Trial Event

A trial event is an event held at a competition that does not count towards overall team score. How many, if any, and which trial events are held is usually under the discretion of the organization hosting the competition. At most competitions which hold them, alternate team members (members additional to those competing in the official events) are eligible to compete in trial events.

Trial events provide an opportunity for testing the efficacy and gauging student interest of the events themselves without the risk of affecting team scores.

To find out if any trial events will be held at a competition, check the tournament's webpage or contact a tournament director.

Examples
The following are examples of trial events and some competitions at which they were held:
 * Code Busters - 2016 National Tournament
 * Indoor Bottle Rocket - 2017 National Tournament
 * Radio Lab/WIFI Lab - Ohio State Tournament
 * Source Code - Michigan State Tournament

Some trial events have become official events:
 * Green Generation
 * Hovercraft
 * Invasive Species
 * Roller Coaster

For a more comprehensive listing of trial events, see soinc.org's trial event page.

Removal of Official Events
If inconsistencies in how an official event was run are brought to the attention of tournament officials, the decision to exclude the event from overall scoring may be made. In such a case, it is often said that the event "was made a trial event." Medals and ribbons may still be awarded to the winners of the event, although how medals are awarded may vary from the other official events (in one unusual example, now jokingly referred to as The Lance Crimm Award, medals were awarded to every single team at the tournament).