2006 "Laundry Quandary!": NEW!
The objective is to design and build a remotely controlled device to retrieve “dry” laundry from clotheslines and place “wet” laundry on clotheslines within the 3-minute time limit.

2005 "Mission To Hubble":
On this complex task, 4 robots will work together to repair the Hubble space telescope. New gyro/battery units and a de-orbit rocket engine have been launched and are waiting in orbit on 4 specially designed Space Tugs. Orbital rendezvous between the BEST servicing robot, the Space Tug and the Hubble can only be maintained for 3 minutes. Robots that complete the mission the quickest will be awarded all future servicing contracts. In the event none of the robots can complete the mission before the rendezvous time expires, robots completing the most mission critical tasks will be considered for future contracts.

2004 "BEST Fever":
"The objective of this game is to separate the PCR Primers from the DNA deoxyribonucleotides. You can maximize your score by working with your neighboring competitors and placing your game pieces in a shared area on the blood vessel wall. Capturing and placing the Hidden Gene game piece on to the elevated capture receptacle can further enhance your score."

2003 "Transfusion Confusion":
"The objective is to design and build a remotely controlled device to safely transport as many blood cells as possible into your portion of a Cell Saver within the 3-minute time limit."

2002 "Warp X"
"Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to build a robot that will traverse the rotating black hole and rescue the game pieces from all of the previous BEST games. You have only six weeks to design, build and test your robot before sending it back in time to rescue the BEST game pieces."

2001 "RAD to the CORE"
"The designers of this year's game decided to produce a game from a slightly different point of view. The objective is to design and build a remotely controlled machine that runs on an overhead track. The machine must remove fuel rods from nuclear reactors and place them into a Multi-Tube Containment Vessel (MTCV)."

2000 "Pandemonium in the Smithsonian"
"The 2000 BEST game is unique in that the drivers must rely heavily on the spotters since the driver's view of the robot is severely limited by the wall in the center of the playing field. The remote-controlled machine must navigate to a variety of scoring areas to score points for the team and/or remove the scores of the opposition. Four teams compete at a time for the 3-minute long matches, and the team with the most points wins."

1999 "Rocket Race: The Alien Escape"
"The 1999 BEST game is one of strategy, speed, and agility. The objective is to design and build a remotely controlled robot to move game pieces to one of four scoring areas. The game pieces represent the escape pods of alien beings that must be attached to a rocket that is nearing blast-off. Four teams will compete at a time, and the team with the most points wins."

1998 "Toxic Troubles"
"The objective of this year's challenge, Toxic Troubles, is to design and build a remotely controlled robot that gathers spilled "toxic waste" and places it into a containment vessel. A CD containing valuable information about other hazardous waste locations should also be retrieved."

1997 "Dynamite Duel"
"The objective of this year's challenge, Dynamite Duel, is to design and build a remotely controlled robot that picks up sticks of "dynamite" from a "mine," then drives up a ramp to drop the dynamite into a scaled bucket. This game varies from previous matches in that only two teams will compete at a time."

1996 "Block N' Load"
"The objective of this year's challenge, Block n' Load, was to capture territory on the playing field and defend it from opponents. Sections of the playing field were considered "captured" by the team with the most colored blocks in that area. Each team started with 12 blocks of either red, blue, green, or yellow."

1995 "TOTALly aweSUM"
"The 1995 engineering task involved designing a machine to pick up Styrofoam "noodles" and put them into a positive or negative scoring area before the buzzer sounded. This year's game, more than last year's, required teams to think in terms of strategy, as well as mechanics."

1994 "Bumble Rumble"
"The 1994 engineering task involved designing a machine to catch Bumble Balls, those jiggly, cute, and annoying little things that kids just can't seem to get enough of. Once caught, the balls had to be deposited at the team's home base before the buzzer sounded to score. Teams could also plot to keep their opponents from scoring. The team with the most points at the end of each two-minute round won, until knocked out of the double-elimination tournament."

1993 "PVC Insanity":
"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."

Desciptions provided by SA BEST.