Decode (FIRST)

Decode, stylized as DECODE, or officially referred to as DECODE presented by RTX is the First Tech Challenge game for the 2025–2026 season. The Decode season kickoff was on September 6, 2025, and was broadcast through YouTube and occurred at many local kickoff events.

Field

In Decode, two alliances of two teams each compete on a 12 foot by 12 foot arena made up of 36 interlocking tiles by scoring green and purple balls called artifacts into their alliance-specific goal, create patterns, and park at the end of the match. At opposite sides of the Decode field, in the front corners, there are two goals that artifacts are scored into—one for each alliance. There are white tape lines called launch lines that are parallel to the front face of each goal and additional launch lines that go perpendicularly from each goal to meet in the center of the field. There are also two more launch lines at the rear-end of the field, forming a triangle shape, starting from one tile from the middle on each side and meeting one tile from the edge.

Scoring

There are three parts in an FTC Decode Game: Autonomous, TeleOp, and End Game.

Advancement

Advancement points are used to rank FTC teams for advancing to the next level of play. Teams with the highest rank not already advanced will move up. The table below indicates how advancement points are awarded.

World Championship

The FTC World Championship occurred from April 29–May 2, 2026, bringing together 338 teams from around the world. The overall awards from the FTC World Championship and their subdivision champions are listed below.

Premier Events

Following a regional championship, teams may advance to a premier event or in some premier events can separately apply. There were 12 premier events in the FTC Decode season. Information about each one is listed in the table below.

References