Introducing the 2024 - 2025 VEX IQ Robotics Competition Game, Rapid Relay!
All available documentation is listed below. Expect the rest to be uploaded in the next few weeks, after we’ve all had some time to settle down and recover from two weeks at VEX Worlds.
Best of luck this season!
FRC 2014 coming down the line!!!
This game looks AWESOME!
My only problem is the refs having trouble keeping track of passes in real time. If a ref slips up or is lagging, that would be bad.
And yes, @lacsap , I will be reffing at events this year. 
Sadly not in IQ, but this game looks like it will be a ton of fun!
This game looks awesome! For so long I have wondered when VEX would introduce a potential scoreboard that would allow games to have “infinite” points with limited game objects. This almost feels like testing the waters for continuous scoring. My only concern though- as some have pointed out- is the human error that can influence scorings
I’m certain that Vex has probably come up with score cards that streamline the process, but this almost feels like this should be the game where recordings/replays are utilized. I’m also worried about the training that both referees and students need to play this game at a local level.
The fact there is matchloading that is time sensitive where you can’t pass the ball but can score seems like a lot for a referee to juggle in their mind in the heat of the moment.
Replays would help make fair scoring, but it could be a hassle and bog down competitions. Potentially in playoffs where scores are really tight should potentially require recalculated scoring - just a thought.
I’m no longer in VEX as I’m graduated, but I wish y’all the best!!!
You’re the best! But I don’t run IQ events.
This game is actually insane! Something I have not seen in VEX IQ before lol.
Enjoy your well earned break!!
Not a fan of the game at first reading.
Now there are 6 roboteers at the table, up from 4.
2 of them need to run around the table to move balls around.
Scoring is “interactive” so as an EP I need at least one “scorekeeper” and one referee to be at the match. In the past we did trailing scorekeeper, referee watches a match in realtime. The scorekeeper scores the prior match and does the verification with the teams. Since all the scoring elements were “at rest” in the past, the referee could make calls. For example from last year a robot could be partially parked. Referee could decide those 1/64" crossing, pick up the robot and either move it clearly into the zone or clearly out of the zone. The scorekeeper then just had to count points when they get there. Easy peasy to run 300+ matches a day.
“Pass” validation is going to be a pain, I can see that as a never ending complaint point.
“Switch selects randomly” is going to be the second complaint point “That field the ball always goes to the right.”
I’ll reserve the right to complain about the size of the end goal after I build one and try to move it twice. 
But not to be a negative person, I like the almost unlimited robot size rule.
I’ve already had 3 people ping me about the game, so I guess the 2024-25 season has started. 
12 sqft robots is insane.
Yeah, I’m interested in better understanding the definition of a “pass”. Is it through the air only? A specific distance? Does “dropping” a ball (say from a conveyor belt) into another team’s robot count as a pass? Can we just pass the same ball back and forth an unlimited number of times and rack up points or is it only one pass per ball between 2 machines and then ball must be shot? What if I just “drop” the ball on the field and pick it back up again…is it now “eligible” to passed again? What if a “shot” hits the tarp in the middle of the goals and falls back into the field of play or into the other robot, then that robot passes the ball back to the first bot that shot it and they repeat that cycle as many times as possible. Do each of those count as a pass?
The manual in the app is acting up…so I’ll have to download the PDF and go through it with a fine toothed come to see if these questions are already addressed somewhere?
VIQRC robots are now bigger than FRC robots.
If I am reading the Game Manual correctly:
Rule At the end of a Match, an Alliance cannot receive points for more Passes than Goals*.
This makes me think that Referees record total passes during game. At end of game, Rule SC6 is applied. The number of passes counted toward points cannot exceed the number of goals made.
In a teamwork match, can one teams loader throw the ball to the other teams loader?
My read of the game manual so far seems that passing along the floor is legit. Also, any ugly-looking passes count too. As in, robot A lobs it down the field, the ball bounces around on its own, then robot B goes and retrieves it, that’s a pass. The rules stipulate that if one robot contacts a ball, and then the other robot contacts the ball, that’s a pass. The only thing that’s not a pass is if both bots are contacting it at the same time. So if I drop it from one robot down into another robot like you said, that’s a pass because of the airtime during the drop, but if it’s a hand off where the other robot picks it up out of my hopper, that’s not a pass because for a second we were both in contact with it.
Every time the ball completely leaves the field, either by being scored or by being accidentally launched off the field, it resets all contacts. So if Robot A touched it but accidentally yeeted it into the crowd, then it gets put back in the field by a loader and Robot B goes and grabs it, a pass did NOT happen because Robot A’s touch got deleted when it left the field. A missed scored where the ball rolls back off the slanted target board and back into the field is still a live ball and its touches have not been reset. (At least, that’s the way I read it.)
Theoretically, there could be infinite passes before scoring, but at the end of the match, you only get credit for the same number of passes as goals that you made. The refs are supposed to be keeping basically two registers of types of scores. If you were doing it on paper, you would make two columns and make tally marks during the match for “Passes” and “Goals.” If an alliance made three passes and then one score, and then the match ended, they’d only get credit for one pass and one score. But if they made three passes and one score, followed by two more solo-touch scores with no passes, then at the end of the match, they’d have three passes and three scores and get credit for all of them. So it’s basically one pass, one goal, but not calculated until the end.
…Which I think is pretty cool because it really opens up some strategy! What if you started a match by doing a ton of quick passes across a short distance, and then you spent the rest of the match scoring goals? The rules do allow for that.
For passing you are able to pass with the same ball and you can drop it onto another robot, but I have no idea how many times and if the ball is touching the 2 robots at the same time and the ball gets takin by one of the robots would this count as a pass. There could be many loop holes in this years game.
This is a very important question. I think it will get q&a’d before too long. You gotta be careful though, because if someone accidentally drops a ball in the field, that’s a big no-no.
The more I think about this game, the more I think that the GDC made a bold choice with the live-reffing. I think it will make for a season to remember.
*note that when you do pass on top of a robot it has to be another robot not the loader.
Ok so can only 2 balls be in the match at a time and is the only change in the last 15 seconds that we can load in the start zone. Also during the last 15 seconds if the robot is in the start zone can we just load it directly in?
Im so confused on the passes do they have to travel through the air or can I push it towards a bot. If i pass and score with one switch but then I get all 4 switches is the pass worth 4 points or 12 points? If I pass to I get points or do I have to pass then score. I would appreciate any help.
Freaking amazing clarifications here!!! Thank you so much.
This does perhaps better explain the value of the last 15 seconds (mad dash to SCORE as many goals to match passes) but also because you don’t have to knock down the switches BEFORE passing bonuses kick in, since they simple see how many switches were triggered at the end of the match and then apply the switch pass bonuses to ALL passes made during the match.
So you could theoretically focus on getting into a passing+shooting rhythm in the first 45 seconds all going into the same goal. Then use the final 15 seconds to knock out the remaining switches to maximize bonuses (though that seems risky).
Also, (still pending my analysis of the game manual) it appears you can still get passing points in the final 15 seconds as long as you’re putting the ball in play via the loader and not the starting areas on the side walls.
