# Colorado Springs Open 2015



## gj matt (Oct 25, 2014)

EDIT AGAIN: The competition has been finalized and is now official. you can register at http://www.cubingusa.com/coloradosprings2015/index.php , the cost is $10 (which includes competing in 3x3 as well as lunch) and then $1 for each extra event you participate in. It will be taking place on Saturday, the 17th of January.

ITS BACK!!


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## sk8erman41 (Oct 25, 2014)

Awesome! Can't wait! GJ Matt!


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## Me (Oct 25, 2014)

Looks dope, I'll try to go to this.


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## gj matt (Oct 25, 2014)

sk8erman41 said:


> Awesome! Can't wait! GJ Matt!



lel i see what you did there


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## Thatoneguy2 (Oct 28, 2014)

Awww sweet, I may actually get to go a competition. 

Now we can see you set that WR of like 2 seconds, right?


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## gj matt (Oct 29, 2014)

Thatoneguy2 said:


> Awww sweet, I may actually get to go a competition.
> 
> Now we can see you set that WR of like 2 seconds, right?



yup like 2 seconds fullstep with GJ method. I average like 3 seconds.


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## ChickenWrap (Oct 29, 2014)

YES!!!!!


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## gj matt (Oct 29, 2014)

ChickenWrap said:


> YES!!!!!



I can't quite tell what emotion you are trying to convey.


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## Aussie (Oct 29, 2014)

That sounds like an interesting competition! I would love to attend if possible. By any chance, could you consider adding the 6x6?


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## ChickenWrap (Oct 29, 2014)

Aussie said:


> That sounds like an interesting competition! I would love to attend if possible. By any chance, could you consider adding the 6x6?



Or 7x7? I would love that too!

Edit: I live 2 miles from that school (when I am not at college) so I would be happy to help out in any way needed with the competition, especially if it means extra events!


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## hawkmp4 (Oct 29, 2014)

I'd love to go, but I'd need to catch a ride with someone coming from Boulder or Denver, I don't have a car. I'd be willing to help plan, I helped out with Boulder '08/'09 and Denver '10.


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## ChickenWrap (Oct 29, 2014)

hawkmp4 said:


> I'd love to go, but I'd need to catch a ride with someone coming from Boulder or Denver, I don't have a car. I'd be willing to help plan, I helped out with Boulder '08/'09 and Denver '10.



I live in Boulder for school and may be able to give you a ride. I am 18 however, not sure if that is cool, depending on your age.


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## gj matt (Oct 29, 2014)

Aussie said:


> That sounds like an interesting competition! I would love to attend if possible. By any chance, could you consider adding the 6x6?



I can look into it. I don't want the comp to be too long, but I can possibly swap around some events.


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## Aussie (Nov 2, 2014)

gj matt said:


> I can look into it. I don't want the comp to be too long, but I can possibly swap around some events.



Thanks for the reply! Please contact me if you decide to add the 6x6 event so I can ask my family about taking me!


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## Bh13 (Nov 12, 2014)

10 minute cutoff for 5x5 is quite a bit of time...


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## gj matt (Nov 12, 2014)

Bh13 said:


> 10 minute cutoff for 5x5 is quite a bit of time...



I know, it is just so that the round can fit into the allowed time. I think there are quite a few people who take 10+ mins for 5x5


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## Bh13 (Nov 12, 2014)

gj matt said:


> I know, it is just so that the round can fit into the allowed time. I think there are quite a few people who take 10+ mins for 5x5



True, however as far as I know speed stack timers only go to 10 minutes. Also, since 5x5 is an ao5 and not a mo3, you could have one competitor take 45+ minutes for their average. I think having a 7 or 8 minute cutoff wouldn't be entirely unreasonable, in past years the cutoff has been around 3 minutes


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## AJ Blair (Nov 12, 2014)

I'm assuming that the cutoff on the document is the hard cut off. If so, then the soft cutoff for 5x5 should probably be around 5 minutes at the highest with the current schedule. 

