Rules, Rules, Rules
Each club has its own style of play — some are just social outlets where people get together to have fun. Other clubs' meetings are very competitive and each session is essentially a mini-tournament. Our club is a healthy mix of the two. We have fun but we also take the game seriously. Since prizes are awarded periodically we follow established tournament rules. However, the prize structure has some luck built into it so that it is not always the top players who win the prizes — everyone has a chance.
Yes, it's still the Scrabble® game you know
The basic rules are the same as the game you play at home but there are a few differences which reflect tournament play rules:
- Only two players compete in a single game.
- Games are timed. Each player has 25 minutes to complete all of their plays. Ten points are subtracted for each minute or fraction thereof that a player goes over 25 minutes.
- In the U.S. and Canada, there are only two word sources used to determine the validity of words played: the Official Tournament and Club Word List Second Edition [OWL2] for words from two- to nine-letters in length and the Long List for words from ten-to fifteen-letters in length. Note that the OWL2 incorporates the contents of The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary Fourth Edition [OSPD4]. OWL2 contains some words not included in the OSPD4 that the publisher has deemed not suitable for family play. By itself, the OSPD4 is NOT a valid word source.
- The player who goes out first, receives double the point count of the tiles remaining on the rack of the player who does not go out.
New Players Take Note
New players are allowed certain exceptions during their first three sessions. New players get an additional five minutes for their games. They can also use the NSA two- and three-letter word list [provided to new players] during the game. They may also challenge words without penalty. Players will be considered to be new players if they have never played in a tournament before and have not yet attended three club sessions at any Scrabble® club.