There has been a small amount of discussion about this in the global
FLL forum.  See http://forums.usfirst.org/showthread.php?t=17889

The word in the forum is that making sure that the slide is properly
attached to the center wall helps a lot.

I will note that the sets used in the VA/DC FLL tournaments all start
out new at the beginning of November, so they might not have as much
wear and tear as the kits that your teams will be practicing with
before the tournament.


Unfortunately, I am not prepared right now to make a ruling on what
the "expected" behavior for the rat on the slide is.  All the ones
that I have assembled slide really well when new, but none have them
have been attached to an FLL table, or have had dozens of trips down
the slide.

Figuring out the "expected" behavior is important.  If rats sticking
is common, then it's expected and there is nothing that the referee
needs to do.  On the other hand, if a mission model is obviously doing
something very unexpected, then the referee might think that there was
a problem with the mission model and apply Benefit of the Doubt, which
might include awarding the team the points associated with the
malfunctioning model.

Steve Scherr
VA/DC FLL Referee Advisor

On Wed, Sep 28, 2011 at 12:54 PM, Yi Chu <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I observed that in several occasions, the rat was not sliding down or
> sliding down very slowly.  It is causing issue for my team to decide
> how long to wait for the rat to drop.
>
> I wonder if anyone else is experiencing similar issue.  If it happens
> in tournament that the rat gets stuck and not sliding down, is the ref
> going to count points for the mission?
>
> yi
>

-- To UNSUBSCRIBE or CHANGE your settings, please visit https://listserv.jmu.edu/archives/vadcfll-l.html and select "Join or leave the list".

-- VADCFLL administrative announcements are sent via VADCFLL-ANNOUNCEMENTS-L. Visit https://listserv.jmu.edu/archives/vadcfll-ANNOUNCEMENTS-l.html to subscribe.