Questioning the Judge

[sciolyFTW_aku]

Hey everyone,

At State this past weekend, I was watching one of the schools run their Mission. I wasn't exactly sure what was going on, but I could hear the tasks running. Anyways, while I was listening, I heard their time waster going. But, it stopped in the middle, so they had to touch it again to get it working. And, also, right after it was finished, it rang the bell. According to the rules, if a competitor touches a transfer that leads to the Final Task (directly), he/she will be penalized 15 points and will lose points for the Final Task. Their time waster lead directly to the ringing of the bell, so they should have lost points for the Final Task. But, I'm not sure whether the judge penalized them the points for the Final Task. Now since State is over, I feel like I should have asked the judge if they had deducted the points or not. But, I wasn't sure whether I could do this or not. Since I will be participating at Nationals, do you think it would be okay if I asked the judge about certain aspects of scoring on a competitor's device, or is this illegal? Thanks for the feedback!

[Unome]

I would suggest not; if it's a serious issue you can ask your coach to submit an appeal, but imo in most cases arbitration is more trouble than it's worth (I haven't actually been involved in any appeals, and this is mostly just based on what I've read on the forums, so it may not be good advice).

[gelinasdynamickid]

Was this NY states?

I would probably not do it. At invites I noticed a team with a motor powering a screw. I asked the judge about it, and it just led to an all around awkward situation.

[bearasauras]

If you're worried about how it'll be judged at National, then you should submit a clarification for National. Most likely the person who ran your State event won't be judging it at National and getting their ruling on something won't really be helpful to you. I don't know about your State, but in Southern California, we don't accept appeals complaining about other teams. In your case, how do you know that the sand timer led directly to the final task? I'd think that it would be very hard to verify that without having actually seen the device or seen their transfer list.

[sciolyFTW_aku]

If you're worried about how it'll be judged at National, then you should submit a clarification for National. Most likely the person who ran your State event won't be judging it at National and getting their ruling on something won't really be helpful to you. I don't know about your State, but in Southern California, we don't accept appeals complaining about other teams. In your case, how do you know that the sand timer led directly to the final task? I'd think that it would be very hard to verify that without having actually seen the device or seen their transfer list.

I had a quick glance at their Mission, and it seemed as if the bell and time waster were enclosed in a big box. I guess, after all, there could be another simple machine in there leading to the bell. Thanks for the feedback!