There are always lots of upcoming competitions up and down the UK! The WCA website will show all upcoming competitions that have been announced, while our Planning Calendar shows all competitions in the works. To stay updated you can subscribe to our mailing list (at the bottom of the page). Alternatively you can add our calendar to your Google calendar. We also announce all competitions on our social media - links on the Contact page.

When a competitions registration period is open, you can register on the competition page on the WCA website. You will not be added to the competitor list until you have paid so make sure to do so! If the competitor limit for the competition is full, you will be placed on a waiting list and alerted if you get place due to others dropping out. Please read all the information on the relevant WCA page for the competition. Links to the relevant page are included in the announcement of each competition over on our Home page.

Yes! We allow as many guests as you’d like at nearly all of our local competitions, but double check the guests policy on the WCA page of the competition you’re going to to be sure.

Yes, we welcome and encourage spectators! We allow free spectators at nearly all local competitions. There’s no need to book - you can just show up on the day and spend as long as you’d like with us. We find people still get an awesome experience even if they’re only spectating! We have a very friendly and welcoming community and we’re sure you’ll feel right at home. You are also welcome to have a go on our competition timers during lunchtimes and we often have cube stalls to spend pocket money at.

The UKCA is not affiliated with any clubs, however there are often meetups organised by individuals within the community. If you are interested in connecting with local cubers, we highly recommend joining the UKCA Parent Community Facebook Group or the UKCA Discord server.

Make sure to some sort of ID (birth certificate, passport, drivers licence, Young Scot Card) so we can confirm your date of birth and nationality. Make sure to also have watched this information video and read all the Important Information and FAQ on the WCA page of the competition you are attending.

All competitors compete on the same level and all ages are welcome. WCA competitions are incredibly supportive environments and there is always a range of ages and abilities.

Once you have competed at a competition for the first time, you will automatically have a WCA ID generated for you. This can then be linked to your WCA profile so that you may upload a picture if you wish, and also sign up for future competitions.

We are always on the look out for more venues and will support organisers every step of the way with bringing a competition to life. Lots of the venues you’ll go to competitions at have been found by members of the community!

We normally start trying to plan for competitions at least 4 months in advance. While there are different venues that are possible like conference rooms and event halls, we normally go for sports halls as they tend to be the most affordable. We are especially keen to find venues in bigger towns/cities with good transport links.

When contacting a venue for the first time, start by introducing yourself and the UKCA, and letting them know that we operate on a non-profit basis and all staff are volunteers. Then, you need to get the following information from them:

• What is the size of the venue in square metres?

• Let them know that we need the venue for a weekend for 08:00-19:00 Saturday and 08:00-18:00 Sunday. What available weekends do they have?

• Do they have sufficient tables? As an approximate guide, this is 2x as many chairs and 1/3 as many tables as the competitor limit.

• What is the total cost for this hire?

For a standard competition, our competitor limit is between 100 and 250 people. We calculate our competitor limit by dividing the size in square metres by 4 and rounding down to the nearest 5. This means we are on the lookout for venues between 400sqm and 1000sqm, although we might consider venue sizes outside this.

To calculate the venue budget, take the size in square metres and multiply it by 5. This will be the maximum cost we can hire a venue for.

E.g. a 594sqm venue has a competitor limit of 145 and a budget of £2970.

If you think you have found a suitable venue, email all the details to organisation@ukca.org. We are able to hold multiple competitions on the same weekend, so dates may still be possible even if there is another competition planned for that weekend.

In certain desirable locations, particularly major cities, we may be able to help in ways like hiring in furniture externally or running the competition at a small loss. So if you have found a venue that doesn’t quite fit all our requirements, send it in anyway and we will let you know if it is still possible or not!