Scrabble FAQ

Scrabble Frequently Asked Questions

If you are interested in the world of competitive Scrabble, you should read Word Freak, the 2001 book that goes a long way toward obsoleting this FAQ, and is far more entertaining.

What this FAQ covers

This article is about competitive English language Scrabble, the popular crossword game. It is North American-centric (and to a lesser extent covers the UK), but information regarding English language or competitive Scrabble played anywhere is welcome. It is not concerned with old Scrabble sets as collectors' items or anything else outside the competitive aspects of the game. Even the inclusion of Scrabble-related foofaraw stretches its intended coverage.

Although about Scrabble, it is not provided or authorized by the owners of the various rights to that game (including Hasbro and Mattel).

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The trademark Scrabble

Scrabble is a registered trademark owned in the United States and Canada by Hasbro, Inc., and in Great Britain and everywhere else in the world, by J.W. Spear & Sons PLC, a subsidiary of Mattel.

Selchow & Righter, listed as the US owner on many of your boards, was bought -- in good health -- in 1986 by Coleco, which shortly went into bankruptcy due to the collapse of the market for their Cabbage Patch dolls. Coleco also led itself to bankruptcy in 1987 by losing a fortune on the Adam home computer flop, and the unexpected (to them) slowdown in Trivial Pursuit sales. (Trivial Pursuit was marketed in the US by Selchow & Righter). Scrabble was sold off to Milton Bradley, which was in turn gobbled up by Hasbro. Hasbro since has transferred Scrabble to its Parker Brothers division, itself a fierce Milton Bradley competitor before its absorption.

In North America, Hasbro needs it to appear that the public thinks that the term Scrabble refers to any game or related product Hasbro cares to label that way, while the popular board game is Scrabble Crossword Game. Most people -- including Hasbro's own publication before their lawyers clamped down -- use the term Scrabble to refer to the game itself, and so will this FAQ. To most, it is "the crossword game Scrabble" (although the "crossword game" part is far from almost everyone's mind), rather than "the Scrabble Crossword Game."

The magazine Financial World (July 8, 1996, p. 65) estimated the value of the Scrabble brand to Hasbro as $76 million, and 1995 sales under that brand at $39 million.

Organized Scrabble activity

North American Scrabble Players Association, Word Game Players Organization and Association of British Scrabble Players

The North American Scrabble Players Association ("NASPA") is successor to the National Scrabble Association ("NSA") as the only organization running licensed Scrabble activity in North America. (NSA, which operates at the direction of Hasbro, still handles school clubs and tournaments and casual clubs.) NASPA, an independent nonprofit, operates under license from Hasbro, and in turn licenses tournament and club directors. Club and tournament play, except for national championships, is sanctioned but not run by NASPA. Only members may play in NASPA tournaments.

As noted, NASPA is not a true membership organization. It has said it plans to involve players in its governance to an extent not yet clear. Also unclear is the degree of freedom it has from Hasbro under its license agreement.

Membership is $30 (USD) per year in the US, Canada, and elsewhere.

		    North American Scrabble Players Association
		    homepage

Because of various kinds of dissatisfaction with how the Hasbro-authorized entity, NASPA, is run, the Word Game Players Organization ("WGPO"), an independent organization to promote tournament and club play, has been formed. Although not incorporated, it has bylaws and conducts elections. Membership currently is free.

		    Word Game Players Organization
		    homepage

In the UK, the Association of British Scrabble Players ("ABSP"), while not owned by the UK copyright and trademark holder, is bound to it by a licensing agreement. The ABSP organizes many tournaments. It may be reached at

		    ABSP
		    homepage

Membership in ABSP costs #15 per year. Members receive a newsletter six times per year. Its chairman, Allan Simmons, may be reached by e-mail at abspchair@aol.com.

Philip Nelkon handles Scrabble matters for Mattel in the UK, including relations with the ABSP. Elsewhere, Mattel's interests are handled by David Schwartz,

Other national organizations are listed in a separate document.

Clubs

Clubs normally play Scrabble according to tournament rules, although sometimes accommodation for newcomers includes allowing them to refer to lists of two- and three-letter words for their first couple of visits.

NASPA maintains a list of competitive North American clubs, while NSA maintains one of casual cubs. WGPO also has a list of competitive clubs. The current roster of active North American clubs is an Appendix to this FAQ. Some of the listings are more up to date than the most recent listing from the National Scrabble Association, but some are out of date, so call the person listed before trying to attend.

A list of clubs in the UK is available. For further information on them, contact

		Philip Nelkon
		Mattel (UK) Ltd
		Mattel House
		Vanwall Business Park
		Vanwall Road
		Maidenhead
		Berks.
		SL6 4UB
		+44 1628 500283
		+44 1628 500288 fax
		philip.nelkon@mattel.com

Steve Oliger has written an IBM PC program, Focus (currently in version 2.18), to maintain club statistics. It comes highly recommended by others who have used it. $20 plus shipping ($3 in US).

		Steve Oliger
		P.O. Box 7003
		Lancaster, PA 17604-7003
		(717) 284-2274
		goshawk@pngusa.net

Tournaments

North American, UK and world championships

"National Scrabble Championship", really for North America, is held by the National Scrabble Association in even years. In 2004 it was held in New Orleans, LA. North American players are eligible for entry if they have played in at least one rated tournament. Players from elsewhere may enter without condition.

