Cheers and excitement, uncertainty and stress, victories and defeats—it all was there at the 2026 Ignite the Northwest V5RC Signature Event, held inside the Evergreen State Fair Park’s Gary D. Weikel Events Center from Friday-Sunday, Jan. 9-11. More than 100 teams participated, hailing from cities in Washington state, Oregon, Idaho, California, Utah, Arizona, Mississippi, Tennessee, Virginia, Massachusetts, Maine and Hawaii.

The tournament was part of the VEX V5 Robotics Competition, which is presented by Robotics Education & Competition Foundation, “the largest and fastest growing middle school and high school robotics program globally with more than 20,000 teams from 50 countries playing in over 1,700 competitions worldwide.”

The Volcanic division champions, Exothermic Burnout (Bellevue, Washington) and alliance partners Barcbots Getting There (Cupertino, California) faced off against the Glacial division champions, Supernova Chimera (North Hollywood, California) and alliance partners Exothermic Willy Wonkers (Bellevue).

Volcanic took Finals Match 1 with a 48-35 win, scoring eight blocks and controlling one long, upper and lower goals apiece. But Glacial wouldn’t be shut out in the championship series that easily. In Finals Match 2, the blue squad scored five blocks, controlled two long goals and one upper and lower goals each and parked one robot, all enroute to a dominating 57-21 victory, tying the best-of-three series, 1-1.

Finals Match 3 presented a winner-take-all scenario, but it wouldn’t be a championship match if there wasn’t any drama. Rather than an outright victory by one team, both squads drew to a 33-33 stalemate, each scoring five blocks and parking one robot. Therefore, another matchup was needed to determine a champion. Finally in Finals Match 4, even though Glacial scored seven blocks, controlled one long and lower goals each, it wasn’t enough to outdo Volcanic, which scored nine blocks, one long and upper goals apiece and received the autonomous bonus, totaling to a 55-37 victory.

About the Game & Scoring

VEX V5 Robotics Competition Push Back is played on a 12’ x 12’ square field. Two (2) Alliances – one (1) “red” and one (1) “blue” – composed of two (2) Teams each, compete in matches consisting of a fifteen (15) second Autonomous Period, followed by a one minute and forty-five second (1:45) Driver Controlled Period.

The object of the game is to attain a higher score than the opposing Alliance by Scoring Blocks in Goals, Controlling zones within Goals, and Parking in defined zones at the end of the Match.

Autonomous Bonus: 10 points

Each Block Scored: 3 points

Each Controlled Zone in a Long Goal: 10 points

Controlled Center Goal – Upper: 8 points

Controlled Center Goal – Lower: 6 points

1 Parked Alliance Robot: 8 points

2 Parked Alliance Robots: 30 points

About Ignite Robotics

Ignite Robotics is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to furthering STEM education for future technology leaders. We operate a 6,000+ sq ft maker space in Bellevue where students can design, build, and test their robots with professional tools and peer mentorship at their disposal. Our students compete in the VEX Robotics Competition. We operate three programs: Exothermic and Quantum Robotics at the High School level and Blaze Robotics at the Middle School level. With a strong 18+ year history of peer mentorship and alumni connections, we take amateur engineers and turn them into World Champions. Currently, we have more than 30 teams and over 200 members in our organization.

Visit https://snocosports.org/event-recap-2026-ignite-the-northwest-v5rc-signature-event/ for article, gallery and the list of division finalists, division champions and event award recipients.