To what extent is “reasonable wear” allowed?

[Fukuoka Kengo James]

WCA regulations 3j1:
Puzzles are permitted to have reasonable wear, at the discretion of the WCA Delegate.

 

[Fukuoka Kengo James]

Some cubers including me has been getting into trouble of having damages on WCA puzzles: https://www.speedsolving.com/threads/any-help-for-fixing-stained-plastic-sticker-vinyl.88893/

I think it’s obvious that if a cube have some super glue stains on it which makes it feels different on hand or some discoloured pieces which makes the piece look different, that puzzle is not allowed in WCA comps. However, most of the case I encounter is having some scratches on puzzles, so for instance like if the puzzle has a light but long scratch which is barely noticeable, or maybe a tiny scratch shorter than 5mm but can be obvious from certain angle?

 

[jouke]

i think as long as you can not obviously see differences it's alowed

 

[Fukuoka Kengo James]

i think as long as you can not obviously see differences it's alowed

Most of the time the scratches I have on my mains are noticeable from some angles, but doesn’t really feel different on hand. Are there any standards like the scratches should not be longer than 5mm? Ofc at the end of the day I know it’s up to the delegate but I just want to play safe.

 

[Cuber Score]

i think as long as you can not obviously see differences it's alowed

Agreed, but I think not being able to use a cube because you dropped it once and it got a noticeable scratch is lunacy.
The WCA definitely needs to improve some of its policies.

 

[Fukuoka Kengo James]

i think as long as you can not obviously see differences it's alowed

But sometimes the scratches can be obvious, but only from certain angles. Is that allowed?

 

[Fukuoka Kengo James]

Like on my mgc 2 elite:

I have ordered replacement parts anyway

 

[Fukuoka Kengo James]

Like on my mgc 2 elite:
View attachment 22018

I have ordered replacement parts anyway

And on my main 3x3, I have just found a tiny scratch just a bit longer than this, but it’s no where as noticeable, but it’s still visible from certain angles. I just think that I’m not intentionally making some scratches on my cubes to take advantage in comps…

 

[Cuber Score]

And on my main 3x3, I have just found a scratch just a bit longer than this, but no where as noticeable, but is still visible from certain angles. I just think that I’m not intentionally making some scratches on my cubes to take advantage in comps…

Agreed.
Also, I tagged you in my thread (the PFP one). Did you see it?

 

[ProStar]

(disclaimer: not a delegate)

I believe that, generally speaking, "reasonable wear" applies to anything that is not blatantly obvious during a solve, either by feel or by sight. A simple scratch should be fine.

This regulation also affects stickered puzzles far more than stickerless, as over time stickers wear down much quicker than the plastic, which typically is only affected by some sort of accident

@Kit Clement any comments on this issue?

 

[Mike Hughey]

There is almost no way judgment of reasonable wear can be consistent. I think back to the way Dan Cohen's puzzles used to look when he was dominating 5x5x5. Sometimes it seemed like there was barely a sticker left on some of the pieces. People were pretty lenient with this rule back then - I doubt his puzzles would have been allowed today.

I worry about it because I use almost exclusively stickered puzzles. I almost always feel I need to refresh at least the most worn stickers before every competition, and sometimes it's hard to get properly matching stickers with older puzzles. And since it seems like fewer and fewer good cubes are being made in black instead of stickerless now, I'm afraid I may wind up being forced into switching to stickerless puzzles someday. And that would be very hard for my BLD and FMC solving, since I use a weird color scheme. Switching to stickerless would almost be like starting over.

 

[OreKehStrah]

There is almost no way judgment of reasonable wear can be consistent. I think back to the way Dan Cohen's puzzles used to look when he was dominating 5x5x5. Sometimes it seemed like there was barely a sticker left on some of the pieces. People were pretty lenient with this rule back then - I doubt his puzzles would have been allowed today.

I worry about it because I use almost exclusively stickered puzzles. I almost always feel I need to refresh at least the most worn stickers before every competition, and sometimes it's hard to get properly matching stickers with older puzzles. And since it seems like fewer and fewer good cubes are being made in black instead of stickerless now, I'm afraid I may wind up being forced into switching to stickerless puzzles someday. And that would be very hard for my BLD and FMC solving, since I use a weird color scheme. Switching to stickerless would almost be like starting over.

Yeah, as a fellow custom color scheme user, the lack of new cubes being released in black in concerning for me. It makes me consider just switching back to using the normal 6 colors just to prevent being forced to switch back later down the road.

 

[Tabe]

(disclaimer: not a delegate)

I believe that, generally speaking, "reasonable wear" applies to anything that is not blatantly obvious during a solve, either by feel or by sight. A simple scratch should be fine.

This is the standard I enforce (am a delegate).