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    The Last Word (Tournament Newsletter)

6 February 2010
Scrabble Party at Erika's

Erika Werdal has announced a Scrabble get together at her house in Blaine, Saturday, February 6th. An email notice has been sent to club members with all the details. Please RSVP to Erika to let her know if you plan to attend.

2 February 2010
Rules Update effective Feb 2nd

NASPA has announced an update to the Official Tournament Rules that becomes effective 2 February 2010. They have also posted a summary of the changes.

Key changes:

• Blank designations must now be in writing (verbal designation has no standing)
• When the clock is restarted after an unsuccessful challenge

We aren't going to start using blank designation forms at club, but in order to get folks in the habit of writing down their blank designation, we'll be asking you to write the blank on your score sheet before you hit the clock. Your opponent can restart your clock and ask you to write down the blank if you have not done so on your time.

28 January 2010
New Standings Formula for Club Stats

For several months there has been discussion among some club members about changing how the standings are calculated. Previously, players have been ranked by Average Score. Some folks thought that this was leading players to focus more on increasing their average score rather than trying to win more games or win by a greater margin (as would be the goal at a tournament).

So, we are experimenting with a new ranking method: standings will show players ranked by Percentage of Games Won. You can still see your average score in the standings report, and there is a stat page that has players ranked by Average Score if you want to see that.

Let's see what this new formula does. Discuss and give your feedback.

23 January 2010
Results of January 23rd One-Day Tournament

These one-day tournaments are getting to be a breeze for Team Bissonnette. Jane directs, Emily does the data entry, and George helps with the heavy lifting. A smoothly run tournament, where the only glitch (our "new" word judge computer kept dying-NOOO!) was remedied quickly (Chris Williams set up is netbook so we could use it instead.

Seattle players dominated the tournament; except for division A, the top two spots in each division were won by Seattle club members!

• Hilary Johnson won Division E, followed by Tyler Creviston and Dawn Camille Wisniew
• In Divison D, it was Adam Henderson, then George Bissonnette and Eileen Gruhn.
• David Foerstel won Division C, with Jane Bissonnette placing second.
• In Division B, Frank Kashuk won, followed by Rachel Christensen in second.
• Chris Grubb took second place in Division A, narrowly edging past Dan Goodwin in third by just 37 spread points.

Great job folks!

Complete results on the January 23 Results page.

19 January 2010
School Scrabblers visit Seattle Club

School Scrabble players from Maple Elementary School visited the Seattle club Tuesday, January 19th, to see how the game is played in a club setting. Guided by teacher Terry Virdell, these students meet and play every Friday afternoon at their school.

After warming up by playing each other, during the second round each student paired up with a Seattle club player and worked with them on their game. This one-on-one coaching session was enjoyed by all. We look forward to seeing Terry's student's again.

Thanks to Henry, Jessica, Ella, Michael, Gabby and Jasmine for coming to visit!

18 January 2010
Four is the magic number at Reno

Several Seattle club players made the trek to Reno for their annual Martin Luther King-weekend tournament. Congratulations to Nigel Peltier for placing fourth in the top division, and to Frank Kashuk for placing fourth in division two. Chris Grubb was in third place at the end of day one, and finished in tenth position (well above his expectations). Nice job guys!

18 January 2010
Seattle Scrabble now on Twitter

Succumbed to the lure of technology and created a Twitter account for the Seattle Scrabble Club. So, in addition to our website, you can check Twitter to see any breaking news or info.

30 Dec 2009
We have a word judge computer again

After sending out a notice that our word judge computer was dying, it promptly gave up the ghost at club last night.

Since no one was able to come up with a freebie, I did some searching and was able to find a relatively cheap replacement by going on craigslist. I'll bring it to club next week.

The computer did cost us ($80), so I'm asking folks to volunteer to donate $5 each to cover the expense. If you can afford to, please chip in (I'll collect at club).

