The location of this competition has changed. Please contact the organizers for more information.

Updated October 25, 2019 at 4:08pm:

Due to PG&E, UC Berkeley will be CLOSED this weekend. We have been graciously offered an alternative venue at a private residence of a local competitor.
This event will be held near the UC Berkeley campus. It is generally difficult to find parking in Berkeley, so public transport is the best option. The west end of campus is not far from the downtown Berkeley BART stop.

Arriving by plane:
The nearest airport is Oakland International (OAK), about 30 minutes away from campus by car or plan for an hour and a half by public transport. Uber can be a good choice from the airport.

By car:
As mentioned, parking is pretty difficult to find in Berkeley. The easist place to park is Underhill Parking Structure, around 3 blocks away from main campus. Parking on the street is occasionally available, but it is not reccomeneded that you bank on this option.

By public transport:
If coming by BART, get off at the Downtown Berkeley station, then follow Center Street until you arrive at the university. If you are considering taking the AC transit or other bus option, get off at the Bancroft and Telegraph stop and you're already on campus.

Food:
There are several options nearby and everybody should have ample time to retreive food for themselves. If you would prefer to have extra time during lunch to practice, we recommend packing a lunch prior to the competition and bringing it from home.
Unlike previous competitions, this competition will be providing a pizza lunch to all competitors. Competitors participating in FMC Battle! are advised to eat quickly and between matches.

To new competitors or those of you who have no knowledge of blindfolded events/fewest moves challenge:

This competition will have no "normal" events! The only event at this competition where you are permitted to solve a puzzle with your eyes opened will be Fewest Moves Challenge, but the end goal of this event makes it very different from the more common WCA events. The one thing these events all have in common: everybody is required to stay very quiet while anybody else is competing (hence the competition name--PBQ = Please Be Quiet).
If it is your first time competing in Fewest Moves or any blindfolded event, please make sure you are familiar with the WCA regulations regarding these events before the day of the competition. The regulations can be found below:

Blind solving: https://www.worldcubeassociation.org/regulations/#article-B-blindfolded
Fewest Moves solving: https://www.worldcubeassociation.org/regulations/#article-E-fewest-moves

If you don't want to compete in any of these events but would still like to come and watch, that is totally fine, as long as you make sure to remain quiet out of respect for the competitors. Any noise or distractions can ruin an attempt for someone, so anybody causing major disruptions during Fewest Moves or any of the blindfolded events will be asked to leave.

FMC Battle! Information

FMC Battle! is an experimental head-to-head cube-solving tournament where the objective is to solve the cube in fewer moves than your opponent before running out of time.
We will seed competitors via one attempt of Linear FMC, where competitors submit the first solution they try. Competitors will be entered into a single-elimination bracket.

Each match during the elimination stage is done per the rules of "FMC Duel" as follows:
1. A chess clock is set to 2 minutes per side. One competitor ("Competitor A") starts their timer and begins scrambling their opponent's cube. When finished scrambling, Competitor A starts their opponent's ("Competitor B"'s) timer.
2. Competitor B scrambles Competitor A's cube. When finished scrambling, Competitor B begins their solve by doing one move. Then, Competitor B starts Competitor A's timer.
3. Competitor A and Competitor B alternate doing one move one their own cube and starting the other's timer until either one player runs out of time, or someone solves their cube.
The winner is the competitor who solves their cube first, or the competitor who didn't run out of time.
When only two competitors remain, the final stage begins. The final stage consists of three 90-second FMC Duel matches, where first competitor to win two matches wins FMC Battle!

The first 16 competitors who sign up (via commenting in their registration) will get to compete.

Team Blindfolded Information

Team Blindfolded is an event where a team of two competitors cooperatively solve the 3x3 cube. One competitor, the "caller," communicates what moves to do to the other competitor, the "solver," who performs the moves.

We will follow the WCA Regulations as best as possible. The relevant changes are:
1. Starting/Stopping the solve
1. The solver must have a blindfold on before the inspection period begins.
2. The competitors will be given the usual 15 seconds of inspection with warnings at 8 and 12. Both members can touch the cube during this time and both competitors can communicate
3. Only the solver may start/stop the timer.
4. The usual penalties for starting/stopping the timer apply.
2. During the solve
1. Unlike blindfold solving, no paper will be placed between the solver and the cube. Because of this, the solver should place the cube so that the blindfold is clearly obstructing the line of sight, but this will not be enforced. We are trusting you to not abuse this rule. This is supposed to be fun.
2. Both competitors may talk during the course of the solve.
3. Miscellaneous
1. We will hopefully separate partners to different tables, but, if that is not logistically possible, we expect pairs to make the best effort to not eavesdrop on adjacent teams. Again, we are trusting you not to cheat. This is 100% for fun.
2. The competitors may switch roles (caller becomes solver and solver becomes caller) in between solves.
3. The competitors must not communicate with anyone but each other and the judge during the solve.

Cutoff and time limit: We will have a cutoff of 2:30 and a 5:00 minute time limit for this event.

The first 12 teams who sign up (via commenting with the name and WCA ID of their teammate in their registration) will get to compete. In order to compete, you must be available to judge and scramble for Team Blind.