Tasks & Scoring

[Primate]

For those who have already participated in Invitationals, what are your overall scores aproxamatly?? We managed to get 400 points off of a setup built in half an hour with only the beginning and ending task, but obviously we plan to eventually add more. Just curious what scores are getting up to.

Don't have time to calculate the exact score right now, but in practice (not in competition, of course >.<) it's possible to get just about all points. We've got 33 seconds of sand timer, the eight highest-point tasks, and a ~5g sign.

(That final task is a you-know-what. If you can get that to work reliably, you're guaranteed a top 3 at most regionals.)

[penclspinner]

I think that the highest score we got was ~1000 points

[Uncle Fester]

My three stooges got 1000+ TWICE. I judged a handful of others that got that high too, but not very many.

[courage7856]

Quick question regarding scoring clarification: if you have to touch the device to complete the task, do you still get points for it? Because at our last invite, our sand timer clogged with 1.3 seconds to go, so we just touched it to move on instead of restarting the timer. Afterward, the judge told us that if we had restarted the sand timer, we would have gotten the 100+ points (with the 15 point penalty). We purposely decided to move on instead of restarting because we assumed we wouldn't get points for it if we had to touch it. Who was "right" here? If the same thing happens at Regionals, should we start the sand timer again? Does this even make sense to you?

[DeltaHat]

If the machine completes an action, you get points for the action. If you complete an action, or skip the action, you don't get any points. You incur one touch for all contact required to restart the forward progress of the machine.

Your judge was correct. Had you simply unclogged the sand timer, then the sand would have flowed and completed the next action. Since you skipped the sand timer, you lost all points associated with it.

[penclspinner]

Was observing a regional competition and the state champion runner ups got ~1000 points. Know they had a penalty or two thrown in the mix.

[Flavorflav]

If the machine completes an action, you get points for the action. If you complete an action, or skip the action, you don't get any points. You incur one touch for all contact required to restart the forward progress of the machine.

Your judge was correct. Had you simply unclogged the sand timer, then the sand would have flowed and completed the next action. Since you skipped the sand timer, you lost all points associated with it.

So, if you just tap the container to get the sand moving, you still would get the points if the timer eventually completes the task, right? You just get the 15 point penalty?

[Alec]

Ahh last minute question(s)! We can only do 8 tasks from 4b-4m, correct? And do they have to run in alphabetical order? And one final question: is the maximum dimensions 50 cm length by 50 cm width by 80 cm height, where the structure is taller than it is wide? Seems a little odd to me I want to make sure I'm reading this right.

[JTMess]

Ahh last minute question(s)! We can only do 8 tasks from 4b-4m, correct? And do they have to run in alphabetical order? And one final question: is the maximum dimensions 50 cm length by 50 cm width by 80 cm height, where the structure is taller than it is wide? Seems a little odd to me I want to make sure I'm reading this right.

You absolutely don't have to run your tasks in alphabetical order and the box can Be 50x50x80 with the 80cm as the length or the height.

[hmcginny]

So, if you just tap the container to get the sand moving, you still would get the points if the timer eventually completes the task, right? You just get the 15 point penalty?

I believe that you're correct that you would only get the 15 point penalty. Though timing for the sand timer would be very hard for the judges if you stop and start. I would send in an FAQ with that question.