“Two alliances of video game characters and their human operators are trapped in an arcade game. To escape, alliances use power cubes to control switches and a scale, pass power cubes through the exchange for power ups, and ascend to face the boss” (2018 FIRST Robotics Competition- FIRST POWER UP Game Animation*). Designed by FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) alumni, volunteers, and mentors, along with current FIRST students, this LEGO set is a scale model of half of the FIRST Power Up field, the 2018 FIRST Robotics Competition (http://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/frc) game.

Official FIRST Power Up Game Reveal Video:

About FIRST Power Up:

The main objective of the game is for the two opposing alliances - each consisting three teams - to gain and maintain ownership of two switches and a scale on the game field. At the beginning of the match, none of the elements have any power cubes on them. Power cubes are located at multiple positions on the playing field, on the robots, and in each alliance portal. Alliances need to add power cubes to tip the scale and switches into their ownership for the longest amount of time. The scale also has a platform from which the robots need to climb. If all three robots can climb at least 12 inches off the platform, the alliance can face the boss.

Each of half of the field contains an alliance wall: three team player stations, one alliance exchange, and two opposing alliance portals. In addition to the portals through which teams can give robots power cubes, the alliance’s exchange near the player stations is used to pass the power cubes back and forth between the human operators and their robots. Power cubes given to the human operators here can be used in the vault, located behind the alliance wall, to activate one of three power ups:

Force: Gives alliance ownership of their switch, scale, or both

Levitate: Earns one member of the alliance a free climb at the end of the match

Boost: 2X multiplier on points for 10 seconds for their switch, scale, or both

The alliance that earns the most points, wins the match, and defeats the boss!

This LEGO set includes:

Half of the FIRST Power Up field

1 Scale (Movable like the real game element)

1 Switch (Movable like the real game element)

30 Power Cubes

1 Alliance Wall

3 mock robots of the Red Alliance with 12 Minifigures

3 mock robots of the Blue Alliance with 12 Minifigures

Minifigures of Dean Kamen and Woodie Flowers, two of the FIRST founders.​

This set of approximately 800 LEGO bricks is enough to replicate one half of the playing field (Blue Alliance is shown in the images). With bricks to change alliance colors (To Red Alliance), this set can be used to complete the other half of the field. By getting two sets, a person can replicate the complete playing field.

Six example robots are included in this set. Three robots are for the Red Alliance, and three robots are for the Blue Alliance. These robots are loosely based on the game reveal video. One can even design their own FIRST POWER UP bot to complete the challenges in the LEGO model, just like in the FIRST Robotics Competition game!

FIRST and LEGO already have a strong partnership through FIRST LEGO League Junior (http://www.juniorfirstlegoleague.org/) and the FIRST LEGO League (http://www.firstlegoleague.org/). With this third iteration of our annual LEGO FIRST set, our set designers further adapt and expand the use of LEGOs not only in competition with younger students, but also with practical application and efficient discussion of strategy for the current game.

There are three other contributors to this set: Robopetzer, TheAndrewcpu, and blevine2001. All four of us give our explicit permission to use our work (as shown above) in this set.

* “2018 FIRST Robotics Competition- FIRST POWER UP Game Animation.” YouTube, uploaded by Official FIRST, 6 January 2018,