In odd years, an invitational "World [English language] Scrabble Championship" is held, organized by Mattel. (It had been alternately organized by Hasbro and Mattel, and held within their respective trademark territories until in 2005, Hasbro declined.) Since its inception in 1991, it has allowed words from both North American and British play (which now is the standard for British play).

In the UK, Mattel runs the National Scrabble Championship, which dates to 1971, and was a high-score competition at first. Several regional events (apparently open only to UK residents) are used as qualifiers for the national final.

Also in the UK, the ABSP organizes a 17-game British Matchplay Scrabble Championship held each August. It is open to all.

Winners of the North American championships

Year	Dates	City	Type	# Contestants	Lexicon	# Games	Winner	Winner's Record
1978	May 19-21	New York	invitational	64	Funk & Wagnalls 1973-74	16	David Prinz	173 credits
1980	Nov 14-16	Santa Monica	invitational	32	OSPD1	17	Joe Edley	14-3
1983	Aug 10-12	Chicago	qualifiers	32	OSPD1	17	Joel Wapnick	13-4
1985	Jul 28-31	Boston	open	302	OSPD1	22	Ron Tiekert	20-2
1987	Jul 5-7	Las Vegas	open	300+	OSPD1	21	Rita Norr	17-4
1988	Jul 31-Aug 5	Reno	open	323	OSPD1	27	Robert Watson	20.5-6.5
1989	Jul 29-Aug 3	New York	open	221	OSPD1	27	Peter Morris	21-6
1990	Aug 5-9	Washington	open	300+	OSPD1	27	Robert Felt	24-3
1992	Aug 9-13	Atlanta	open	320	OSPD2	27	Joe Edley	22-5
1994	Aug 14-18	Los Angeles	open	294	OSPD2	27	David Gibson	23-4
1996	Jul 21-25	Dallas	open	412	OSPD2+	27	Adam Logan	24-3
1998	Aug 8-13	Chicago	open	535	TWL98	31	Brian Cappelletto	26-5
2000	Aug 6-10	Providence	open	628	TWL98	31	Joe Edley	22-9
2002	Aug 18-22	San Diego	open	696	TWL98	31	Joel Sherman	25-6
2004	Aug 1-5	New Orleans	open	837	TWL98*	30†	Trey Wright	26-4
2005	Aug 20-24	Reno	open	682	TWL98*	28†	Dave Wiegand	21-7
2006	Aug 5-9	Phoenix	open	632	OWL2*	28†	Jim Kramer	21-7
2008	Jul 26-29	Orlando	open	662	OWL2	28†	Nigel Richards	22-6
2009	Aug 1-5	Dayton	open	486	OWL2	31	Dave Wiegand	25-6
2010	Aug 7-11	Dallas	open	407	OWL2	31	Nigel Richards	25-6
2011	Aug 6-10	Dallas	open	317	OWL2	31	Nigel Richards	22-9
2012	Aug 11-15	Orlando	open	302‡	OWL2	31	Nigel Richards	22-9
2012	Aug 11-15	Orlando	open	37‡	CSW	31	Sam Kantimathi	24-7

Notes:

* In 2004, 2005 and 2006, the two-person final used an expurgated list akin to ESPD.

† From 1988 forward, there were two or more divisions, with only division 1 contending for the top prize. Number of contestants includes all divisions. Number of games shown is for the top division, excluding any final games played only by the top 2 (as occurred in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2008). Open tournaments have had minimal qualifications, such as membership in NSA or NASPA.

‡ From 2012, there is a separate Collins division.

Winners of the Canadian (English language) championships

1996, Oct 18-21, Toronto: invitational, 40 contestants (OSPD2+): Adam Logan
1998, Oct 16-19, Toronto: invitational, 50 contestants (TWL98): Joel Wapnick
2000, Nov 17-20, Toronto: invitational, 50 contestants (TWL98): Ron Hoekstra
2003, December 5-8, Toronto: invitational, 50 contestants (TWL98): David Boys
2005, June 9-11, Toronto: invitational, 50 contestants (TWL98): Adam Logan
2008, April 4-7, Toronto: invitational, 52 contestants (OWL2): Adam Logan
2008, June 10-13, Toronto: invitational, 52 contestants (OWL2): Joel Wapnick

Winners of the World (English language; SOWPODS) championships

Each was an invitational tournament played using the current SOWPODS lexicon.

1991, September 27-30, London: 48 contestants: Peter Morris (USA)
1993, August 27-30, New York City: 64 contestants: Mark Nyman (UK)
1995, November 2-5, London: 64 contestants: David Boys (Canada)
1997, November 20-24, Washington: 80 contestants: Joel Sherman (USA)
1999, November 3-7, Melbourne: 98 contestants: Joel Wapnick (Canada)
2001, December 14-17, Las Vegas: 88 contestants: Brian Cappelletto (USA)
2003, October 21-24, Kuala Lumpur: 90 contestants: Panupol Sujjayakorn (Thailand)
2005, November 17-20, London: 102 contestants: Adam Logan (Canada)
2007, November 9-12, Mumbai: 104 contestants: Nigel Richards (New Zealand)
2009, November 26-29, Johor Bahru, Malaysia: 108 contestants: Pakorn Nemitrmansuk (Thailand)
2011, October 12-16, Warsaw

How club and tournament Scrabble differs from the rules in the box

NSA, ABSP and ASPA rules for competitive play are available on the Web, as are the rules that come in the box.

Club and tournament Scrabble games are always two-player games.

