Caleb Valenzuela
Member
I’ve been seeing some people interested in holding a competition, so I am going to make a comprehensive guide with the dos and don'ts of making a forum competition. Enjoy.
1. Deciding on what kind of competition you want to make
There are a few kinds of competitions that you can take inspiration from. Here’s a list (according to my knowledge):
Standard style. You’re standard WCA-like competition. A set of events and a set of rounds of each event. However, unlike WCA comps, because not everybody on this forum is from the same place and are free at the same time, you need to allow at least a week or two for people to submit. There are also some ways you can organize the schedule, such as the following:
a.) If you only have a few events in your competition, releasing scrambles for each event one by one will not take too much time.
b.) If you have a lot of events, it might be wise to separate events into groups such as NxNs or Side-Events. It is advisable to release scrambles for events all at once or in one group.
The more events or competitors, the more time needed to submit.
Bracket style. Commonly done with 16 or 32 competitors. To see how it works, read this article from Wikipedia (or look at some forum comps with the same style): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bracket_(tournament).
Team style. Also known as team competitions. Competitors would form groups of three or four and each of them would do a different event. Competitor’s events in a team can be fixed or interchangable (chosen by the host of the competition).
Team Bracket style. The combination of the bracket and team-style competitions was invented by me! The number of events would be decided by the number of competitors per team. The host must decide that. How teams will win each bracket is up to the host.
If you have your own idea, you can use that instead! There are no obligations to which style of competition you want to use.
2. Deciding on a theme
When I say “theme”, I mean like “Speeding in Spring” or “SpeedSolving New Year”. It’s usually related to the time of the year or a special month. Of course, you can choose to have no theme. A general rule of thumb is to make the competition related to the theme of the competition. For example, “Speedsolving Big Cubes 2025”. It would feature larger NxNs such as 6x6s and 7x7s.
These two steps would help you decide on a competition name.
3. Organizing the Competition
After you have decided the style, events, and the name of your competition, it’s time to move on to organizing information. Make sure to explain how things work, such as submitting results, how to register, the schedule, when registration will end, when events will start, and if you invented your own competition style or a variant of an already existing one, explain how it works. It’s best if you keep a list of competitors somewhere on your device to help ping competitors if needed. Allow at least one month or three weeks for people to register or until registration is full. Spoilers are also especially helpful for de-cluttering information. It’s especially helpful to use spoilers when releasing scrambles, listing competitors, and if you are hosting a team competition, the name of the team and its competitors. Don’t forget to leave 1–2 weeks for people to submit.
4. Minor inconveniences
These are things such as competitors not submitting or cooperating, a schedule shift, or a lack of competitors. It is crucial that you know how to handle these inconveniences, so I will walk you through each of the most common ones.
a.) Competitors are not cooperating. This means that they don’t follow the rules of your competition or don’t submit. If they don’t follow the rules, give them 3 strikes. If they fail to comply, they disqualify them from the competition. If competitors don’t submit within the given 1–2 weeks, move on to the next event. But if you are hosting a team competition, re-open registration to allow more competitors in. You could even post on a specific member’s profile asking if they want to compete. However, this should be done in moderation to avoid spamming.
5. Co-hosting
You could ask another member on this forum to co-host a competition with you. You (you mean the host btw) and the co-host will decide who does which. If you are organizing a big comp, it’s advisable to have one or more co-hosts.
I hope this helped. If there is something unclear, just ask! I or another experienced member will help.
1. Deciding on what kind of competition you want to make
There are a few kinds of competitions that you can take inspiration from. Here’s a list (according to my knowledge):
Standard style. You’re standard WCA-like competition. A set of events and a set of rounds of each event. However, unlike WCA comps, because not everybody on this forum is from the same place and are free at the same time, you need to allow at least a week or two for people to submit. There are also some ways you can organize the schedule, such as the following:
a.) If you only have a few events in your competition, releasing scrambles for each event one by one will not take too much time.
b.) If you have a lot of events, it might be wise to separate events into groups such as NxNs or Side-Events. It is advisable to release scrambles for events all at once or in one group.
The more events or competitors, the more time needed to submit.
Bracket style. Commonly done with 16 or 32 competitors. To see how it works, read this article from Wikipedia (or look at some forum comps with the same style): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bracket_(tournament).
Team style. Also known as team competitions. Competitors would form groups of three or four and each of them would do a different event. Competitor’s events in a team can be fixed or interchangable (chosen by the host of the competition).
Team Bracket style. The combination of the bracket and team-style competitions was invented by me! The number of events would be decided by the number of competitors per team. The host must decide that. How teams will win each bracket is up to the host.
If you have your own idea, you can use that instead! There are no obligations to which style of competition you want to use.
2. Deciding on a theme
When I say “theme”, I mean like “Speeding in Spring” or “SpeedSolving New Year”. It’s usually related to the time of the year or a special month. Of course, you can choose to have no theme. A general rule of thumb is to make the competition related to the theme of the competition. For example, “Speedsolving Big Cubes 2025”. It would feature larger NxNs such as 6x6s and 7x7s.
These two steps would help you decide on a competition name.
3. Organizing the Competition
After you have decided the style, events, and the name of your competition, it’s time to move on to organizing information. Make sure to explain how things work, such as submitting results, how to register, the schedule, when registration will end, when events will start, and if you invented your own competition style or a variant of an already existing one, explain how it works. It’s best if you keep a list of competitors somewhere on your device to help ping competitors if needed. Allow at least one month or three weeks for people to register or until registration is full. Spoilers are also especially helpful for de-cluttering information. It’s especially helpful to use spoilers when releasing scrambles, listing competitors, and if you are hosting a team competition, the name of the team and its competitors. Don’t forget to leave 1–2 weeks for people to submit.
4. Minor inconveniences
These are things such as competitors not submitting or cooperating, a schedule shift, or a lack of competitors. It is crucial that you know how to handle these inconveniences, so I will walk you through each of the most common ones.
a.) Competitors are not cooperating. This means that they don’t follow the rules of your competition or don’t submit. If they don’t follow the rules, give them 3 strikes. If they fail to comply, they disqualify them from the competition. If competitors don’t submit within the given 1–2 weeks, move on to the next event. But if you are hosting a team competition, re-open registration to allow more competitors in. You could even post on a specific member’s profile asking if they want to compete. However, this should be done in moderation to avoid spamming.
5. Co-hosting
You could ask another member on this forum to co-host a competition with you. You (you mean the host btw) and the co-host will decide who does which. If you are organizing a big comp, it’s advisable to have one or more co-hosts.
I hope this helped. If there is something unclear, just ask! I or another experienced member will help.
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