Abbreviation WCA Headquarters World | Type Sport Association Membership Free | |
Founder Ron van Bruchem, Tyson Mao Official language Any (depending on location) | ||
The World Cube Association (WCA) is the worldwide organization that regulates and holds competitions for the Rubik's Cube and similar puzzles around the world. It was founded by Ron van Bruchem of the Netherlands and Tyson Mao of the United States. The goal of the World Cube Association is to have "more competitions in more countries with more people and more fun, under fair conditions."
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Its current board members are:
Its former board members are:
As well as these board members, the World Cube Association also assigns delegates who can organize official competitions. The presence of a delegate is required in order to make the competition official. Currently, over 50,000 people from around the world have participated in WCA events.
WCA Delegates
WCA Delegates are present at competition. Each competition requires at least one WCA delegate. WCA Delegates are members of the WCA who are responsible for making sure that all WCA competitions are run according to the mission, regulations and spirit of the WCA. The WCA distinguishes between WCA Senior Delegates, WCA Delegates and WCA Candidate Delegates. Additional to the duties of a WCA Delegate, a WCA Senior Delegate is responsible for managing the Delegates in their area and can also be contacted by the community for regional matters. Delegates are at first listed as WCA Candidate Delegates and need to show that they are capable of managing competitions successfully before being listed as WCA Delegates.
The WCA acknowledges the following members as delegates for official WCA competitions:
History
In 1999, the first modern age speedcubers found each other on the Internet via Rubik's Games, a computer game with an electronic version of the Rubik's Cube. Chris Hardwick from Raleigh, NC founded the Yahoo! Group "Speedsolvingrubikscube" and the Unofficial World Records, a place where cubers could post their personal best times. Ron van Bruchem started speedcubing.com together with his friend Ton Dennenbroek, an avid puzzle collector.
Because the cubers were living all over the world, they wanted to organize a competition at which they could all meet. In 2003, under the guidance of Dan Gosbee, they organized the Rubik's Cube World Championship in Toronto. This first modern-age Rubik's Cube competition was a huge success, but there were lots of issues, due to the lack of good regulations. After the World Championship, Ron van Bruchem and Tyson Mao started organizing competitions in the Netherlands and Germany, as well as at Caltech in the United States. In 2004, they started the World Cube Association, which today has held competitions in 70 different countries.
Events
Currently, the WCA offers competitions in 18 events. Not all of them are offered at every competition, but they are usually all offered at national and global competitions. The events are:
Additionally, some events have had their official WCA event status removed. They are: