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Thoughts on Going to Competitions Starting June 5th?

MBCubes

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There's a comp in Indiana in either July or June I was considering going to as it has been years since I have been to a comp. But like others have said, I will be doing my homework. If I dont see the state having a decrease in the rate at which cases are found then I probably wouldn't go just to be safe. But if the state is looking in good shape and I feel confident that I wont be dropping the ball hygiene wise, I will probably go.
I also live within driving distance of that comp and if it doesn’t get cancelled I think I will go and just wear a mask the entire time and wash my hands etc. but it is very likely that it will be cancelled.
 

Sub1Hour

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As a US competition organizer who cancelled their competition on June 6th, I don't think the US should have competitions until about September or later. I cancelled my competition because of the risk of infection and because my venue wouldn't allow it. I think starting off competitions again should be a slow process, starting with smaller FMC and blind events with 20 person competition limits and then slowly moving into dual competitions. This would allow competitors to still compete, but not have as many people concentrated into an area.
I think this is a great idea, especially FMC since aside from paper nothing is touched by anyone else but you. I would like to try out something where its a very small competition (10-20 People) and have everyone at an assigned station that has 2 timers that are 6+ feet apart and is not going to be used by anyone but yourself. You will be assigned a "Buddy" that will sit with you for the entire competition. Your "Buddy" will have the responsibility of a mobile judge and scrambler. There will be 2 groups of each round, one for you and one for your "Buddy". There will be an area that is closed off from the rest of the venue that has a large screen displaying scrambles. This area must be big enough to allow for at least a few people to go in and scramble while social distancing. Then they will go back to their "Buddy" and give them the cube but not the scorecard. The inspection timer is with the "Buddy" and they will start inspection after their "Buddy" takes the cover off the cube. Scorecards will only be handled by the "Buddy" who will read aloud or show the competitor that would give a thumbs up instead of signing. Some alterations to the regs will need to made to allow my Idea to become legal though. Keep in mind this is only an Idea and it has its flaws and is in no way finalized and/or optimized.
 

Sir E Brum

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I didn't see this mentioned already:

Honestly, what do you expect to gain by delaying when competitions return?

Practically all the discussion here has been around viral transmission rates and the issues of too many people in a closed venue.
But starting competitions in three months, six months, or twelve months from now is not going to change the situational risk. If you are waiting for an easily dispersed medical treament or vaccine, I do not know why you are even attempting to put a date on it. That could take years to develop. If you are waiting on more exposure throughout the population, why would it matter if it happened at a school or work or a speedcubing event?

Futhermore, I believe this bit has been mentioned, a broad stroke approach does not make sense. New York City would be a much worse candidate for a competition than any other city in the US. Segmenting by country would be a significantly more reasonable approach because each country is doing its best to be self-contained at this point.

tl;dr Timelines are ridiculous. Milestones are the only thing that matter if you are concerned about transmission.
 
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I didn't see this mentioned already:

Honestly, what do you expect to gain by delaying when competitions return?

Practically all the discussion here has been around viral transmission rates and the issues of too many people in a closed venue.
But starting competitions in three months, six months, or twelve months from now is not going to change the situational risk. If you are waiting for an easily dispersed medical treament or vaccine, I do not know why you are even attempting to put a date on it. That could take years to develop. If you are waiting on more exposure throughout the population, why would it matter if it happened at a school or work or a speedcubing event?

tl;dr Timelines are ridiculous. Milestones are the only thing that matter if you are concerned about transmission.
I think most of the times mentioned are assuming the cases go down. Because, if the cases go up or stay the same, they would not make sense.
 

Sir E Brum

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I think most of the times mentioned are assuming the cases go down. Because, if the cases go up or stay the same, they would not make sense.

If that is your best take on this discussion, I would say practically no one here is qualified to guess how long it will take for the number of new cases to reach an acceptable level. Again, it's all useless speculation unless you rely on external factors like national health organizations to tell you it is okay.

Confirmed cases cannot go down. People can only recover, but they are still a case. However, someone who has recovered can still transmit the disease. They just have a much lower personal risk in exposing themselves to society.
 

lukeko

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Have seen a few people mention that New Zealand would be a place that could resume comps. I'm from NZ and wouldn't be comfortable with that at all. While our active case numbers have dropped significantly, I would bet there are still many untested, asymptomatic cases, especially in children. We could do our best with gloves, masks, sanitizer but it would be very difficult to prevent prolonged exposure to one another at a comp. Our govt is still limiting social gatherings to 10 people max. under Alert Level 2 to make contact tracing easier and I get the feeling we'll be under Alert Level 2 for a while. Wouldn't be surprised if there are no comps here until next year. I do wonder what this means for World Champs next year...
 