Thanks to the following club members who contributed to paying for the word judge computer:

• Ken Clark
• Nancy Roeder
• Mark Peltier
• Bob Jackson
• Hilary Johnson
• Jim Porter
• Simon Spicer
• George Bissonnette
• Mike Frentz
• Lynn Dreyer
• Rebecca Slivka
• Chris Grubb

Thanks also to those of you who tried to find us a free one!

25 Dec 2009
We need a word judge computer

Bad News: Our word judge computer is dying.

We need a computer to replace it. It doesn't have to be fancy, or pretty, or new--just a laptop that works (pc or mac or unix). If you have an old laptop lying around that you don't need, please consider donating it to the club.

If you have any questions or have a computer to offer, please e-mail our Club Director.

Thanks!

24 Dec 2009
Club Prizes Resume in 2010

Good news: the 5-month moratorium on prizes at club has brought our club balance back up to a point where we can resume giving out prize money again. With our higher rent and slightly reduced attendence (we're averaging 20 per session now, compared to 24 last year), we can't afford to go back to what we did entirely, but we can get pretty close.

Here is the new prize schedule (which will resume in the new year, with the January 5, 2010 club session):

Category word:	$5
75+ non-bingo:	$1
100+ play:	$1
500+ game:	$1
600+ game:	$2
700+ game:	$5 + the undying awe and respect of your peers
Bingo Bonus:	$5 [Blue card: 3+ bingos in a game, white card: 3+ bingos in a row]

*Note also that we will continue to charge the club fee for all members (no exemption for acting director(s) or statistician).

13 Dec 2009
Scrabble at Ken's House December 13th

There is no Tacoma club this Saturday and no Scrabble at Third Place this Sunday, so...

Ken Clark is hosting SCRABBLE at his house on Sunday Dec 13th. Starts at 2pm, and goes until we're scrabbled out or Ken kicks us out. It's a potluck, so bring something to share. (And of course bring your own Scrabble game set-up and score sheets)

RSVP to Ken [ 253-631-7010 or kenclark13@comcast.net ] to let him know if you plan to attend. Ken's address and directions have already been sent out by email.

12 Dec 2009
No Tacoma club in December

Tacoma SCRABBLE Club director Lynn Dreyer has announced that there will be NO TACOMA CLUB this December. The regularly scheduled session for the second Saturday would have been held Dec 12th. Have fun doing something else!

25 Nov 2009
More games at One-Day Tournaments in Seattle in 2010

The three one-day tournaments that Jane Bissonnette will direction next year will all have 8 games (instead of the 7 previously announced). The format will still be the same (groups of 8), but now there will be a King of the Hill Round to close out the day.

Tournament dates shown below, or visit the Tournament Page:

• Saturday 23 January 2010
• Saturday 17 April 2010
• Saturday 26 June 2010

21 Nov 2009
Rafi Stern wins Vancouver-Seattle Club Challenge

The annual Vancouver v. Seattle team challenge tournament was held once again in Ferndale. Jane Bissonnette directed, and the tournament started on time and ran smoothly. Thanks Jane!

Rafi Stern went undefeated to win the top division. Rafi's new rating of 1953 makes him the 12th highest rated player in North America. Way to go, Rafi!

Complete list of Seattle club members who won prizes:

• Rafi Stern won Division A, with an undefeated 8-0 +862
• Dan Goodwin placed second in Division A, with 6-2 +396
• Jim Porter placed third in Division B, with 5.5 wins +182
• John Connell won an apple-shaped deluxe board for the best Salish Sea word: ISLANDS
• Rebecca Slivka had high loss (445) in Division A
• Lynn Dreyer had high loss (405) in Division C

This was the first tournament for Seattle club members Hilary Johnson and Simon Spicer. It was also the first tournament in over 12 years for noted Seattle club member Tom Bond - welcome back Tom! We hope you can make it back to club again.

Unfortunately, Seattle players weren't able to repeat last year's victory. Vancouver clinched the team trophy before the last round of play. Final team score: Vancouver 126.5 games, Seattle: 89.5 games

Tournament cross-table (with new ratings) is available on the NASPA website.