As Bh13 said, that's a lot of time that one person will be spending solving otherwise. If they did two solves that were 10 minutes long and didn't get to do the whole average, then that's about 25 to 30 minutes spent on one competitor, factoring in scrambling time and potential time wasted waiting for a timer to open up. With 10 minutes, that's very close to an hour of the 75 minutes alloted for the entire event being spent on just one competitor, who is taking up a timer that could be used to cycle through several competitors in that time.

It seems kinda rough and mean, but it has to be done to keep the competition running on time.


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## ChickenWrap (Nov 12, 2014)

AJ Blair said:


> I'm assuming that the cutoff on the document is the hard cut off. If so, then the soft cutoff for 5x5 should probably be around 5 minutes at the highest with the current schedule.
> 
> As Bh13 said, that's a lot of time that one person will be spending solving otherwise. If they did two solves that were 10 minutes long and didn't get to do the whole average, then that's about 25 to 30 minutes spent on one competitor, factoring in scrambling time and potential time wasted waiting for a timer to open up. With 10 minutes, that's very close to an hour of the 75 minutes alloted for the entire event being spent on just one competitor, who is taking up a timer that could be used to cycle through several competitors in that time.
> 
> It seems kinda rough and mean, but it has to be done to keep the competition running on time.



I agree. I went to CS 2012 and the cutoff was 3, which is a little fast for some people. 5 is perfectly reasonable and most competitors who want to compete still can.


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## Thatoneguy2 (Nov 13, 2014)

Well I'm glad that the cutoff isn't to short, I've seen them be around 2 1/2 minutes or so for 5x5, which pretty much only let the fast people do 5x5. 5 minutes seems like a good cutoff time, I just started practicing 5x5 and will usually solve it under 5 minutes.


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## JTW2007 (Dec 1, 2014)

Oh hey neat. I didn't see this until right now but I'll be in town then and can help out with whatever.


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## gj matt (Dec 4, 2014)

JTW2007 said:


> Oh hey neat. I didn't see this until right now but I'll be in town then and can help out with whatever.



Okay. You can sign up to help on the google doc. Right now, there hasn't been an update from my school's administration.


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## masterofthebass (Dec 4, 2014)

Oh wow I might actually get to compete for once...


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## AJ Blair (Dec 4, 2014)

masterofthebass said:


> Oh wow I might actually get to compete for once...



Wait...what...What are you doing in Denver?


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## masterofthebass (Dec 4, 2014)

Been living here since January. Seems like the scene really died down around here in comparison to a few years ago.


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## Bh13 (Dec 18, 2014)

Registration is now open 
http://www.cubingusa.com/coloradosprings2015/register.php


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## gj matt (Dec 19, 2014)

Bh13 said:


> Registration is now open
> http://www.cubingusa.com/coloradosprings2015/register.php



yes thank you for bumping this up i forgot to do that


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## RjFx2 (Dec 29, 2014)

I'm happy to say that as a Christmas present, I am going to this competition (and going skiing for the first time)!!!!!!!


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## gj matt (Dec 29, 2014)

RjFx2 said:


> I'm happy to say that as a Christmas present, I am going to this competition (and going skiing for the first time)!!!!!!!



Nice! Lived here for more than half of my life and haven't even come close to skiing.. because screw stereotypes


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## JTW2007 (Dec 30, 2014)

http://i.imgur.com/PFMBMW6.png

what


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## Thatoneguy2 (Dec 30, 2014)

Wait what? Is that a mistake or something? I would doubt that they would go something like this...


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## gj matt (Dec 30, 2014)

JTW2007 said:


> http://i.imgur.com/PFMBMW6.png
> 
> what



I noticed that last night as well. As far as I know, the two of them sign up for a lot of competitions but dont actually go to them. My first thought was that some jerk decided to sign up as Feliks and Mats but everything checks out... If they confirm that they are attending, my mind will be blown


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## waffle=ijm (Dec 31, 2014)

Messaged Feliks. Said nah it's not him. So probably not Mats either.


