A couple of details on how it all happened this year

Theme: Montezuma's revenge

Thousands of years ago, on a perfectly ordinary Thursday, a very unordinary and unfortunate thing occurred.

At the high seat of the Aztec empire, among the many splendid temples and ziggurats, a large crowd watched - silent with trepidation - as the only surviving players in the sacrificial lachtli league entered the final period tied nil-nil. Many of the players had money riding on the game, but more importantly, the wrath of Montezuma would beset the villages, fields and livestock of losers, and morever, would eventually transfer to the Boston Red Sox, where the curse resides today.

At the last second, Ixkapatal Tulkixkapot, lead striker for the Teatihuacan Maizemen, stumbled clear of the last Tulum Tobraider defensemen, and with a quick flick of his foot sent the worn rubber ball throught he goal. The crowd exploded with emotion, but shouts of finality turned to questioning murmurs as they beagn to spot a small yeallow flag on the field. Indeed, the referee called a travel on Tulkixkapot, turning the ball over with no score, and no time left on the clock, to the Tombraiders.

In a decision that would haount him for the rest of his life, the cief referee declared that for the sake of network ratings, in the case of a tie both teams would be sacrificed at the highest precipice on the highest temple. Neither fanbase was content to both unnecessarily lose the championship AND begin the following season with a roaster of rookies, and the crowd began to stir.

None besides the Priests and the soon-to-be-martyred players were permitted on the high temple, on penalty of something unknown and noisome. Luckily, two teams of robotic technicians were in attendance, composed of two to three people each. One team wore the Maizemen colors, while the other held aloft a large banner reading "Go Tombraiders, Circle Me Madden!"

They constructed vehicles with rudimentary materials in a very short time. They used good design practices, comented their code, and made sure their batteries were fully charged and their beacons were transmitting before sending their electronic sentinels up the temple to rescue as many players as they could, without letting them fall into the lava pits in the valley below (unless they fell on a small, circular island in th elava pits, which would actually be a good thing).

Make your robots swift and accurate, contestants, and beware Montezuma's Revege!