2022 Season Challenge: Rapid React
Theme of the game
Every year, we get a new game released in early January and kicks off our 6 week build season. Below is a list of the past 7 FRC games and the current FRC game with their release videos and a short description.
2022 RAPID REACT
In RAPID REACTS, presented by The Boeing Company, two competing alliances are invited to process cargo for transportation. Each alliance is assigned a cargo color (red or blue, based on alliance affiliation) to process by retrieving their assigned cargo and scoring it into the hub. Human players assist the cargo retrieval and scoring efforts from within their terminals. In the final moments of each match, alliance robots race to engage with their hangar to prepare for transport!
2021 INFINITE RECHARGE
Due to the season-ending early from COVID19 last spring in 2020, FIRST has decided to rerun the same game mode with Infinite Recharge. Except the same game rules and gameplay! Not only that but many teams this year can participate safely at home with game designs and more such as robot highlights with showing their abilities and etc.
2020 INFINITE RECHARGE
This year's game is a Star Wars themed environment, with a variety of goals similar to STEAMWorks and Stronghold. The robots must trek across the terrain to store power cells to charge their shield generators. Robots can also rotate their control panel or to a specific color for points. In the end of the game, the robots can move to their rendezvous point to make the shields operational.
2019 FIRST DEEP SPACE
Last year's game is based on a space environment, where the weather may be rather windy and sandy. In the start a sandstorm will arrive onto the battlefield for 15 seconds, where the teams may either use their autonomous code or a vision system attached to their robot to navigate and place hatches and cargo into their cargo ship or rocket. After the sandstorm settles down the team's vision is restored as their blinds are rolled up and the continue their mission to load cargo before the next sandstorm arrives.
2018 FIRST POWER UP
2018's game was an 80s arcade theme. In the game robots must pick up power cubes and place them in different-height scales, gaining points when they have ownership. At the end of the game, robots climb a tower to "face the boss". Teams also funnel cubes into a vault where human players then activate power-ups: force (taking ownership for 10 seconds), boost (doubling ownership points for 10 seconds), and levitate (the equivalent value of a climb).
2017 FIRST STEAMWorks
2017's game had a steampunk theme that revolved around air pressure, gears, and fuel. Robots had to collect gears from their human players and deliver them to their airship, where pilots (other human players) placed them in certain spots to turn rotors. Robots could also shoot balls into the boiler to gain pressure. Finally, robots "took flight" by climbing a rope connected the airship. This was the first year people were allowed to be on the field during the game.
2016 FIRST Stronghold
Stronghold was the first truly themed game that FIRST came out with, starting strong with a medieval design. Alliances stormed the castle, getting over various defenses in order to shoot balls at the castle. This was also one of the first games that introduced climbing - robots scaled the tower at the end of the game, ultimately capturing the castle. One of the most interesting parts of this game, though, was that each alliance chose the defenses for the other alliance.
2015 FIRST Recycle Rush
Recycle Rush is one of the most despised games in FRC. While it had good intentions to increase awareness of recycling, the game was incredibly boring. Robots just stacked totes as high as they could. The cool part was that human players got to throw pool noodles over the driver station wall and into the opponents' territory, acting as waste. One of the reasons this game was so bad is that there was no interaction between alliances, and little teamwork actually necessary.
2014 FIRST Aerial Assist
In Aerial Assist, alliances had to get a giant yoga-like ball across an open field and shoot it into a high or low goal. They could get more points by passing it between robots in certain zones and launching the ball over a truss. This was one of the most successful games in FIRST, largely because it encouraged so much teamwork and communication on every alliance. It was also incredibly exciting because there was lots of defense (aka robot parts everywhere!)