CalGames 2023
CalGames 2023 has passed – we hope you had a fantastic weekend there and made it back home safely! Thank you to all those who had a hand in planning, volunteering or attending the event, we hope that you had a great time. We have already heard a lot of good feedback from volunteers, teams, and attendees regarding the event, and we would love to hear from you too.
Please take a few moments to fill out the survey that was sent out to the WRRF mailing list (which we won’t link to here to avoid spam). We wish to continue the things that went well and improve on the items that didn’t work out as well. Huge thanks to Nick our lead MC for putting this together!
As always, let us know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns. Thanks for coming and making it such a great event!
Until next year!
Event Info
CalGames 2023 was held across October 6-8, 2023 at Woodside High School, with Team 100 (The Wildhats, Woodside Robotics & Woodside High School) as host – thank you to all that attended, and to the many teams that submitted survey responses during our planning process! The latter helped the BOD make a decision among the teams bidding to host CG23 after reviewing with the Planning Committee.
Overall replicated prior year’s (CG21, CG22) schedule sequence:
- Two competition days (Saturday & Sunday) PLUS one evening of practices (Friday).
- Setup (Thursday evening + Friday daytime) + Competition (Friday evening, Saturday daytime, Sunday until mid-afternoon) + Teardown (Sunday)
CalGames 2023 used a double elimination format for the finals.
For Competing Teams
Please check the team folder link that was emailed to you for more details regarding arrival & unloading, food trucks, times and safety acknowledgement forms for volunteering teams, the inspection checklist, and more! Also, remember that all awards requiring submissions have deadlines in early October, please make sure you are keep those in mind if you are planning on submitting.
Additionally, please let us know at CalGames@WRRF.org if you do not need a table in the pits. We are hoping we don’t have to rent extra tables.
Key Dates
[Updated October 19, 2023] See Registration tab for current registration status.
- June 4: Registration details announced
- June 15, 12:01:00AM: Event Team Registration began for early registration teams. Registrations received before that will all be treated as having the same time & date. The slots will be similar to prior years.
- July 1: logo submittals were due (see Logo Contest tab)
- August 1, 12:01:00AM: Open Registration began for teams.
- August 22: 2nd Robot Registration opened. Registrations received before that were all be treated as having the same time & date.
- Payment due date: September 15 (end of day; postmarked on/by 9/15). Teams that recently got off the waitlist get a bit more time. Zelle is preferred over check. Check is fine too!
- September 26, 7:00PM: Optional Q&A meeting for participating teams. Link has been sent to contacts for registered teams.
- October 1, 12:00PM: final changes to registration details: robot name, sponsors, important info.
If you have any questions, contact us at:
- CalGames@WRRF.org – any general event questions
- Register4CalGames@WRRF.org – any and all registration questions
- VolunteerCalGames@WRRF.org – individual volunteering interest
- Treasurer@WRRF.org – any financial questions (payment issues, etc.)
Awards Overview
This list is just a quick overview of awards available at CalGames 2023 – see the PDF below it for complete details and deadlines!
| Award Name | Process | Application Link (if Applicable) |
|---|---|---|
| Rookie Inspiration Award | Judged from among 2023 Rookies | N/A |
| Highest Seeded Rookie | Highest Qualification Score among Rookies (2 or more rookies registered) | N/A |
| Autonomous Mode Challenge Award | Judged from all teams with working autonomous | N/A |
| Entrepreneurship Award | Judged from interviews: Teams must register for interviews | Application |
| Innovation Award | Judged from all teams | N/A |
| Imagery Award | Judged from all teams | N/A |
| WRRF Director’s Award | Selected by WRRF BOD | N/A |
| Judges Award | Judged from all teams | N/A |
| Systems Design Award | Judged from all teams | N/A |
| CalGames 2023 Champions (3) | Competition Results | N/A |
| CalGames 2023 Finalists (3) | Competition Results | N/A |
| Founders Award | Judged from interviews: Teams must register for interviews | Application |
| Mentor of the Year | Judged from team submitted forms | Application |
| Volunteer of the Year Award | From prior winners committee | N/A |
Award Descriptions
CalGames 2023 has passed! The livestream is archived below.
Congratulations to Jorell S. from Aragon Robotics (840) for creating the CalGames 2023 logo selected by the Planning Leads & BOD!
Big thanks as well to the eight artists who submitted creative logos, making this year’s decision quite challenging.
Original Contest Guidelines
The CalGames 2023 Logo Contest, a tradition for 10+ years at WRRF, has closed.
Submissions were due to CalGames@WRRF.org by Monday, July 1.
These guidelines are here for reference only.
Your challenge is to design an original, compelling event logo which also:
- is not FIRST-derived (i.e., no FIRST logo, no FIRST 2023 game logos)
- This means NO use of this year’s game graphics either. It is critical the CG23 logo be your creation completely with no borrowed art EXCEPT for WRRF logo.
- incorporates the WRRF logo
- has the text “CalGames 2023” (CalGames as one word)
- utilizes the WRRF colors (Purple #560F6B, Gold #F0AF00, Green #006549) where appropriate
The rest is up to you! The designer of the winning submission (selected by the WRRF Board) will receive public recognition and a free WRRF-branded item (<$75) sporting the winning logo.
Make sure to preview your logo at different sizes to ensure that it can scale up and down without key details being lost, keeping in mind it may be printed on a variety of materials of different sizes ranging from buttons to programs to shirts to banners.