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## gj matt (Dec 31, 2014)

waffle=ijm said:


> Messaged Feliks. Said nah it's not him. So probably not Mats either.



blehhh


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## ChickenWrap (Jan 6, 2015)

I dont have a 2x2, could anyone possibly sell me one before the competition?


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## sk8erman41 (Jan 6, 2015)

If no one is selling one, you can borrow mine. Moyu lingpo


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## pjk (Jan 6, 2015)

I have a big box of random puzzles, some used, some new that I want to sell. Will sell individual puzzles or the entire lot. It is probably 50+ puzzles. I think every WCA event is covered in this box, plus tons of misc. ones.

@Chickenwrap: I have brand new LanLan, WitTwo, NowStore, etc. 2x2's, plus a few decent used ones. You can have a look.


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## JTW2007 (Jan 7, 2015)

I'm a little confused about what's going on with the registrations right now. The main page has been updated saying that the competition will be limited to 55 competitors; fine, but it also seems like the registrations have been reset or many competitors have been removed (maybe the ones who didn't pay at registration? not sure about this), so two questions:

1) Was this intentional and should we re-register if our registrations were deleted?

2) Do you intend to notify people via e-mail that their registrations have been deleted? I found out because I happened to check the website, but no one told me and there was no mention of it in the thread, so I could have just as easily shown up to the competition thinking I was still registered and been unable to compete.

3) Do we have any flexibility with the venue? What resource are we worried about not having enough of (space? food?) and is there any way we can get more of it? I realize this is a stretch this late in the game and I'm not sure what conversations you guys have already had with the venue, but I think it's definitely worth pursuing creative options if there's a possibility that we can avoid limiting the registration numbers. Please let me know if there's any way I can help.


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## Myachii (Jan 7, 2015)

I'm guessing the reason they removed all of the competitors was because somebody signed Feliks and Mats up and they had to either a) remove them or b) find out who did it.


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## AJ Blair (Jan 7, 2015)

From Daniel Hayes on Facebook:

Hey, everyone. Matt and I had a quick talk, and we were worried about the size of the comp. Registration boomed much more than expected, and we're worried about the venue. As such, I just posted a notice on the competition page: We are now imposing a 55 competitor limit at the comp. Meaning there are only 8 spots left. Sorry for the last minute restriction, but I kinda started to panic at the size of this thing. (Excited for a nice comp though!)
If anyone has any questions or comments, please let us know!

I'm just going to re-register just to be sure my spot is saved, the worst that could happen is they would have to remove one of my registrations.


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## sk8erman41 (Jan 7, 2015)

AJ Blair said:


> I'm just going to re-register just to be sure my spot is saved, the worst that could happen is they would have to remove one of my registrations.



I was going to do that too, but it says that the email that I submitted has already been used to register for this comp, but I am not on the competitor list as I was going to pay at the door


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## Me (Jan 7, 2015)

JTW2007 said:


> 2) Do you intend to notify people via e-mail that their registrations have been deleted? I found out because I happened to check the website, but no one told me and there was no mention of it in the thread, so I could have just as easily shown up to the competition thinking I was still registered and been unable to compete.



Same thoughts, I'm glad I saw this. Hopefully everyone who registered sees this too.

Maybe I've just never noticed, but why is Daniel Hayes in the registered list but has no events under his name?


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## sk8erman41 (Jan 7, 2015)

Another update from the FB page:

Adam: I noticed that the competitors list shrunk down to 20 and the instructions now say "new" sign ups will require payment up front. I registered early on but was going to pay at the door and am no longer on the list. Should I re-register with payment to secure my spot or am I already on your list with the grandfathered rule of payment at the door? I will definitely be attending.

Daniel Hayes: Hmmm, That's interesting. I can still see your registration on the admin page (along with everyone else who registered before I flipped the switch that said "must pre-pay"). I'll have to see if there is a way to have non-paid competitors show up. Currently you should *not* need to re-register, as I still have your registration

edit- another update: 
Daniel Hayes: Ok, I have recovered the registration for everyone who signed up before we flipped the switch. You all should have your spots reserved!


