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Sport stacking is a sport where the objective is to stack a number of plastic cups in a pre-determined sequence. The sport can be played individually or in teams. Players compete against each other to complete the sequences in the lowest time possible.

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The sport requires plastic cups, that are specially designed with, a textured exterior for a better grip, and ventilation holes that prevent cups from sticking to one another. The sport also requires mats, that are specially designed with weight sensitive timer for accurate timing.

The sport originated in California in 1981, slowly gaining in popularity in the next two decades, to a point where a World Championship was held for the sport in 2001. Currently the World Championship for sport stacking is conducted annually.

Sport stacking competitions have different formats based on two factors, type of sequence and number of players participating. There are three sequences in which cups can be stacked, 3-3-3 sequence; with nine cups,  3-6-3 sequence; with 12 cups, and cycle sequence; with 12 cups. Based on the number of players, competitions can be of, individual, team or relay format.

For individual competitions, players get three attempts for each sequence, and the best of the three timings is used to decide the winner. In team competitions, two players stack the cups as a team, with each player using only one hand. Relay competitions have four players in a team who take turns to complete the sequence.

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Similar Sports

• Speedcubing — players solve single piece 3D puzzles in the quickest time possible.
• Yo-Yo — the competition version of playing with a yo-yo.

Related Pages

• Complete list of sports
• The Encyclopedia of Sports