Team Registration
Time to go to www.robotevents.com and register your teams for the new year, and sign up for some tournaments.  If you have returning teams, you will be given the chance to register the same numbers you had last year.  No change in fees – it is still $75 for the first team from a school, and $25 for each additional team.

“Round Up” – The 2010-2011 VEX Robotics Ccompetition Game

Rules and team resources: http://www.vexforum.com/wiki/index.php/Round_Up

Game and tech support: http://www.vexforum.com

Register for a tournament (more than 200 events this year!): http://robotevents.com/robot-competitions

VEX Robotics Competition World Championships
Please note the new date for the VRC World Championships: April 14-16, and the change of location from Dallas, Texas, to Walt Disney World in Florida.  I don’t know about you, but by April, Florida is going to sound really good to me. There will be separate Middle School (roughly grades 5-8) and college divisions at Worlds this year!

Technology Student Association VEX Competition
The Washington TSA Chapter will be holding their VEX competition playing “Round Up” at the March 17-19 State Conference in Bellevue.  This event is open to any registered TSA Chapter VEX team.  Just to be clear, TSA VEX teams can play at any VRC tournament, but to play in the TSA event you need to have a TSA chapter at your school.  You can get in touch with the Washington state TSA at www.washingtontsa.org for further information on joining the TSA and all their programs.

College Competition
Did you know that there is a VEX Robotics College Competition?  See information here: http://robotevents.com/robot-competitions/college-competition.  There is only one college team that I know of in the PNW right now, at the University of Washington, but if we can find a get at least three more started I would be glad to host a demonstration event in conjunction with our Feb. 26 tournament in Redmond.  Contact me if you have any questions.

Super Tournaments
These are generally bigger and more dramatic than our local tournaments.  Here are some you might want to consider:

• VEX Robotics All-Star Challenge at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex
• US National Robotics Championship (qualifying rules apply)
• VRC World Championships (qualifying rules apply)
• British Columbia VEX Championships, BC Institute of Technology, Vancouver, BC (One of our own local events is one of the biggest in the world, with more than 60 teams in two divisions!)

Pacific Northwest/British Columbia Calendar
Featuring two new tournaments in Oregon, and culminating in the big BCIT tournament in Vancouver in March, the PNW/BC VRC season is shaping up to be an active one.

• Nov. 20 – Washington Jump Start Tournament, Redmond High School, Redmond, Washington.  Bang together some robots and play the new game.  Sign up and bring anything that moves!  (Event RE-VRC-10-4855)
• NEW! Dec. 4 – Oregon December VEX Tournament, West Salem High School, Salem, Oregon (RE-VRC-10-4891)
• Dec. 11 – British Columbia VEX Season Opener, Cambie Secondary School, Richmond, BC (RE-VRC-10-4867)
• Feb. 5 – Vancouver Island VRC Tournament, G.P. Vanier Secondary School, Courtenay, BC (RE-VRC-11-4885)
• NEW! Feb. 19 – North Marion Invitational, North Marion High School, Aurora, Oregon (RE-VRC-10-5584)
• Feb. 26 – Washington VRC Winter Tournament, Redmond High School, Redmond, Washington (RE-VRC-11-4879)
• March 5 – Oregon VEX Tournament, Sandy High School, Sandy, Oregon (RE-VRC-11-4888)
• March 12 – British Columbia VEX Championships A Division, BC Institute of Technology, Vancouver, BC (RE-VRC-10-4870 and RE-VRC-11-4873)
• March 18 – Washington TSA VEX Tournament, Bellevue, WA