Clock notation

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Revision as of 13:45, 15 August 2026 by Sastion (talk | contribs) (WIP)

The Clock puzzle has an official WCA notation used for scrambles that can also be used in recons with some extra notation.

Turns

In the clock structure, there are 4 dials (also called "wheels" or "gears") and 4 pins that can be up or down. 1 move in the clock is counted when at least 1 dial is turned while the pins are in a specific up/down configuration. These are the pins configurations used in WCA notation for scrambles:

  • UR = Only UR pin is up (up right pin)
  • DR = Only DR pin is up (down right pin)
  • DL = Only DL pin is up (down left pin)
  • UL = Only UL pin is up (up left pin)
  • U = Only UL and UR pins are up
  • R = Only UR and DR pins are up
  • D = Only DR and DL pins are up
  • L = Only DL and UL pins are up
  • ALL = All pins are up

Outside WCA scramble notation, some others pins configs can be set:

  • ur = Only UR pin is down
  • dr = Only DR pin is down
  • dl = Only DL pin is down
  • ul = Only UL pin is down
  • B = All pins are down (not common)

Diagonals:

  • / = Only UR and DL pins are up
  • \ = Only UL and DR pins are up

It's important to note that each pin is associated to a dial, for example, the UR pin is associated to UR dial, DR pin is associated with DR dial and so on.
Note that each dial do a distinct move depending on the pins config, for example, if only one pin is up, turning the dial associated to this pin will turn only the 4 mini clocks around this pin, but turning any other dial will only turn the corners next to the pins that are down.
If 2 pins are up, then turning any of their dials will turn only the mini clocks that are around these pins, and turning any other dial will turn the 2 corners next to the pins that are down.
If 3 pins are up, turning any of their dials will turn all mini clocks except the corner next the pin that is down, which will only move if its dial got turned or if pins config is changed.
If all pins are up, turning any dial will also turn all 9 mini clocks, but if all pins are down, only the corners will get turned. All these rules work for both sides, which also means turning a dial with a pin down is equivalent of turning it with the pin up in the back face.

For notating the dial turns, a system of 12 whole numbers (from 5- to 6+) is used alongside the pins config (similar to Square-1 notation). Examples:

  • D1+ means the bottom pins are up (DR and DL) and one of their dials is turned clockwise in 1 hour
  • UL5+ means only UL pin is up and its dial is turned clockwise in 5 hours
  • DR2- means only DR pin is up and its dial is turned counterclockwise in 2 hours
  • /4- means only UR and DL pins are up and one of their dials is turned counterclockwise in 4 hours
  • ur6+ means all pins are up except UR and a non UR dial is turned 180° (adding/removing 6 hours)
  • ALL3+ means all pins are up and just any dial is turned clockwise in 3 hours
  • U0+ means no moves are done since advancing 0 hours means not advancing at all

There's also some possible rotations to do in clock which is similar to NxNxN notation:

  • y2 means the clock is flipped 180° in the y-axis
  • x2 means the clock is flipped 180° in the x-axis
  • z means the clock is rotated 90° clockwise in the z-axis
  • z' means the clock is rotated 90° counterclockwise in the z-axis
  • z2 means the clock is rotated 180° in the z-axis

Simul moves

A move that is made with both hands turning different dials of both up and down pins is called a "simul" move (short for "simultaneous") and, unlike simple moves, simul moves notation require 2 numbers for the same pins config. The numbers appear inside a parenthesis "()" right after the letter(s) whose the first number is done with left hand and second number is done with right hand. This notation considers that left dials turns are always made with left hand and right dials turns always with right hand, prioritizing the top dials. In the case where one of the hands has to turn one of the bottom dials (like in U or D pins config), the notation considers the right hand to turn. Examples:

  • In R(1-,4+) left hand does 1- in the UL dial and right hand does 4+ in UR dial
  • In UL(3+,2+) left hand does 3+ in the UL dial and right hand does 2+ in UR dial
  • In D(2-,6+) left hand does 2- in the UL dial and right hand does 6+ in DR dial
  • Indl(5-,1+) left hand does 5- in the DL dial and right hand does 2+ in UR dial
  • In \(3-,1-) left hand does 3- in the UL dial and right hand does 1- in UR dial
  • In DR(4+,3-) left hand does 4+ in the UL dial and right hand does 3- in DR dial

For each pins config, the first move in the parenthesis is done with its:

  • Dial pin up: DL, UL, U, L, ur, dr, \
  • Dial pin down: UR, DR, R, D, dl, ul, /

This notation is also used for (WIP)

In WCA scramble notation, the scramble should start with 12 o'clock pointing up and the clock must be solved (when all hands point to 12 o'clock in both faces), it doesn't matter which side to start scrambling. After this setup, the scramble follows a fixed pin order that goes like this:
UR, DR, DL, UL, U, R, D, L, ALL, y2, U, R, D, L, ALL

Scramble example: UR2- DR5- DL3- UL1+ U2+ R1+ D4+ L5- ALL5- y2 U4- R3- D1+ L3- ALL3+

After doing the scramble, the clock hands should be pointing to a random direction each. In this specific scramble above, they should be matching these hours:
0 5 3
9 6 9
6 10 10
(Front side)

9 4 0
6 0 7
2 11 6
(Back side)

See also

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