The first BEST contest was held in Sherman, Texas in the fall of 1993 using the name North Texas (NT) BEST. Contest participants included one team from each of 14 local schools as well as a team sponsored by a group of volunteers from San Antonio, Texas. The object of this competition was to take short pieces of PVC from the edges of the playing field and place them on a goal in the center of the field and to defend them against opponents.



The playing field was a dodecagon (a 12 sided figure) 15 feet in diameter. The outside wall was 12 inches high and the surface of the playing field was carpeted. The scoring area was in the center of the dodecagon.

At the beginning of each match the rings were suspended from pegs on the outside wall of the playing field. The pegs were 3 inches long, 1 inch in diameter, and the center of each peg was 6 inches above the carpet. There were 3 rings hung on each of the 12 wall sections, 1 ring of each color. The order of the colors were red, green, yellow, green, yellow, red, yellow, red, and green in a clockwise direction when viewed from above. This cycle of colors was repeated 4 times around the wall.

In each match, two or three teams competed to get their color rings into the scoring area. The scoring area consisted of a raised platform, 2 inches above the carpet and 2 feet, 10.5 inches in diameter, having 7 posts. One post could hold four rings and was at the center of the scoring area. The other six posts could hold two rings and were positioned at the outside edge of the scoring area, spaced 60 degrees apart. These six posts were color coded at the top, (the color code corresponds to the team's starting and ring color) two posts each of the three ring colors. The posts were 5.00 inches in diameter at their base. The center post was 17.25 inches tall and the outer posts were 10.75 inches tall above the raised platform.


Game points were awarded based on the position of the rings at the end of each match. Rings still on their starting pegs, touching the carpet, or out of the field scored no game points. Rings on or over the raised platform but not in a machine or detached container scored 1 game point. Rings on the six outer posts scored additional game points if the color of the ring matched the color on the top of the post; only 1 game point was scored if the color of the ring did not match the color on the top of the post. The center post scored even more game points and as open to all teams.

Each post had scoring zones marked on it. The short posts had two zones, the one on the bottom being worth 4 game points and the upper one worth 2 game points. The tall post had 4 zones, worth 8-, 6-, 4-, and 2- game points from bottom to top. Rings on a post would score the game points of the highest zone which they touch. Thus, the first ring on a post would score the most game points. If two teams had the same number of game points, the team scoring with the fewest rings would win the match.

Game points would be awarded based on the position of the rings at the start of the buzzer signaling the end of the match. Movement of the rings after the buzzer would not alter the score.


Each team was assigned a color for each match and began the match with their machine inside that color starting area. Teams scored game points by moving rings of their color into the scoring area. A team could attempt to prevent other teams from scoring by blocking an opponent's machine, blocking an opponent's post, or moving other teams' rings. Rings that left the playing field were out of play for the duration of the match.