisible by 6. In this case, the randomly selects some teams to play an extra . For the purpose of seeding calculations, those teams are designated as for the extra . If a team plays a as a , it is indicated on the schedule, it is always their third Qualification , and the outcome of the has no effect on the team’s ranking. YELLOW and assigned to , however, do carry forward to subsequent .

10.5.3 Qualification Ranking

Ranking Points are units credited to a team based on their

’S performance in Qualification . Ranking Points are awarded to each eligible team at the completion of each Qualification per Table 6‑2.

Exceptions to Ranking Point assignment are as follows:

A. A

receives 0 Ranking Points.

B. A

team, as determined by the Head , receives 0 Ranking Points.

C. A “no-show” team is either

from or issued a for that (see G208). A team is declared a no-show if no member of the is in the at the start of the .

The total number of Ranking Points earned by a team throughout their Qualification

divided by the number of they’ve been scheduled to play (minus any ), then rounded to 2 decimal places, is their Ranking Score ().

All teams participating in Qualification

are ranked by Ranking Score. If the number of teams in attendance is ‘n’, they are ranked ‘1’ through ‘n’, with ‘1’ being the team with the highest Ranking Score and ‘n’ being the team with the lowest Ranking Score.

Teams are ranked in order, using the sorting criteria defined in Table 10‑1.

Order Sort	Criteria
1st	Ranking Score
2nd	Average Coopertition Bonus points
3rd	Average ALLIANCE MATCH points, not including FOULS and TECH FOULS
4th	Average ALLIANCE LEAVE + AUTO NOTES points
5th	Average ALLIANCE STAGE points
6th	Random sorting by the FMS

10.6 Playoff

MATCHES

Playoff

follow the qualification . In the Playoffs, teams play on set , chosen during selection, and advance through a double elimination bracket. Teams do not earn Ranking Points; they advance based on winning, losing, or tying a .

A

team, as determined by the Head , causes their to receive 0 points in a Playoff .

10.6.1

ALLIANCE

Selection Process

At the end of the Qualification

, the top 8 ranked teams become the Leads. The ranked are designated, in order, 1, 2, etc., down to 8. Using the selection process described in this section, each Lead chooses 2 other teams to join their .

T601 *Send a

representative. Each team must choose and send a team representative to the at the designated Selection time (typically before the lunch break on the final day of the event) to represent their team. The designated representative from each Lead is called the . This representative may change between selection and Playoff .

The

selection process consists of 2 rounds during which each invites a team ranked below them in the standings to join their .

Round 1: In descending order (

1 to 8), each invites a single team to join their . The invited team’s representative steps forward and either accepts or declines the invitation.

If the team accepts, it becomes a member of that

. If an invitation from a top 8 to another Lead is accepted, all lower Leads are promoted 1 spot. The highest-ranked, unselected team becomes the 8 Lead.

Round 2: The same method is used for each

’S second choice except the selection order is reversed, with 8 picking first and 1 picking last. This process results in 8 of 3 teams.

T602 *Declining teams can’t be picked. An

may not invite a team that has declined another ’S invitation to participate in the Playoff tournament. Declining teams are ineligible to be a .

An

Lead that declines an invitation from another is able to invite teams to join their but may not be invited to join another .

At the conclusion of

selection, the highest ranked unselected teams are eligible to become a , as defined in Section 10.6.3 .

10.6.2 Playoff

MATCH

Bracket

The double elimination tournament consists of an Upper and Lower bracket as shown in Figure 10‑2. Each

begins with a slot in the Upper bracket. If an wins a in the Upper bracket, they remain in the Upper bracket. If an loses a in the Upper bracket, they transition to the Lower bracket. in the Lower bracket must win any subsequent (except for finals) to remain in the tournament, i.e. once they lose a , they’re out of the tournament.

In Round 1, the higher ranked

is assigned to the red . For subsequent rounds, color is assigned as shown in Figure 10‑2, regardless of rank at the start of the Playoff tournament.

As shown in Figure 10‑2 and Table 10‑2, Playoff

consist of 6 rounds with breaks between later rounds and between Finals . Breaks begin after the has been cleared from the previous . The Blue and Red Gap columns indicate the approximate time between each ’S . The expected start time of the scheduled is the time indicated on the schedule or 15 minutes from the end of either ’S previous , whichever is later.

If a Playoff

needs to be replayed as described in Section 10.2 Replays, teams are notified of when the replay will occur. A minimum 10-minute delay is provided for teams to reset their prior to the replay unless all teams are ready sooner. The affected must be replayed before the next round begins.