14 Nov 2009
Results of Victoria One-Day Tournament

26 Players attended the first tournament held in Victoria BC in over 5 years, on November 14th. This was Marc Levesque's directorial debut and everything went smoothly. Eight Seattle-area players made the trip up, and two came away with money. Congrats to:

• Georgianne Fiorini for winning Division C with 6-1 +399
• Rebecca Slivka for second place in Division A with 5-2 +306

Tournament cross-table is available on the NASPA website.

Fall 2009
Better late than never...

Thanks to Dave Johnson for sending this photo of the "young Scrabble phenoms" taken at the 2009 Labor Day Tournament in Portland.

From left to right: Chris Tallman, Julius Chaney, Matthew Nelson, Noah Webster, Rafi Stern and Dielle Saldanha

24-25 October 2009
Seattle Bookfest Thank Yous!

Thanks to everyone who came to work at our booth!

Lynn Dreyer
Jim Porter
George Bissonnette
Alice Goodwin
Daniel Goodwin
Mike Frentz
Rebecca Slivka
Hilary Johnson
Rachel Christensen
Ken Clark
Chris Grubb

Special thanks to Jim Porter, who not only brought all the stuff from club and set up Saturday morning, but he also printed out letters for a very cool sign for our booth (see the pictures).

And thanks to Mike Frentz who took stuff home with him Saturday and then brought it back on Sunday AND worked both Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning shifts!

Thanks also to Chris Grubb for taking everying home Sunday and back to club Tuesday evening, and to George Bissonnette for bringing extra chairs.

According to Bookfest organizers, we were one of hits of the event. We had four boards set up and they were all in constant use the entire time. We gave out club info cards to everyone who stopped by, and candy to people who found bingos, or made cool plays.

Hopefully, some of these folks will show up at club some time in the future. Either way, everyone had a good time!

24-25 October 2009
Seattle Club has a booth at Seattle Bookfest

We have a double booth at Seattle Bookfest October 24-25 (Saturday and Sunday), so we need folks to volunteer to man our booth. The previous incarnation of this event (Northwest Bookfest) was a great recruiting tool for new club members, so this is a great opportunity to advertise our club. The event should also be fun, with author events, and lots of exhibitors.

We're going to bring some equipment from club (board setups, dictionaries, word lists, score sheets, word judge computer), but we also would like the volunteers to bring their own custom equipment, if they have it. We'll have printed word lists, club information cards, and hopefully some prizes to give out.

The event is two days, 10am-6pm each day, so we're breaking each day into two 4-hour shifts, and we need three people per shift. We also need someone to do setup the first day, teardown the last day, and someone to take our stuff home Saturday evening and bring it back Sunday morning. Shifts filled:

Saturday, Oct 24
Bring stuff from club & set up 9:30am		Jim Porter
1st shift: 10am - 2pm (3 people)		Lynn Dreyer, Jim Porter, George Bissonnette
2nd shift: 2pm - 6pm (3 people)		Alice Goodwin, Daniel Goodwin, Mike Frentz
Overnight person: Take stuff home for the night		Mike Frentz
Sunday, Oct 25
Overnight person: Bring stuff back and set up 9:30am		Mike Frentz
1st shift: 10am - 2pm (3 people)		Mike Frentz, Rebecca Slivka, Hilary Johnson
2nd shift: 2pm - 6pm (3 people)		Rachel Christensen, Ken Clark, Chris Grubb
Teardown and return stuff to club		Chris Grubb

Two tables and 4 chairs come with the booth, but we could use another table and 3 or 4 more chairs. If there is someone who can volunteer to bring that equipment, it would be a big help.

All our shifts have been filled (thanks!), but if you want to come as well, that's great. Please contact Rebecca to volunteer for a shift or to bring equipment. Thanks!

26 September 2009
Mike Frentz and Mark Peltier win at Portland Challenge

The annual Portland-Seattle Team Challenge tournament was held at the Kit Carson restaurant in Chehalis, on a lovely Saturday, September 26th. While Seattle was unsuccessful at defending our win last year, Mike Frentz came in first place in the top division, followed by Daniel Goodwin in second. Mark Peltier continued his strong run by winning the second division. (If this keeps up, Nigel better watch his back!). Nice work guys!

