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One-Answer WCA Competition and Regulations Question Thread

BenChristman1

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When doing clock, do I need to finish my solve with the clock standing up? I ask this because many times when I stop the timer my clock will fall and I'm wondering if I need to practice this
No, you don't. At a comp, the judge will pick up the clock and look at the other side to make sure it's solved.
 

SlowCubez

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In a competition I assume all competitors start off with the cube in the same state?

How many moves are typically required to complete the solve in a competition?

Are these stats published anywhere? I mean is the starting state ever recorded anywhere? and how many moves were necessary to solve it? and in what time?
 

MJS Cubing

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In a competition I assume all competitors start off with the cube in the same state?

How many moves are typically required to complete the solve in a competition?

Are these stats published anywhere? I mean is the starting state ever recorded anywhere? and how many moves were necessary to solve it? and in what time?
Do a little googling and you will find your answers. It depends which method you are talking about for how many moves there are, and also how efficient solutions are. On average, with CFOP (The most popular method) there is about 50-70 moves in a solve. In competition, every cube gets a different scramble, so no two are in the same state, and these stats are published in a lot of different place. The speesolving wiki is good for this kind of info, just search for what you need to know. Try searching for methods, instead of move counts, as the method pages have move counts in them.
 

xyzzy

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>In a competition I assume all competitors start off with the cube in the same state?
Within the same scramble group, yes. In bigger competitions, competitors are usually split into multiple groups, and within each scramble group, every competitor receives the same five scrambles.

>How many moves are typically required to complete the solve in a competition?
Typically 17 or 18 are required no matter what (this depends on scramble; it can be as low as 2 and as high as 20), but in practice we usually take 40-60 moves on average.

>is the starting state ever recorded anywhere?
The WCA database. There's an online interface at wcadb.net. Note that in competitions with multiple scramble groups, the database does not track who is in which group.

>how many moves were necessary to solve it?
No. You can get the scrambles from the database export and feed them to Cube Explorer, though.

>in what time?
You can check this on the WCA website itself.
 

Nir1213

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Do a little googling and you will find your answers. It depends which method you are talking about for how many moves there are, and also how efficient solutions are. On average, with CFOP (The most popular method) there is about 50-70 moves in a solve. In competition, every cube gets a different scramble, so no two are in the same state, and these stats are published in a lot of different place. The speesolving wiki is good for this kind of info, just search for what you need to know. Try searching for methods, instead of move counts, as the method pages have move counts in them.
To add on, if people use Roux its more move efficient at around 40 - 50, but I havent tried Roux and I'm just looking at the speedsolving wiki. There is also ZZ, in which the speedsolving wiki says 45 moves with eoline, and 53 with eocross.
 

SlowCubez

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Do a little googling and you will find your answers.

I did but I guess I didn't use the correct search terms.

Anyway. You say the most common is method CFOP. (Sorry, I'm not a 'real' cuber so the term was foreign to me till I google that)

The 3x3 method I use is White Cross, Middle edges, White corners, Yellow edges, Yellow Corners.

My method, kind of, looks a bit like CFOP?

But I'm confused. I use my method for a well scrambled cube. But even if the cube only has a few squares out of position I still go through my whole method.

Surely you speedsolvers aren't just going through the whole sequence the same way I do? I just assumed you could look at a cube and figure out the shortest route ignoring fixed sequences such as CFOP

Sorry. I hope this isn't sounding disrespectful - I'm really just trying to understand how you speedsolvers do that amazing feat.

I thought that in order to get faster I'd need to abandon my simple, foolproof, slow, method. or are you saying my method is fine - I just need a faster cube and faster fingers.
 

DNF_Cuber

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I did but I guess I didn't use the correct search terms.

Anyway. You say the most common is method CFOP. (Sorry, I'm not a 'real' cuber so the term was foreign to me till I google that)

The 3x3 method I use is White Cross, Middle edges, White corners, Yellow edges, Yellow Corners.

My method, kind of, looks a bit like CFOP?

But I'm confused. I use my method for a well scrambled cube. But even if the cube only has a few squares out of position I still go through my whole method.

Surely you speedsolvers aren't just going through the whole sequence the same way I do? I just assumed you could look at a cube and figure out the shortest route ignoring fixed sequences such as CFOP

Sorry. I hope this isn't sounding disrespectful - I'm really just trying to understand how you speedsolvers do that amazing feat.

I thought that in order to get faster I'd need to abandon my simple, foolproof, slow, method. or are you saying my method is fine - I just need a faster cube and faster fingers.
we can't figure out the shortest route, but sometimes more efficient ones. Your method is kinda bad.
 

Humble Cuber

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I did but I guess I didn't use the correct search terms.

Anyway. You say the most common is method CFOP. (Sorry, I'm not a 'real' cuber so the term was foreign to me till I google that)

The 3x3 method I use is White Cross, Middle edges, White corners, Yellow edges, Yellow Corners.

My method, kind of, looks a bit like CFOP?

But I'm confused. I use my method for a well scrambled cube. But even if the cube only has a few squares out of position I still go through my whole method.

