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Official Q&A: VRC 2022-2023: Spin Up

Usage Guidelines All Questions

1480: Shooting with more than 3 discs


244A
27-Feb-2023

<SG7>

<SG7> Possession is limited to three (3) Discs. Robots may not have greater-than-momentary Possession of more than three (3) Discs at once. Robots in Violation of this rule must immediately stop all Robot actions except for attempting to remove the excess Disc(s). A Robot that is in Violation of rule <SG7> and cannot rectify the Violation cannot participate in further gameplay and will not receive points for tiles Covered in the Endgame.

Note: This rule applies to both intentional and accidental Possession.

Violation Notes: • Any intentional Violation by an Alliance who wins the Match will be considered Match Affecting.

The rule seems very clear except - the first note indicates that all violations (intentional or accidental) will be treated similarly, while the second note states that intentional violations are match affecting thus resulting in a DQ if they win.

One of many possible scenarios: a robot with three discs while positioning to shoot drives on a fourth disc and a standoff on the frame touches the a fourth disc on a tile - unknowingly, they shoot and make all three discs. There is no doubt that the robot in question would be possessing the fourth disc since it would move with the robot. The robot is able to work their way off the that disc. The robot's alliance wins by 100 points.

Since the first note applies to both intentional and accidental possession, should this result in a major violation and DQ? Or, since it was not intentional, the robot did not gain any advantage from the fourth disc, and it was not match affecting, is this a minor violation?

Answered by committee

(answer has been revised from Score Affecting to Match Affecting, and we apologize for the unintended confusion!)

The Note following rule <SG7>, "This rule applies to both intentional and accidental Possession" simply indicates that any instance in which a Robot has extra Discs is a violation of <SG7>, regardless of how the Robot came into Possession of the Disc. The note does not specify whether that violation should be Minor (effectively a warning) or Major.

<SG7> violations should be ruled as Minor Violations unless they are intentional or egregious (as described in the Violation Notes), Match Affecting, or repeated. The Robot in your example should receive a Minor Violation for a non-Match-Affecting and unintentional <SG7> violation (unless it is a repeated violation or is ruled as egregious by the Head Referee).