Prize winners from Seattle (Godwin lives in Renton, and played for the Seattle side but he is currently working down there and attends their club):

Division A:
   1st - Mike Frentz: 6-1, +525 ($100)
   2nd - Daniel Goodwin: 5-2, +253 ($60)
 
Division B:
   1st - Mark Peltier: 6-1, +429 ($100)
 
Overall:
   High Word (Round 6 only) - Godwin Gwei: MILKERS, 108 ($20)
 
Team Totals:
   Division A: Seattle 26, Portland 23
   Division B: Seattle 26, Portland 23
   Division C: Portland 32, Seattle 17
   
   Overall: Portland 78, Seattle 69

Complete results (and new ratings) on NASPA cross table.

9 September 2009
Mark Peltier wins at Portland Labor Day Tourney

Like son, like father. Mark Peltier played up into division 2 at the annual Portland Labor Day Tournament and finished in First Place with a 16-4 record. Mark's rating went up 166 points, from 1419 to 1585! Way to go Mark! [For more detail, you can read Mark's Trip Report.]

Dawn Camille Wisniew won her division in the Early Bird. Congrats Dawn!

Mike Frentz finished in 3rd place in the top division, followed by Rafi Stern in fourth. Mike also won prizes for High Play (EXACTION 194) and High Game (625). Dan Goodwin won the Tuff Luck award (for the most number of games lost by the smallest margin - 5 losses by a total of 84 points). In Division Four, infrequent Seattle club member Scott McManus placed third. Karen Powell finished right behind him in fourth, and Jane Jackson placed seventh. Georgianne Fiorini won a tote bag for having the best handwriting, and Mike Lavoie won a tile bag for the best performance at his first tournament.

Cross tables for the Labor Day tournaments have already been posted on the NASPA website:

• Early Bird
• Night Bird
• Main Event (games 1-10)
• Main Event (games 11-20)
• Main Event (final standings)
• Late Bird

Frequent Seattle Club visitor Wes Morrison stopped in at club last week before the tournament and then again last night. Wes not only won the Night Bird, but he also went 4-0 at club last night, knocking out Ken Clark and Steven Jones, among others. Nice going Wes!

31 August 2009
Nigel Peltier wins Can-Am Challenge!

Fourteen of the top players from Canada and the United States got together August 29-30 in Denver, Colorado, for the 7th annual Can-Am SCRABBLE Challenge tournament. With 7 players per team, each player played two games against each player on the opposing team.

The US team was in the lead almost from the beginning, and our own Nigel Peltier won the tournament with a 10.5-3.5 record (just edging out Dave Wiegand). Congratulations Nigel for a great victory!

Every one of the 98 games played was annotated, so you can view and review the games at John Chew's website. The tournament crosstable has been published at the NASPA website. Nigel Peltier and Rafi Stern are now tied as the highest rated players in Washington state.

15 August 2009
Seattle club players at Vancouver One-Day Tournament

Several Seattle club players went up to Vancouver for their one day tournament August 15th. Congratulations to:

• Georgianne Fiorini came in second place in Division C
• Byron Nelson placed third in Division C

More results from the tournament at: Vancouver Club website.

13 August 2009
Latest news from NASPA

NASPA is taking accusations of cheating seriously and has created a new page on their website to list players who have been suspended from play.

Chris Cree announced during the Dayton Nationals that he had signed contracts with the Hotel InterContinental in Dallas, Texas, for the National Championships for the next two years (2010 and 2011). Dates for 2010 are: August 7-11.

You no longer need to be an NSA member to purchase the Official Tournament and Club Word List (also known as the OWL). Anyone can purchase a copy of the OWL from the NSA's online store: WordGear.com.