Both players must keep score. A bag is used for tiles (not the box lid). Chess clocks are used to time the game and each player is allowed a total of 25 minutes to make all of his or her moves in the game. If a player's time limit is exceeded, the game continues but the player is penalized 10 points for each minute over the time limit.

When a player challenges one or more words in his or her opponent's move, the clock is stopped while a third party (usually a club or tournament director) looks up the challenged words (which the challenger must specify) to determine whether the move is valid. If a challenged word is unacceptable, the play is removed and the player loses that turn. In North American play, the maker of an erroneous challenge loses a turn; in the UK, and most of Australia, they do not.

For the lexicon used for determining word validity, see the section on OSPD, OSW and their successors.

There are no "house rules" that many social players use, such as free exchange of four of a kind, or claiming blanks off the board by substituting for them.

Once there are fewer than seven tiles left in the bag, no exchanging of tiles is allowed. Passing is allowed at any time.

At the end of a North American game, when one player uses all his or her tiles with none remaining in the bag, he or she receives double the value of the opponent's remaining tiles. In the UK, as specified in the box, that value is added to and subtracted from the players' respective scores. Both methods result in the same spread.

Ties are not broken. (The North American box rules give the win to the player with the higher score before leftover tiles are considered; UK box rules don't mention this possibility.)

If the two players take six consecutive turns without successfully placing any tiles on the board -- due to any combination of challenges, passes and exchanges -- the game ends, and both players lose the value of the tiles on their racks. A game in which neither player can make a play ends this way, although the players may simply agree that the game is over without going through all six turns. In the UK, exchanges do not count toward the six turns.

The box rules do not mention whether one may make written notes during the game. In tournaments and clubs, players are allowed to write anything they wish on their score sheet. One use of written notes is to keep track of which tiles have been played, allowing one to know which tiles remain to be played. This is known as tile-tracking, and players may use preprinted score sheets that show the tile distribution as an aid to tile-tracking.

The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary and Official Scrabble Words

The validity of words is determined, in North America (and Israel, which uses NSA rules) by the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary (and successors), and in the UK and most other places by Official Scrabble Words International, which was formed by merging the OSPD and the former British standard, OSW.

The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary ("OSPD"), published by Merriam-Webster (and available in bookstores -- see below), has been the basis of the official lexicon (word list) used for all North American tournament and club play since its first edition was published in 1978. It included all words of eight or fewer letters, and simplified the settling of Scrabble word arguments by specifically showing those words' inflections (plurals of nouns, conjugations of verbs, comparatives and superlatives of adjectives). For root words longer than eight letters, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth edition, was used until the advent of the Official Long Words List ("OLWL"). (The Tenth came out in May 1993 and replaced the Ninth on May 1, 1994. The Eleventh, out in July 2003, is not yet in use.) The OSPD included inflected forms of up to eight letters whose root words are longer.

In 1990, a second edition of the OSPD came out in hardcover. A paperback of the OSPD2 came out in June 1993. Words were added (and the handful removed).

A third edition of the OSPD came out in October 1995. See the section on expurgation for a discussion of its contents. The new words in it were allowed in competitive play as of February 1, 1996. Only SPAZES and HERPESES were removed. A list of the additions is available. OSPD2 plus the new words in OSPD3 commonly is called OSPD2+. (OSPD3 is available in a large print edition.)

Effective March 1998, the Official Tournament and Club Word List (commonly called "TWL98", sometimes "OTaCWL"), published by Merriam-Webster, although largely based upon OSPD, supplanted it.

The OSPD was created because in the 1950s Selchow & Righter sold the right to put out Scrabble word lists to Jacob Orleans and Edmund Jacobson, authors of Scrabble Word Guide, a 1953 book based on the Funk and Wagnalls Dictionary. The official publication, Scrabble News, is still circumspect about publishing word lists, tending to print them in small chunks to conform to some idea of their remaining rights.

Mattel announced in December 2003 that henceforth Harper Collins would publish lexicons and other books that would fill the same role as OSWI and related books do now, i.e., they will be official for Scrabble outside North America. The Collins English Dictionary will be the primary source for words (other than the current North American lexicon, which shall continue to supply the "International" in "OSWI"), but by methods not yet clear, no more than about 150 words will be deleted in the change. Collins will publish an OSPD-style dictionary with concise definitions for every base word.

Collins' new book, titled Collins Scrabble Tournament and Club Word List, was published March 2007. The UK switched as of May 15, 2007. Associations around the world (outside North America) switched around the same time.

Parallel to the OSPD for North America, the UK has Official Scrabble Words ("OSW"), which lists all rules-acceptable words in the Chambers Dictionary ("Chambers") whose uninflected roots have nine or fewer letters, and words of nine or fewer letters which are inflections of longer words. The third edition of OSW, including words from the 1993 edition of Chambers, came out in 1994. Chambers' 1998 edition was followed by OSW4 in September 1999. At the end of 2001, the UK completed a transition to SOWPODS, after which time OSW was replaced by OSWI (OSW International), containing words up to 9 letters from either source, first published that year. Challenges of longer words were looked up in Chambers.

For trademark reasons, the OSPD is not legally sold outside North America, and OSWI is not sold in North America.

Here are the relative sizes of the lexicons of OWL2 and CSW12, showing that CSW12 is a richer lexicon at all lengths. "SOWPODS" was a common abbreviation for the union of the two, combining the letters of OSPD and OSW.

		length     OWL2   CSW12
		2           101     124
		3          1015    1310
		4          4030    5526
		5          8938   12646
		6         15788   22410
		7         24029   33274
		8         29766   40622
		9         29150   41210

	       total 2-8  83667  115912

Why are all those stupid/non-English/indecent words allowed?

