Notes
WCA Regulations
The WCA Guidelines supplement the WCA Regulations. Please see the Regulations for more information about the WCA.
Numbering
Guidelines are numbered in correspondence with related regulations. Note that mutiple Guidelines may correspond to the same Regulation, and some Guidelines correspond to Regulations that do not exist anymore.
Labels
To be more informative, each Guideline is classified using one of the following labels. Note that this should be treated as metadata, not as a description of importance.
- ADDITION Additional information to supplement the Regulations.
- CLARIFICATION Information to address any possible questions about interpretation of the Regulations.
- EXPLANATION Information that clarifies the intent of Regulations.
- RECOMMENDATION Something that is not strictly mandatory, but that should be done if possible.
- REMINDER Information that may be addressed other Regulations/Guideline, but whose relevance is worth reiterating.
Contents
- Article 1: Officials
- Article 2: Competitors
- Article 3: Puzzles
- Article 4: Scrambling
- Article 5: Puzzle Defects
- Article 6: Awards/prizes/honours
- Article 7: Environment
- Article 8: Competitions
- Article 9: Events
- Article 10: Solved State
- Article 11: Incidents
- Article A: Speed Solving
- Article B: Blindfolded Solving
- Article C: One-Handed Solving
- Article D: Solving With Feet
- Article E: Fewest Moves Solving
- Article H: Multiple Blindfolded Solving
Article 1: Officials
- 1c3+) RECOMMENDATION Results should be ready at the end of the last day of competition.
- 1c3b+) CLARIFICATION If there are multiple groups, it is not necessary to identify which competitor was in which groups.
- 1c4+) RECOMMENDATION Corrections to the results should be available within one week of the competition date.
- 1c10+) CLARIFICATION It is sufficient to ensure access to a digital copy of the Regulations.
- 1h+) RECOMMENDATION Competitors in the same group should use the same scramble sequences. Different groups should use different scramble sequences.
- 1h+) RECOMMENDATION All final rounds of all events, as well as all Fewest Moves Solving rounds, should have the same scrambles for all competitors (i.e. only 1 group).
- 1h1+) CLARIFICATION Scramblers/judges should only scramble for/judge other competitors in the same group only if it is important for competition logistics.
Article 2: Competitors
- 2c+) ADDITION First-time competitors should register using their legal name. They may register using a reasonable nickname, at the discretion of the WCA Delegate.
- 2c++) ADDITION Competitors must not provide intentionally misleading information, and returning competitors should provide information consistent with past information (e.g. exact name and WCA ID).
- 2d+) ADDITION Date of birth and contact information should be especially secured.
- 2d++) RECOMMENDATION If a third party (e.g. journalist) asks the organisation team to be put in contact with any competitor(s), the competitor(s) should first be asked for consent.
- 2h+) CLARIFICATION Competitors may be barefoot for Solving With Feet.
- 2j2+) EXAMPLE For example, if a competitor is disqualified from an event for failing to show up for the final round, his results from earlier rounds remain valid.
- 2s+) REMINDER Special accommodations must be noted in the Delegate Report.
Article 3: Puzzles
- 3a+) CLARIFICATION Competitors may use puzzles of any reasonable size, at the discretion of the WCA Delegate.
- 3a++) ADDITION By default, a competitor should use the same puzzle for consecutive attempts in a speed solving round. A competitor may switch puzzles between attempts, at the discretion of the judge or WCA Delegate.
- 3a++) CLARIFICATION Competitors may borrow puzzles from other competitors privately, to use in competition.
- 3a1+) CLARIFICATION Competitors may be disqualified if they do not come when they are called, or if they do not have a puzzle ready to submit (e.g. if they planned to use a puzzle that another competitor is currently using, and therefore cannot submit their puzzle at the moment).
- 3h+) CLARIFICATION Puzzles may be refined internally by sanding or lubricating.
- 3h++) EXAMPLE Examples of enhancements include: new moves are possible, normal moves are impossible, more pieces or faces are visible, colours on the backside of the puzzle are visible, moves are done automatically, or the puzzles has more/different solved states.
Article 4: Scrambling
- 4b1+) REMINDER The WCA Delegate must never re-generate any scrambles to replace other ones for the purpose of filtering. For example, it is not be permitted to glance at the scrambles for a competition and generate the entire set again in order to generate "fairer" scrambles.
- 4b2+) CLARIFICATION In general, all official scramble sequences should be kept secret during the competition and published together after the end of the competition (see Regulation 1c3a). In some cases (e.g. world records), the organisation team may wish to release specific scrambles sooner after the end of a round.
- 4d+) CLARIFICATION Some puzzles use standard colour schemes, except that black is replaced with white. In this case, black is the darkest colour and must not be treated as white.
- 4f+) RECOMMENDATION The WCA Delegate should generate sufficient scrambles for the entire competition ahead of time, including spare scrambles for extra attempts.
- 4f++) REMINDER If the WCA Delegate generates any additional scrambles during the competition, he must save them (see Regulation 1c3a).
Article 5: Puzzle Defects
- 5b5+) EXAMPLE Examples of pieces physically detached, resulting in a solved state: one 3x3x3 center cap, one big cube center piece, an inner piece of a big cube.
- 5b5++) EXAMPLE Examples of pieces physically detached, resulting in a "DNF": two 3x3x3 center caps, two big cube center pieces, a 3x3x3 edge piece, a 4x4x4 edge piece ("wing"), any combination of two pieces that both have coloured faces.
- 5b5+++) EXAMPLE Example of pieces not fully attached, resulting in a solved state: a 5x5x5 centre piece twisted in its spot.
- 5b5++++) EXAMPLE Example of pieces physically attached but not fully placed, resulting in a "DNF": a 3x3x3 edge piece slightly popped out.