Round	MATCH	Upper/ Lower			Gap (min)	Gap (min)	Next MATCH ( MATCH # ( ALLIANCE color))	Next MATCH ( MATCH # ( ALLIANCE color))
Blue	Red	Blue	Red	Winner	Loser
1	1	Upper	8	1			M7 ( R )	M5 ( R )
2	Upper	5	4	M7 (B)	M5 (B)
3	Upper	7	2	M8 ( R )	M6 ( R )
4	Upper	6	3	M8 (B)	M6 (B)
2	5	Lower	L2	L1	0:24	0:33	M10 (B)
6	Lower	L4	L3	0:15	0:24	M9 (B)
7	Upper	W2	W1	0:42	0:51	M11 ( R )	M9 ( R )
8	Upper	W4	W3	0:33	0:42	M11 (B)	M10 ( R )
3	9	Lower	W6	L7	0:24	0:15	M12 (B)
10	Lower	W5	L8	0:42	0:15	M12 ( R )
6-minute break	6-minute break	6-minute break	6-minute break	6-minute break	6-minute break	6-minute break	6-minute break	6-minute break
4	11	Upper	W8	W7	0:27	0:36	M14 ( R )	M13 ( R )
12	Lower	W9	W10	0:27	0:18	M13 (B)
15-minute awards break: Imagery, Gracious Professionalism, Team Spirit, and Rookie Inspiration	15-minute awards break: Imagery, Gracious Professionalism, Team Spirit, and Rookie Inspiration	15-minute awards break: Imagery, Gracious Professionalism, Team Spirit, and Rookie Inspiration	15-minute awards break: Imagery, Gracious Professionalism, Team Spirit, and Rookie Inspiration	15-minute awards break: Imagery, Gracious Professionalism, Team Spirit, and Rookie Inspiration	15-minute awards break: Imagery, Gracious Professionalism, Team Spirit, and Rookie Inspiration	15-minute awards break: Imagery, Gracious Professionalism, Team Spirit, and Rookie Inspiration	15-minute awards break: Imagery, Gracious Professionalism, Team Spirit, and Rookie Inspiration	15-minute awards break: Imagery, Gracious Professionalism, Team Spirit, and Rookie Inspiration
5	13	Lower	W12	L11	0:18	0:27	M14 (B)
15-minute awards break: Autonomous, Creativity, Quality, and Industrial Design	15-minute awards break: Autonomous, Creativity, Quality, and Industrial Design	15-minute awards break: Autonomous, Creativity, Quality, and Industrial Design	15-minute awards break: Autonomous, Creativity, Quality, and Industrial Design	15-minute awards break: Autonomous, Creativity, Quality, and Industrial Design	15-minute awards break: Autonomous, Creativity, Quality, and Industrial Design	15-minute awards break: Autonomous, Creativity, Quality, and Industrial Design	15-minute awards break: Autonomous, Creativity, Quality, and Industrial Design	15-minute awards break: Autonomous, Creativity, Quality, and Industrial Design
Finals	14		W13	W11	0:18	0:48	M15	M15
15-minute awards break: Innovation in Control , Excellence in Engineering, Team Sustainability, Judges	15-minute awards break: Innovation in Control , Excellence in Engineering, Team Sustainability, Judges	15-minute awards break: Innovation in Control , Excellence in Engineering, Team Sustainability, Judges	15-minute awards break: Innovation in Control , Excellence in Engineering, Team Sustainability, Judges	15-minute awards break: Innovation in Control , Excellence in Engineering, Team Sustainability, Judges	15-minute awards break: Innovation in Control , Excellence in Engineering, Team Sustainability, Judges	15-minute awards break: Innovation in Control , Excellence in Engineering, Team Sustainability, Judges	15-minute awards break: Innovation in Control , Excellence in Engineering, Team Sustainability, Judges	15-minute awards break: Innovation in Control , Excellence in Engineering, Team Sustainability, Judges
Finals	15		W13	W11	0:18	0:18	M16*	M16*
15-minute awards break: Rookie All Star, Dean's List, Engineering Inspiration**	15-minute awards break: Rookie All Star, Dean's List, Engineering Inspiration**	15-minute awards break: Rookie All Star, Dean's List, Engineering Inspiration**	15-minute awards break: Rookie All Star, Dean's List, Engineering Inspiration**	15-minute awards break: Rookie All Star, Dean's List, Engineering Inspiration**	15-minute awards break: Rookie All Star, Dean's List, Engineering Inspiration**	15-minute awards break: Rookie All Star, Dean's List, Engineering Inspiration**	15-minute awards break: Rookie All Star, Dean's List, Engineering Inspiration**	15-minute awards break: Rookie All Star, Dean's List, Engineering Inspiration**
Finals	16*		W13	W11	0:18	0:18
Awards: Remaining awards, Finalists, Winners, and FIRST Impact Award	Awards: Remaining awards, Finalists, Winners, and FIRST Impact Award	Awards: Remaining awards, Finalists, Winners, and FIRST Impact Award	Awards: Remaining awards, Finalists, Winners, and FIRST Impact Award	Awards: Remaining awards, Finalists, Winners, and FIRST Impact Award	Awards: Remaining awards, Finalists, Winners, and FIRST Impact Award	Awards: Remaining awards, Finalists, Winners, and FIRST Impact Award	Awards: Remaining awards, Finalists, Winners, and FIRST Impact Award	Awards: Remaining awards, Finalists, Winners, and FIRST Impact Award

• if required

** Program Delivery Partners may choose to hold these awards until after all

are complete.