The OSPD was formed according to the rules of Scrabble, allowing all non-capitalized words without apostrophes or hyphens which are not designated as foreign. In a compromise between the number of words in a standard college dictionary (such as Funk & Wagnalls, in use before the OSPD) and an unabridged dictionary, the OSPD includes all words found in at least one of five major US college dictionaries, including a total of ten editions, which in the judgment of Merriam-Webster's lexicographers (contracted by the trademark holder to do this) meet the rules.

The dictionaries used for OSPD2 are: Funk & Wagnalls Standard College Dictionary (1973 printing), American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (First and Second College Editions), Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary (Merriam-Webster; Eighth thru Tenth Editions), Webster's New World Dictionary (Second and Third College Editions), Random House College Dictionary (Original Edition and Revised Edition).

To some extent, this succeeds at capturing the language, not as some set of Scrabble players would have it, but as it is -- according to professional lexicographers.

Words removed from OSPD 1st ed. in 2nd ed.

		    AINE
		    AINEE
		    ALIYAHS
		    AUTARKIK
		    BABBOOL BABBOOLS
		    BORAZON BORAZONS
		    DIALOGGED DIALOGGING
		    DUC DUCS
		    ECOLE ECOLES
		    ENFIN
		    INVAR INVARS
		    IODOL IODOLS
		    MISENROLL MISENROLLS
		    NEGRO NEGROES
		    NOIR
		    ONCES
		    PAPULAN
		    PERE PERES
		    PHYTIN PHYTINS
		    SITI
		    SLIVOVICS
		    STETSON STETSONS
		    SULFONAL SULFONALS
		    SURVEILED SURVEILING
		    THERMIT THERMITS
		    UIT
		    WAEFU
		    WITEN
		    WOSTTETH WOTTETH
		    XANTHATE XANTHATES

Current corrections to the OSPD 2nd ed.

The cumulative corrections to the OSPD2, all (except for DIDDLEYS) corrected in the final printing, are:

		    p16   ALIYAH: -YAHS (not -YAS)
		    108   CLAUGHT: -ING (not -INT)
		    109   CLEEK: CLAUCHT (not CLAUGHT)
		    155   DIDDLEY: DIDDLEYS, DIDDLIES
		    213   FLANKEN: pl. FLANKEN
		    272   HONDLE: -DLED, -DLING, -DLES (not -DLIED or -DLIES)
		    273   insert HOOTY adj HOOTIER, HOOTIEST
		    321   LEAP: add LEPT as third past
		    359   insert MISENROLL v -ED, -ING, -S
		    364   MOJO: add MOJOES
		    424   PECORINO: -NOS, -NI
		    436   PINYIN: delete PINYINS
		    451   delete PREFROZE; insert PREFREEZE v -FROZE,
		          -FROZEN, -FREEZING, -FREEZES to freeze beforehand
		    481   delete REARMICE; insert REARMOUSE n pl. -MICE
		          reremouse
		    477   REFALL: add REFALLS
		    488   delete REREMICE; insert REREMOUSE n pl. -MICE a bat
		          (a flying mammal)
		    537   SJAMBOK: definition should be "to flog"
		    635   UNMESH: -ES (not -S)
		    638   UPFRONT adj
		    639   URB: pl. URBS
		    643   delete VANIR
		    675   insert XANTHATE n pl. -S a chemical salt

Some of these "corrections" muddy the rule that all uninflected words in the OSPD have eight or fewer letters.

9-letter root words in OSPD

Despite the plan for OSPD, that the only uninflected words it contains should be those of eight or fewer letters, a few 9-letter words have been inserted. These are:

		    GRUELLING
		    KIDNAPPER
		    MISENROLL
		    PREFREEZE
		    RAVELLING
		    REARMOUSE
		    REREMOUSE

Final corrections to the Franklin Electronic OSPD2

These are the final corrections to the old Franklin Electronic Scrabble Dictionary that contained OSPD2.

		    additions   deletions
		    ---------   ---------
		    AMNIA       AMNIONIA
		                BRITISH
		    CAUDILLOS   CAUDILLLOS
		                CHEERLEADED
		                CHINESE
		                CHRISTMAS
		    CLUBBERS
		    CRACKLES    CRACKLEES
		    CRIOLLOS    CRIOLLLOS
		    DIDDLEYS
		    EXPIATING
		                GONIONIA
		    GRAMS
		    HALAZONES
		    HIGGLED
		    HONDLES     HONDLIES
		    HORNBEAMS
		                IRISH
		                ITALIAN
		    MACHES
		                MISEATE
		    OPALESCING  OPALESCESCING
		    OUTDRAGGING
		                OUTEATE
		                OVEREATE
		    OVERLIT
		    PECORINI
		                PINYINS
		    REFALLS
		                S
		    SISSIES     SIES
		    UNCLOGGING
		                UNDEREATE

Corrections to the OWL2

		    additions   deletions
		    ---------   ---------
		                CRABABBLE
		                CRABABBLES
		    CRABAPPLE
		    CRABAPPLES
		    DEVELOPPES
		                GODAMNDEST
		    GODDAMNDEST
		    MUNCHABLES
		    VIREONINES
		                WEAPONEERED

Expurgation of OSPD and OSPD 3rd ed.