Article 6: Awards/prizes/honours
- 6a+) ADDITION Awards, prizes or honours may be given to competitors according to the announcement of the competition.
- 6b+) RECOMMENDATION Competitors should attend the winner's ceremony to receive awards/prizes/honours.
- 6b1+) RECOMMENDATION The winner's ceremony should be held in the competition venue, within one hour after the end of the last event.
- 6c+) RECOMMENDATION Winners of awards, prizes or honours should be prepared to talk to journalists or any media covering the competition.
- 6d+) RECOMMENDATION Organisation teams of competitions should have certificates for all category winners, signed by the leader of the organisation team and by the WCA delegate.
Article 7: Environment
- 7d+) ADDITION The temperature of the competition area should be 21 to 25 degrees Celsius.
- 7h2+) ADDITION The competitors in the competitors area should not be able to see the puzzles of the competitors on stage.
Article 8: Competitions
- 8a4+) RECOMMENDATION Changes to increase the maximum number of competitors in qualification round or first round, or to add a qualification round for newly registered competitors should be made at least one month before the competition (see Regulation 9r3).
- 8a4++) RECOMMENDATION The competition should be announced at least one month before the beginning of the competition.
- 8a5+) RECOMMENDATION The competition should have at least 12 competitors.
Article 9: Events
- 9b+) ADDITION The preferred format for the final of an event is "Average of 5" or "Mean of 3", if possible.
- 9b++) ADDITION Events other than those specified in Regulation 9b may be held during a competition, but will be considered unofficial and therefore will not be included in the official results of the competition.
- 9f5+) CLARIFICATION The result for an attempt is DNS if the competitor was eligible for the attempt and did not attempt it. If the competitor did not qualify for an attempt (e.g. in a combined round), he does not have any result for the attempt.
- 9q+) RECOMMENDATION Events and rounds should have at least 2 competitors.
- 9r+) EXPLANATION The goal of a qualification round is to let unranked or low ranked competitors qualify for the first round of an event with many registered competitors.
Article 10: Solved State
- 10f+) EXPLANATION The misalignment limits are selected so that they provide a natural cutoff between one state of a puzzle (without penalty) and a state one move away.
Article 11: Incidents
- 11e+) CLARIFICATION Since an appeal is not guaranteed to be successful, the competitor may choose to keep the timer running while appealing it, and resume the attempt when appropriate.
- 11e1+) REMINDER The extra attempt must be scrambled using an unmodified scramble sequence generated by an official scrambler (see Regulation 4f, Guideline 4f+).
Article A: Speed Solving
- A1a2+) ADDITION In case of a cumulative time limit, the judge records the original recorded time for a DNF on the score sheet in parentheses, e.g. "DNF (1:02.27)".
- A1a3+) REMINDER The organisation team and the WCA Delegate must be mindful that time limits influence the strategies of the competitors (e.g. rushing the first two attempts in hopes of meeting a cutoff in a combined round), and that changing time limits after the beginning of the round can disadvantage some competitors unfairly.
- A1a4+) REMINDER If a competitor has accidentally been permitted to exceed the time limit, the time limit must be enforced retroactively, and the judge, competitor, and WCA Delegate should be informed (see Regulation 1g2). Judges must always be aware of the time limit for a current attempt (which might depend on previous attempts, in the case of a cumulative time limit).
- A2c1+) CLARIFICATION In the past, score cards have been used to cover puzzles while leaving some sides exposed. This is no longer permitted.
- A3c3+) CLARIFICATION Although the judge is required to reset the timer for the competitor (see Regulation A3b), the competitor may reset it before/during the inspection phase if the judge accidentally neglected to do so.
- A6b+) EXPLANATION The arbitrary value of 0.06 seconds was chosen to accommodate concerns about Stackmat timer malfunctions.
- A6g+) ADDITION While he is determining whether to assign a penalty for misalignment, the judge should not touch the puzzle.
Article B: Blindfolded Solving
- B1+) REMINDER The competitor must use a puzzle without textures, markings, or other features that distinguish similar pieces (see Regulation 3k). This should be given special attention for Blindfolded Solving
- B1b+) RECOMMENDATION Blindfolds should be checked by the WCA Delegate before use in the competition.
Article C: One-Handed Solving
- C1b+) CLARIFICATION The competitor may use both hands during inspection.
- C1b++) CLARIFICATION The competitor is not required to use the same solving hand for different attempts of the same round.
- C1b2+) REMINDER Use of the surface is permitted while repairing the puzzle.
Article D: Solving With Feet
- D1b+) CLARIFICATION The competitor may wear socks while solving.
- D1c+) REMINDER While repairing puzzle defects, other body parts must not touch the puzzle.
Article E: Fewest Moves Solving
- E2b+) CLARIFICATION A competitor may choose to stop his attempt early by handing in a solution before the time limit.
Article H: Multiple Blindfolded Solving
- H1b1+) REMINDER The attempt is not disqualified for reaching the time limit, due to exceptions for Multiple Blindfolded Solving (see Regulation A1a4 and Regulation A1a5).
- H1b1++) ADDITION The judge may permit the competitor to continue the attempt unofficially, but the attempt must be stopped and judged first, in full accordance with the Regulations.
- H1d+) EXAMPLE Example: If a competitor attempts 10 cubes, stops with a time of 59:57, and has two time penalties, the time for the result is 59:57 + 2*2 = 60:01 (also see Regulation A1a5).
- H1d++) EXAMPLE Example: If a competitor attempts 10 cubes, and the judge stops him at one 60 minutes, and has two time penalties, the time for the result is 60:00 + 2*2 = 60:04.