2016 - Strong Hold

FIRST FACTS:

The name of the game was revealed on October 14, 2015 in a video that was produced with Walt Disney Imagineering. The details of the game were revealed at the kickoff event on January 9, 2016.

Number of Teams:

3128 teams with roughly:
75,000 students
19,000 mentors
from 24 countries with
(2,682 teams from the United States of America)

Events Held:

53 Regional Competitions
65 District Qualifying Competitions
8 District Championships
1 World Championship

Robot Size:

The ROBOT weight must not exceed 120 lbs.
total length must not exceed 120 in.
must not extend greater than 15 in.

ROBOT height, as measured when it’s resting normally on a flat floor, may not exceed 4 ft. 6 in. during the MATCH,except during the final twenty (20) seconds of TELEOP where there is no heightlimit when a ROBOT is fully contained by the opponent’s COURTYARD.

Brief Game Description:

The game was played by two alliances of up to three teams each, and involves breaching the opponents’ defenses, known as outer work as well as capturing their tower by first firing "boulders" (small foam balls) at it, and then surrounding or scaling the tower using a singular rung on the tower wall. Points were scored by crossing elements of the tower's outer works, shooting boulders into the opposing tower's five goals in order to lower the tower strength, and by surrounding and scaling the tower.

Stronghold is a medieval tower defense game in which two alliances of up to three teams each compete to score points by breaching the opponent's outer works and capturing the opponent's tower. Before the match, teams and the audience select defenses to fortify the alliance's outer works. Teams receive two ranking points in the competition standings for a win, and one ranking point for a tie.

Each match begins with a 15-second autonomous period where robots act on pre-programmed instructions. The match then transitions to a 2-minute and 15 second teleoperated (tele-op) period, where robots are driven by the drive teams.

Autonomous (auto) period

Robots begin in the neutral zone with the ability to hold one boulder each. However, alliances may assign a "spy" robot to start in the opposing alliance's courtyard. Alliances earn 2 points for reaching the opposing alliance's outer works, and earn 10 points for crossing them. Any additional defenses a robot crosses in auto will not decrease a defense's strength, or give points to the alliance. Once across a defense, a robot in autonomous mode can score a high goal for 10 points or low goal for 5 points.

Tele-operated (tele-op) period

Robots retrieve boulders from either their secret passage or the mid line, overcome opponent defenses, and score goals in their opponent's courtyard. Robots may transport only one boulder at a time. Each time a robot crosses an undamaged defense, they receive 5 points. Robots earn 5 points for scoring a high goal, and 2 points for a low goal. In the last 20 seconds of the match, robots race to the opposing alliance's tower to either park on the batter, earning them 5 points for a challenge, or hang from the tower's rungs, earning them 15 points for a scale.