Information on the internet
Website of World Cube Association: www.rasshifrui.ruOriginal source of the WCA Regulations: www.rasshifrui.ru/regulationsWCA Regulations in PDF format
Source
Development of the WCA Regulations and Guidelines is public on GitHub and the discussion is public on the WCA Forum.
For questions and feedback, please contact the WCA Regulations Committee (WRC).
Note: Because Article and Regulation numbers are not reassigned when Regulations are deleted, there may be gaps in numbering.
- 1a) A competition must include a WCA Delegate and an organization team (consisting of one or more individuals) with the following officials: judges, scramblers and score takers.
- 1b) The organization team of a competition is responsible for logistics before, during, and after the competition.
- 1c) The WCA Delegate is responsible for ensuring that the competition adheres to the WCA Regulations and any applicable WCA policies or requirements. The WCA Delegate may appoint other members of the organization team to carry out specific responsibilities on their behalf, but is ultimately accountable for how these responsibilities are carried out.
- 1e) Each event must have one or more judges.
- 1f) Each event must have one or more scramblers. Exception: 3x3x3 Fewest Moves.
- 1g) Each event must have one or more score takers.
- 1h) Competitors in the same round of an event may compete as a single group or be divided into multiple groups.
- 1j) All officials may compete in the competition.
- 1k) Officials may serve multiple roles (e.g. organization team, WCA Delegate, judge, score taker, scrambler).
- 2a) Any person may compete in a WCA competition if they (complemented by Regulation Y3):
- 2b) Competitors below the age of 18 must obtain consent from their parent(s)/guardian(s) to register and compete.
- 2c) Competitors register by providing all information required by the organization team (including: name, country, date of birth, gender, contact information, selected events).
- 2d) A competitor’s name, country, gender, and competition results are considered public information. All other personal information is considered confidential, and must not be disclosed to outside organizations/persons without the consent of the competitor.
- 2e) Competitors must represent a country of which they hold citizenship. The WCA Delegate should verify citizenship by means of documents (e.g. a passport) at their first competition. If a competitor is found ineligible to represent the country under which they have registered, the competitor may be disqualified retroactively and/or suspended, at the discretion of the WCA Board.
- 2f) Competitors must obey venue rules and conduct themselves in a considerate manner.
- 2g) Competitors must remain quiet when inside the designated competition area. Talking is permitted, but must be kept at a reasonable level, and away from competitors who are actively competing.
- 2h) Competitors must be fully dressed while in the competition venue. At the discretion of the WCA Delegate, competitors may be disqualified from the competition for inappropriate clothing.
- 2i) While inspecting or solving, competitors must not use electronics or audio equipment (e.g. cell phones, MP3 players, dictaphones, additional lighting) apart from the Stackmat timer or stopwatch.
- 2j) The WCA Delegate may disqualify a competitor from a specific event.
- 2k) At the discretion of the WCA Delegate, a competitor may be disqualified from some events (a single event, multiple events, or all events) if the competitor:
- 2l) A competitor may be disqualified immediately, or after a warning, depending on the nature and severity of the infraction.
- 2n) Competitors may verbally dispute a ruling to the WCA Delegate.
- 2s) Competitors with disabilities that may prevent them from abiding by one or more WCA Regulations may request special accommodations from the WCA Delegate. Competitors requesting such accommodations should contact the organization team and WCA Delegate at least two weeks before the competition.
- 2t) Each competitor must be familiar with and understand the WCA Regulations before the competition.
- 2u) Competitors must be present and ready to compete when they are called to compete for an attempt. Penalty: disqualification from the event.
- 3a) Competitors must provide their own puzzles for the competition.
- 3d) Puzzles must have colored parts, which define the color scheme of the puzzle and must be one and only one of the following: colored stickers, colored tiles, colored plastic, or painted/printed colors. All colored parts of a puzzle must be made of a similar material.
- 3h) Modifications that enhance the basic concept of a puzzle are not permitted. Modified versions of puzzles are permitted only if the modification does not make any additional information available to the competitor (e.g. orientation or identity of pieces), compared to an unmodified version of the same puzzle.
- 3j) Puzzles must be clean, and must not have any markings, elevated pieces, damage, or other differences that significantly distinguish any piece from a similar piece. Exception: a logo (see Regulation 3l).
- 3k) Puzzles should be approved by the WCA Delegate before use in the competition.
