Back to Home

How to Run a Successful Rubik's Cube Competition
GETTING STARTED

• Verify that there are enough interested cubers to attend the competition.
  A good competition should have a minimum of twenty competitors, but more is better. If you are not sure that you can have this many attend, you should probably just have an unofficial competiiton.
• Choose a weekend that you and most of the interested cubers are free.
  If you are not availabe for a certain date, then that is obviously a poor choice. However, if most of the interested cubers are not available for the date you choose, you will have a low turnout. You should try to find a balance between your availability and the availability of your competitors.
• Find an appropriate venue and make sure that you can use it for the competition.
  A good venue will have a large competition area and an area for the spectators to watch. The lighting of the venue must also be very good so the competitors are not distracted or affected by it. See the WCA regulations for more details about choosing a venue.
• Make sure that a WCA delegate can attend the competition.
  All official competitions must have a WCA Board member or delegate attending. The WCA delegate must be a trusted individual by the WCA to ensure that the competition runs smoothly and that all rules are enforced.
• Contact the WCA Board for permission to host a competition.
  E-mail the WCA Board with your idea and tell them about the competition. Be sure to include details about how many people you expect, what the entrance fee would be, where the competition will take place, and who the WCA delegate could be.

ONCE YOU HAVE PERMISSION

• Contact the venue again and finalize the details with them.
  Make sure you guarantee that you have whatever space you chose reserved and that they know what will be going on.
• Make a schedule of events based on when you will have the venue.
  Time all events accordingly. If you will have a large number of comeptitors, you will have to make your events longer. Remember that some puzzles, such as 4x4x4 and 5x5x5, take a long time if you will have slower competitors attending, so you may want to have only one round or a combined final.
• Setup a webpage with the information and registration instructions.
  Be sure to include all information about the date, events, schedule, venue, directions, WCA delegate, and anything else that may be relevant. Also, let the competitors know how they can pre-register for the competition so that you can plan better. It may also be helpful to include a list of hotels in the area, especially for competitions that are more than one day or that will have competitors that had to travel.
• Contact the WCA Board and give the appropriate information for announcement.
  When you e-mail the WCA Board this time, let them know that everything is taken care of and give them all necessary information that they need to announce the competition officially.

BEFORE THE COMPETITION

• Announce the competition to the community through the Yahoo! Group.
  Remember that many speedcubers do not check speedcubing.com regularly, so it would be a good idea to also announce the competition to the speedsolvingrubikscube Yahoo! group
• Contact media organizations for additional publicity.
  Many newspapers or local news stations may be interested in your event. Contact a large number of media groups to get the word out and a few may come to your event.
• Setup the Excel worksheet (available from Ron).
  Make sure you (or somebody who will be available at the competition) is familiar with Microsoft Excel to setup the competition worksheet. You may want to add the names of anybody who preregistered and add the appropriate sheets for the events you will be holding.
• Print registration and competition sheets.
  You will need these sheets before and during the competition, so do not wait until the last minute to print them. More information about these is available below.
• Obtain prizes for the winners.
  The WCA regulations state that winners should receive a prize for winning. At a minimum you should offer certificates, but trophies, puzzles, tiles, or other prizes would be ideal.
• Print the scrambles ahead of time.
  The scrambles are important, so they should be printed early and placed in a sealed envelope. You may have to generate the scrambles yourself using the scramblers on the WCA page, or they may be sent to you. Either way, this should be taken care of early enough to avoid the possibility of a competition without scrambles.

