First LEGO League Teams and Coaches,

  This year's FLL Challenge, Animal Allies, is being released Tuesday at
noon.

  If your team has been assembling the mission models, and maybe guessing
what the missions are, you'll find out for sure tomorrow!

  If you've been thinking about the Project challenge, you'll see the
details, and the requirements, too!

  Now (or after your team gets together) is a good time for brainstorming.
Let your imaginations run wild.  But, after you've collected a bunch of
ideas, don't forget to read and re-read the Challenge document to make sure
that what you are planning is allowed.

  Here are a few tips for the Robot Game:
For everyone, if there is a video, please expect that it will have mistakes
in it.  (This is based on experience...)  I expect that the written
Challenge and Update documents will be what you need to understand.

  For experienced FLL teams, remember--There are Rule changes every year!
Don't expect that the Rules are exactly the same as last year or before.

  Bottom line--the best teams and the happiest teams are those that re-read
all the game documents carefully every few weeks, and before your
tournament.  It works really well to have at least one of your team members
be a rules expert--able to point out where the Rules either allow or
prohibit something that the team wants to try.  (Plus it is great training
for future referees!)

  If there is something in the Robot Game that isn't clear to your team, or
if there is a strategy that you just aren't sure about, you can ask
questions here on the VA-DC forum, or directly to me at [log in to unmask] (or
check the global FLL forums, too).  I will share general discussion topics
with the group.  We won't post any solutions to the list, but questions are
welcome.

  Don't forget about the Ask An Expert webinars and other team resources
available at
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.firstinspires.org_resource-2Dlibrary_fll_ask-2Dan-2Dexpert-2Dwebinars&d=CwIBaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=k6Oa5GxfBPFMgGjb2r5QIoEOeBZs9xbNIpA0kLw_kFQ&m=gY9pgnPjlmvTzcGtwHEN8AdOK399BUcsNkyp5AzDRIg&s=xzDY6zOOeQ4xVON5qYCH4lADRFUzLf9n1JCRgrcuWI4&e= 

  It looks like this year's Robot Game is full of more missions than your
team will be able to complete during a 2.5 minute match, so try as many as
you want to, and then figure out how to put them together for a competition
round.

  I'll send out messages in October to talk about what to expect at your
tournaments, but until then, we are ready to get going, so THREE, TWO,
ONE....LEGO!

Steve Scherr
Virginia-DC FLL Referee Advisor

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