FIRST Robotics Competition Blog

International teams (i.e. non-United States based teams) experience significant challenges in sourcing game elements from FIRST Choice: both in shipping time (~3-4 weeks for the items to arrive in their home countries) and extra fees associated with importing such items.

In response to this issue last year, FIRST added an option for those teams to devote an inflated number of FIRST Choice credits in exchange for receiving an extra set of game elements with their Kickoff Kits. The number of credits for this option is greater than the number of credits teams spend if using FIRST Choice normally (i.e. inflated) because we recognize the advantage inherent in the timing of early receipt, thus appropriate to reflect that in the FIRST Choice credit cost.

Teams who exercise this option will have their round one FIRST Choice credits reduced by 20%.

The option window is open for non-US teams only between 12:00 ET (Noon) on Tuesday, November 8 and 12:00 ET (Noon) on Tuesday, November 15.

In order to opt-in, a Lead Coach/Mentor 1 or 2 must

• log into your team’s registration account,
• click on the “Extra Game Piece Set Option” button on your Dashboard
• select “Yes” or “No” in the pop up window

You can change your team’s selection if you like, but only until the window closes.

The default option, and the result if you do nothing, is to not receive an extra set of game pieces at Kickoff and receive the full allotment of FIRST Choice credits.

We hope that this option will continue to mitigate some obstacles faced by non-US teams. As always we look forward to feedback about the implementation in the post-season Kit of Parts survey.