Surely you speedsolvers aren't just going through the whole sequence the same way I do? I just assumed you could look at a cube and figure out the shortest route ignoring fixed sequences such as CFOP

Sorry. I hope this isn't sounding disrespectful - I'm really just trying to understand how you speedsolvers do that amazing feat.

I thought that in order to get faster I'd need to abandon my simple, foolproof, slow, method. or are you saying my method is fine - I just need a faster cube and faster fingers.
Your method doesn't seem like the best currently, I recomend learning either, CFOP, Roux, Petrus. or ZZ. I would recommend trying them all out and seeing which one you like best, as that is often the best way to determine your main method
 

SenorJuan

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His method isn't that bad , considering he's a beginner. He isn't doing 'daisy cross', for example. Though I suspect the last layer is not as neat as it sounds: "Yellow edges then Yellow corners" probably means something like: permute yellow edges, orient yellow edges, permute yellow corners, orient yellow corners , and likely accounts for 80 moves in a beginners approach. While solving edges one-look is pretty easy, and only needs 14 algorithms, it's unlikely he's nailed all 85-ish L4C algs.
He should definitely move on to 'keyhole' insertion of his white-layer corners, for a simple speed increase. Then think about proper 'F2L' ( the F in CFOP ).
As for the last layer, 'Edges then Corners' has OK movecount, and the first step is good, but the L4C step is tough to one-step. It's probably best to follow the usual advice, and change to OLL - PLL.

( Edges then Corners works OK on the Mirror-blocks cube, and it's not bad for a beginners FMC approach, as influencing the edges during the F2L stage is possible, plus the chances of finishing with a 3-corner cycle is high, which then permits an 'insertion' ,to knock a few moves off. )
 
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SlowCubez

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His method isn't that bad , considering he's a beginner. He isn't doing 'daisy cross', for example. Though I suspect the last layer is not as neat as it sounds: "Yellow edges then Yellow corners"

Don't want you guys to think I was ignoring your comments - I did post way up the page but I just noticed it's being held back waiting for moderator approval.

Anyway. Thank you for all your comments. Takes me ages to google all those abbreviations you're all using. I'm looking though your suggested methods now and, hopefully, I'll find one that suits me.

Thank you!

My method started out as some beginner's guide that I found online that involved a LOT of repetitive RUR'U' and I've adapted it a bit to remove a lot of that but I still use RUR'U' it to rotate some corners.

I looked at DNF_Cuber's PB of 8.70 at "alg (dot) cubing (dot) net"
(link in his signature) and I thought, well, this shouldn't be too bad that white cross is just one move from being done. But then I set it up on my cube and solved it using my method .... and I gave up counting moves once I'd gotten over 100!

So I agree. My method is terrible.

Time I learned a new one.
 
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Don't want you guys to think I was ignoring your comments - I did post way up the page but I just noticed it's being held back waiting for moderator approval.

Anyway. Thank you for all your comments. Takes me ages to google all those abbreviations you're all using. I'm looking though your suggested methods now and, hopefully, I'll find one that suits me.

Thank you!
don't google them. search at the wiki

searching for l4c shouldn't take ages

 

CodingCuber

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I’m pretty sure you need to bring some form of ID to your first competition. I can’t quite remember what I took to my first competition but my friend wants clarification of what you need to bring and if it is needed to bring.
 

BenChristman1

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I’m pretty sure you need to bring some form of ID to your first competition. I can’t quite remember what I took to my first competition but my friend wants clarification of what you need to bring and if it is needed to bring.
I didn’t have to. The only thing that anybody under 15 would for sure have is a birth certificate.
 

xyzzy

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I didn’t have to. The only thing that anybody under 15 would for sure have is a birth certificate.
The ID requirements in the US are probably lax because you don't have any identification system besides birth certificates and driving licences, or whatever the heck.

… Actually, looking it up, it seems Australia also doesn't use ID cards or the like. Huh.

I’m pretty sure you need to bring some form of ID to your first competition. I can’t quite remember what I took to my first competition but my friend wants clarification of what you need to bring and if it is needed to bring.
Ask your delegate.

My guess is that any official documentation (Australian passport, birth cert, etc.) or any school-issued identification with a photo on it (student cards? do you guys use those) should be enough.
 

CodingCuber

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The ID requirements in the US are probably lax because you don't have any identification system besides birth certificates and driving licences, or whatever the heck.

… Actually, looking it up, it seems Australia also doesn't use ID cards or the like. Huh.


Ask your delegate.

My guess is that any official documentation (Australian passport, birth cert, etc.) or any school-issued identification with a photo on it (student cards? do you guys use those) should be enough.
Yeah my friend suggested using his student card but we settled on him taking a picture of his birth certificate. Not sure if it will actually be needed but better have it just in case.
 

qwr

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This was already mentioned in the upcoming puzzles thread but is the new Diansheng 5x5 putting their logo on the "corner center" and not directly center piece WCA legal? Because WCA regs say the logo must be on a center piece, which is not clear if they mean the very center piece.
 
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