WCA Announces Clock Will Be Replaced by FTO as an Official Event

The World Cube Association has announced one of the biggest changes to official speedcubing events in over a decade. Following the results of last month's community survey, Clock will be removed as an official WCA event and replaced by Face-Turning Octahedron (FTO).

The change will come into effect on 2nd January 2027, making FTO the newest official WCA event while bringing an end to Clock's time as an official discipline.

A surprising decision

Many speedcubers expected the WCA to introduce new events in the coming years, but relatively few predicted that an existing event would be removed to make room for one.

The decision is particularly surprising because Clock has actually experienced a resurgence in popularity over the past few years. The release of the QiYi Clock gave competitors access to a significantly improved puzzle, while the development of the revolutionary 7 Simul solving method completely transformed the event at the highest level.

Progress in Clock has been extraordinary. At the 2025 World Championship, not a single finalist in the Clock event had also reached the final just two years earlier at the 2023 World Championship. Few WCA events have seen such a dramatic shift in the competitive landscape over such a short period of time.

Why remove Clock?

Although Clock has a dedicated player base, it has also been one of the most controversial official events for many years.

Unlike twisty puzzles, Clock requires a unique scrambling process that is relatively slow and can easily result in misscrambles. Many competition organisers have highlighted the additional workload involved in preparing and checking scrambles, while delegates often have to deal with disputes over incorrect pin positions.

Clock is also one of the least spectator-friendly WCA events. From more than a few metres away it is almost impossible to tell how well a competitor is doing, with the puzzle looking almost identical throughout the solve. Compare this with events such as 3×3, Pyraminx or Skewb, where spectators can clearly see pieces moving into place and understand when a solve is nearing completion.

These practical issues appear to have played a significant role in the WCA's decision.

Why FTO?

Face-Turning Octahedron has been one of the fastest-growing twisty puzzles outside the official WCA for several years.

The puzzle has regularly appeared at unofficial competitions and community-run events, with interest increasing dramatically following the release of the DianSheng Magnetic FTO in 2024. For the first time, competitors had access to a high-quality magnetic FTO capable of supporting serious speedsolving.

Since then, the puzzle has continued to gain popularity through online competitions, tutorials and increasingly competitive solve times. Many cubers have viewed FTO as the unofficial "next WCA event" for several years, so its promotion to official status will come as welcome news for a large section of the community.

Community reaction

As expected, the announcement has divided opinion.

Many competitors are excited to see FTO finally become an official event after years of community support. Others, however, are understandably disappointed that Clock is being removed after investing years of practice into mastering the puzzle.

A petition has already been launched calling for Clock to be reinstated as an official WCA event. If you would like to support it, you can sign it here:

https://www.change.org/p/reinstate-clock-as-an-official-wca-event

Interestingly, the petition has already attracted considerably more support than the campaign to reinstate Feet following its removal from the WCA regulations in 2020.

Did enough people complete the survey?

One aspect of the announcement that stands out is the relatively low participation in the WCA survey itself.

Only around 4,000 people completed the survey, which feels surprisingly small given the size of the worldwide speedcubing community.

While every member of the community is entitled to their opinion, the survey was specifically created to allow competitors to influence the future direction of official events. If many people who are now unhappy with the decision chose not to participate when they had the opportunity, it raises an interesting question about how representative the final results really are.

What happens next?

Clock competitions will continue throughout 2026 before the event is officially retired at the start of 2027.

At the same time, organisers will begin preparing to run official FTO competitions for the first time. It will be fascinating to see how quickly the event develops once thousands of competitive speedcubers begin practising it seriously.

Whether you agree with the decision or not, this marks one of the most significant changes to the WCA in many years and is likely to shape the future of competitive speedcubing for the next decade.

What do you think? Is replacing Clock with FTO the right decision, or should Clock have remained an official WCA event? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.