In October 1995, NSA "endorsed" an Expurgated Scrabble Players Dictionary ("ESPD"), calling it OSPD3, omitting approximately 167 words labeled as offensive to specific ethnic, racial, sexual and other groups, such as the words "dago", "jew" and "fatso". (NSA had "sponsored" previous editions.) Hasbro, the NSA's parent, gave as major reasons for the change its desire to promote Scrabble in elementary schools using the OSPD and complaints by offended ethnic groups.

Facing much opposition by competitive players who did not want their playing vocabulary restricted to those words considered safe for children, NSA has made the ESPD not the official reference for club and tournament play. (It says on the dust jacket, "for recreational and school play.") Instead, starting February 1, 1996, competitions used OSPD2 plus the words added in ESPD. (A few words which reappeared in the first printings of ESPD because of its sloppy basing on early printings of OSPD2 -- before some corrections -- were not added back, though.)

Although published by Merriam Webster, TWL98 is sold only by NSA to its members.

It's anomalous to have the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary not be official.

Successor to OSPD - TWL98

As of March 1998, club and tournament play in North America use an unexpurgated lexicon, including all two- to nine-letter words and inflections, titled "Official Tournament and Club Word List" (but more often known as "TWL" or "TWL98" than "OTaCWL"), sold only to members of NSA. Send $10 (plus sales tax for AR, CA, MA, OH or WA), specifying membership number, to

	Merriam-Webster Inc.
	P.O. Box 281
	Springfield, MA 01102
	(800) 201-5029 x100
	(413) 734-3134 x100

or $14 CAD in Canada, to

	Thomas Allen & Son, Ltd
	390 Steelcase Rd E
	Markham, ON  L3R 1G2
	(905) 475-9126

There were 12 deletions in the two- to eight-letter range: DA DEI DES HANGULS KEV LEZES LICENTI SKIWEARS STRID VIN VINS VON, and 38 additions: BACKSTAB BASSETT BASSETTS BEDSIT BEDSITS CHEMO CHEMOS DECLAW DECLAWED DECLAWS FINALISE IGNORAMI ILLER ILLEST LATTE LATTES LEZZES LOUVRED MAGLEVS PETRALE PETRALES PINEALS PREMIXT PYROLIZE REDTAIL REDTAILS RHYTONS SEVRUGA SEVRUGAS SILKIES SMOOTHES TENIASES TRAPEZII UNSELL UNSELLS VOGUER VOGUERS WHINGING.

See the Dictionary Committee page for explanations.

As of June 2003, the "Official Long Words List", compiled from MW10 and sold only by NSA, is the sole reference for words longer than 9 letters not appearing (as inflections) in TWL98. The list itself is available as a free download.

Successor to TWL98 - unnamed

The NSA dictionary committee created the Official Tournament and Club Word List, 2nd ed., as successor to TWL98. It is the the first descendant of OSPD1 to be updated using dictionaries other than Merriam-Webster's Collegiate. OWL2 incorporates words and their inflections from any of the current Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (11th ed.), American Heritage College Dictionary, Random House Webster's College Dictionary and Webster's New World College Dictionary.

Tournament pairings

Most North American tournaments are ranked according to win-loss record first, followed by the total of point spread in each game. A few tournaments score according to a predetermined number of credits for winning and for each ten points of margin. UK tournaments sometimes use sum-of-scores (the sum of the number of wins by one's opponents), and Australian tournaments variously use total game score or spread as the secondary factor.

In small tournaments or ones in where the field is sufficiently divided, each player plays every other once. This is called a round robin.

In all the other tournament designs, whom one plays depends on where one stands in the tournament so far. In the first round, generally the players' pre-tournament ratings temporarily stand in for the tournament rank.

The modified form of Swiss pairing used at North American Scrabble tournaments is best described by example. Suppose 64 players are at the tournament. In round one, the first player plays the 33rd, the second plays the 34th, etc., and the 32nd plays the 64th. In round two, the same top-plays-middle is used for the top and bottom halves of the tournament separately: 1 plays 17, 2 plays 18, down to 16 plays 32, and 33 plays 49, down to 48 plays 64. This continues with groups shrinking by a factor of two at each round.

Because determining the pairings between rounds can take so long in this method (computers are fast, but data entry can be slow), often the field is divided into four groups, instead of two. So with 64 players, 1 17 33 49 would be grouped together, as would 2 18 34 50, and 16 32 48 64. These groups of four then each play a round robin.

Note that this "speed-pairing" method provides the better players an advantage. Denote the four quartiles in order as A, B, C, D. Then the A player plays a B, C and D, while the D plays an A, B and C; this tends to reinforce the pre-tournament estimate of the players' strengths, and thus detracts from the aim of a tournament -- to recognize performance, not rank. A simple improvement has rarely been tried, to have each A player also matched against an A from another group, etc. This models the round robin in small, and seems inherently fairer. (If anyone has references to scholarly treatments of the fairness of tournament designs, I would be grateful to be supplied with them.)

In the UK, most tournaments use a version of the Swiss method in which at each round players are paired within groups consisting of those with the same win-loss record.

See also the section on tournament running software.

