One-Answer WCA Competition and Regulations Question Thread

[Fábio De'Rose]

Reasonable wear is up to delegate discretion, but any significantly distinguishable differences between similar pieces is not up to delegate discretion. A piece being made differently than other pieces does not qualify as wear, so it shouldn't be up to the delegate on this one. Chain or not, the puzzle isn't legal.

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).

• 3j1) Puzzles are permitted to have reasonable wear, at the discretion of the WCA Delegate.

Fair enough, but my point is exactly that significantly distinguishable is the key in this debate. I have a Yuxin Keychain cube, whose different piece (ie: the one with holes for the ring) I can barely feel if the cube is scrambled and shuffled within my hands.

Only if I were to look specifically for it, and by trial and error, is that I could tell which it was. And this, I believe, does not nor would not provide any significant advantage whatsoever to the competitor.

While I do not in any way disagree with your points, and while I also understand the blanket nature of the regulations, it is also my understanding that the event of someone using such a cube to compete is so rare, it would indeed qualify for a dispute with the delegate in order to allow an exception - whether this would open ground for future disputes and possibly be used as means of attempting abuse of regulations, I don't know. But honestly the mere possibility of such a thing happening is what I believe would be grounds for a delegate to not allow the puzzle.

 

[DGCubes]

Only if I were to look specifically for it, and by trial and error, is that I could tell which it was. And this, I believe, does not nor would not provide any significant advantage whatsoever to the competitor.

It might be hard to find, but it's still not impossible. If, by chance, you get to PLL and see the hole on the piece in the back of the last layer, you could theoretically find out what piece it is without having to do any cube rotations or U moves, which would give a slight advantage.

Also, imagine if the hole were slightly larger and therefore easier to notice. It doesn't seem like the regulations should have to account for this by saying that certain size holes are acceptable and others are not (because really, there's no reason you should be using a cube with holes at all), so it seems fair to just use a blanket regulation that bans all of these imperfections.

 

[guysensei1]

Is this clock WCA legal? The right middle (clockie?) is about one third off and so is the top middle clockie...

 

[Space Cat]

Is my time valid if MY initials are on the sheet, but the judge's initials aren't on it?

 

[DGCubes]

Is my time valid if MY initials are on the sheet, but the judge's initials aren't on it?

I don't think they would be, considering you could've then just written whatever times you wanted. I don't think this would ever happen though.

 

[Space Cat]

I don't think they would be, considering you could've then just written whatever times you wanted. I don't think this would ever happen though.

This recently happened to me, and I noticed this after the next solve. Should I be worried?

 

[Kit Clement]

I don't think they would be, considering you could've then just written whatever times you wanted. I don't think this would ever happen though.

You assume too much out of some judges.

 

[DGCubes]

This recently happened to me, and I noticed this after the next solve. Should I be worried?

No, I wouldn't worry about it. If I were you, I'd contact the delegate of the competition and ask them what to do from here. If your results were uploaded already, I'd say it's probably not a big deal and you don't need to do anything about it (unless you did cheat, of course, in which case you should turn yourself in ). Worst case, that one solve would be DNFed.

If it ever happens in the future, report it to a delegate right away; you might be able to get an extra solve instead of a DNF (or they might just let it slide).

 

[mark49152]

If it ever happens in the future, report it to a delegate right away; you might be able to get an extra solve instead of a DNF (or they might just let it slide).

Or they might track down the judge and confirm it's genuine, so pay attention to who judges you.

Better still, before you sign, check that the judge signed themselves as well as wrote the time down correctly.

 

[SolveThatCube]

If after an official attempt, your cube is partially resting on the timer and you have stopped the timer, is there a penalty?
This happens to me a lot while I'm practicing pyraminx and I would like to know if it is legal.
I recall seeing something about it in the regs a couple of years ago but I can't find it now.

 

[JustinTimeCuber]

Is my time valid if MY initials are on the sheet, but the judge's initials aren't on it?

you should have gone to Overland Park open, much more high-energy comp and also the judges were (objectively, empirically speaking) better, and a high-energy tremendous delegate like David would never do such a thing.

e: adjective quality vastly improved

If after an official attempt, your cube is partially resting on the timer after and you have stopped the timer, is there a penalty?
This happens to me a lot while I'm practicing pyraminx and I would like to know if it is legal.
I recall seeing something about it in the regs a couple of years ago but I can't find it now.

Not a penalty

 

[Jaysammey777]

Or they might track down the judge and confirm it's genuine, so pay attention to who judges you.

Better still, before you sign, check that the judge signed themselves as well as wrote the time down correctly.

You don't have to do this. It is not your duty as a competitor to check if the judge has signed.

 

[guysensei1]

View attachment 7877
Is this clock WCA legal? The right middle (clockie?) is about one third off and so is the top middle clockie...

Anyone...?

 

[Ranzha]

Anyone...?

I consider that "closer to 12" than not, and would allow it.

 

[mark49152]

You don't have to do this. It is not your duty as a competitor to check if the judge has signed.

I didn't say it was your duty as a competitor. You can however, if you like, avoid having your time DNFed by pointing it out to them if they don't sign.

 

[AlphaSheep]

You don't have to do this. It is not your duty as a competitor to check if the judge has signed.

It's not the competitor's duty, but it's always a good idea to point out if you notice the judge making a mistake.

 

[T1_M0]

I noticed that 4bld scrambles have rotations after the scrambles, how do they come up practically?

 

[xyzzy]

I noticed that 4bld scrambles have rotations after the scrambles, how do they come up practically?

They're just there to make sure that the orientation of the puzzle isn't known in advance to the competitor. For 3bld/5bld there's a fixed reference for the orientation (the centres), so those have wide moves appended, rather than rotations.

 

[T1_M0]

What are the move limits for illegal scrambles? I found it hard to understand that part in the regulations.

 

[AlphaSheep]

What are the move limits for illegal scrambles? I found it hard to understand that part in the regulations.

Summary:

• 2x2 - 4 moves
• Skewb - 7 moves
• Square-1 - 11 moves
• Pyraminx - 6 moves
• All other puzzles: 2 moves.

The wording in the regulations:

4b3) Specification for the scramble program: An official scramble sequence must produce a random state from those that require at least 2 moves to solve (equal probability for each state). The following additions/exceptions apply:

• 4b3a) For blindfolded events, the scramble sequence must orient the puzzle randomly (equal probability for each orientation).
• 4b3b) 2x2x2 Cube: The (random) state must require at least 4 moves to solve.
• 4b3c) Skewb: The (random) state must require at least 7 moves to solve.
• 4b3d) Square-1: The (random) state must require at least 11 moves to solve.
• 4b3e) 5x5x5 Cube, 6x6x6 Cube, 7x7x7 Cube, and Megaminx: sufficiently many random moves (instead of random state), at least 2 moves to solve.
• 4b3f) Pyraminx: The (random) state must require at least 6 moves to solve.