WCA Ends Clock as an Official Event, Adds FTO

Clock will be retired after the 2027 World Championship as the WCA adds Face Turning Octahedron to its official event list.

The World Cube Association has announced that Clock will be removed from its list of official events following the 2027 WCA World Championship.

Clock will remain generally available at WCA competitions through July 18, 2027, before receiving its final official appearance at the 2027 World Championship.

The decision ends Clock’s long run as part of the WCA event lineup and gives competitors just over a year to compete in the event before its retirement.

According to the WCA, Clock has remained difficult to manage despite multiple regulation changes. The organization cited frequent incidents, challenges with scrambling the puzzle correctly, and the need for procedures and equipment that differ from most other speedsolving events.

Those concerns were highlighted at the 2025 WCA World Championship, where two Clock podium results were later changed after misscrambles were discovered in the final.

Antoni Stojek and Brendyn Dunagan each received one affected attempt. Because replacement attempts had not been granted during the round, the attempts were changed to DNS under WCA Regulation 11i1. The adjustment moved Stojek from first to third and made Volodymyr Kapustianskyi the World Champion. Dunagan remained in second place.

The WCA said the scrambles had been checked by a second scrambler before being sent to competitors and were likely altered while being transported to the solving stations. The organization acknowledged that the outcome was strict and that the misscrambles were not the competitors’ fault, but said the results had to be changed under the Regulations.

The WCA also said Clock is difficult for spectators to follow from a distance. Determining whether the puzzle is solved and tracking progress during an attempt can be unclear for non-specialist audiences.

The organization said removing Clock would strengthen its identity around three-dimensional geometrical twisty puzzles, noting that Clock differs substantially from most other puzzles currently recognized by the WCA.

The announcement quickly drew opposition from some members of the speedcubing community. A Change.org petition titled “Reinstate Clock as an Official WCA Event” was created shortly after the decision became public, calling for the WCA to reverse the removal.

The published survey results show a difference between WCA Volunteers and the broader community over which event should be removed.

Among WCA Volunteers, Clock received the most selections for removal with 131 responses, followed by 5x5 Blindfolded with 78 and 7x7 with 75. Among community respondents, however, 5x5 Blindfolded received the most selections with 1,156 unique responses, while Clock ranked second with 1,059 and 7x7 third with 657.

The decision therefore aligned with the top removal choice among WCA Volunteers, while Clock ranked second among broader community respondents. The WCA said both surveys informed the decision but were only two of several factors considered.

While Clock is being retired, Face Turning Octahedron will become an official WCA event beginning January 2, 2027.

FTO will use an Average of 5 format. Its regulations will be developed by the WCA Regulations Committee and released for community feedback as part of the January 2027 Regulations cycle.

The addition makes FTO the first new official WCA event since Skewb was introduced in 2014. The WCA said the puzzle has received sustained community interest and support in recent surveys.

No other official events are being removed at this time. However, the WCA said it will continue reviewing how events are managed, particularly at championship competitions.

Clock will now enter its final official season before receiving a last appearance on the WCA’s largest stage in 2027.