February 1, 2025

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February 1, 2025 will be Round 1 of our 2025 NHRL Open World Championship Qualifying schedule.

This will not be a New Bots event. We are not running any New Bots events in 2025. Here's why.

New Bots started as a way to encourage builders to bring exciting new designs. But we are dealing with a registration crunch right now. In September 2024, we had almost double the number of builders register compared to the number of slots available. We need to give you all more opportunities to bring your bots to fight.

New Bots has also historically been the event with the fewest number of registrations and the most dropouts and forfeits compared to other events. This is to be expected for an event of that nature, but we had to decide whether we wanted that versus offering more chances to compete.

So in addition to running an extra Open event, changing the first event of the year from New Bots to a regular Open event will give everyone an additional chance to qualify.

We know that some of you have been excited about the possibility of running New Bots in 2025, and we hope you understand why we’re making this decision. We’re currently working on our registration process to find a way to bring the spirit of “New Bots” into each event, while still offering opportunities for competitors to build their fanbases and improve their bots.

This decision adds in one extra Open Qualifier round in Norwalk. So with the removal of new bots and the addition of the extra round, regular NHRL Open attendees will have one more chance to compete.

Registration

Because of high demand, competitors will be selected through a lottery. Some competitors have already have had approved reservations for this event because of long-distance travel or a limited number of events they can attend. Those competitors will skip the lottery.

Enter the lottery here. The lottery will be open until Sunday, January 5 at 11:59 pm EST. Selections and the waitlist will be announced on Wednesday, January 8.

Read more about our registration system here.

Check out the number of bots entered into the lottery here.

Hotel

Hotel booking information coming soon!

Important dates

• Reservations close: December 29, 2024, 11:59 pm Eastern
• Lottery entry opens: December 30, 2024, 12:00 pm Eastern
• Lottery entry closes: January 5, 11:59 pm Eastern
• Selections announced: January 8
• Minor dropout deadline: January 11, 11:59 pm Eastern
• Major dropout deadline: January 27, 11:59 pm Eastern
• First round matchups released: January 28
• Event date: February 1