7 August 2009
SCRABBLE at Cherry Street Coffee Shop: 1st & Clay

Cherry Street Coffee Shop at 1st and Clay (2719 1st Ave) in Seattle is hosting a monthly SCRABBLE Night, the first Friday of the month from 6-9pm.

Seattle club members are invited to help them kick off their initial session, Friday August 7th. Please come (and bring your own equipment). Rebecca will bring scoresheets, cheat-sheets, and info cards about our club for newcomers. Hope to see you then!

Note: Cherry Street Coffee Shop has several locations--but this meeting is only at the 1st and Clay location.

1 August 2009
News from the National SCRABBLE® Championship in Dayton

Dave Wiegand wins it in an exciting 3-game final against Nigel Richards. Congratulations Dave!

At the National SCRABBLE® Championship in Dayton, Ohio, Table One games are being annotated and posted live. Review the game in progress or a previous game. [Image below right shows Alex Fiszbein playing Rafi in Round 7. ]

Seattle club member Rafi Stern started out strong (leading Div 1 at the end of the first day: 7-0 +716; 3rd place at end of day 2: 12-2 +729 - just 228 spread points from the leader). When he plays at Table One you can see his annotated games:

• Game 5: Frank Tangredi v. Rafi Stern
• Game 6: Rafi Stern v. Andrew Solomon
• Game 7: Rafi Stern v. Alex Fiszbein
• Game 8: Bradley Whitmarsh v. Rafi Stern
• Game 9: Panupol Sujjayakorn v. Rafi Stern
• Game 10: Rafi Stern v. Nigel Richards
• Game 11: Rafi Stern v. Adam Logan
• Game 15: Rafi Stern v. Dave Wiegand
• Game 23: Rafi Stern v. Nigel Richards

Check the Live Coverage page of the 2009 NSC for the most up to date information.

NSC in the news:

• Oregon man wins national Scrabble competition - AP Wire, 5 August 2009
• Scrabble tourney draws wordsmiths - Dayton Daily News, 30 July 2009
• Scrabble event to spell $300K for Dayton - Dayton Business Journal, 31 July 2009

30 July 2009
Moratorium on club prizes, club fee exemptions

Last week we announced that because the club was operating at a deficit due to continued lower attendence we would reduce the prizes given out when there was a small turnout for club sessions. However, that modest change is not enough to keep us from giving out more money that we are taking in and we have just been notified by the University Friends that they intend to raise our rent (it has been the same the entire 5 years we've been here).

New Changes:

• No club fee exemptions. Rebecca Slivka, Jane Bissonnette, and Mike Frentz had been exempt from paying club fees as a token compensation for their work to support the club. Now they will each pay the standard club fee.
• Moratorium on all prizes. We will still track the prizes (players can write down their accomplishments on the weekly "Session Prize Form") and they will now be published on the website along with the regular weekly stats.

Hopefully, these changes (and the increased attendence that usually comes in the fall/winter) will be enough to get us operating with a positive cash flow again. Once that happens, and we have rebuilt our account balance to at least two months rent, we can look at reinstituting cash prizes.

Fall 2009
Save the date for events this fall

Dates for the annual team interclub challenge tournaments have been set. Check the tournaments page for more details.

Portland-Seattle Interclub Challenge Tournament : Saturday, September 26th

Vancouver-Seattle Interclub Challenge Tournament : Saturday, November 21st

Another event we are excited about is the new Seattle Bookfest to be held in Columbia City October 24-25th. Our club will have a large booth at the festival where we will have boards set up to play demonstration games, encourage attendees to "challenge an expert", hand out word lists, etc. This is a great opportunity to get more visibility for the club and to attract new people. As the date gets closer we'll have people sign up to cover shifts during the event.

22 July 2009
New webzine: NASPA Tournament SCRABBLE Newsletter

To read the first NASPA Tournament SCRABBLE Newsletter go to www.naspanews.com. Thanks to the many people who contributed articles, helped proofread and edit, and provided photos. A really special thanks to Aaron Daly, who took all the copy and art and put it on line as an interactive news site that enables readers to delve deeper into the stories. Aaron is amazing--creative, talented, and patient, never once complaining about last-minute changes and adjustments.

