Welcome Back Hamilton 2026
- Date
- May 9 - 10, 2026
- City
- Hamilton, New Zealand
- Venue
The Hardy Centre
- Address
- Hardy Guide Centre 18 Hungerford Crescent, Hamilton East, Hamilton 3216
- Details
Main Room
- Contact
- Organization team
- Organizers
- Benjamin Gardner, Dylan Heerikhuisen, and Elyas Eyou
- WCA Delegates
- Caleb Hall and Cheng-Ru Yang
- Download all the competition's details as PDF .
- Information
Hamilton Open 2026 is an official World Cubing Association (WCA) competition. Events include 3x3x3 (Main Event), 2x2x2, 4x4x4, 3x3x3 Blindfolded, 3x3x3 One-Handed, Clock and Pyraminx. This will be the first WCA competition located in Hamilton in over 3 years. No prior experience in WCA competitions is necessary, but competitors should be familiar with the WCA regulations.
- Events
- Main event
- Competitor limit
- 48
- Number of times bookmarked
- 11
- Registration period
-
Online registration opened and will close .
- Registration requirements
-
Create a WCA account here if you don't have one.
If this is not your first competition, associate your WCA ID to your WCA account here.
Register for this competition here.
There is a competitor limit of 48 competitors.
The base registration fee for this competition is $45 (New Zealand Dollar).
The registration fee has to be paid through Stripe here once registered.
If your registration is cancelled before you will be refunded 100% of your registration fee.
Registrants on the waiting list may be accepted onto the competitor list until .
If you are a registered competitor you may change your registered events until by contacting the organization team.
No on the spot registrations will be accepted.
Q. I have never been to a competition before, is this a good competition for me?
A. Yes! All of our competitions cater for first time competitors. There is a new competitor tutorial and plenty of friendly delegates, organisers and other competitors who will be very happy to talk and help you understand what you need to do on the day.
Q. How can I prepare before the competition day?
A. Before attending you should be familiar with the WCA regulations. Here is condensed version of the competitor tutorial made by Speedcubing Australia.
Here are some links [1] [2] to some competitor tutorial videos which will cover all the basics of how to compete and what competitions are like.
Q. How old do I have to be to compete?
A. Anyone can compete at any age! We encourage anyone considering to compete to register as it will be a great experience regardless of age. Competitors range from young children through to older adults, with a majority being between 10 and 20 years old.
Q. How fast do I have to be to compete?
A. To compete you only need to know how to solve the cube! Please check the events tab to see the time limits for each event.
Q. Do children need to have adult supervision?
A. Yes. Adult supervision of children is required at ALL times. The WCA Delegates and Organisers are very busy running the competition and cannot be responsible for supervising children.
Q. What time should I arrive at the competition?
A. You should be at the venue ready to compete at least 20 minutes before your scheduled events, however if you wish to turn up earlier and help with the competition then this is always helpful! Please note the schedule is subject to change on the day. If this is your first competition then you should also attend the competitor tutorial to make sure you know how to compete.
Q. What do I need to bring?
A. All you need to bring is a puzzle for each event you are signed up to compete in - make sure they are allowed per the WCA regulations. We also recommend you bring a water bottle. Many competitors also bring a 'warm up cube' to use between submitting their puzzle for scrambling and starting their official solve. All timing equipment and everything else is provided by Speedcubing New Zealand at the competition.
Q. How do I find out if I've progressed to the next round?
A. Times will be uploaded throughout the competition to WCA live. Please allow up to an hour from finishing your solves to them being uploaded. After all competitors times of a round have been entered, you can see if you are in the following round.
Q. Who can I ask for help on the day?
A. Your Delegates for this competition are Caleb Hall and Cheng-Ru Yang. Feel free to ask them any questions you may have on the day.
Q. Can I help on the day?
A. Of course! Throughout the day we will need judges and runners so please see our Delegates or Organisers to ask how you can best assist.
Q: How do I get a WCA ID?
A. After official results are posted after the competition you will receive an email with information on your WCA ID.
Q: I lost a puzzle at the competition, what should I do?
A. There are hundreds of puzzles at these events, so please make sure to keep yours together so you don't lose them! Keeping them in a bag and looking after it at all times is recommended. If you do lose a puzzle (or anything else), please speak to us at the event or contact the organisational team, it is possible someone has handed it in to us.
Q. Where can I ask other questions?
A. You can contact the organisational team to ask any other questions.
Speedcubing New Zealand is a not-for-profit, incorporated society run entirely by volunteers. We support the growth of the speedcubing community in New Zealand by organising events, providing resources, and fostering a positive environment for cubers of all skill levels.
Make sure to follow us on social media to stay up-to-date with the latest content and media!
Check out our website:
https://speedcubing.org.nz/
Time limit
If you reach the time limit during your solve, the judge will stop you and your result will be DNF (see Regulation A1a4).
A cumulative time limit may be enforced (see Regulation A1a2).
Cutoff
The result to beat to proceed to the second phase of a cutoff round (see Regulation 9g).
Format
The format describes how to determine the ranking of competitors based on their results. The list of allowed formats per event is described in Regulation 9b. See Regulation 9f for a description of each format.