- 3l) A puzzle may have a logo on a colored part. If it does, it must have at most one colored part with a logo. Exception: For blindfolded events, a puzzle must not have a logo.
- 3m) All brands of puzzles and puzzle parts are permitted, as long as the puzzles comply with all WCA Regulations.
- 4a) A scrambler applies scramble sequences to the puzzles.
- 4b) Puzzles must be scrambled using computer-generated random scramble sequences.
- 4b1) Generated scramble sequences must not be inspected before the competition, and must not be filtered or selected in any way by the WCA Delegate.
- 4b2) Scramble sequences for a group must be available only to the WCA Delegate before the start of that group, and only available to the WCA Delegate and the scramblers for the group until it is finished. Exception: For 3x3x3 Fewest Moves, competitors receive scramble sequences during the round (see Article E).
- 4b3) Specification for a scramble program: An official scramble sequence must produce a random state from all states that require at least 2 moves to solve (equal probability for each state). The following additions/exceptions apply:
- 4b4) Each scramble sequence should be applied during a maximum time frame of 2 hours. This time frame starts when the scramble sequence is applied for the first time.
- 4d) Scrambling orientation:
- 4f) Competition scramble sequences must be generated using a current official version of an official WCA scramble program (available via the WCA website).
- 4g) After scrambling a puzzle, the scrambler must verify that the puzzle is scrambled correctly. If the puzzle state is wrong, the scrambler must correct it (e.g. by solving the puzzle and applying the scramble sequence again).
- 5a) Examples of puzzle defects include: popped parts, pieces twisted in place, and detached screws/caps/stickers.
- 5b) If a puzzle defect occurs during an attempt, the competitor may choose to either repair the defect and continue the attempt, or to stop the attempt.
- 5b1) If a competitor chooses to repair the puzzle, they must repair only the defective parts. Tools and/or parts of other puzzles must not be used to repair the original puzzle. Penalty: disqualification of the attempt (DNF).
- 5b2) Any repair to a puzzle must not give the competitor an advantage in solving the puzzle. Penalty: disqualification of the attempt (DNF).
- 5b3) Permitted repairs:
- 5b4) During a blindfolded phase (see Regulation B4), all repairs must be performed blindfolded. Penalty: disqualification of the attempt (DNF).
- 5b5) If some parts of the puzzle are physically detached or not fully placed at the end of the solve, the following regulations apply:
- 9a) The WCA governs competitions for mechanical puzzles that are operated by twisting groups of pieces, commonly known as «twisty puzzles».
- 9b) The official events of the WCA are:
- 9b1) 3x3x3 Cube, 2x2x2 Cube, 4x4x4 Cube, 5x5x5 Cube, 3x3x3 One-Handed, Clock, Megaminx, Pyraminx, Skewb, and Square-1.
- 9b2) 6x6x6 Cube and 7x7x7 Cube.
- 9b3) 3x3x3 Blindfolded, 4x4x4 Blindfolded, 5x5x5 Blindfolded.
- 9b4) 3x3x3 Fewest Moves.
- 9b5) 3x3x3 Multi-Blind.
- 9f) The results of a round are measured as follows:
- 9f1) All timed results under 10 minutes, except for 3x3x3 Multi-Blind, are measured and truncated to the nearest hundredth of a second. All timed averages and means under 10 minutes are measured and rounded to the nearest hundredth of a second.
- 9f2) All timed results, averages, and means over 10 minutes, as well as all times for 3x3x3 Multi-Blind results, are measured and rounded to the nearest second (e.g. x.49 becomes x, x.50 becomes x 1).
- 9f4) The result of an attempt is recorded as DNF (Did Not Finish) if the attempt is disqualified or unsolved/unfinished.
- 9f5) The result of an attempt is recorded as DNS (Did Not Start) if the competitor is eligible for an attempt but declines it.
- 9f6) For «Best of X» rounds, each competitor is allotted X attempts. The best result of these attempts determines the competitor’s ranking in the round.
- 9f7) For «Best of X» rounds, a DNF or DNS is the worst possible result.
- 9f8) For «Average of 5» rounds, competitors are allotted 5 attempts. Of these 5 attempts, the best and worst attempts are removed, and the arithmetic mean of the remaining 3 attempts determines the competitor’s ranking in the round.
