10.5   Qualification MATCHES

10.5.1   Schedule

The Qualification MATCH schedule is made available as soon as possible, but no later than 30 minutes before Qualification MATCHES are scheduled to begin. Teams receive 1 hard copy and it is also available on the FRC-Events website, except during exceptional circumstances. Each Qualification schedule consists of a series of rounds in which each team plays 1 MATCH per round.

10.5.2   MATCH Assignment

FMS assigns each team 2 ALLIANCE partners for each Qualification MATCH using a predefined algorithm, and teams may not switch Qualification MATCH 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 ALLIANCE rather than an even distribution.

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

10.5.3   Qualification Ranking

Ranking Points are units credited to a team based on their ALLIANCE’S performance in Qualification MATCHES. Ranking Points are awarded to each eligible team at the completion of each Qualification MATCH per Table 6‑2.

Exceptions to Ranking Point assignment are as follows:

A.      A SURROGATE receives 0 Ranking Points.

B.      A DISQUALIFIED team, as determined by the Head REFEREE, receives 0 Ranking Points.

C.      A “no-show” team is either DISQUALIFIED from or issued a RED CARD for that MATCH (see G208). A team is declared a no-show if no member of the DRIVE TEAM is in the ALLIANCE AREA at the start of the MATCH.

The total number of Ranking Points earned by a team throughout their Qualification MATCHES divided by the number of MATCHES they’ve been scheduled to play (minus any SURROGATE MATCH), then rounded to 2 decimal places, is their Ranking Score (RS).

All teams participating in Qualification MATCHES 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.

Table 10‑1 Qualification MATCH ranking criteria