Upper Deck

Upper Deck
Type	Elimination (After 30 seconds)
Seasons	World Championship VI - Present

Introduced ahead of BattleBots World Championship VI, the Upper Deck (also known as The Shelf) is a raised platform raised a total of six inches above the BattleBox floor, measuring 8x16 feet across. It is the first major hazard to have been included since the Paddles in World Championship I.

Its purpose is to provide control bots with an opportunity to score knockout wins against its opponents, as any robot positioned atop the platform has twenty seconds to escape before they are deemed immobile. To make this more difficult, there are taller walls surrounding some of the edges to make the Upper Deck harder for bots to escape from. Towards the front of the Upper Deck are two sets of Screws, identical to those seen elsewhere in the BattleBox, which assist robots in getting their opponents on top of the platform. The Upper Deck was originally yellow, as seen in the dress rehearsal involving Skorpios and Kraken, but was later painted red. Though unconfirmed why this was changed, it was likely to differentiate it from the yellow barriers around the circumference of the arena.

The Upper Deck returned for the following season, with minor red and blue decor added to the top panels. In the September 14, 2022 episode of Behind the Bots, Munson admitted preferring the idea of the hazard consisting of smaller platforms occupying two corners of the BattleBox, though its geometry remained the same ahead of the 2022 season.

A top down view of the hazard.

The Upper Deck prior to being repainted red.

Notable Uses

Bloodsport lays immobile and is counted out.

A handful of robots were able to benefit from this addition. Notably, those such as P1 utilized it to showcase control during fights, whereas the likes of Hydra and Lucky were even able to immobilize opponents on top of it.

World Championship VI

Riptide's flamboyant method of self-righting.

As Whiplash fought Bloodsport, Matt Vasquez was able to overturn its opponent and sit it on top of the Upper Deck, where it was counted out.

HUGE celebrates atop the Upper Deck.

In Riptide's fight against Defender, Riptide was able to use the side of the hazard to propel itself into the air and land back on its wheels.

The Upper Deck was also used in a non-combative sense as HUGE mounted the hazard to celebrate its knockout victory over Retrograde, spinning on the spot as its opponent was counted out and HUGE earned its first win of the 2021 season.

Later in the season, Gigabyte used the Upper Deck to its advantage as it was given time and space to spin up against Tantrum. Upon throwing itself off the right-side of the Upper Deck where Tantrum was waiting, Gigabyte was able to tear a wheel away from its opponent.

Blip counted out on the Upper Deck.

In the battle of the flippers between Blip and Hydra, Jake Ewert was able to flip Blip onto the Upper Deck, where one of its wheels broke. It was counted out on top of the Upper Deck and eliminated from the tournament as a result.

Big Dill sticks the landing.

Vengeance in Vegas I

In the exhibition matches, titled Vengeance in Vegas, Big Dill was launched by Blip and twisted through the air. Upon landing, one of its lifting forks speared itself into the platform, immobilizing Big Dill in unique fashion.

In another exhibition battle, Lucky was able to immobilize P1 in a very similar way to how Hydra took out Blip earlier in the season. However, P1 was beached on the railing and could not escape in its final fight before retirement.

re:MARS all:STARS 2022

Blip leaves Whiplash to be counted out.

During the 2022 re:MARS event titled Vegas All Stars, Blip's relentless assault on Whiplash culminated in Aren Hill throwing its immobile opponent upon the Upper Deck to be counted out.

Alex Bales rights HyperShock using the hazard.

Later in the bracket, HyperShock driver Alex Bales used the Upper Deck to her advantage and self-righted with assistance from the hazard in its win over Blip.

Glitch is counted out on the hazard.

World Championship VII

Black Dragon delivers a final blow to RIPperoni.

In the first Fight Night episode's battle between Glitch and Riptide, the latter overturned Glitch early on. Wanting the fight to go on longer, it was mutually agreed that Riptide would hit Glitch again to right it. However, it was instead picked up by the hazard's screws and Glitch was counted out atop the Upper Deck.

