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Rubik Speedsolving Association - A message from Ernő Rubik

MentosCubing

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Rubik Speedsolving Association? Call me a downer but I'm quite happy with what we have right now. Nothing wrong with the WCA and the way things are going, people compete, and some people organize, that's the way it should be. If this is just meant to act as a catalyst to what we already have then by all means I welcome this, but I really don't want to have competing systems for competitors, we saw in Jessica Fridrich's accounts of 1982 how that went wrong.
I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but there already are competitions and educational kits made and sponsored by Rubik's. Go to YouCanDoTheCube.com to find out more.
Nobody really seems to know or worry about these, but I just wanted to let you know it has been done before and it may help you to know what to expect.
 

EntireTV

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"It is my ambition to create the best speedcubes made available to enthusiasts of all ages and backgrounds. During my recent trip to China, I met the gifted young designer, Gan (creator of the world champion speedcube), and invited him to take part in this effort.

Of course, I keep looking for other puzzle talents and plan to develop collaborative design platforms at RSA."
________________________________________________________________________________________

So now he's talking to cube designers and I'm gonna be pissed if they start making standardized cubes. But I beg everyone (including myself) to try to keep and open mind about this change.
 
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RB

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I see a lot of growth opportunities in this RSA & WCA cooperation, if it happens.

Behind RSA & Erno Rubik are sponsors, the world Name, and (maybe) some political support.
Behind WCA is the great organized system of the competitions.

How they cooperate (just couple ideas):

what WCA can do for RSA, for example, is to add the extra event "3x3 (only Rubik's Cube (tm)".
In other words, there will be one 3x3 "sport" event with the latest and the greatest cubes (which we have now), and there will be one with the "original" Ribik's Cubes. In this case, in terms of sport, there will be an event with equal rights for all cubers around the world as they have exactly same cubes. For the Erno's sponsors it will be huge boost of "Rubik's"(tm) cubes sales.

what RSA can do for WCA is to finance some competitions. Not all of them, but most important in each country, as national championships. Bigger prizes will attract more cubers to participate, and this may boost speedcubing as well.

another niche that RSA can fill is "Cube for shows". It can be the place where cubers could get some ideas what to do for "Talent Shows" at schools, universities or on TV. A lot of students around the world would be interested in discussing simple tricks with the cubes to impress people, like Steven Brundage did on American Got Talent. Speedsolving forum is the bad place for those discussions, maybe RSA will create the good one.

one more area where RSA may earn a lot of money is to develop a cheap version of the cube for mosaic building (with price less than $1). This is also a huge market for sales as a simple portrait needs at least 300 cubes, and this may impact growth of cube-art around the world.

This is, I would say, a peak of the iceberg of the possible win-win opportunities.

I'm not sure whether for RSA or WCA those ideas could be interesting, but they could be a starting point of future cooperation development.
 

mark49152

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If Rubik's license a decent speedcube design from one of the accomplished design houses, that would be interesting. Next year we might be rating Rubik's alongside Moyu and Gan as a credible speedcube brand. And they have the money and means to expand the market too.
 

One Wheel

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Next year we might be rating Rubik's alongside Moyu and Gan as a credible speedcube brand. And they have the money and means to expand the market too.

Based on the above quote from the RSA via @EntireTV it looks like Rubik might be working on a partnership with Gans. A likely result of that is licensed cubes that, while still prohibitively expensive, are well up to modern standards. If there are such cubes, what's the possibility of a detente between WCA and Rubik/Seven Towns and a ban on "knockoff" cubes in competition?

Edit: @4Chan you're getting quite good at being a tease. You've got my curiosity up as to just what you knew/know.
 
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Loiloiloi

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one more area where RSA may earn a lot of money is to develop a cheap version of the cube for mosaic building (with price less than $1). This is also a huge market for sales as a simple portrait needs at least 300 cubes, and this may impact growth of cube-art around the world
Guanlong
In other words, there will be one 3x3 "sport" event with the latest and the greatest cubes (which we have now), and there will be one with the "original" Ribik's Cubes. In this case, in terms of sport, there will be an event with equal rights for all cubers around the world as they have exactly same cubes. For the Erno's sponsors it will be huge boost of "Rubik's"(tm) cubes sales.

How do you regulate what is and isn't an original brand cube? People modify their Rubik's brand these days by removing hardware such as the core and replacing it with a good core. How would this be regulated? Each cube must be popped open to check for different internals?
 

Dom

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Guanlong


How do you regulate what is and isn't an original brand cube? People modify their Rubik's brand these days by removing hardware such as the core and replacing it with a good core. How would this be regulated? Each cube must be popped open to check for different internals?
They might provide cubes for the competitors. That would be a major fail.
 

