Somebody came on IRC today asking about regulations on color blind stickers (like these http://cubesmith.com/colorblind.htm). The current regulation regarding sticker colors say [quote:1qy9an4e]3c)Competitors must use any colour scheme for cube puzzles, as long as the puzzles show one colour per face in solved state. 3d)The colours of puzzles must be solid, the same per colour, and clearly distinct from other colours.[/quote:1qy9an4e] which don't accommodate people who are color blind. Perhaps this could be revised?

Actually it was me who asked on the chat room about this, i appreciate your concern. The thing is i will be participating in the Santiago Open 2009 and i want to know if i would be allowed to use those stickers.

I believe the rule should be: As long as each side is solid figure or side, the stickers should be legal

How about this: The faces of the puzzle may be stickered in any color or pattern, as long as stickers that are on the same face are the same. The colors or patterns of stickers on different sides must be clearly distinguishable.

[quote="qqwref":169ts8zn]How about this: The faces of the puzzle may be stickered in any color or pattern, as long as stickers that are on the same face are the same.[/quote:169ts8zn] Not good. Imagine the [url=http://twistypuzzles.com/cgi-bin/puzzle.cgi?pkey=226:169ts8zn]Shepherd's Cube[/url:169ts8zn] plus colors. Imagine it solved, except UL and UB are swapped, as well as DL and DB. Looking from the UFR angle I could note the UL-UB swap without looking at L or B, which is not the case with a regular cube. Not good.

I emailed Ron yesterday regarding this (and this particular competitor and competition) this is what he said: [quote:3j0ao7re]Hi Pedro, Mmm, interesting. We did not take colourblindness into account for WCA regulations because it says: 3d) The colours of puzzles must be solid, the same per colour, and clearly distinct from other colours. In this case the colours are not solid. If he brings some doctor attest or so, then you should give him this chance.[/quote:3j0ao7re] but surely this should be regulated for next year. I don't see any problem with colorblind people using those stickers, and even not-colorblind people. I don't think it gives any advantage (and may be worse) on recognition over colored stickers. (no, I don't have scientific stuff to prove this ) [quote:3j0ao7re] Not good. Imagine the Shepherd's Cube plus colors. Imagine it solved, except UL and UB are swapped, as well as DL and DB. Looking from the UFR angle I could note the UL-UB swap without looking at L or B, which is not the case with a regular cube. Not good. [/quote:3j0ao7re] I didn't get this...I don't have a Shepherd's Cube, but I can imagine one...are you saying that a Sheperd's cube may be easier to solve, because you see that swap or a U PLL without having to look at the sides? I'd think this type of cube is harder to solve, since you have the centers problem...

It seems obvious to me that the only patterns that should be allowed are symmetrical patterns which look the same from all four angles, like squares, circles, crosses and so on. That would make the cubesmith stickers legal, but the colored shepherd's cube illegal.

[quote="TMOY":1joqq6px]It seems obvious to me that the only patterns that should be allowed are symmetrical patterns which look the same from all four angles, like squares, circles, crosses and so on. That would make the cubesmith stickers legal, but the colored shepherd's cube illegal.[/quote:1joqq6px] Agreed. Rather than trying to make a rule that dictates all possibilities, and arguing with a competitor that, "No, even though you have a logo on all the stickers, it's not rotational symmetry.", just have approved colorblind sets, and point competitors to Cubesmith.com. I'm sure they would even put "WCA Approved" on their site. And have a second rule that indicates if someone requires a deviation from the rules, they must ask the WCA board for the proposed deviations. If they do not get approval from the board, they must talk with the WCA delegate at the competition to work out a solution. The person will perform their solves provisionally, and if the Board approves of the deviations, the results will be accepted as official. So this is a big hint to the competitors, if you're not able to follow the rules, you really need to talk with the Board if you want to guarantee your results.

[quote="BryanLogan":2olki5mt] And have a second rule that indicates if someone requires a deviation from the rules, they must ask the WCA board for the proposed deviations. If they do not get approval from the board, they must talk with the WCA delegate at the competition to work out a solution. The person will perform their solves provisionally, and if the Board approves of the deviations, the results will be accepted as official. So this is a big hint to the competitors, if you're not able to follow the rules, you really need to talk with the Board if you want to guarantee your results.[/quote:2olki5mt] I think this is the most reasonable solution. I think the WCA board should be able to decide if such "deviations" are made in good faith. I think we can all agree that the colorblind stickers SHOULD be allowed. It's just difficult to write that out in a way that allows for all such "good faith" applications but discourages less honorable intentions like Stefan mentioned. The WCA board (or delegate, I suppose) can decide these on a case-by-case basis.

