FIRST Overdrive is played on a 54 ft (16 m) by 27 ft (8 m) track divided lengthwise by a fence into a Red side and a Blue side. The fence is crossed by an overpass marking the red and blue finish lines. Two three-team alliances race around the track in a counter clockwise direction manipulating Trackballs.

The game is made up of two scoring periods. The first 15 seconds of play is the Hybrid period in which robots are autonomous, and may also respond to digital signals sent by team Robocoaches stationed at the corners of the track.

The next two minutes of play is the Teleoperated period. At this time, robots are radio controlled by team operators standing at either end of the field.

Scoring

During the Hybrid period, robots traveling in a counter clockwise direction score:

• 8 points for each of their Trackballs knocked off of the overpass
• 8 points for each of their Trackballs passed over the overpass
• 4 points whenever their robot crosses a lane marker
• 4 points whenever their robot crosses their opponent's finish line
• 4 points whenever their robot crosses their finish line
• 2 points whenever their trackball crosses their finish line

During the Teleoperated period, robots traveling in a counter clockwise direction score:

• 2 points whenever their robot crosses their finish line
• 2 points whenever their Trackball crosses their finish line
• 8 points whenever their Trackball hurdles their overpass

Alliances score an additional 12 points for each of their Trackballs that are positioned anywhere on the overpass at the end of the match.

Hybrid period

Hybrid period is a new addition to an FRC game. Rather than the pre-game autonomous modes of previous years where robots were prohibited from receiving input from humans, robots may receive signals via an infrared (IR) remote control or visible light from a designated Robocoach during the Hybrid period. The number of different IR signals the IR board included in the kit of parts is physically able to receive is 4. The number of distinct commands that are allowed to be sent is also 4, thus ruling out multi-signal combinations.