Torch

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Guys, Rubik's has sponsored the World Championships before and allowed all cubes to be used even when they were cracking down on "knockoff" cubes. Why on earth are people suddenly worried that they're going to demand that all competitors use Rubik's brands, when it sure looks to me like they're starting to accept other cube brands much more than in the past?
 

Kit Clement

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Guys, Rubik's has sponsored the World Championships before and allowed all cubes to be used even when they were cracking down on "knockoff" cubes. Why on earth are people suddenly worried that they're going to demand that all competitors use Rubik's brands, when it sure looks to me like they're starting to accept other cube brands much more than in the past?

Because I own this hobby and it was soooo much cooler before it got mainstream.
 

mark49152

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what's the possibility of a detente between WCA and Rubik/Seven Towns and a ban on "knockoff" cubes in competition?
Well this is all speculation of course, but my two cents is that Rubik's and Seven Towns have tried and pretty much failed to limit the use of non-Rubik's brand cubes, and following the recent lost case in Europe perhaps this is a sign that they are ready to redirect their efforts toward growing the market instead, by leveraging the appeal of speedcubing. They have a reach that the other players don't, and ultimately they could make more money by aggressively growing the market and taking a share of it, than by continuing to fight an uphill battle to monopolise a small market.
 

Robert-Y

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what WCA can do for RSA, for example, is to add the extra event "3x3 (only Rubik's Cube (tm)".
In other words, there will be one 3x3 "sport" event with the latest and the greatest cubes (which we have now), and there will be one with the "original" Ribik's Cubes. In this case, in terms of sport, there will be an event with equal rights for all cubers around the world as they have exactly same cubes. For the Erno's sponsors it will be huge boost of "Rubik's"(tm) cubes sales.

one more area where RSA may earn a lot of money...
From a post from Erno:
"I would like to personally support speedcubing to become a true sport on a global scale. As its first sponsor, I am launching a new non-profit organisation with the mission of promoting speedsolving, support competitions, competitors and organizers as well as the introduction of puzzles in education."
Source: https://plus.google.com/+ErnoRubik/posts/TYsSvLRbo7g
 

One Wheel

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Well this is all speculation of course, but my two cents is that Rubik's and Seven Towns have tried and pretty much failed to limit the use of non-Rubik's brand cubes, and following the recent lost case in Europe perhaps this is a sign that they are ready to redirect their efforts toward growing the market instead, by leveraging the appeal of speedcubing. They have a reach that the other players don't, and ultimately they could make more money by aggressively growing the market and taking a share of it, than by continuing to fight an uphill battle to monopolise a small market.

Mine is a doomsday scenario. I strongly suspect you are absolutely correct.
 
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Dom

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I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but there already are competitions and educational kits made and sponsored by Rubik's. Go to YouCanDoTheCube.com to find out more.
Nobody really seems to know or worry about these, but I just wanted to let you know it has been done before and it may help you to know what to expect.
So this might be an interesting event to add to WCA competitions. Everyone take a look at this PDF of rules and guidelines for You Can Do the Cube competitions. It's a team solve. And you have to use Rubik's brand cubes. Oh, and a 180-degree turn counts as two moves, so a U2 would be a DNF. And a 90-degree turn would not be a +2, it would be +5! WOW!

What would ya'll think about adding a team solve to the WCA competitions? I think it would be fun. Kinda like a just-for-fun thing like theCubice.us did at US Nationals with the Sail Challenge.
 

Dash Lambda

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I hope Rubik has more genuine respect for the cubing community than Seven Towns.
I don't know what to think of this because I don't know how it will unfold, it could be an honest effort to support the cubing community or it could be a cash grab.

I hope for the best.
 

EntireTV

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For the Erno's sponsors it will be huge boost of "Rubik's"(tm) cubes sales.

I think Rubik's is already getting the money from the viral cubing videos and competitions watched by non-cubers. When a non-cuber sees any cube, whether it be a speedcube or not, and are intrigued by cubing, what will they do? They will buy a Rubik's (tm) cube either way. We have all done it, and I'm pretty sure most non-cuber's transitioning to becoming a speedcuber's first cube is a Rubik's brand cube. They are getting money nonetheless.
 
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One Wheel

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Please correct me if I'm wrong, but afaik the RSA is not connected to Seven Towns in any way.

I believe they are connected via Ernő Rubik. I don't know how important that connection is operationally or philosophically. Hopefully RSA is more about Ernő Rubik's legacy than marketing, but traditionally Seven Towns has always been about marketing.
 

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