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 http://www.firstinspires.org/resource-library/fll/ask-an-expert-webinars

  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