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## spdqbr (Jan 7, 2015)

Yeah, sorry about the mix up, guys. When I flipped the switch to force pre-pays it hid everyone who had not paid. I didn't notice, because everyone was still showing up on the admin page.

We should be good now, sorry for the confusion!

Also


Me said:


> but why is Daniel Hayes in the registered list but has no events under his name?


 This is because I haven't actually signed up for anything. Time permitting I may do 3x3, but I want to make sure we're running smoothly, so I don't currently plan on actually competing in anything.


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## gj matt (Jan 7, 2015)

JTW2007 said:


> I'm a little confused about what's going on with the registrations right now. The main page has been updated saying that the competition will be limited to 55 competitors; fine, but it also seems like the registrations have been reset or many competitors have been removed (maybe the ones who didn't pay at registration? not sure about this), so two questions:
> 
> 1) Was this intentional and should we re-register if our registrations were deleted?
> 
> ...



To answer your questions:
1. *correction: it was accidental, daniel didnt notice because everyone still showed up on the admin page
2. We have not done that but the registrations are simply not displayed and are still active.
3. We have been seeing what we can do as far as space with the venue.

As far as I believe, Daniel has restored the registration page in order to display everyone who signed up, we just wanted to make sure that there weren't registrations filled for people who weren't going to show up that would prevent others from showing.


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## JTW2007 (Jan 7, 2015)

Awesome, thanks for getting that fixed Daniel.


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## Me (Jan 8, 2015)

spdqbr said:


> This is because I haven't actually signed up for anything. Time permitting I may do 3x3, but I want to make sure we're running smoothly, so I don't currently plan on actually competing in anything.



But now I see it that you're taking a slot from someone who would otherwise compete?

This makes me question the registration process. Do you qualify as a "competitor" if you're not registered to compete in any events? Could people conspire to fill up a competition and register in no events?

I'm actually a little surprised there's nothing in the regs about this. Something along the lines of "A competitor must be registered to participate in at least one event." But this is might be more of a CubingUSA site issue ultimately.


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## Thatoneguy2 (Jan 8, 2015)

Not really a big fan of having a competitor limit, seems kinda unfair to people who just found out about this or if they were waiting to see if they could go. It only took 13 hours before it got full after that post too.

I can see why you would want a limit for time and stuff though, so I guess it's necessary...I just wish there wasn't one.


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## AJ Blair (Jan 8, 2015)

Thatoneguy2 said:


> Not really a big fan of having a competitor limit, seems kinda unfair to people who just found out about this or if they were waiting to see if they could go. It only took 13 hours before it got full after that post too.
> 
> I can see why you would want a limit for time and stuff though, so I guess it's necessary...I just wish there wasn't one.



This is really an accomplishment. We managed to fill up a location after being an inactive state for almost two years. All this means is that we will have to find a larger venue for the next competition, which I find very exciting after competing in several 20 - 25 person competitions here over that last 4 years or so.


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## JTW2007 (Jan 8, 2015)

AJ Blair said:


> very exciting after competing in several 20 - 25 person competitions here over that last 4 years or so.



I didn't realize how big 55 is until you said this.

EDIT: Also over half the signups are new competitors.


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## spdqbr (Jan 9, 2015)

Me said:


> But now I see it that you're taking a slot from someone who would otherwise compete?



You make a very good point. But you'll notice there are 56 registered competitors. It auto-registered me when I created the site, though you are correct that I probably should have removed my registration to limit confusion.

And I agree with the other comments here, I really wish we hadn't had to limit the number of competitors. But as AJ said, we were used to comps with about 30 competitors, and really didn't expect this kind of turnout. It took us by surprise, and we did the only thing we could to ensure that the competition runs smoothly, (hopefully) on time, safely, and enjoyably. And in fact I'm still a bit worried about having 55 people along with their support friends and/or family crammed into a classroom.

