WCA Guidelines

Notes

Latest textual revision: May 29, 2018

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 multiple 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 the 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 by other Regulations/Guideline, but whose relevance is worth reiterating.
• EXAMPLE An example of how to apply a Regulation.

Contents

• Article 1: Officials
• Article 2: Competitors
• Article 3: Puzzles
• Article 4: Scrambling
• Article 5: Puzzle Defects
• Article 6: Awards/prizes/honors
• 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 Z: Optional Regulations

• 1c+) CLARIFICATION "The WCA Delegate" refers to anyone fulfilling the role of a WCA Delegate at a competition.
• 1c3+) RECOMMENDATION Results should be ready at the end of the last day of competition.
• 1c3++) ADDITION Physical records (e.g. score sheets, written solutions from Fewest Moves Solving) must be retained for a minimum of one month. Digital records (e.g. scramble sequences, results) must be retained permanently.
• 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 attempts in the final round of an event, as well as all Fewest Moves Solving attempts, should have the same scramble sequences 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.
• 1h1++) CLARIFICATION For Fewest Moves Solving, judges may judge competitors in their own group before they have finished their attempt (i.e. while they are competing).

• 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).
• 2c1+) ADDITION The requirements for a completed registration must be clearly stated on the competition website.
• 2c1++) EXAMPLE For example, the organization team may require a confirmation e-mail to be answered before a particular date, pre-payment of the registration fee, or paying due registration fees of past competitions. The organization team should carefully consider the fairness of the requirements.
• 2d+) ADDITION Date of birth and contact information should be especially secured.
• 2d++) RECOMMENDATION If a third party (e.g. journalist) asks the organization team to be put in contact with any competitor(s), the competitor(s) should first be asked for consent.
• 2e+) CLARIFICATION If a competitor holds multiple citizenships, they may choose which country to represent at their first competition.
• 2e++) ADDITION The WCA Delegate should also verify the name and date of birth by means of documents (e.g. a passport) of every new competitor at their first competition.
• 2e3+) CLARIFICATION Stateless competitors have no national records and rankings, nor continental records and rankings.
• 2h+) CLARIFICATION Competitors may be barefoot for Solving With Feet.
• 2i1b+) CLARIFICATION This includes relevant devices which are switched off or disconnected.
• 2j2+) EXAMPLE For example, if a competitor is disqualified from an event for failing to show up for the final round, their results from earlier rounds remain valid.
• 2s+) REMINDER Special accommodations must be noted in the Delegate Report.

• 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 have a puzzle ready to submit soon after they are called (e.g. if they planned to use a puzzle that another competitor is currently using, and therefore cannot submit a puzzle at the moment).
• 3d1b+) CLARIFICATION Patterns do not need to be present on every face, but only on faces where a distinct color cannot be found. Pieces must not have any features (e.g. textures, pattern irregularities) that significantly distinguish them from similar pieces.
• 3h+) CLARIFICATION Puzzles may be refined internally by sanding, lubrication, or modifications which improve stability (e.g. magnets).
• 3h++) EXAMPLE Examples of enhancements include: new moves are possible, normal moves are impossible, more pieces or faces are visible, colors on the backside of the puzzle are visible, moves are done automatically, or the puzzles have more/different solved states.
• 3h2+) CLARIFICATION In the past, "stickerless" puzzles were not permitted. Such puzzles are now permitted.
• 3h2++) CLARIFICATION "Stickerless" puzzles that significantly differ from most mass-produced "stickerless" puzzles are only permitted at the discretion of the WCA Delegate.
• 3j+) REMINDER In the past, engraved/embossed parts have been permitted. This is no longer permitted.
• 3j++) CLARIFICATION On Clock, pins must not be distinguishable from any other pin of the same side.
• 3j2+) CLARIFICATION On Clock, the nine inner clock faces on one side are considered similar pieces.
• 3l+) ADDITION Logos may feature any reasonable design that does not give a conspicuous advantage (e.g. encoding information that could be used to cheat), and leave the colored part clearly recognizable. Unconventional logos are only permitted at the discretion of the WCA Delegate.
• 3l++) CLARIFICATION In the past, puzzles with logos have been permitted for blindfolded events. Such puzzles are no longer permitted.

• 4b1+) REMINDER The WCA Delegate must never re-generate any scramble sequences to replace other ones for the purpose of filtering. For example, it is not permitted to glance at the scramble sequences for a competition and generate the entire set again in order to generate "fairer" scramble sequences.
• 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 organization team may wish to release specific scramble sequences sooner after the end of a round.
• 4b4+) CLARIFICATION All attempts that have been started within the time frame follow the standard solving procedure (i.e. they are not stopped when the time frame of the relevant scramble sequence expires).
• 4d+) CLARIFICATION Some puzzles use standard color schemes, except that white is replaced with black. In this case, black is the darkest color and must not be treated as white.
• 4d++) ADDITION It is permitted for the puzzle to change its orientation when it is moved from the scrambler to the solving station, as long as no one is attempting to influence the randomness of the orientation (see Regulation A2e1).
• 4f+) RECOMMENDATION The WCA Delegate should generate sufficient scramble sequences for the entire competition ahead of time, including spare scramble sequences for extra attempts.
• 4f++) REMINDER If the WCA Delegate generates any additional scramble sequences during the competition, the scramble sequences must be saved (see Regulation 1c3a).