Please submit your final graphic alongside a written statement asserting that your design is indeed original, and your name & team number (if appropriate) so we can properly credit you if you win. Submissions should be sent in SVG format (we also recommend providing a PNG as reference for what the submission is supposed to look like in case the SVG does not render correctly on our end, though the SVG is what will be used for final printing)
By submitting an entry, you grant WRRF permission to use your graphic, if selected, for any and all CalGames 2023 marketing and promotional purposes, and acknowledge that we may make minor edits to the selected logo without consulting you to ensure readability before sending it off for printing.
If you have any questions, please reach out to CalGames@WRRF.org and we will do our best to answer them.
CalGames 2023 has passed! Thank you to all who attended and see you next year!
The information below is kept for reference.
Registration occurs in two tiers, early and open registration. Registrations received prior to the opening of a tier will be treated as if they had been received at the exact opening date and time for that tier.
- Early Registration began June 15, and cost $300 per team, plus commitment to a volunteer slot (6+ students, 1+ adults – see below for list).
Not fulfilling this commitment with no notification will disqualify the team from competing in CalGames 2024. - Open Registration began on August 1 and costs $400 per team with no commitment to a volunteer slot.
- 2nd Robot Registration opened August 22 and costs $400 per team with no commitment to a volunteer slot.
Teams are strongly encouraged to step up to help out as much as they can!
Payment must be made by September 15, 2023 (teams who recently got off the waitlist get a little more time). Zelle payments (preferred) or check are acceptable methods of payment. Write Register4CalGames@WRRF.org with any questions.
Current Registration Status
[Last updated October 19, 2023]
Since the Woodside Pit Gym is large enough, the Planning Team decided on August 7, 2023 to move up to 42 teams (from 36 originally). Size, power, and how many matches teams will play (9 vs. 10 + practice match) were all assessed.
Registered Teams
Teams, your final details (robot name, team sponsors, things for judges to know) were due in JotForm by noon of October 1 – no further changes will be accepted. Also, remember to upload team member (student & adult) consent & release forms there as well! Your primary and secondary contacts can edit the form using the ‘Edit’ link at the bottom of the form included in the invoice email. All teams have invoices. Payment is due 9/15 by check or Zelle (a bit later if you recently got off the waitlist).
| Team Number | Team Name |
|---|---|
| 8 | Paly Robotics |
| 100 | Wildhats |
| 115 | MVRT |
| 199 | Deep Blue |
| 253 | Boba Bots |
| 581 | Blazing Bulldogs |
| 670 | Homestead Robotics |
| 751 | Barn2Robotics |
| 766 | M-A Bears |
| 840 | Aragon Robotics |
| 841 | BioMechs |
| 846 | The Funky Monkeys |
| 852 | Acropolis Robotics |
| 1072 | Harker Robotics |
| 1700 | Gatorbotics |
| 1868 | Space Cookies |
| 2473 | Goldstrikers |
| 2489 | Insomniacs |
| 2643 | Dark Matter |
| 2813 | Gear Heads |
| 3045 | Gear Gremlins |
| 3256 | The WarriorBorgs |
| 4186 | The Alameda Aztechs |
| 4765 | PWRUP |
| 4904 | Bot-Provoking |
| 4990 | Gryphon Robotics |
| 5026 | Iron Panthers |
| 5419 | Berkelium |
| 5430 | Pirate Robolution |
| 6036 | Peninsula Robotics |
| 6059 | System Overload Robotics |
| 6418 | The Missfits |
| 6962 | RobotX |
| 7245 | LionBots |
| 7777 | Septobots |
| 8033 | Highlander Robotics |
| 8048 | The East Palo Alto Churrobots |
| 8404 | Skywalkers |
| 9114 | Rotationaries |
| 9143 | Armor Robotics |
| 9400 | BagelBytes |
| 9900 | Wildhats B |
Waitlisted:
846 B, 9868, 9766
Complete List of Early Registration Volunteer Slots (<= 23 slots):
As of July 17, all early registration slots are filled. This list is here for reference only.
- Rookie team (2023 rookie) up to FOUR teams
- CalGames 2022 Host (#5430 only)
- CalGames 2021 Host (#846 only)
- Inventory – Summer Saturday TBD (TWO teams)
- Buttons (make drive & event buttons)
- Radio Management / Coordination
- TH evening Setup (Flooring) ~6-8:30 (THREE teams)
- FRI AM Setup (Build field, pit) 9AM-12PM (ONE team)
- FRI AM Setup (Build field, pit) 10AM-1PM (TWO teams)
- FRI PM Setup (More setup) 12PM – 3PM (TWO teams)
- Sun PM Field Cleanup ~4PM – 6PM (TWO teams)
- Sun PM Pit Cleanup ~4PM – 6PM (ONE teams)
- Sun PM PODs Pack ~5PM – 7PM (TWO teams)
The following document outlines the finalized rule changes for CalGames 2023. These were developed from other off-season event published rule changes, modified by the CalGames 2023 Planning Committee.
History of Changes:
- Revision 3 (released July 10, 2023) – Fixed the wording of CG3 to clarify that we are not changing the value of the COOPERTITION BONUS, but reverting the number of LINKS required with the COOPERTITION BONUS
- Revision 2 (released July 5, 2023) – finalized version
- Revision 1 (released June 15, 2023) – draft for input
Thank you to all who volunteered at CalGames 2023!
This year, we began offering a new option – Key Volunteer Interns!
For students looking to challenge themselves and learn more about the MC, Game Announcer, FTAA, or CSA roles, we highly encourage you to sign up for one of these Intern roles to shadow some of the Key Volunteers at CalGames!
Please note that individuals volunteering for an event role does not fulfill the team volunteer requirement for event staffing.
Please reach out to VolunteerCalGames@WRRF.org if you have questions regarding volunteering in any role.