Approximately 50 people helped put this newsletter together--many of whom you'll meet as you read the various sections If you would like to contribute to future newsletters in any way, please let me know. Thanks, too, to our first advertiser. We are not supported by NASPA funds, so advertising will help keep us afloat. We also are happy to run personal ads (looking for ride, roommate, etc.).

We are eager to hear about club activities, tournament results, members' news, and media coverage of SCRABBLE. If you have news you think other NASPA members would like to share, send it in to CorneliaSGuest@gmail.com.

In order to be able to archive the articles, we are relying on links. Down the road we hope to have more of a magazine look--but for now, readers who wish to have hard copy should print each article separately.

Thanks, too, to NASPA and to Joe Edley for letting me work as the editor. I welcome suggestions for the next issue!

Cornelia Guest
NASPA Tournament SCRABBLE Newsletter Editor

Note: some Seattle club members (Peltiers) are mentioned in one article.

21 July 2009
Club prize structure changes

We are reinstituting a modification to the club prize structure that has not been in use for a few years, namely: when we get a small turnout for a club session we give out smaller prizes. We had discontinued this practice several years ago when our attendance was much higher, but now that our attendance has dropped for an extended period we need to stop giving out more money than we take in.

Changes:

• If we have 20 or fewer players at a given club session, the Category Prizes are $3 instead of $5.
• Bingo Bonus prize is now a flat $5 every time (was $3 plus $1 per week it hadn't been won).
• We will no longer give out $3 to the player sitting out.

11 July 2009
Seattle players dominate at one-day tournament

Seattle club players won every division in the final one-day tournament of the year, organized and directed by Jane Bissonnette.

• The top division was won by Rafi Stern, with a 6-1 record.
• In division 2, it was Christopher Grubb in the lead with 6-1 (even though he started his first game with only 12 minutes on his clock due to a "parking delay").
• Midori Howard won division 3 with 5-2 record.
• In division 4, Jim Porter could not be stopped; he finished undefeated.
• And Ellen Lin finished 6-1, but needed every spread point to win division 5.

What a tournament! Congratulations to all the Seattle winners! And thanks again to all the Bissonnettes for putting on another well-run tournament.

Full details at: July 11 Results page.

28 June 2009
Alice wins in Croatia

Alice Goodwin won her division in the Croatia Scrabble Tour organized by Liz Ashby and Rich Baker (scrabbletours@yahoo.com). Alice's son, and fellow club member, Dan Goodwin also played well and ended in third place in his division (after losing the final game for the top stop).
Full results on NSA cross-table.

Congratulations to both Goodwins!

1 August 2009
NASPA Rules Update effective Aug 1

On June 19th, NASPA Rules Commitee announced a minor update to the Rules, effective August 1, 2009. Printable versions of the rules and changes are available on the NASPA Rules page (links to the documents, below).

• Complete new rules: Official Tournament Rules, 1 Aug 2009 [pdf]
• List of changes: List of Rules Changes, 1 Aug 2009 [pdf]

July 2009
No Tacoma Club session in July

Because the upcoming Seattle One-Day tournament will be on the second Saturday of July (the 11th), and other Saturdays aren't convenient (the first Saturday is July 4th), Tacoma Club Director Lynn Dreyer has announced that there will NOT be a Tacoma Club session in July.

Check the Tacoma Scrabble Club website for more information.

July 2009
Reno Tournament Controversy Resolved! Tournament WILL be NASPA rated

From Steve Pellinen's email posted to cgp:

The short version:

The Reno tournaments will be able to be sanctioned and rated as NASPA events, as the organizers/directors have taken (or will soon take) the steps needed to make that happen.