Tournament ratings

Using a system based on the Elo system used in chess, North American tournament players get a rating in the range 0 to ~2150 which indirectly represents the probability of winning against other rated players. This probability depends only on the difference between the two players' ratings as follows:

		  rating     probability
		 difference  of winning
		    400       .919
		    300       .853
		    200       .758
		    100       .637
		     50       .569
		      0       .500
		    -50       .431
		   -100       .363
		   -200       .242
		   -300       .147
		   -400       .081

This represents the area under the standard bell-shaped curve where 200*sqrt(2) points are taken as one standard deviation. (The table shows some sample points on this curve, adequate for good approximations of rating calculations by interpolation, although actual calculations use the exact curve.)

To keep current on a player's actual quality of play, the rating is updated after every tournament played. First, the number of games one is expected to win is calculated. Let's use as an example a two game tournament, in which player P begins with an 1800 rating, and plays opponents rated 1900 and 1725. P's rating is 100 below the 1900 player's, so P is expected to win .363 fraction of a game; P's rating is 75 above the other player's, so P is expected to win .603 of a game (halfway between .637 and .569).

So in the two games, P is expected to win a total of .966 games. Let's say P won one game. That's .034 more than expected. P's rating goes up some constant multiple of this number. Well, actually it's not a constant, but depends on how many tournament games P has ever played and how high P's rating is.

				games played
	                         1-49    50+
	   Pre-     below 1800    30      20
	  tourney    1800-1999    24      16
	  rating     2000 & up    15      10

See also explanations by John Chew, Paul Sidorsky, and ASPA, and a novel numerical approach from Joey Mallick.

The UK ratings are somewhat similar but simpler: the probability of the better player winning is taken as 50% plus the rating difference as a percent, but no larger than 90%.

The Australian and New Zealand rating systems are the same as the North American, and South Africa has adopted the Australian system. Each operates independently, so player ratings are not directly comparable, although they tend to be comparable at an offset.

Current North American, UK, Australian, New Zealand and South African ratings are available.

Organizations conducting Scrabble activity outside North America and the UK

Spear, which sells Scrabble sets in 31 languages and 120 countries, organized a Spanish and has considered organizing German and Dutch Scrabble tournaments. Contact David Schwartz. There are now Scrabble competitions in many languages.

The remainder of the information in this section is about English language Scrabble.

Membership in the Australian Scrabble Players Association, which is independent of the trademark holder, is $10 per year, $15 overseas. Its quarterly newsletter, Across the Board, has columns on playing and tournament listings. It may be reached at

		    The Scrabble Enquiry Centre
		    PO Box 405
		    Bentleigh Australia 3204
		    +61 3 578 6767

		    Bob Jackman
		    Australian Scrabble Players Association
		    PO Box 28
		    Lindfield NSW 2070
		    Australia
		    02 9416 9881
		    02 9416 9479 fax
		    rjackman@ozemail.com.au

In Israel, English language Scrabble is played in several clubs, including a very large one in Jerusalem. Play is under North American rules, and the occasional tournaments are rated under a copy of the North American system. All contact information is at

		    homepage

The Thailand National English language Scrabble tournament has drawn more than 1000 contestants, including many top players from elsewhere. For information on the (OSPD-based) yearly tournament usually held around the end of January, contact

		Mr. Ravee Joradol
		Thailand Crossword Club
		645/1 Petchburi Rd
		Payathai, Bangkok 10400
		Thailand
		(662) 252-9607, 252-8147
		(662) 252-8147 fax
		crosword@ksc.th.com

In Thailand, sets are sold without regard to Spear's rights, resulting in its players not being invited to the 1995 World [English language] Scrabble Championships. Similarly, before the change in Rumania's regime, unauthorized sets were sold, and in the ensuing vacuum, Rumania was invited to the 1995 WSC only as an observer. Similar unauthorized sets have at various times been sold in Russia ("Erudit") and Malaysia/Singapore ("Sahibba"). (A Swedish game, "Alfapet", apparently was licensed for sale before Mattel or its predecessors entered the Swedish market.)

Nigeria and Japan each have an active English language Scrabble tournament scene.

For addresses of many English and other language Scrabble organizations and contacts, see the Appendix.

Who plays with which dictionary and which rules?

The following is a summary of which lexicon and challenge rules are used in competitive English language Scrabble play in various countries.

OSPD, OSW, OSWI and SOWPODS are described above. Under single challenge, a turn is lost only by a player making an invalid word that is challenged, so challenges are free. Double challenge has a challenger also risking loss of turn if all the words are valid. Under Singapore's rule, often discussed as a basis for unification, the maker of a bad challenge loses five points. (In Swedish and English language play, Sweden uses ten.)

A movement is afoot, especially strong among top players who have played or have some prospect of playing in the World [English language] Scrabble Championship toward merging the rules. Most suggestions center on using SOWPODS and some middle-ground challenge rule, such as Singapore's or one penalizing a challenger only for the second and succeeding bad challenges in a game. The WSC used SOWPODS and single-challenge until 2001, when five-point challenges were used. (Because the rules are chosen at the discretion of whichever of Hasbro and Mattel is the current host, there is no assurance that future WSCs outside North America will use this rule.) Most players worldwide think convergence is desirable, although this is not so clear for North America.

