The World Cube Association (WCA) is the worldwide non-profit organization that regulates and holds competitions for mechanical puzzles that are operated by twisting groups of pieces, commonly known as twisty puzzles (a subcategory of combination puzzles). The most famous of those puzzles is the Rubik's Cube. The WCA was founded by Ron van Bruchem of the Netherlands and Tyson Mao of the United States in 2004. The goal of the World Cube Association is to have "more competitions in more countries with more people and more fun, under fair and equal conditions." In 2017, they started work to become a non-profit organization and on 20 November 2017, the state of California accepted the initial registration of the World Cube Association.

The organization is run by the board members. It assigns different teams and committees as well as delegates who can organize official competitions. The presence of a delegate is required to make the competition official. , over 290,000 people from around the world have participated in WCA competitions, and over 17,500 competitions have been held.

Board

Current WCA Board Members

The WCA Board is responsible for leading the organization as a whole, and fulfilling any duties not fulfilled by other Teams, Committees, and Councils. Additionally, Dan Smith serves as the Executive Director of the WCA.

Former WCA Board Members

Teams and Committees

Teams and committees are made up of volunteers to perform the day-to-day tasks within the WCA. The following teams and committees support the WCA:

• WCA Appeals Committee (WAC)

• WCA Archive Team (WAT)

• WCA Communication Team (WCT)

• WCA Competition Announcement Team (WCAT)

• WCA Executive Assistants Team (WEAT)

• WCA Financial Committee (WFC)

• WCA Integrity Committee (WIC)

• WCA Major Championships Team (WMCT)

• WCA Marketing Team (WMT)

• WCA Quality Assurance Committee (WQAC)

• WCA Regulations Committee (WRC)

• WCA Results Team (WRT)

• WCA Software Team (WST)

• WCA Sports Organization Team (WSOT)

The responsibilities of each team or committee are found on the WCA website.

Delegates

WCA Delegates are responsible for overseeing competitions and ensure they run according to the WCA regulations. The WCA recognizes Senior, Regional, Full, Junior, and Trainee Delegates. Senior and Regional delegates take on additional responsibilities in managing the delegates in their region.

Junior Delegates are required to spend at least one year in the position and demonstrate proficiency in managing competitions before being promoted to Full Delegate. Trainee Delegates are being trained to become Junior Delegates, and are not allowed to manage competitions on their own.

History

Pre-history (1999-2003)

In 1982, an unofficial Rubik's Cube World Championships was hosted in Budapest, Hungary by Ernő Rubik, which was won by Minh Thai with a time of 22.95 seconds. In 1999, speedcubers gathered 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.

Founding (2003-2004)

Because the cubers were living all over the world, they wanted to organize a competition at which they could all meet. In 2001, plans to organise a World Championship in New York were underway but it had to be called off due to safety concerns at the time. In 2003, under the guidance of Dan Gosbee, they successfully organized the Rubik's Cube World Championship in Toronto. This first modern-age Rubik's Cube competition was a success, but there were many issues, largely due to the lack of any regulations. After the World Championship, 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 more than 100 countries.

After the founding of the WCA, most competitions in the United States happened in prestigious colleges, though many happened in smaller high schools, middle schools, hotels, malls, amusement parks and other venues internationally. Some of the first official events included most current ones (see Events). However, 6x6, 7x7, and Skewb weren't events when the organization was founded, whereas Magic, Master Magic, and 3x3 with Feet were but are no longer events.

Events

Currently, the WCA offers competitions in 17 events. Not all events are offered at every competition, but all are usually offered at national, continental, and global championships. The events are:

• 3x3x3 Cube

• 2x2x2 Cube

• 4x4x4 Cube

• 5x5x5 Cube

• 6x6x6 Cube

• 7x7x7 Cube

• 3x3x3 Blindfolded (3BLD)

• 3x3x3 Fewest Moves (FMC)

• 3x3x3 One-Handed (OH)

• Face Turning Octahedron (from )

• Megaminx

• Pyraminx

• Skewb

• Square-1

• 4x4x4 Blindfolded (4BLD)

• 5x5x5 Blindfolded (5BLD)

• 3x3x3 Multi-Blind (MBLD)

Additionally, some events have had their official WCA event status removed. They are:

• 3x3x3 Multi-Blind Old Style

• Clock (from )

• Magic

• Master Magic

3x3x3 With Feet

• Removed due to lack of interest, and cleanliness of equipment.

World Records

The following are the official speedcubing world records approved by the WCA as of 31 August 2026.

Note: For averages of 5 solves, the best time and the worst time are dropped, and the mean of the remaining 3 solves is taken. For events where only 3 solves are done, the mean of all 3 is taken. (Times in parentheses are not included in the average calculation)

World Championships

Every two years starting from 2003, the WCA holds the Rubik's Cube World Championships. (except for the 2021 World Championships, which was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.) The Championship ultimately determines the world champion of the puzzle. Every official event is held at the Championship. The Rubik's Cube World Championship requires extremely careful planning by several volunteers, as well as a large financial commitment to reserve the venue and make necessary preparations. The latest championship was held in Seattle, United States from 3 to 6 July 2025. The next Championship is scheduled to be held in Uppsala, Sweden from 22 to 25 July 2027. The 2021 World Championship was to be held in Almere, Amsterdam from 28 to 31 December 2021, already delayed from its initial July dates due to the COVID-19 pandemic, before being ultimately cancelled by the association in August 2021.

See also

• Rubik's Cube

• Speedcubing

Notes

External links