AJ and Jackson make other excellent points as well. This area has been dormant for quite a while due to an outflux of people who help organize and run competitions. We are now faced with the biggest competition the region has *ever* seen, comprised mostly of people who have never been to a competition before. We are ecstatic to have this kind of interest, but it does put a heavier burden on the staff. We'll be relying heavily on those of you who have competed before to help judge, scramble, and show new competitors the ropes.

This comp is going to be a learning experience for everyone (it already has been for me). We'll use this competition to learn what the community wants, how well equipped we are to deal with it, and what we need to improve upon. What we learn here will be used to hold a bigger comp where we can hopefully accommodate everyone who wishes to compete. And hopefully it won't take two more years to do it!


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## Me (Jan 10, 2015)

So no Megaminx, or too early to call? 

This may have been a more packed competition: Princeton Open 2008. Although, now that I look at it again, the cutoffs were pretty strict, and 5x5 and 5BLD were dropped. I do remember it being hectic though.

I hope I'm not alone in saying this but I'd be willing to drop minor events (pyra & skewb) if it means more help/smoother ops.

...hype!


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## spdqbr (Jan 10, 2015)

I'll bring Megaminx scrambles, but would suggest nobody get their hopes up! Maybe I'm worried over nothing, and things will run smooth as silk!


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## spdqbr (Jan 11, 2015)

Just trying to get the word out! X-posting from the facebook group:



> Hey, folks, check your e-mails. I've sent out a message to anyone who has registered and but has not yet paid just to confirm that you're coming. All you have to do is send me a message back in e-mail by midnight on Thursday morning/Wednesday night, and you're good to go. After that we'll re-open those spots. I'll send out a reminder e-mail on Tuesday before we actually go ahead with opening any spots.


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## gj matt (Jan 11, 2015)

Me said:


> So no Megaminx, or too early to call?
> 
> This may have been a more packed competition: Princeton Open 2008. Although, now that I look at it again, the cutoffs were pretty strict, and 5x5 and 5BLD were dropped. I do remember it being hectic though.
> 
> ...



I'm guessing no megaminx at this point but I don't think pyra or skewb will get dropped.


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## spdqbr (Jan 12, 2015)

I don't envision needing to drop anything other than Megaminx (and even that's a maybe, but don't get your hopes too high?) It just really depends on how quickly we can get everyone through 3-5. High number of competitors in 3 shouldn't be too big of a problem (particularly if we have a lot of people willing to help), but 4 and 5 tend to go really slowly.


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## sk8erman41 (Jan 14, 2015)

Goals? Its my first comp so not sure how the nerves will handle it but I am shooting for....
2x2: ideally sub-10 realistically sub-15(12?)
3x3: ideally sub-20 realistically sub-25(22?)
4x4: ideally sub-1:30 realistically sub-1:45
5x5: ideally sub-3:00 realistically sub-3:30
pyra and skewb I will compete in but don't practice much and am mainly just doing them to get a baseline for future comps


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## JTW2007 (Jan 15, 2015)

2x2: sub-2:00
3x3: sub-2:00
4x4: sub-2:00
5x5: sub-1:30
pyra: sub-2:00
skewb: sub-2:00


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## Thatoneguy2 (Jan 15, 2015)

JTW2007 said:


> 2x2: sub-2:00
> 3x3: sub-2:00
> 4x4: sub-2:00
> 5x5: sub-1:30
> ...



I see you set your goals real high.

For me (averages):
2x2: sub-6
3x3: sub-16
4x4: sub-1:20


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## Bh13 (Jan 16, 2015)

If we signed up to help judge/scramble, should we show up early?


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## spdqbr (Jan 16, 2015)

Bh13 said:


> If we signed up to help judge/scramble, should we show up early?



We'll do a quick how-to for first time competitors and judges before we start, but shouldn't need to show up any earlier. Definitely appreciate the help!


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