10.6.2.1 Playoff

MATCH

ties

If final

scores for both are equal, the win is awarded to the per criteria listed in Table 10‑3.

Order Sort	Criteria
1st	Cumulative TECH FOUL points due to opponent rule violations
2nd	ALLIANCE AUTO points
3rd	ALLIANCE STAGE points
4th	MATCH is replayed

10.6.2.2 Playoff Finals

Once a single

remains in each Upper and Lower bracket, those proceed to the Finals round. The first to win 2 in the Finals becomes the event’s Champions.

If a Finals

ends in a tie score, the tie is not broken using the criteria in Table 10‑3, the remains a tie. In the case where an hasn’t won 2 after 3 have been played (because of tied ), the Playoffs proceed with up to 3 additional Finals , called Overtime , until an has won 2 Finals . In the case where the Overtime scores for both are equal, the win for that Overtime is awarded based on the criteria listed in Table 10‑3.

10.6.3

BACKUP TEAMS

During the Playoff

an may elect to replace one of its due to a mechanical or software issue that prevents that from competing effectively. The team whose and replaces another and on an during the Playoff is called the .

In this situation, the

has the option to bring in the highest ranked team from the pool of available teams to join its for the following . The resulting is then composed of 4 teams.

10.6.3.1

BACKUP TEAM

Coupons

Each

is allotted 1 coupon during the Playoff . If a second from the becomes inoperable, then the must play the following with only 2 (or even 1) .

The Head

will not accept the coupon unless it lists the number of the team whose is being replaced and is initialed by the . Once a coupon is submitted and accepted by the Head , the coupon may not be withdrawn by the .

T603 *No

for replayed . An may not request a for a replayed . The sole exception is if, in the judgment of the Head , the replay is due to an that rendered an ’S inoperable.

T604 *No

for 1st . An may not request a until after their first Playoff .

T605 *

play when called. A must be included in the for the ’S next following their recruitment.

T606 *

due 2 minutes before the start time. The Coupon must be submitted to the Head (or their designee) by the CAPTIAN not later than 2 minutes before the expected start time in which the is to play.

10.6.3.2

BACKUP POOL

After the top ranked

has made their final pick during Selection, poll the remaining eligible teams. In rank order, invite remaining teams to accept or decline a position in the , i.e. the group of teams willing and able to join an during the Playoff , if needed, until up to 8 teams accept.

T607 *Be there to be a

. A team must be present after Selection to accept the ’S invitation to join the .

T608 *Send a

Representative. The top 2 ranked must send at least 1 representative (and optionally 1 additional or mentor) to a designated area near the for the duration of the Playoff .

These 2 representatives are available to answer questions and accept invitations to be a

from . If 1 of these 2 teams joins an or excuses themselves from the , the next highest ranked team in the must provide their representative. Once a has declined an invitation to join an , it is no longer a member of the and ineligible to join another .

10.6.4

LINEUPS

Each

competing in a Playoff has the option to submit a , which lists the 3 teams participating in the and their selected .

The

is kept confidential until the is set for the at which point each ’S appears on the Team Signs.

10.6.4.1

LINEUPS

for 4-team

ALLIANCES

If an

has 4 members (either because a 3-team has called a or the event is the FIRST Championship), a single representative from the team not on the is allowed as a sixteenth member but must be a member of that team’s . This additional representative may only serve as a .

10.6.4.2 Default

LINEUP

T609 *

due 2 minutes before the . The must submit their in writing to the Head (or their designee) 2 minutes before their expected start time.

T610 *For replays, no changing

(mostly). If a must be replayed due to an , the for the replayed is the same as the original . The sole exception is if, in the opinion of the Head , the rendered a inoperable, in which case the can be changed.

10.6.5 Pit Crews

During the Playoff

and because of the distance between the and the pit area, extra team members may be needed to maintain and otherwise assist with the between . Each team is permitted to have up to 3 additional pit crew members to help with needed repairs/maintenance.

10.6.6 Small Event Exceptions

The scheduling algorithm described in Section 10.5.2

Assignment works to minimize teams playing in back-to-back . However, at events with fewer than 24 teams, back-to-back plays may occur.

Multi-day events with 24 teams or fewer employ a modified Playoff

format. Instead of 8 , these events proceed through SELECTION and the Playoff Tournament with the maximum number of complete 3-team that can be formed while leaving at least 1 (e.g. a 24-team event creates 7 , a 20-team event creates 6 ).

The Playoff Bracket remains as shown in Figure 10‑2, with any matchup against a non-existent

resulting in a bye (i.e. automatic advancement to the next round). An assigned a bye-MATCH is invited, though not required, to practice together in a null (i.e. it has no bearing on the Playoff tournament) during the designated time in the Playoff schedule.

District points for Draft Order Acceptance (per Section 11.1.2

Selection Results) are awarded as if a full set of was selected (i.e. the 2nd selection of the 3-seed still receive 3 points regardless of how many are formed).

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