                           OSPD       OSW         Collins(was "SOWPODS")

    double-challenge      Canada
                          Israel%
                          Mexico
                         Thailand@
                            US
    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
      10pt-challenge=                              Nigeria~
                                                   Sweden
    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
       5pt-challenge+                               India
                                                   Israel%
                                                    Japan
                                                    Kenya
                                                  Malaysia
                                                    Malta
                                                 Netherlands
                                                 New Zealand*
                                                  Pakistan
                                                   Romania
                                                  Singapore
                                                  Sri Lanka
                                                South Africa!
                                                   Zambia
    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
    single-challenge                Gibraltar     Australia&
                                                   Bahrain
                                                   Ireland#
                                                 Philippines
                                               United Kingdom#
    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
             unknown                               Bermuda
                                                    Ghana
                                                  Hong Kong
                                                   Kuwait
                                                    Oman
                                                    Qatar
                                                Saudi Arabia
                                                  Trinidad
                                            United Arab Emirates

@ While most competitions in Thailand use OSPD, several prestigious international tournaments use Collins, and there is pressure among youth to use the international reference for all.

% Israel outside of Tel Aviv and affiliated tournaments uses OSPD and double challenges; Tel Aviv and its affiliated tournaments use Collins and 5-point challenges.

= Countries using 10-point challenges assess only one 10-point penalty, and only if all words are valid.

+ Most countries using 5-point challenges assess 5 points per word incorrectly challenged only if all words are valid. Except for Singapore, adoption of 5-point challenges has followed its first use, in 2001, in the World [English language] Championship.

~ Nigeria changed briefly from double to 5-point challenges, but then almost immediately to 10-point.

* New Zealand changed from double to 5-point challenges in 2004.

# The UK and Ireland migrated to SOWPODS over 2001, with the adoption of this transition plan.

! South Africa uses 5-point challenges without regard to how many words are played or challenged.

& In Australia, tournaments run under rules other than single challenge can be rated, and a small but increasing number of high-prestige tournaments do use 5-point challenges.

Crossword games on the Internet

Crossword games servers

Telnet-based

A MUD-like server, MarlDOoM, dedicated to playing crossword games (with boards configurable by the players) is available, as is a FAQ for it, and a FAQ for MUDs generally. A robot normally is on-line to play there. A Windows graphical interface has been created.

Other MUDs have crossword-game play among their services.

IRC-based

Using Internet Relay Chat, the Internet Scrabble Club is quite well done. All you need is a recent browser.

WWW-based

Several servers unlicensed by the rights holders have been closed. Some or all were removed after letters from Hasbro's attorneys.

Net-Scrabble, by Hussein Suleman
E-Scrabble, by Jared, play by e-mail
[Java Scrabble, removed by lawyer-letter]

For now, at least, still running are:

PyScrabble, online, multiplayer game, written in Python, by Kevin Conaway
Java Scrabble in German
Pixie Pit Scrabble (with supporting message board)
Scrabble Challenge, a duplicate contest, by Kevin Cowtan, at the University of York, UK,
SSCrabble>, browser-based game using CSS, by The Man in Blue
Literaxx, by Marek Futrega

Some mirrors of Net-Scrabble may move from one server to another guerilla-style. Try this one. Scribble is another non-matchplay game.

Crossword games mailing lists

The international mailing list crossword-games is open to anyone, crossword-games-pro to active tournament players ("cgp"), and wordgame-programmers to anyone interested in design of computer programs for crossword games. The administratrix has a homepage for cgp, and Jim Geary maintains a list of frequently misunderstood things for it. There are also a UK-centred list, a SOWPODS list, and lists for OSPD, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Sweden (for Swedish language play).

Crossword games related newsgroup

No Scrabble-specific Usenet newsgroup exists, and all indications are that such a group wouldn't generate enough traffic. The best newsgroup for discussing crossword games is rec.games.board. The flat-text version of this FAQ is posted there monthly, and occasional questions are asked and answered there.

Chat

The Hasbro CD-ROM game and Networdz are discussed on IRC Undernet in #scrabble, on DalNet in #scrabble and #scrabbleparlor and at NewNet. These IRC servers may, and ISC does (in English, French, Romanian, Italian or Dutch), facilitate on-line play.

Differences between Scrabble in North America and in the UK

OSW and Chambers govern Scrabble play in the UK. Australia is moving toward "double-dictionary" play, where words from either Chambers or OSPD are accepted. A few clubs in North America have made this at least optional. An added impetus for this trend is the expurgation of OSPD.

In the UK, a player erroneously challenging suffers no penalty.

The UK had a second form of Scrabble play that faded away in the 1990s: high-score tournaments, where only the total of one's own scores matters. Since one's "opponents'" scores are irrelevant, play in this system aimed for open boards and encouraged elaborate setups often independently mined by the two players.

Publications and Tools for Scrabble

Tools

Game Viewer

Andrew Cook provides a tool showing the progress of a game on a graphic board, given a suitably formated game log, and another that simply turns a text image of a board graphical.

ScrabbleScam (Windows)

Shows all legal moves given a rack and board state, using the OTaCWL. $14, hampered version free.

	    homepage

Periodicals

The Last Word

General newsletter for North American competitive Scrabble, by the former NASPA newsletter editor. Free for now.

		homepage

The Center Star

Humor. Not yet reviewed. Bimonthly, $18 per year ($15 until 17 Mar 2005).

		Stephanie Steele
		27 Summit Ct
		St Paul, MN 55102
		flamingjune40@hotmail.com
		homepage

Scrabble News

This is a publication of the National Scrabble Association, and comes with membership.

Puzzles, contests, gossip, intermediate and advanced tactics, official information from NSA and Milton Bradley, tournament listings and tournament results.

Non-North American periodicals

Onwords

Billing itself as the "Scrabble Enthusiasts' Magazine", this is the only publication substantially written by more than one person. It features numerous columns, lists, analyses, letters and tournament reports. Subscriptions are #8 for 6 issues in the UK, #12 elsewhere. It is now produced by the only known "Scrabble consultancy".

