Hello readers of the Academy blog! This year’s game board appears to be very challenging, with challenges representing real life natural disasters and disaster recovery.
As you can see, the game board has 9 colored zones. In the top-left corner of the game board is the tree, pets, and flashlight. The objective of the tree is to knock the loose branch off without making serious contact with the electrical wires. If serious contact is made with the electrical wires, points are not earned, and the power goes out. The flashlight is one of the supplies that you need to get to either the yellow zone (for 3 points), or the red zone (for 4 points.) The pets’ objective is to be in the same zone with at least 2 other people.
We are now moving on to the orange zone, with the house, guy, motorcycle, and helmet.The house is a very simple challenge. It has a lever on the side that the robot must push in order to lift the house and protect it from floodwater. The guy must be together with one person for 33 points, or with two people for 66 points, in the same zone. The motorcycle and helmet are also supplies and have the same rules as the flashlight.
Now moving on to the supply truck and the ambulance, located below the orange zone, and below the NATURE’S FURY logo. The goal of the the supply truck is to be touching the mat in the yellow region. Note that the light blue region is also inside the yellow region. However, supplies are worth more points if in the red zone, and the truck has a TRUCKload of supplies. What I am implying is that if the truck is brought back to base, the supplies can be removed and put in the red zone, and the truck can then be moved to the yellow zone. Now on to the ambulance. The ambulance has to be completely inside the yellow zone. Not a single molecule of it can be out of the yellow zone.
We are now moving on to the plane, tsunami, and water. The plane is across the river, east from base in the bottom left corner. The goal of the airplane is for the plane to land on the runway. The most points are given for the plane in the blue region. Note that if the plan lands and does not hit any piece on the game board, the referee will move it to the blue zone. It is activated by a lever on the launcher. Next is the tsunami, north of the plane. Here you simply push on the tsunami lever to launch it. The water is next to the plane and is a supply.
Next we are going to the city west of the top-right corner of the board. This area has 4 missions: Base Isolation, The Gas, Construction Relocation, and Code Construction. The first one I am going to talk about is Base Isolation. The goal is to knock down one building and not the other. The robot cannot make contact with either of the buildings. Next is the gas, west of the buildings, this is a supply. The next two are Construction relocation and Code Construction.
The goal of these two is to have no gray blocks in the light green zone, and build it in the pink zone.
Next is the evacuation sign, generator, and the electric battery. The electric battery is a supply. The goal of the evacuation sign is to have the sign standing up with no support from the robot whatsoever. The generator is a green machine with 2 wheels south of the sign that must be pushed into the red zone.
Lastly, I am writing about the Obstacle Course, Radios, and Safe Place. The radios are two supplies located north of the obstacle course. The obstacle course, in my opinion, is the hardest challenge on the board. It has four obstacles, each with it’s own challenges. The first obstacle is the river, with 2 spots for the wheels to go through. This obstacle takes us to the dark blue zone, which takes us to the fallen tree obstacle, with actual rolling tree trunks to throw the robot off course. This takes us to the dark green zone and the demolished house, with a house’s roof, and a see-saw like brick wall. Next is the purple region, which takes us to the last obstacle. The stone wall. This is an extremely high stone wall, with 2 holes for the robot’s wheels to go through. Note that for the whole obstacle course, there is no penalty for the obstacles breaking, due to poor design. The last mission is Safe Place, which is ending the game with the robot in the red zone.
This is Tabish S.,
President of the Club,
Signing Off