Editing 1997 (section)

==Playing field and scoring==
<gallery perrow=4 heights=250px widths=250px>
File:44944 - 1997 game materials.png|Top-down view of the playing field before the start of a match [https://www.frcarchive.com/index.php?q=post/view/44944]
File:45134 - 1997 game materials.png|Scoring rules for tubes as clarified in team update one [https://www.frcarchive.com/index.php?q=post/view/45134]
</gallery>

The playing field is a carpeted hexagon with a 4x4 lumber border wall. The freely rotating goal sits in the middle of the field and includes three levels of scoring pegs and an upper scoring area. The base of the goal is a triangular wooden base measuring 48" on each side that sits on three fixed caster wheels in a track with a wooden protective skirt extending downwards from the base.

The three driver stations are located outside of the playing field at three adjacent corners on one half of the field with Lexan walls shielding drivers from the field, and three human player stations are centered along the walls of the playing field next to the corresponding driver station. The human player stations are five feet wide and extended away from the field for six feet and are split into two areas. The interaction zone is the first three feet of the human player station and is where the human player is expected to interact directly with the robot to load or unload tubes, while the remaining three feet is where the human player is expected to normally sit or stand. Human players could not directly contact robots (except if contact occurs for reasons of personal safety).

Each team has nine 25 3/4" outer diameter inner tubes of their color. Three tubes start outside the field with the human player which can be loaded onto the robot or thrown. Six tubes start one each in the six stacks of tubes distributed around the field. Tubes need the pegs of the scoring tower to pass through the center of the open middle to count as scored. Tubes above the scoring tower are scored if the rotational axes of the goal passes through the open middle of the tube. Each tube scored anywhere on the goal is worth one point. Each tube on top of the goal doubles the current score, as does each vertical row of three tubes. Vertical rows may be completed on different sides of the goal or on a single side by scoring two or three tubes on each peg. The maximum score of 4608 points is achieved by scoring all nine of your matching tubes on top of the goal (9 points for scoring nine tubes times 2^9 for having nine tubes doubling your score).

Although intentionally damaging an opponent's robot by stabbing or cutting it was not allowed, tipping was still allowed. The rules updates also clarified specific rules for allowing the human player to walk over to a robot that went out of bounds or applied power to an out of bounds surface and was disabled and return it to the playing field during a match. After returning to the human player station, the robot was re-enabled. If a robot pushed against the floor of the interaction zone, the human player could immediately return it to the field, but the control system would remain deactivated for 20 seconds after it was originally disabled. The human player could not interact with tubes during this time, but could interact with the tubes if they chose to not return the robot to the field.

Three robots in the red, white, and blue positions play simultaneously in the seeding rounds and earlier rounds of playoffs, with two on two matches later on. Robots begin on the opposite side of the field from their matching human player station. At the beginning of each match, the goal is spun (typically by the emcee) in a random direction. Each match lasts two minutes. The control system is automatically enabled and disabled when matches begin and end.

Winning a match earns a team three seeding points. Second place receives one point, and coming third earns no seeding points. At the end of seeding rounds, teams are ranked by place totals.

===Game strategy===

Because higher multipliers could be achieved easier by scoring tubes on the top of the goal, many teams focused on being able to score multiple tubes quickly on the top of the goal. Goal "cappers," which were typically detachable, were a common offensive and defensive strategy that allowed a team to score several tubes on top of the goal and prevent additional tubes from being added unless an opposing robot could successfully remove the capper or reach tall enough to score over it, like [[frc111|team 111]] was able to do.

Like in [[1998]], [[human players]] could contribute significantly to a match's outcome. With some practice, human players could toss and score tubes on any of the three levels of the goal, and many matches were determined by human player tubes. In some matches, a single tube thrown by a human player could be the only score for the entire match. Additionally, many teams found it much easier to load tubes into their robot from the human player than picking them up from the field, particularly when the color tube they wanted was buried in one of the stacks. Some human players would toss a tube at one of the stacks to disrupt them and make it easier for a robot to pick up a particular color tube. Some robots would immediately load the human player's three tubes on a goal capper to be placed on the goal.

Pushing the stacks of tubes over towards the human player station allowed the human player to pick up the tubes and more easily load them into a claw or grabber. Opponent's tubes could be held on to to prevent them from being scored, or thrown at other robots or tubes to try to prevent them from scoring.

Because the goal spun freely, one defensive maneuver was to grab the goal or run the robot's base up against one of the sides of the goal's base and then spin it around to make it harder for other robots and human players to score. [[frc148|Team 148]] built a grabbing mechanism and drivetrain that allowed them to grab the goal and spin it at a decent speed, with their robot spinning with the goal. When playoff rounds changed to the one-on-one format, defense involving the robot became a larger focus as teams did not have to worry about the third team scoring unchecked while they defended against the second. In the [[1997cmp|championship]] finals, [[frc71|team 71]] and [[frc47|47]]'s robots spent much of each match sitting in front of the opposing team's human player to prevent them from throwing tubes or loading up their robot.

Some teams built tipping devices that would tip over opponent robots. This maneuver earned the nickname "death from below." The relative prevalence of these devices, in particular [[frc121|team 121]]'s tipper, led to intentional tipping being forbidden by the rules in 1998 and beyond.

<gallery perrow=3 heights=250px widths=300px>
File:44942 - 1997 1997frc81 1997il frc111 practice robot.png|[[frc111|Team 111]] descores [[frc144|144]]'s capper and three tubes in a practice match at [[1997il|Motorola Midwest]] [https://www.frcarchive.com/index.php?q=post/view/44942]
File:44611 - 1997 1997frc35 1997frc47 1997il frc148 frc67 match q26 robot video.gif|[[frc148|Team 148]] swings the goal back and forth while both opposing human players throw tubes at their capper [https://www.frcarchive.com/index.php?q=post/view/44611]
File:44687 - 1997 1997cmp 1997frc14 1997frc32 f2 frc47 frc71 match robot score team video woodie flowers.gif|[[frc47|Team 47]] sits in front of [[frc71|team 71]]'s human player while team 71's robot sits in front of theirs in match two of the finals at [[1997cmp|the national championship]] [https://www.frcarchive.com/index.php?q=post/view/44943]
</gallery>