# Squashketball 2019: Rules

The game of Squashsketball combines aspects of squash, skee-ball, and basketball. There is a three-tiered basket consisting of concentric containers. The base of the basket is about 5 inches off of the floor. Shots that land in the innermost (red) basket are worth 5 points each, shots in the intermediate (black) basket are worth 3 points, and the outer (white) basket is worth 2 points. Shots that hit or bounce off of the basket are given a single point.

There are three shot lines at 2’, 4’, 7’ from the center of the basket. Up to three shots may be taken from each line, for a maximum of nine shots. To reflect the greater difficulty of the farther shots, scores are multiplied by 2 for shots taken from the 4’ line and a multiplier of 3.5 at 7’.

## Construction

Each device must be designed and constructed according to the following rules:

1. The device must be self-contained. Once competition has begun no parts may be added to or replaced. If the device breaks during competition, teams may repair their device within the allotted time period provided no parts are added or replaced.
2. The device must be self-supporting. No human intervention can be used to hold or stabilize the device. Adhesives may not be used to affix the device to the floor.
3. The following power sources are not permissible: compressed gas canisters, chemicals, explosives. Electrical power is permitted through the use of batteries only.
4. The device must have a mechanical trigger. The device should be able to placed and locked in an “armed” condition. Once armed, the device may be triggered by a single student using a single hand. No human energy may be imparted to the device during triggering.
5. ALL valid parts must be sourced from an approved list of Canadian suppliers and be accompanied by a link to the Canadian website which lists the price in Canadian dollars. The inclusion of any non-standard parts will result in a 15% deduction from your combined score. Be careful that the American version of a website is not used accidentally (e.g. http://www.lowes.com instead of http://www.lowes.ca). The approved list of websites includes:
6. Items need not be purchased from the supplier listed; however, they must have a Canadian supplier as described above.

## Performance competition guidelines

All performance testing will proceed according to the following steps:

1. Prior to testing, each team will be required to bring a printed copy of their itemized cost analysis of all the parts used in their device. There will be a 5% deduction to your cost score for failing to bring a physical copy of the analysis sheet.
2. The TA will review your cost sheet against your design and request additions or changes as needed. No changes may be made to the design after this point.
3. The device will be photographed.
4. Each team will have 5 minutes (300 seconds) to complete a maximum of nine shots. All repairs, repositioning, arming, shooting, etc. count toward time used.
5. Shots may be taken from any line, in any order, until nine shots have been taken or time has expired. However, no more than three shots may be taken from any one line.
6. All parts of the device must begin behind the shot line. Parts of the device may cross above the shot line after triggering but may not touch the floor. Shots will be voided whenever any part of the device which touches the floor beyond the shot line.
7. The device may be positioned any distance behind the shot line; however, it must be repositioned a similar distance behind each shot line. The device may not take all shots from one position beyond the furthest line.
8. Problems or issues not expressly covered by these rules may be treated or penalized at the discretion of the instructor.

## Cost calculation

The cost of the device is determined as follows:

1. Costs must be calculated using the list price on an official website, regardless of the actual purchase price. Nothing can be free. Everything must have a cost.
2. Item costs and calculations should be reported rounded to the nearest penny (i.e., two decimal places).
3. All taxes should be excluded from calculations.
4. Where items are sold in packages of two or more, the item cost may be calculated as a fraction of the total. For example, 3⁄4” #10 wood screws are sold in packages of 75 for \$4.57. Therefore, the cost of three screws is:
$\mbox{cost}=\frac{3}{75}4.57 = 0.18$ after rounding to the nearest penny).
5. The cost of wood or other material may be scaled based on the number of usable parts that could be machined from a given raw piece of material. This is different that the area or volume of material used.
6. Costs of consumables such as tape or glue may also be prorated based on the length or mass of material used.
7. The costs of tools should NOT be included in the analysis.
8. Cost analyses not submitted according to these rules are subject to a 15% deduction to your cost score.

$\mbox{performance grade}=50\%\times\left(1+\frac{[\mbox{your score}]-[\mbox{lowest score}]}{[\mbox{highest score}]-[\mbox{lowest score}]}\right)$ $\mbox{cost grade}=50\%\times\left(2-\frac{[\mbox{your cost}]-[\mbox{lowest cost}]}{[\mbox{highest cost}]-[\mbox{lowest cost}]}\right)$