[quote="blade740":2xr2qwyq]The WCA board (or delegate, I suppose) can decide these on a case-by-case basis.[/quote:2xr2qwyq] I wouldn't have the delegate decide. The delegate is suppose to enforce the rules, they're not suppose to make them up. Also, by going to the board beforehand, the board can have time to think about it, get feedback, etc. Besides, the fairest workaround may involve something that's easy to do, but requires some tiny amount of preparation, like bringing an item.

- Dealing with 12 colors is difficult for me. - That's why I have a 6 color Megaminx. - Top part of the puzzle is red/orange/yellow/white/blue/green. - Bottom part of the puzzle is red/orange/yellow/white/blue/green + a black mark. -> This way, looking for pieces is much faster, because a sticker directly says whether it is a candidate for the first part of the solve. Should I be allowed to use such stickers in competition? ---- I think the spirit of the uniform color rule was to avoid such potential problems, and keep puzzle relatively standard and clean. Are there really color blind people who can't find a set of different enough uniform stickers? ------------ By the way, as someone reported, "The colours of puzzles must be solid, the same per colour" is not elegant. "the same per face" would be better.

[quote="Gilles":2mlkyyqq] I think the spirit of the uniform color rule was to avoid such potential problems, and keep puzzle relatively standard and clean. Are there really color blind people who can't find a set of different enough uniform stickers? [/quote:2mlkyyqq] If you're seeing in black and white, then it is NOT fair to have to solve a cube in shades of grey. I believe there are sticker sets for this, and people get very bad times on them; it is a tough challenge. (http://cubesmith.com/3x3x3greyscale.JPG) I don't have a clear solution for this, but I am in full support of allowing, at the very least, on a case by case basis, colour blind people to use the cubesmith set.

[quote="Gilles":107pmh5u]- Dealing with 12 colors is difficult for me. - That's why I have a 6 color Megaminx. - Top part of the puzzle is red/orange/yellow/white/blue/green. - Bottom part of the puzzle is red/orange/yellow/white/blue/green + a black mark. -> This way, looking for pieces is much faster, because a sticker directly says whether it is a candidate for the first part of the solve. Should I be allowed to use such stickers in competition? ---- I think the spirit of the uniform color rule was to avoid such potential problems, and keep puzzle relatively standard and clean. Are there really color blind people who can't find a set of different enough uniform stickers? ------------ By the way, as someone reported, "The colours of puzzles must be solid, the same per colour" is not elegant. "the same per face" would be better.[/quote:107pmh5u] that was not the point... the cubesmith's colorblind stickers are all the same color, just with different images on them

[quote="Gilles":jzzfoph6] ---- I think the spirit of the uniform color rule was to avoid such potential problems, and keep puzzle relatively standard and clean. Are there really color blind people who can't find a set of different enough uniform stickers? [/quote:jzzfoph6] For me, the point is not if i can use a different set of stickers or not, but my right to use the colorblind ones. I can use a normal set of stickers (with a combination of standard and bright ones), but i feel much more comfortable using the other ones, because if not, part of my attention goes into telling one color from the other, that in some cases can strongly distract me from solving. Using the colorblind set from cubesmith, i can really focus on solving the cube, and considering that it gives me absolutely no advantage over other competitors, there is no reason to prevent me from using them. P.D: Plus, there are in fact colorblind people wich cases are so severe they absolutely can't tell one color from the other, just different shades (lighter or darker), and i wanted to set a precedent for other speedsolvers that may have a bigger problem with regular stickers than mine.

[quote="Pedro_S":2u35uyx1]I didn't get this...I don't have a Shepherd's Cube, but I can imagine one...[b:2u35uyx1]are you saying that a Sheperd's cube may be easier to solve, because you see that swap or a U PLL without having to look at the sides?[/b:2u35uyx1] I'd think this type of cube is harder to solve, since you have the centers problem...[/quote:2u35uyx1] Answer to the bold part: No, not easier to solve, but easier to recognize stuff. To make it clearer, imagine a void one. That wouldn't have the centers issue you mentioned and could have solely UL and UB swapped for PLL. The guy with the normal void cube might stop the timer and get a DNF, the guy with the shepherded one would notice and solve the swap and get a valid time. Or the other way around: If they do get a PLL skip, the guy with the normal one has to look around the cube to see whether there's such a swap, while the guy with the sheperded one would immediately see that there isn't, without looking around the cube.

Well color blind people can actually compete it's just harder... Even with diagrams or pictures on the sticker (which by the way, I'm totally for), the cube is still harder then a normal cube is to someone with correct vision. There are actually two kinds of color blind: The more common kind where certain colors (normally red and green) are confused with each other. And at certain times it is more severe then other times. The rare case where a person sees only in black and white. In both cases a person can solve a grayscale cube, or with the common case they can put on some stickers that they don't mix up. No matter what solution is come up with, it will still be harder to solve the puzzles for a color blind person then a cube normally is. P.S. Forgive me if I got my facts wrong with the kinds of color blind. I'm pretty sure that's right, though.