Dear WCA Community,

The first half of 2023 was quite productive for the WCA Regulations Committee. The number of competitions, as well as the number of incidents, has increased. Here you have the most notable of the recent incidents:

1. After a competitor finished their average, the scrambles were double checked, and it was found that one of the solves was misscrambled only by one move, affecting only the last move of the solve. The WCA Delegates provided an extra attempt, and the WRC later agreed that although the misscramble was the same in difficulty and the solve was only different by one last move, the extra attempt should be used, as always done with misscrambles when the extra is available. See the Incident Log entry here.
2. After a competition, several attempts of high-profile competitors were found to be misscrambled. The WRC investigated each of those attempts to determine if they should stay based on the following criteria:
   • If the misscramble gives the competitor a significant advantage, the attempt should be changed to DNF.
   • If the misscramble is similar in difficulty to the original scramble, the attempt should be left as is.
   • If the misscramble cannot be analyzed (e.g. the video of the attempt is not available), the attempt should be left as is.
     See the Incident Log entry here.
3. After a competition, several misscrambles were found to be sent out during certain events. As the number of misscrambles was significant, the WRC agreed to remove the results of the affected rounds. See the Incident Log entry here.
4. After a competition, a competitor reported that they had both the scrambles from the previous group and from their (current) group in their average. The WCA Delegate also confirmed they could have left two consecutive scramble sets open at the same time. Since the scramble secrecy was violated, the WRC agreed that the results from the affected round should be removed (also resulting in the removal of the final round). See the Incident Log entry here.
5. A competitor emailed the WRC reporting that some covers at this competition were translucent, attaching a picture proving that the scramble can be seen when the puzzle is under the cover under some angle. The WCA Delegates responded that they made sure translucent covers were double stacked in order to make them opaque enough. WRC reviewed the video evidence from the public resources and agreed that the results should be kept. See the Incident Log entry here.
6. During inspection, a competitor reported that their timer was in a 4-pad mode. As later discovered, the competitor touched their camera during the inspection violating Regulation 2i2b, before reporting the timer issue. The WCA Delegates granted a provisional extra attempt, but the WRC agreed to keep a DNF since the competitor touched the camera before spotting the issue with the timer. See the Incident Log entry here.

As most of the incidents that affected a significant amount of attempts were related to scramble concerns, the WRC would like to remind everyone (WCA Delegates, organizers and competitors) about the importance of this matter. All competitions must follow the WCA Scramble Accountability Policy to avoid detrimental consequences for the competitors.

Source:: worldcubeassociation