The longer version:

This has been a long, and, at times, painful process, but together we've worked out an acceptable framework within which this could happen now, in time for the July Reno tournaments (46 games!) - just part of the growth pangs as we learn to toddle as an organization, I guess. This will also cover other upcoming Bay Area tournaments. I say together, but to be honest the Bay Area Directors are making the bigger step vis a vis their previous positions. Speaking only for myself, I appreciate that and was what I hoped for in the spirit of short-term unity and desire for long-term changes for the good of all. Plus, I wanted to play Reno this year.

The various Bay Area directors don't all think the same on every issue that comes up, and neither does the NASPA Steering Committee. In this case, the issues raised by Jeff and Rick and others were well-received by some on the SC, and not so well-received by others, which is fine. That led to a number of other issues, not the least of which was the timing of everything - pressure on Reno due to the July 1 NASPA membership deadline, pressure on the SC due to that as well as all the ongoing organizational work and, especially, the upcoming NSC preparations.

The Reno organizers acquiesced to NASPA membership and player fee requirements in exchange for an assurance from me (with support from several other Steering Committee members) that we will continue to work on the governance issues within NASPA. We want the new player organization, and its decision-making structures, to be responsive to player needs as well as representative of the makeup of the entire competitive Scrabble community. We all recognized that this wasn't something that could be done quickly or under time pressure, at least not done satisfactorily.

The proposal I've made to the Steering Committee, to be taken up after the NSC, is to form a committee (tentatively called the Bylaws Review Committee) dedicated to addressing all of our governance issues, particularly our bylaws. The bylaws are the nuts and bolts of how we do things, how the Board of Directors/Trustees/Steering Committee acts and is selected, etc. - in short, the medium that shapes and describes who we are and how we do things. They can be changed as needed, but not willy-nilly. They require careful thought and consideration, and my hope for this committee is that it will help NASPA be the kind of player organization that the great majority of us want it to be, the kind of organization that, in the end, was the crux of what Jeff and Rick were really asking for.

It's impossible for us to completely satisfy every person's ideal, but together we should be able to come up with something that most of us are happy with, that will set the direction for our future as an organization and, not least importantly, let us play Scrabble to our heart's content.

Steve Pellinen
NASPA Steering Committee
Honorary Bay Area Director (the next NAST Final will be there in Feb 2010)

Backstory:

With the transition from NSA to NASPA sanctioning of tournaments there has arisen a controversy with the upcoming Reno Tournament. The Reno Tournament directors announced in late May that they were not happy with NASPA requirements and would run their tournament without NASPA sanctioning. NASPA representatives subsequently declared that the Reno tournament would not be rated. For more details, the Vancouver Club website has a write-up of the issues.

Parties on both sides are working through mediators to hopefully come to an agreement that will satisfy everyone and allow the tournament to be officially rated.

6 June 2009
Tacoma Club night meets First Saturday in June - June 6th

Tacoma Club Director Lynn Dreyer has announced:

For June only, we will meet on the first Saturday of the month, June 6. I will be out of town on the second Saturday and, after discussing various options among attendees last meeting, we decided to change the date for June only. In July, we will be back to the second Saturday of the month (July 11).

Check the Tacoma Scrabble Club website for more information.

25 May 2009
Rafi Stern takes Third Place at ArdenCup in Chicago

Though seeded 12th in a very tough field, Seattle club member Rafi Stern won 13 of the 20 games to place third at the ArdenCup Memorial tournament in Chicago (Skokie, actually), winning $240.

Nice going Rafi!

21 May 2009
NASPA Newsletter: "THE TILE BAG" welcomes YOUR questions!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- Thurs, May 21, 2009
Contact: Doug Brockmeier
Email: tilebag@gmail.com

Friends,

Doug Brockmeier here, reporting live from the Internet. I am VERY pleased to announce -- as part of the first issue of the NASPA Newsletter tentatively scheduled for publication online before the Dayton Nationals -- The Tile Bag, a column where I collect YOUR questions on ANYTHING Scrabble-related and seek out experts in the community for answers. I encourage you to join NASPA quickly if you haven't done so already; I'm told that our new official newsletter will be viewable online by only NASPA members, who might choose to print extra copies for nonmember friends.