AT THE COMPETITION

• Set-up early.
  It is important to arrive at the venue early to setup so that the competition starts on time. If you fall behind schedule early in the day, it will be very difficult to stick to the original schedule and you may have to eliminate events.
• Make sure there are judges/scramblers available.
  If you do not have judges and scramblers working at all times, the competition will be delayed. If this happens, it will be difficult to maintain the schedule or even continue with the competition.
• Make sure somebody is available for data entry at all times.
  In order to calculate the averages in a timely manner to determine winners and round advancements, times should be entered into the Excel worksheet as they happen. This will also allow you to send the results to the WCA Board as soon as the competition is over.
• Enforce all rules.
  Enforcing all rules of the competition is very important. If rules are broken, the integrity of the competition is at risk and all results may have to be nullified. Therefore, it is important to be knowledgeable about all rules and regulations established by the WCA.
• Have a copy of the regulations handy.
  In case of a discrepancy, it is essential to have a copy of the WCA regulations available to determine the outcome of the situation. The WCA delegate should know all of these rules.
• Make the competition unique.
  Having something unique to your competition, such as special guests or events, will attract more cubers and make it more fun.

YOU WILL NEED...
Computer and Printer
- It is essential to be able to enter times into the computer continuously during the competition so that averages can be calculated and the results can be sent to the WCA Board in an appropriate time frame. The printer is useful for customizing certificates or posting schedules so that the competitors know the results without having to ask.
Stackmats and Displays
- If you are buying these, expect to pay about $100 for each display and about $25 for each timer. The timers should have the jack to plug in the displays. It may be possible to borrow the displays from Speedstacks. For purchase information, please visit Speedstacks.
Stopwatches
- You will need these for pre-inspection. You should have one watch for each timer. I bought these for a few dollars each at Target.
Blindfolds
- You will need these if blindfolded cubing is one of the scheduled events. Make sure the blindfolds are WCA-approved. Ideally, you should have one blindfold for each competitor in the event, but at a minimum, there should be one blindfold for each display. I bought blindfolds for $4 at Target.
Prizes/Certificates
- According to the WCA regulations, the winner of each event should receive a prize of some sort. If you are on a budget, certificates will suffice. You may be able to obtain prizes from Cubesmith.
Cube covers
- It is useful to have cube covers to go over the scrambled cubes so that competitors may not peek at the scramble. If no cube covers are available, the competition sheets may be used. I was fortunate enough to obtain mine from David H. Jones, but they are tedious to make, so you may have to resort to just using paper.
Scrambles
- The scrambling program is online at the WCA's Homepage. You may be able to generate your own scrambles or they may be sent to you by the WCA Board.
Registration sheets
- These sheets will be filled out by each competitor so that you can keep track of everybody and what events they are competiting in. They are especially useful for the first stages in data entry. You can use one of my old sheets as a template.
Competition sheets
- You will need these sheets for the judges to write the times achieved by the competitors. You should have at least one for each round of each event for every competitor. It is best to overestimate the number needed. You can use this document as a template.
Pens or pencils
- It should be obvious why you need these, but it is easy to forget them.

FAQs
Q: What should one expect the event to cost?
A: Rutgers charged me $150-200 for rental of the room + equipment (staging, microphone, etc), but many science centers may be interested in hosting your competition for free.

Q: How does one pay for all these costs?
A: Rutgers funded me since Rutgers has a Rubik's Cube Club. Perhaps you can find sponsors.

Q: How do you estimate the number of expected competitors?
A: I base that estimate on previous competitions held in the same area around the same time of year.

Q: How do you estimate the number of expected spectators?
A: Who cares? People will show up to watch. Just make sure you have plenty of chairs (no one will want to stand).

Q: How do you know the proper time to hold the event so you get the maximum turn out?
A: I try not to host a competition in the same week of another competition around here. That would be silly. Other than that, avoid hosting a competition somewhere remote during a busy week (ie - maybe exam weeks especially, since many cubers are also students).

Q: How and where do you get all the required equipment?
A: Rutgers bought them for me and the rest are donated. Just ask.

Q: How do you ensure it will be sanctioned by the WCA (i.e. what if no approved delegate can make it)?
A: If you pay for my trip, I will most likely delegate your competition upon WCA approval. I have delegated more than ten competitions so far and competed in more than 25 competitions, so I am more than qualified for the position.