In the World Championship tournament, Whiplash managed to hoist Beta onto the hazard via the screws. This attack cost Beta its power link, immobilizing it instantly.

After a hard-fought Round of 32 battle, newcomer RIPperoni became immobile in the latter stages and was shoved onto the Upper Deck by Black Dragon.

Banshee's party trick.

BattleBots: Destruct-A-Thon

During the live show, one of Bronco's tricks is to use the power of its flipper to jump onto the Upper Deck. This was replicated by Banshee in one of its Proving Ground battles against Maximum Paralysis.

Short Corners

The Short Corners highlighted.

As the Upper Deck did not cover the whole width of the BattleBox, additional pockets were created on either side of the hazard which could in itself pose a hazard for spinners or any other robots exhibiting a loss of control. These were officially known as the "short corners" throughout the 2021 season. The risk of "corralling" - the act of cornering an opponent in one part of the BattleBox - was diminished by additional tournament rules discouraging this practice, implemented to avoid repeats of the controversial Hydra vs. HUGE fight from the previous season.

Uppercut coerces Gigabyte into a short corner during World Championship VI.

However, horizontal spinners suffered the most from this byproduct of the Upper Deck, as they often ricocheted off the new edges of each pocket with only one way in and out of each short corner. Notably, shell spinner Gigabyte struggled to escape the left-side pocket in its loss to Uppercut, and was ultimately knocked out in that area of the BattleBox.

On multiple occasions during Fight Night and the tournament bracket, teams who had thrown their opponents on top of or against the Upper Deck were able to position themselves in the openings to either of the short corners, ready to attack again.

Reception

The Upper Deck was stated to have increased, along with the new anti-OOTA guards, the number of significant hits (+39%) and attack frequency (+31%) in comparison to the previous season fights.

The canceled design for Malice (right) ahead of the 2021 season.

However, its had a mixed reception from builders, the most vocal of whom felt the addition added little to fights aside from less entertaining ways to lose. The addition affected how robots were upgraded in the off-season too. Notably, Malice's intended redesign which involved elongating its chassis did not go ahead as a result of the Upper Deck.

The Upper Deck even caused some controversy, such as during the fight between Cobalt and Whiplash and the rematch of Witch Doctor and Minotaur: in the former Whiplash drove forward into the Deck and got snared by it while Cobalt got high-centered near it at the same time. Normally this would elicit a timeout to help the robots, but Cobalt's disc refused to deactivate due to damage from the fight, making the fight end prematurely, much to the Whiplash team's dismay where they lost. In the latter it was more severe: Witch Doctor also got itself snared after throwing Minotaur onto the Upper Deck, though Minotaur was able to escape, its left wheel fell off in the process, and another timeout was declared, but it seems Marco Meggiolaro believed he should've won because Minotaur was still moving at all, but the rules at the time claimed robots that couldn't drive straight were the loser, and because both being incapacitated was why a timeout happened at all, and Witch Doctor was freed, but when Witch Doctor begged for Minotaur to be counted out, who was preventing it, this fight became majorly disliked and sparked rule changes for next year.

In Hydra's Top 32 play in match against Defender, Team Whyachi's Jake Ewert audibly criticized arena hazard to camera, footage which remained in the televised episode.

Damage to the Upper Deck.

Captain Shrederator dislodges part of the hazard.

"And that's why The Shelf sucks, because I can't play with my toy anymore."

— Jake Ewert after beating Defender

Parts of the Upper Deck were also known to have come apart during filming. However, there was only one televised instance of this during the 2021 season, when Captain Shrederator dislodged the housing for the screws in its fight against ROTATOR.

Following the conclusion of the season, Kyle Awner of Team HyperShock began an open discussion concerning rule changes for future BattleBots seasons, part of which concerned the Upper Deck. Whereas builders such as Matt Spurk have suggested changing the geometry of the platform itself, others such as Jonathan Schultz pushed for the hazard to be removed altogether. However, the hazard has remained largely unchanged in the years which followed