Competition Rules

The 2026 Rah Cha Cha Ruckus will follow the 2026 FIRST REBUILT Rules.

While we feel that FIRST has done a fantastic job with creating a rule book to satisfy every FIRST team, there are a few rule changes that we feel could enhance the game play at this off-season event. The rule modifications which will be used at Ruckus can be found below.

There will be a drivers meeting Saturday morning where any questions can be asked to the head referee. Please refer to the 2026 FIRST REBUILT Rules for any rule clarifications first. Thank you!

*** The Ruckus Planning Committee is still addressing any potential rules modifications for 2026. Please check for any changes.

*** Tentative rule changes as of 8/30!

Rule Modifications

In the rule modifications below, text that is underlined represents Ruckus-specific additions to an existing game rule.

Robot Weight

<R103> is changed as follows:

<R103> The ROBOT weight must not exceed 115 120 lbs.

Reasoning: Robots will be given a 5 lb. weight allowance beyond that allowed in the FIRST REBUILT official rules in acknowledgement that teams may have had to, or will need to, make repairs to their robot that may put them just over the weight limit. All other portions of this rule remain unchanged and in effect.

Scoring Elements (Game Pieces) and Field Elements

SCORING ELEMENTS (game pieces) and field elements employed at Ruckus will be the same as normal events however, we wish to clarify the following:

FIELD guardrails and DRIVER STATIONS will be the AndyMark variant, often used by FIRST District events, not the welded version that is typically seen at FIRST Regional events. For more information on this, see Sections 5.1 and 5.2 of the game manual.

SCORING ELEMENTS (aka "game pieces") used at Ruckus will be "used" and as such will not be in pristine condition. While we will do our best to use pieces which will not seriously impact team play, teams should expect some variation in SCORING ELEMENTS, primarily that FUEL may have markings or minor surface damage. 

Robots repeatedly damaging scoring elements and/or field elements through sloppy or extremely aggressive game play should expect to draw attention of referees, resulting in VERBAL WARNINGs, DISABLE, YELLOW CARD, and/or RED CARD per <G411> and <G211>. We wish to especially caution against reckless and/or high speed impacts with the TRENCH, OUTPOST and ALLIANCE STATION walls!

Reasoning: Due to limited availability of scoring elements, we will have a limited quantity of scoring elements pieces on hand; field element damage has been widespread in recent years and offseason events will not have significant repair capability for field elements; robots causing damage to field elements will be required to correct the situation before being allowed to compete in future MATCHes.

Alliance Selections

ALLIANCE composition for the playoffs and assignment of teams to PLAYER STATIONS will follow REBUILT rules for typical regional play. This is not a change to the game rules but we are highlighting this fact here due to the fact that in prior years Ruckus has used the Championship-style alliance selection system (4 team alliances with no backups). Due to the smaller size of the 2026 event we will not be using that system this year and wanted to make this very clear to teams in advance.

Playoffs

The Playoff Match Bracket at Ruckus will follow the same format and structure in the REBUILT manual, but with the below change:

Section 10.6.2, Paragraph 3:
As shown in Figure 10-2 and Table 10-2, Playoff MATCHES consist of 6 rounds with breaks between later rounds and between Finals MATCHES. Breaks begin after the FIELD has been cleared from the previous MATCH. The Blue and Red Gap columns indicate the approximate time between each ALLIANCE’S MATCHES. In Table 10-2, the breaks between matches 12-16 will be 10 minutes rather than 15 minutes.
(In essence, the playoff format is the same, match sequence is the same, but the timing of matches is changed to shorten the overall length whilst still providing the 10 minute minimum match breaks when teams play back to back.)

Reasoning: With Ruckus being a single day off-season competition, time is very limited for both the playoff tournament and the qualification matches that preceed it. While this change does remove some time between playoff matches for teams to do repairs, it is our intent to strike a balance between providing that repair time and giving all teams as many qualification matches as is practical.

Scoring

Section 6.5.3 - Point Values
The ENERGIZED, SUPERCHARGED, and TRAVERSAL RP threshold values uses will be those in the Regional/District Event column of Table 6-5 in the game manual.

District and FIRST Championships used higher numbers for these thresholds as shown in Table 6-5, but we feel that the regular season/regional thresholds are most appropriate for Ruckus.

Real-Time Scoring

Real-time scoring will be employed at Ruckus as with traditional FIRST events. However, we wish clarify operation of the real time scoring as follows:

Any failure of real-time scoring will not be considered an ARENA FAULT provided that the real-time scoring inaccuracies are able to be corrected to the satisfaction of the HEAD REFEREE and field support staff upon conclusion of the MATCH.

Reasoning: While REBUILT Real-time scoring has been very reliable at official and off-season events, on extremely rare occasions issues do arise. We wish to strike a balance that is both fair to teams in terms of competition play, but at the same time make reasonable allowances for failures or human errors that have no or very limited impact on the strategic play of the game and that do not severely change the end result of the game.