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Chapter 1: Competition Event Foundations

Lesson 3: Qualifying Events and How Events Connect

Learning Objectives

  • Distinguish qualifying events from scrimmages and identify the requirements for qualifying events.
  • Explain what a qualifying spot is and how an event receives its spots.
  • Identify which awards carry qualifying spots.
  • Describe how a local event connects to the events that follow it in the season.

A team's season is rarely a single event. Teams build their season out of multiple events: an early tournament to find out what the robot can actually do, another in December after a redesign, a Robot Skills score posted in January, etc. Each event is like a building block teams stack to create their season. The awards handed out at Tina’s event in Lesson 1 did not stop mattering when the gym emptied — some of them qualified teams for their next event.

This lesson is about what makes an event official and eligible to qualify teams for later stages of competition.

Scrimmages versus Qualifying Events

A scrimmage is a practice event. Teams run practice matches and test robots, volunteers get experience refereeing, and nothing is official — no rankings, no judged awards, no Robot Skills scores, no advancement. Because none of it “counts,” none of the qualifying requirements apply. That makes a scrimmage the easiest event to host, and plenty of Event Partners run one before their first tournament.

Students in school uniforms gather around a VEX IQ field set up on the carpet of a bright room, one driving while the others watch.

A qualifying event produces official results, so it has to meet published requirements. Most events you host will be one. Included at qualifying events are Qualification Matches, Robot Skills, finals, and often judged awards. There are three options for who can participate in a qualifying event:

  • Open Tournament: The standard local competition, open to every eligible organization in that VEX Robotics Competition program.
  • School-Based Event: Participation is limited to teams from eligible schools, districts, and approved school-based organizations.
  • Invitational Event: Participation is limited by criteria you publish before registration opens.

Other event formats exist as well — Robot Skills-Only events, Leagues, Signature Events, and the Championship Events that cap a region's season. The Types of VEX Robotics Competition Events article describes each one.

Qualifying Criteria for an Event

  • Every official qualifying event must meet the following criteria:
  • Approved by your Program Support Team
  • Runs on the current season's game rules
  • Uses the official event software
  • Registers at least 16 teams
  • Keeps any single organization at 33% or less of registered teams, or draws teams from at least five organizations
  • Gives every team at least 6 Qualification Matches
  • Offers every team up to 3 Driving Skills and 3 Autonomous Coding Skills attempts, with Robot Skills closing no later than the end of Qualification Matches
  • Uses a certified Head Referee and a certified Judge Advisor if judged awards are offered

The Event Qualifying Criteria article lists all the requirements plus the timeline around them: registration opens at least eight weeks before the event, certified (key) volunteers are posted at least three weeks out, and results are uploaded within 48 hours of the last match. Chapter 4 will cover these in more detail. 

Which Awards Qualify Teams

Events that meet the qualifying criteria earn a number of qualifying spots that are awarded to teams through performance or judged awards. Teams that earn an award with a qualifying spot attached to it are then eligible to register for the next Championship Event in their region, state, or country. Qualifying spots from these Championship Events qualify teams for the VEX Robotics World Championship.

These qualifying spots reach teams three ways: a qualifying performance award, a qualifying judged award, or Robot Skills rankings.

Exactly which awards qualify shifts by program, event type, region, and season. Your Program Support Team will assign the number of qualifying spots for your event. You can reference these articles to determine which awards connect to qualifying spots: 

A team celebrates with their award and medals in front of a VEX Robotics national championship backdrop, with a judge and an adult standing alongside them.

Most teams at your event will not advance from that specific event. They came anyway — to play matches, to see other robots, to find out whether the thing they built actually works. While qualification spots are how the event hands out invitations to the next level of competition, it is not what the day is for.