		    Allan J Simmons
		    Onwords Magazine
		    Onwords Ltd
		    Edington House, The Bow
		    Coldingham TD14 5NE
		    Scotland
		    01890-771430/771785
		    onwordsmag@aol.com
		    homepage

The Last Word

The newsletter of the ABSP.

		    homepage

Forwords

The quarterly official magazine of the New Zealand Association of Scrabble Players, including news, tournament results, comments and competitions.

		    Jeff Grant
		    1109 Allenby St
		    Hastings
		    NZ

Scrabble Club News

Published by Spear, #8 for 6 issues. News about clubs in the UK.

Defunct periodicals

WORDGAME Magazine

This highly praised SOWPODS-based newsletter followed in the footsteps of Rack Your Brain, Medleys and JG Newsletter, with strong analyses, informed by his computerized player with built-in sophisticated simulation, BobBot. 2000-2001.

		    Mark Watkins
		    mwatkins@math.uga.edu
		    homepage

Letters for Expert Players

This letter-form publication, which ceased in December 1986, still forms a rich mine of top expert opinion on interesting positions. Back issues may (possibly) still be available from:

		    Albert Weissman
		    11 White Rock Road
		    Westerly, RI 02891

Matchups

Matchups specialized in detailed tournament results, while its supplement, Matchups Extra, picked up from the Letters in using a panel of experts to annotate interesting positions. Published 1984-1991. Back issues available.

Medleys

Probably the highlight of this well-edited, entertainingly written monthly were the game annotations. One game per month was annotated in full. Three interesting positions were analyzed by readers, with quotes. Word lists, study techniques, anecdotes, humor and opinions rounded out the publication. The only drawback was a long-running two-page tournament advertisement in this 12 page newsletter.

For the 12 issues of 1991 and 1992, $34 each; for 1993, $36; plus $2 shipping ($3 USD in Canada).

Also, compiled from the pages of Medleys, "The Art and Science of Anamonics" and "Complete 7+1 Anamonics #1-2100".

$5 and $29 respectively; plus $0, $2 shipping.

"Expert Analysis -- Consensus Game" #1, #2, #3, #4, and "Expert Analysis -- Consensus Extras" vol. 1, vol. 2, $29 each; plus $2 shipping.

The second and subsequent least expensive items are charged half the above shipping costs.

The entire run of Medleys has been reissued as part of Archive: Two Word Game Classics.

Rack Your Brain

Subtitled "Analysis of your favorite crossword game", Brian Sheppard's series of booklets deeply analyzed specific positions. By the author of the program Maven, which is an important tool for move analysis.

JG Newsletter

This excellent publication followed in the footsteps of Letters for Expert Players and Medleys in its thorough position analyses. Also included some puzzles. Bound reprint of all issues is expected in 2004.

		    Jim Geary
		    31 West Cochise Dr
		    Phoenix, AZ 85021-2484
		    (602) 943-5281
		    jimgeary@jimgeary.com

Tourney News

This provided mostly tournament results listings, with bits of discussion of tactics, issues and occasional word lists.

Books and CD-ROMs

(Out-of-print books listed can be located, among other ways, through Advanced Booksellers Exchange.)

The outstanding books below are The Scrabble Player's Handbook, How to Play Scrabble Like a Champion How to Win at Scrabble (the 2004 Fisher/Webb book, not the 1953 book of that title) and Can-Am 2002. Also superb, with more elementary material, is Everything Scrabble (3rd ed.). Word Freak is just as good at illuminating the North American competitive Scrabble scene.

The Scrabble Player's Handbook, by a team of World [English language] Championship competitors, 2012.: A sophisticated, comprehensive look at how to play at a high level. Free e-book.
How to Play Scrabble Like a Champion, Joel Wapnick. Puzzlewright, 2010.: A revised and updated edition of his The Champion's Strategy for Winning at Scrabble Brand Crossword Game, featuring always insightful, modern analyses by Wapnick, 1983 North American and 1999 World [English language] champion.

Mike Connally	P.O. Box 420 Bulverde, TX 78163	(210) 422-5165	roundgameboards@yahoo.com
Sam Kantimathi	300 Salmon Falls Rd El Dorado Hills, CA 95762	(916) 933-5000 (916) 933-5222 (888) 726-8463	sam@samtimer.com
Eric Pivnik
Ossie Mair	5420 NW 78th Ave Lauderhill, FL 33351	(954) 741-5516 (954) 817-8392 cell	calmar32@aol.com uniquely compact, lightweight nesting "Star Board"
Peter Manzolillo	2526 S St Marks Ave Bellmore, NY 11710	(516) 249-7772 shop	customscrabbleboards@gmail.com
Eugene Murray		(317) 924-9427	eugenehmurray@hotmail.com personaboards@hotmail.com round boards personalized with fabric
Kelly Smith			kelly@sparkyenterprises.com
Gene Tyszka	1060 Argus Dr Mississauga ON L4Y 2L8 Canada	(905) 270-9662	gene@adjudicator3000.com
Roy Blizzard*	2132 Marwood Ln Albemarle, NC 28001	(704) 982-4723	roybliz@aol.com
Evi Pike*		(905) 793-3477	evip@home.com
Phil Rosenberg*	864 Colonial Ave Union, NJ 07083
Eileen Willis*	3664 Danielle Ct North Liberty, IA 52317	(319) 626-6391