Question about dropping clocks

[Discomantis]

So, if you are competing in a clock round and your judge causes the clock to fall after lifting the cube cover, but the pins were arranged in such a way that the fall didn't push any pins, could you solve the clock?

In other words, if your judge lifts the cube cover and the clock falls, but no pins are pushed, can you still solve the clock?

 

[Mike Hughey]

Not sure how you would know no pins were pushed. Since the clock was covered and the fall would happen that fast, it seems unlikely that either you or the judge would know for sure what the pin state was prior to the fall.

I guess maybe if the judge had been paying close attention and knew for sure the state was unchanged from past competitor solves on the same scramble, it might be possible although very unlikely (all pins up being a rare scramble anyway). But in my experience most judges don't pay anywhere near that much attention.

 

[Clock_Enthusiast]

Exactly what @Mike Hughey said. For this to reasonably occur without any pins changing, all pins would need to be up (on the opposite side of where the clock falls, specifically).

In almost every case I’ve seen, you just get an extra, as it is the judge’s fault for knocking over the clock. Since the rules now state that during transport, pin position can be altered from that of its scramble (the competitor and judge likely aren’t paying attention to pins as the cover is lifted), it’s just safest and most reasonable to give an extra.