Capcubeing

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I think it would be just fine because our states ahve been shut down for so ling that noone has been anywhere therefor they can not spread a virus they dont have and if you dont feel safe going then dont go if you do feel safe or dont care go
 

CubeBlazer

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I think it would be just fine because our states ahve been shut down for so ling that noone has been anywhere therefor they can not spread a virus they dont have and if you dont feel safe going then dont go if you do feel safe or dont care go
We've been stuck in self isolation for the past two months and yet the US is still on an upwards trend. So I would argue against going to competitions or organizing them.

I don't think there should be any more competitions for the rest of the year. Too risky.
I would have to partially agree. Maybe not have the next competition in 2021, but possibly late September?
 

Sub1Hour

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I would have to partially agree. Maybe not have the next competition in 2021, but possibly late September?
I honestly think that it's not a good idea to put a date on when competitions should resume. This pandemic is extremely unpredictable and saying that "We won't have competitions until 2021" is a bad move for the WCA assuming they come out with that statement. We don't know how long this will last so, for now, I think that the WCA should go with no competitions unless authorized by local government and the WCA board instead of giving a worldwide date to when competitions can resume. Doing this can give flexibility to the WCA so they can make the right move depending on the situation.
 

CubeBlazer

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I honestly think that it's not a good idea to put a date on when competitions should resume. This pandemic is extremely unpredictable and saying that "We won't have competitions until 2021" is a bad move for the WCA assuming they come out with that statement. We don't know how long this will last so, for now, I think that the WCA should go with no competitions unless authorized by local government and the WCA board instead of giving a worldwide date to when competitions can resume. Doing this can give flexibility to the WCA so they can make the right move depending on the situation.
I would agree, but sometimes local governments make bad decisions. I've gotten some sources that Tennessee lawmakers are allowing groups of 50 people and up starting in July. To me, the continuous upwards trend still happening makes it far too risky to organize big competitions like SE Champs this soon.

Even though SE Champs isn't until September.

EDIT: SE Champs isn't in Tennessee but I'm just trying to make a point
 

Sub1Hour

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I would agree, but sometimes local governments make bad decisions. I've gotten some sources that Tennessee lawmakers are allowing groups of 50 people and up starting in July. To me, the continuous upwards trend still happening makes it far too risky to organize big competitions like SE Champs this soon.

Even though SE Champs isn't until September.
That's also why I put that the WCA board also has power in allowing the competition or not. I also think that the government probably has more resources to figure out how to stop this virus from spreading as much than the average person and although I disagree with some movements, overall I trust the gov't to do the right thing. Especially since they have been doing quite a good job in my state (aside from like 2 counties) at keeping everyone safe and allowing for mass testing.
 
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I would agree, but sometimes local governments make bad decisions. I've gotten some sources that Tennessee lawmakers are allowing groups of 50 people and up starting in July. To me, the continuous upwards trend still happening makes it far too risky to organize big competitions like SE Champs this soon.

Even though SE Champs isn't until September.

EDIT: SE Champs isn't in Tennessee but I'm just trying to make a point
Yeah I'm in Tennessee and the restrictions are super loose. The stay-at-home order has been lifted, and several places have opened up. And also my church opened up with 50% capacity, or about 100 seats.
 

Spacey10

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I know this is a terrible idea, but this seems important, and I like to be in important stuff because it makes me feel important.
Anyway, what if we could use GAN robots for the scrambler and somehow beam a scramble to the bot? I know it is terrible.

Oh shoot, just realized not everyone has a gan cube. But still, could we somehow modify a GAN bot to do this? And if you do have a compatible GAN, you could bring that?
 

I'm A Cuber

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I know this is a terrible idea, but this seems important, and I like to be in important stuff because it makes me feel important.
Anyway, what if we could use GAN robots for the scrambler and somehow beam a scramble to the bot? I know it is terrible.

Oh shoot, just realized not everyone has a gan cube. But still, could we somehow modify a GAN bot to do this? And if you do have a compatible GAN, you could bring that?
Gan robots are $$$$$$$$$
 

CubeBlazer

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I know this is a terrible idea, but this seems important, and I like to be in important stuff because it makes me feel important.
Anyway, what if we could use GAN robots for the scrambler and somehow beam a scramble to the bot? I know it is terrible.

Oh shoot, just realized not everyone has a gan cube. But still, could we somehow modify a GAN bot to do this? And if you do have a compatible GAN, you could bring that?
They should have a scrambling robot like the robot at US Nationals 2015
 

One Wheel

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I know, I said it was terrible, but better than risking your life because another person touched your cube
This is a dangerous disease, too be sure, but people are overestimating how dangerous it is. It is primarily transmitted through the air, not through touch, and if you do contract it the best data I've seen suggests that about 0.75% of people who contract it die, significantly lower among younger healthier demographics like the majority of cubers.
 

Spacey10

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This is a dangerous disease, too be sure, but people are overestimating how dangerous it is. It is primarily transmitted through the air, not through touch, and if you do contract it the best data I've seen suggests that about 0.75% of people who contract it die, significantly lower among younger healthier demographics like the majority of cubers.
So how does that relate to the robots?
 
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