Chapter 6: Tournament Manager
Introduction
Every VEX Robotics Competition qualifying event runs on the same event software, no matter where it is or how many teams attend. That keeps rankings, Robot Skills scores, and qualifying spots consistent from one event to the next, which is only possible if every event calculates them the same way.
Tournament Manager is the official event software for VEX Robotics Competition events, and every qualifying event is required to use it. It builds the match schedule, holds the match timer, turns scores into rankings, and sets up the finals, so that you do not have to calculate any of that by hand.
You cannot download Tournament Manager yet, which is why this chapter is an orientation rather than a walkthrough. It gives you a picture of what the software does, so the user guide makes sense when you open it.
Many Event Partners do not operate the software themselves on event day — a volunteer does. Your job is to know what the software is responsible for, have the right equipment ready, and supply the codes needed to connect the Tournament Manager file to your event's listing on events.vex.com.
The time to complete this chapter is approximately 30 minutes.
In This Chapter
This chapter introduces Tournament Manager as the software behind the event day you already know. You will see what the software is responsible for at each block of the day, what equipment it needs, and where its instructions live. Then you will learn how a Tournament Manager file and an events.vex.com listing exchange information — what passes between them, in which direction, and when.