- 9f9) For «Average of 5» rounds, one DNF or DNS is permitted to count as the competitor’s worst result of the round. If a competitor has more than one DNF and/or DNS result in the round, their average result for the round is DNF.
- 9f10) For «Mean of 3» rounds, competitors are allotted 3 attempts. The arithmetic mean of the 3 attempts determines the competitor’s ranking in the round.
- 9f11) For «Mean of 3» rounds, if the competitor has at least one DNF or DNS result, their average result for the round is DNF.
- 9f12) For «Best of X» rounds, rankings are assessed based on the best result per competitor. The following are used to compare results:
- 9f12a) For timed results, «better» is defined as the shorter time.
- 9f12b) For 3x3x3 Fewest Moves, «better» is defined as the shorter solution length.
- 9f12c) For 3x3x3 Multi-Blind, rankings are assessed based on the number of puzzles solved minus the number of puzzles not solved, where a greater difference is better. If the difference is less than 0, or if only 1 puzzle is solved, the attempt is considered unsolved (DNF). If competitors achieve the same result, rankings are assessed based on total time, where the shorter recorded time is better. If competitors achieve the same result and the same time, rankings are assessed based on the number of puzzles the competitors failed to solve, where fewer unsolved puzzles are better.
- 9f13) For «Mean of 3» and «Average of 5» rounds, rankings are assessed based on the ordering of the averages/means of the competitors, where «better» is the smaller recorded result.
- 9f14) For «Mean of 3» and «Average of 5» rounds, if two or more competitors achieve identical average/mean results, rankings are assessed based on the best attempt per competitor, where «better» is defined as the smaller recorded result.
- 9f15) Competitors who achieve the same result in a round receive an identical ranking for the round.
- 9g) A Cutoff Round is a round with a «Best of X» cutoff phase and a cutoff requirement (e.g. «Best of 2» with a cutoff requirement of strictly better than 2 minutes). If the competitor satisfies the cutoff requirement in at least one of their cutoff phase attempts, they are eligible for the remaining attempts. Attempts from the cutoff phase count towards the full round format.
- 9i) Results of official WCA competitions must be listed on the WCA world rankings.
- 9j) Each event must be held at most once per competition.
- 9k) All competitors may participate in all events of a competition, except in cases specifically approved by the WCA Competition Announcement Team.
- 9l) Each round must be completed before any following round of the same event can start.
- 9m) Events must have at most four rounds.
- 9o) Cutoff Rounds count as one round when counting the number of rounds per event.
- 9p) If an event has multiple rounds, then:
- 9s) Each round of each event must have a time limit (see Regulation A1a).
- 9t) If any change occurs to the results of a competitor after the competition has ended (e.g. score-taking mistake, retroactive penalty), such that the competitor should not have advanced to the next round (or was not allowed to take part in the round), all results of this competitor for all subsequent rounds must be removed.
- 11a) Incidents include:
- 11b) If an incident occurs, the WCA Delegate determines an impartial and appropriate course of action.
- 11d) If the WCA Regulations are not fully clear or if the incident is not covered by the WCA Regulations, then the WCA Delegate must make a decision based on fair sportsmanship (also see Regulation 11e3).
- 11e) If an incident occurs during an attempt, the WCA Delegate may grant a competitor an extra attempt, replacing the attempt during which the incident occurred. The competitor must appeal verbally or in writing to the judge and WCA Delegate at the time of the incident, before finishing the original attempt, to be eligible for an extra attempt. An appeal does not guarantee the competitor an extra attempt.
- 11f) Decisions about an incident may be supported with video or photographic analysis, at the discretion of the WCA Delegate.
- 11g) The WCA Delegate must ensure that copies of the Regulations and Guidelines are available (e.g. printed, digital, or accessible via internet) to officials and competitors for consultation on any incidents.
- 11h) A WCA Delegate may require competitors in serious violation of Regulation 2k3 to leave the competition venue, taking into account the seriousness of the situation and the best possible course of action. If the competitor refuses to do so, they may face disciplinary action in the WCA.
Wca regulations and guidelines
The WCA Regulations contain the full set of Regulations that apply to all official competitions sanctioned by the World Cube Association.The WCA Regulations are also supplemented by the WCA Guidelines. The Regulations should be considered a complete document, but the Guidelines contain additional clarifications and explanations.
Wording
Uses of the words «must», «must not», «should», «should not» and «may» match RFC 2119.
