Dear WCA Community,

The WCA Regulations Committee would like to inform you about a new version of the WCA Regulations. This version will be in effect for competitions beginning on, or after, April 1st, 2026. The changes to the Regulations in this version are limited in scope and only affect the handling of incidents in which puzzles were not correctly scrambled (misscrambles).

In summary, these changes:

• Remove championship finals from the scope of the firmer Extra/DNS misscramble approach in Regulation 11i1. While scramble integrity remains important, this prioritizes the competitive integrity and spectacle of these rounds.
• Also remove record/top 50 results in championship finals from this scope, as long as scramble double checking takes place. This avoids potentially unfair scenarios in which championship finals could still be affected, while encouraging measures to support correct scrambles in these contexts.
• Provide support to ensure results still subject to stricter misscramble requirements (top results not in championship finals) can be checked once they take place, to minimise the chance of later DNS changes, and allowing subsequent round results not to be removed even if a misscramble is found after the competition.

You can review the wording changes in this comparison on GitHub, where changes and additions are marked green and removals are marked red.

You can read a detailed description of changes in this explainer document. The final changes made remain consistent with the draft changes circulated in February 2026, with no further amendments made.

Source:: worldcubeassociation

The WCA Board and the WCA Major Championship Team (WMCT) wish to provide an important update regarding the 2026 WCA Asian Championship.

After an extensive review of the current planning phase, we regret to announce that the championship will no longer be held in Shenyang, China. This decision follows a period of close collaboration between the WCA and local organizers to assess the logistical feasibility of the event.

During this assessment, we have concluded that due to a number of factors outside of the WCA’s direct control, it is no longer possible to proceed with a continental-tier event in this location. These factors are complex and span a wide range of issues, from strategic to operational and everywhere in between and it became clear that we would not be able to navigate around these challenges. With the event date quickly approaching, we had to make this difficult decision to ensure our regional partners, and the community as a whole, have sufficient time to adjust their plans.

The WMCT and the WCA Board are actively exploring other possibilities to enable an Asian Championship to still take place in 2026. We are in direct contact with the Asian Regional Organizations, and will share more specific details with them shortly. We will provide an update to the WCA Community as soon as the selection process is complete.

We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the Shenyang organization team for their hard work and dedication through the planning process. We share the community’s disappointment regarding this change and thank you for your continued patience as we work to deliver a high-quality championship experience.

Source:: worldcubeassociation

Dear WCA Community,

We are happy to announce we have a new Senior Delegate, Karol Zakrzewski, for Europe.

Karol was selected by the WCA Board by voting among them, following Section 4 of our Motion about Senior Delegates.

We extend our support and best wishes to Karol in fulfilling his new responsibilities. His term as Senior Delegate starts on February 4, 2026.

Karol was the only applicant for the role, and his successful candidacy document can be found here.

Source:: worldcubeassociation

Dear WCA Community,

The WCA is seeking a volunteer to fill the position of Head of Merch within the WCA Marketing Team. This role focuses on maintaining the WCA’s visual identity through our official merchandise and providing support to community members who purchase from our store.

Candidates are expected to spend at least 4 hours per week on average to fulfill the duties of this role. There is no fixed term limit for this role.

Key Responsibilities
Merchandise Design: Developing new product designs and creative concepts that align with the WCA brand.

Store Maintenance: Managing the WCA’s storefront, including adding new designs and updating product listings (no physical inventory management is required).

Customer Support: Responding to community inquiries regarding store orders and product feedback.

Cross-Team Collaboration: Working with various WCA teams to ensure merchandise supports global initiatives and specific community needs.

Qualities Expected of Candidates
Proficiency in graphic design (e.g., Adobe Creative Suite, Canva).

Strong written communication skills in English for customer support.

Reliability and the ability to work independently.

A good understanding of the WCA and the cubing community.

Experience with e-commerce or print-on-demand platforms is a plus.

Application Process
The application period for candidates to submit their candidacy documents is from now until March 12, 2026, 23:59 UTC. Interested candidates can send their applications to the Executive Assistants Team (assistants@worldcubeassociation.org), CC’ing the WCA Board (board@worldcubeassociation.org).

The candidacy documents must be in PDF format and must include:

Personal Introduction: A brief summary of who you are and your background.

Ambitions for the Role: Your goals for the WCA merch store and any initial design ideas.

WCA Experience (Optional): A summary of any past activities or roles held within the WCA. While helpful, prior WCA experience is not a requirement for this role.

Portfolio: Examples of previous design or creative work.

After the application period, the WCA Board will interview the most qualified applicants, make a selection by voting, and announce the new Head of Merch.

Thanks for your candidacies and support.

Source:: worldcubeassociation

Hi WCA Community,

In the last quarter, the WIC opened 24 cases and closed 19, both a record number for the Committee. This resulted in 5 bans and 8 warnings, while 6 cases ended with no action. Below, you can find summaries of some notable cases:

• The WCA Integrity Committee was informed of a competitor intentionally stopping the timer prematurely and allegedly positioning himself at solving stations where the display is turned off or where there is no display to avoid being caught. Due to limited availability of footage, it could not be immediately confirmed whether the competitor was performing early stops, but evidence was eventually discovered after monitoring their solves. The competitor was contacted and asked to provide any remarks about the matter. However, the competitor did not admit to any wrongdoing despite the multiple opportunities to do so. The competitor was issued a multi-year ban and the concerned results were disqualified. Despite being the same type of offense as the third case, the ban enacted was more severe due to aggravating circumstances.
• The WCA Integrity Committee received reports of a competitor who was completing moves on their puzzle during the inspection phase. The competitor admitted to making moves during inspection on some of their official attempts but the WIC believes that the extent of this cheating is further than what was admitted to. The WIC elected to disqualify some of this competitor’s results and enact a short ban.
• The WCA Integrity Committee received reports of a competitor who had improved at a suspiciously fast pace. The delegates also believed the competitor showed signs of cheating by stopping the timer early with their wrists. Throughout their subsequent competitions, evidence of this competitor cheating was gathered. Affected results were disqualified and this competitor received a short ban.
• The WCA Integrity Committee received evidence that two competitors had participated in manipulating each others‘ scorecards, recording times which were not actually achieved by the competitors. These competitors had multiple competitions worth of results disqualified and were issued a formal warning.
• The WCA Integrity Committee was informed of a competitor cheating in blindfolded events by peeking under the blindfold. Based on the evidence, the WIC determined that the competitor cheated several times. After an internal deliberation the WIC decided to issue a formal warning and disqualify all their results from blindfolded events.

Here are some other general WIC updates:

Zachary Miller (2017MILL04) has become the new Leader of the WCA Integrity Committee. We wish him the best of luck! Also, we are incredibly grateful to Shain Papalotl Longbehn (2020LONG05) for his performance and dedication to his role as leader over the last two years. Thank you so much for your work Shain!

New members have joined the WCA Integrity Committee:

• Daniel Darcy (2022DARC03)
• Elian Beguec (2014BEGU01)
• Finn Trass (2016TRAS01)
• Jakub Hanuszkiewicz (2014HANU01)
• Max Kwok U Sam (2018SAMK01)
• Meng Chon Kuok (2023KUOK01)
• Pauline Bonnaudet (2009BONN01)
• Yash Budhiraja (2018BUDH01)

Jonas Balsfulland (2012BALS01) recently stepped down from his position as a WIC member. Thank you so much for your work Jonas!

The WCA Integrity Committee will work closely with the WCA Major Championships Team (WMCT) to assist the organizers of major championships in selecting volunteers.

Do you have questions for the WIC? Feel free to send us an email any time.

Source:: worldcubeassociation