• 5b5+) EXAMPLE Examples of parts 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 parts 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 colored parts.
• 5b5+++) EXAMPLE Example of parts physically attached but not fully placed, resulting in a solved state: a 5x5x5 center piece twisted in its spot.
• 5b5++++) EXAMPLE Example of parts physically attached but not fully placed, resulting in a "DNF": a 3x3x3 edge piece slightly popped out.
• 5c+) REMINDER If a competitor has a puzzle defect, this does not grant them the right to an extra attempt.

• 6a+) ADDITION Awards, prizes or honors 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/honors.
• 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 honors should be prepared to talk to journalists or any media covering the competition.
• 6d+) RECOMMENDATION Organization teams of competitions should have certificates for all category winners, signed by the leader of the organization team and by the WCA Delegate.

• 7d+) ADDITION The temperature of the competition area should be 21 to 25 degrees Celsius.
• 7f1a+) CLARIFICATION A full-size mat should have minimum dimensions of 30cm (left to right) by 25cm (front to back).
• 7h2+) ADDITION The competitors in the Competitors Area should not be able to see the puzzles of the competitors on stage.

• 8a5+) RECOMMENDATION The competition should have at least 12 competitors.
• 8a7+) ADDITION Organizers should strongly consider modifications to make Stackmat timers more robust against common incidents, such as making the buttons more difficult to press by accident (e.g. by attaching O-rings around the buttons) and securing the battery more firmly (e.g. by padding the battery compartment).

• 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.
• 9b3b+) CLARIFICATION The "Mean of 3" statistic does not affect the competitor's ranking in a "Best of 3" round (which is based on the best result). The WCA recognizes it outside of the competition format.
• 9f1+) EXAMPLE If the timer displays 12.678 for an attempt, the original recorded time is 12.67 (drop any digit after a hundredth of a second). A judge may write the full-precision time on the score sheet (and keep the precision in the calculation of penalties), as long as the score taker truncates it for the official results.
• 9f4+) EXPLANATION The result of an attempt is DNF only if the competitor began the attempt by indicating that they are ready (see Regulation A3b2) but the attempt was disqualified.
• 9f5+) CLARIFICATION The result of an attempt is DNS if the competitor was eligible for the attempt and did not start it (see Regulation A3b2). If the competitor did not qualify for an attempt (e.g. in a combined round), they have no result for the attempt.
• 9p2+) CLARIFICATION Result refers to the single or average that determines the ranking of the corresponding round.
• 9q+) RECOMMENDATION Events and rounds should have at least 2 competitors.

• 10e1+) CLARIFICATION For Square-1, because of the shape-shifting property of the puzzle, the metric for misalignments defined in Regulation 10f4 is different from the metric for the notation, used by the scrambling program and defined in Regulation 12c4.
• 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.
• 10f4+) CLARIFICATION When counting the moves in case of a misalignment at the end of a solve, x and y are considered separately. Example: (5, 1) is considered one misalignment, (5, 5) is considered two misalignments.
• 10h1+) ADDITION The solved state of Clock is not affected by loose or popped pin caps.

• 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 scramble program (see Regulation 4f, Guideline 4f+).
• 11e2+) ADDITION If an extra attempt itself leads to an additional extra attempt, the competitor should keep doing extra attempts until there is a valid extra attempt to replace the original regularly numbered attempt.
• 11e2++) EXAMPLE Suppose a competitor has 5 regularly numbered attempts, and #2 leads to extra attempts. The competitor should do extra attempts until there is a valid extra attempt to replace #2. Suppose later another attempt leads to extra attempts, the competitor should proceed in a similar way as for #2.

