ALL COMPETITORS MUST READ THIS TAB BEFORE REGISTERING.

Please remain silent while blindfolded events are taking place. Silence your cell phones, and take any conversations outside.

Before the competition, you will receive a card/nametag with personalized information detailing your events and what group you will be competing in for each event in an email. We will be relying on competitors to help by judging whenever they are not competing. If you are competing and done with your event before the allotted time, please stay to help judge. Judging is very easy and is a great way to make time fly!

We will need help judging for all events. Spectators are encouraged to learn how to judge; you do not need to know how to cube in order to be a judge. Having enough judges ensures that we stay on schedule and are able to leave on time.

If you are planning to spectate and judge, here is a summary of judging instructions for 4x4 blindfolded and 5x5 blindfolded attempts predicted to take longer than 10 minutes:
* When the competitor indicates the start of their attempt by placing their hands down on the timer and starting it, start the stopwatch at their station.
* When the competitor is memorizing the cube, spectate their attempt and make sure that they do not take physical notes or make a move to the cube. Penalty: DNF
* Once the competitor has put on their blindfold and started turning the cube, ensure that a sight blocker is in between the competitor and the cube. This will be usually in the form of a harmonica holder placed by the competitor.
* If the competitor does not do this, hold a sight blocker between the competitor and the cube.
* Once the competitor indicates the end of their attempt by placing their puzzle down and hands down on the surface, stop the stopwatch and write down the time on their scorecard and ensure the puzzle is solved, without touching the puzzle. If the puzzle is not solved, write down the time, along with DNF. For example, if the attempt takes 16 minutes and 30 seconds, but the cube is not solved, write: DNF (16:30).
* If the cumulative time of their 4x4 blindfolded and 5x5 blindfolded solves exceeds the cumulative time limit of 90 minutes, the solve should be stopped and DNF'd. For example, if the attempts on their scorecard currently read 1) 19:00, 2) 20:00, 3) 21:00, 4) 10:00, and 5) 12:00 for a total of 82 minutes, they have 8 minutes left for the final attempt. If the solve exceeds 8 minutes, the attempt should be stopped. Only stop the attempt if you are 100% sure the time limit has been exceeded.

Judging MBLD is similar and 3BLD is easier. We will also go over judging instructions at the beginning of the round.

For those of you new to cubing, WELCOME!

Please note that this competition will not host traditional speedsolving events and will exclusively feature blindfolded events. We recommend first time competitors check the West Coast Cubing website for other competitions near you. However, this does not mean that new competitors cannot compete.

We ask you know a couple things before coming to compete!

First, please be familiar with the WCA Regulations, found here:
https://www.worldcubeassociation.org/regulations/

This video will explain most of what any cuber competing for the first time will need to know, however, it is still required that they are familar with the full set of regulations above.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dSuMG--wm8

Also, please how to solve a 3x3 blindfolded before coming to compete. Even for a new competitor, blindfolded solving is still doable. I recommend Charlie Eggins' tutorials if you are interested in learning.

If you are stoked to compete and ready to sign up, head over to the registration tab, click register, and fill out the information it asks for. This will help you get set up the WCA's system and one step closer to your first official solve!

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: Do I use my own cube to compete?

A: Yes! You are responsible for your own hardware in order to compete. Please refer to section 3 of the WCA Regulations for more information on what puzzles are okay to use in competition. If you have any questions, please reach out!

Q: What is the competition like?

A: Competitions are a ton of fun! Competitions are a great opportuity to meet new cubers, make new friends, and be able to compete and get official times recognized by the World Cube Association.
The communitiy is extremely welcoming and you can always sit at any table and start cubing with a with another cuber. They are great places to try new cubes as well, just in case you are looking to get a new main cube! Once you walk into the venue, you will most likely see your nametag at a check-in table. If you are a first-timer, you will be asked to verify your information on your registration (name, DOB, country). Once you grab your nametag, go ahead and find a seat and start cubing! There will be a competitor/judge tutorial, which can be found on the schedule. After that, we will begin with the first event and will be calling events up by group. Your group numbers can be found on the back of your nametag.

After you compete in an event, you will most likely also be expected to help judge another group (typically the following group). Competitions are very self-sufficient, so we rely heavily on the assitance from other cubers and parents like you! Your assisgned helping groups should also be listed on the back of your nametag. Once you are done competing in your event, you can go back to your table and continnue to socialize! To see if you made it to the next round of an event, you can check your results.

Q: How do I find results?

A: For the day of competing, WCA Live will have all of the results manually entered throughout the day. Once on WCA Live, scroll to the competition in question and you're good to go! After the competition, official results will be posted typically within a few days to a week after the competition happens.

Q: How do I get a WCA ID?

After official results are posted after the competitions (see question above), you will receive an email with information on your WCA ID.

Q: Why am I not on the registration list yet?

A: Make sure you pay you registration fee in order to be eligible to be placed on the competitor list. All competitors will first be placed on the waitlist, from which their registrations will be manually accepted in the order in which payment was received. Since this is a manual process, do not be alarmed if your registration is not accepted immediately from the waitlist. If you are not advanced from the waitlist before the waitlist closes (date found on Register tab), you will be issued a full refund.

Q: What is the typical age of competitors at these events?

A: All ages are welcome, but in general competitors are between 10 and 20 years old. Don't let this stop you though! Everyone can and should cube!

Q: Are there age divisions?

A: Nope! All cometitors compete in the same groups.

Q: Is there anything else I should know before attending my first competition?

A: Yes! Attending your first competition can come with a lot of nerves, so try and focus on having fun and meeting new people. If you aren't as fast as Max Park or Feliks Zemdegs, just remember that all cubers faster than you have been at your speed at some point! I also point people to Mats Valk's WCA Profile since he started competing whe he averaged well over a minute and now averages 6-7 seconds. People often do slightly worse in competition than at home too, so don't beat yourself up if you don't do as well as you had hoped! Once you lock in your first set of results, you'll have new personal records to break and goals to achieve at every new competition! If you plan on bringing any of your own puzzles, we highly rercommend marking them somehow (sharpie mark under a center cap or something similar) or keeping them in a box/bag. It happens far too often that many cubers bring a bunch of puzzles, put them on a table unattended, and accidentally take someone elses' puzzle, thinking it was theirs. It's easy to lose track of a single puzzle, especially since so many of them look the same at first glance!

Parking

Park in the library parking lot.

Food

There are several fast food places within an 8 minute drive from the venue: McDonald's, Jack in the Box, Burger King, Panda Express
Food is allowed in the venue in case you would rather bring your own lunch.

This competition will be sponsored by SpeedCubeShop! They will be providing gift-card prizes for this competition. They will not be selling puzzles on-site.

Want to stay connected with the West Coast community? Join the West Coast Cubing Community Discord Server! Speak with other competitors from NorCal, SoCal, Nevada, Hawaii, and Tijuana and keep in touch with fellow competitors and meet new ones! Find out about competition discussion as it happens in real time, and even announcements for competitions before registration opens!

Click here to be directly taken to the Discord Server!

We also have our SoCal Cubing Facebook Group, WCA Forum thread for California, and the West Coast Cubing website.