• 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)".
• A1a2++) CLARIFICATION Cumulative time limits may be enforced for a single round or a combination of rounds of different events.
• A1a2+++) CLARIFICATION In case of a cumulative time limit, the result of each remaining attempt in the round is recorded as DNS (Did Not Start) after a competitor reaches the time limit.
• A1a2++++) ADDITION If a cumulative time limit for a single event or a combination of events is enforced, such events don't have a regular time limit per solve.
• A1a2+++++) CLARIFICATION Events where a time limit per attempt is defined by the Regulations (3x3x3 Fewest Moves and 3x3x3 Multi-Blind) must not have a cumulative time limit.
• A1a3+) REMINDER The organization 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 start 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).
• A1c+) CLARIFICATION WCA Delegates should only use their discretion to prevent competitors from being a severe detriment to the competition (e.g. wasting time and/or competition resources). Competitors should not be disqualified for a "poor" result when they are competing to the best of their abilities.
• A2c1+) REMINDER In the past, score sheets have been used to cover puzzles while leaving some sides exposed. This is no longer permitted.
• A3c3+) CLARIFICATION The competitor may reset the timer before/during the inspection phase if the judge accidentally neglected to do so. However, it is the responsibility of the judge to make sure the timer has been reset (see Regulation A3b). If the competitor accidentally tries to start the solve with a timer that the judge did not reset (i.e. the competitor performs inspection, places hands on the timer for a reasonable length of time, assumes that the timer will start normally, and starts to operate the puzzle), the attempt should be replaced by an extra attempt, at the discretion of the WCA Delegate.
• A3c4+) CLARIFICATION If the use of a thin object inside the puzzle has been enforced, the judge must not remove the object on behalf of the competitor.
• A3c4++) CLARIFICATION The competitor may remove the object during the solve, if they did not do it during the inspection (e.g. they forgot).
• A5b+) CLARIFICATION While inspecting or solving the puzzle, the competitor may touch the puzzle with any part of their body. Exception: One-Handed Solving and Solving With Feet (see Regulation C1b and Regulation D1b).
• A6b+) EXPLANATION The arbitrary value of 0.06 seconds was chosen to accommodate concerns about Stackmat timer malfunctions.
• A6e+) CLARIFICATION If the puzzle falls into the lap of the competitor after stopping the timer, this is considered touching the puzzle.
• A6g+) ADDITION While the judge is determining whether to assign a penalty for misalignment, they should not touch the puzzle.
• A7c+) ADDITION If a result signed by a competitor is found to be incomplete or unreadable, it should be interpreted the worst reasonable way (e.g. "1:05" will be considered 1:05.99, "25.X3" will be considered 25.73 if X could be either a 1 or a 7). Given that the Stackmat timer displays a time of X:0Y.ss as X:Y.ss, a missing tens digit should be considered more likely than a missing ones digit (e.g. "1:2.27" will be considered 1:02.27). The judge who signed an ambiguous result may be requested to clarify it, at the discretion of the score taker.
• A7c4+) ADDITION Missing signatures may be rectified if the responsible judge and/or competitor can be tracked, at the discretion of the score taker.
• A7g+) EXAMPLE Examples of incidents that could grant a new competitor an extra attempt: not waiting for the green light, improperly starting or stopping the timer, going over inspection time due to misunderstanding how to start a solve, or other procedural time penalties.
• A7g++) CLARIFICATION Individual penalties cannot be waived for new competitors. A full extra attempt must be granted.
• A7g+++) RECOMMENDATION The WCA Delegate should use stronger discretion when granting more than one extra attempt to the same new competitor. If more than one extra attempt is granted, it should be for a different incident.

• 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.

• 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.
• C1b+++) REMINDER Use of the surface is permitted while solving or repairing the puzzle.

• D1b+) CLARIFICATION The competitor may wear socks while solving.
• D1b++) CLARIFICATION In the past, competitors were required to inspect the puzzle using their feet for Solving with Feet. They are now permitted to touch the puzzle with their hands or any other part of their body during inspection (see Guideline A5b+).
• D1c+) REMINDER While repairing puzzle defects, other body parts must not touch the puzzle.

• E2b+) CLARIFICATION A competitor may choose to stop an attempt early by handing in a solution before the time limit.
• E2c+) CLARIFICATION Although the judge may provide a standard sheet for competitors to submit solutions, a competitor may submit a solution on a different piece of paper, as long as a single move sequence is unambiguously indicated as the submitted solution. (Note that the piece of paper must come from the judge, according to Regulation E3a.)
• E2c++) CLARIFICATION The competitor's solution must only use moves that are exactly defined in Regulation 12a. Examples of notation and moves that are not permitted in competition: [F], [R, U], [R: U], R'2, L'w, f, M, U2'.
• E2e+) CLARIFICATION Competitors must not derive solutions from any part of the scramble sequence, and solutions should not share significant parts with the inverse scramble sequence.
• E2e++) EXAMPLE Example of solutions that should result in a disqualification of the attempt (DNF): solutions beginning with the same 4 or more moves as the inverse scramble sequence.
• E3d+) CLARIFICATION Any stopwatch or watch used by a competitor must not appear to have any functions that would help the competitor find a solution.
• E3d++) CLARIFICATION Competitors should not consider a personal stopwatch or watch as the official time, and must submit their solution after the judge calls "STOP".

• 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: Suppose a competitor attempts 10 cubes, stops the solve with a time of 59:57, and has two time penalties. The final result is 59:57 + 2*2 = 60:01 (also see Regulation A1a5).
• H1d++) EXAMPLE Example: Suppose a competitor attempts 10 cubes, the judge stops the competitor at 60 minutes, and the attempt has two time penalties. The final result is 60:00 + 2*2 = 60:04.

• Z4+) CLARIFICATION In case of a competitor limit based upon qualification results or rankings in the WCA world rankings of a previously announced calendar date, the organization team must use only one type of result (i.e. single or average/mean).
• Z4b+) EXAMPLE Examples for reasons which justify a change of the competitor limit after the competition was announced: the venue was changed or the number of registrations is higher than expected.