Let me explain a bit more about "The Tile Bag." The idea is simple: You ask Scrabble questions; I find Scrabble answers. Think of it as a "Dear Abby" column, with a few minor adjustments (number one: I am male). I posed this idea recently to Connecticut's Cornelia Guest, who is chairing the NASPA Newsletter Committee, and she is excited about this format, too. Who wouldn't be excited about learning? Only boring people -- and I know that we have only vibrant, extraordinary, flavorful people in our community.

The most exciting part to me is that answers will come from players known to be experts in given areas. For instance: for Zyzzyva questions, we'd ask Mike Thelen; for Quackle questions, we'd ask John O'Laughlin; for Cross-Tables questions, we'd ask Seth Lipkin; for strategy questions, we'd ask any number of expert players; for Aerolith questions, we'd ask Cesar Del Solar; and so on. My job, in short, is to collect questions, find reliable sources of information, and relay that information back to you neatly and compactly. With participation from many players, we emphasize the concept of community and help to strengthen it, and as a bonus I personally don't get in trouble if I write something controversial.

I expect to field dozens (if not hundreds) of questions each month, and certainly there is no limit to the number of questions you can ask. I would much rather see hundreds of NASPA players asking several questions per month than only a few players asking one question each. The more, the merrier! And do not be afraid to ask a question you feel that 'everybody' knows the answer to. There is no such thing as a dumb question if you don't know the answer!

While we will answer as many questions as we have space for, don't be alarmed or upset if you don't see your question used this month. We'll keep all questions in a file, allowing us to track the topics we've covered in the past and to save some questions for future newsletters. Therefore, you will not need to resubmit a question once you've submitted it, because we will have access to a searchable record of every question we receive. I will try to acknowledge that I've received your question, but if I do find that I'm getting hundreds of them, I may have to revise that plan!

Do you have a groundbreaking idea? A simple question? An obscure question? Rules questions? Ethical questions? Word study questions? Equipment questions? This Q&A "ask the editor" format is a fine opportunity to have your voice heard and your questions answered! There are no real guidelines to the form or content of the questions, so you are free to let your mind run wild, and I promise to do my very best to satisfactorily find the person or people with the answers. I believe we will have a lively mix of questions and answers for our first newsletter. All questions are welcome! Plus, if you want to ask anonymously, you may do that as well.

How do you submit questions? Please email any questions you have about Scrabble to tilebag@gmail.com. If you would like to help the Newsletter Committee or any other committee, please visit the NASPA website at www.scrabbleplayers.org.

OK! So in a nutshell, that is the idea for "The Tile Bag" and I hope I've not forgotten anything. Are there any questions? I hope so -- bring 'em on! On your mark, get set, go! Let's have fun!

Finally, I'd like to send a large heaping online basket of thanks in advance to all contributors to this effort. I hope you all are as excited as I am! Our deadline is more than three weeks away but I want to have time to do a great job for the inaugural issue of the newsletter, so don't forget to start sending me questions right away, bing-bang-boom! Thank you!

Best regards,
Doug Brockmeier
Los Angeles, California
tilebag@gmail.com

3 May 2009
Results: Oregon Tile Tournament

The highest finishing Seattle player was David Ruby who came in 4th place in the Early Bird to win $100 and a free entry into the NAST final. In the main event, Chris Grubb won $20 for high game (634!), and he also won a copy of Letterati, Paul McCarthy's tell-all book about the history of Scrabble, for playing the highest scoring word on the "poo list" (FARTING for 102pts). Mike Frentz won a copy of Mike Baron's WordBook for making the most number of words on a single play (6).

Nice going, guys!

And congratulations to Dielle Saldanha for winning the Main Event. She was 1.5 games ahead of Chris Cree to qualify for the final and beat Chris 2.5-1.5 in some exciting games to win the crown.

Complete details (including annotated final round games) on the Oregon Tile website.
NSA Crosstables:   Early Bird   Main Event   Late Bird

24-25 April 2009
National School Scrabble Championship

You can see full details of this biennial event at the School Scrabble Website.

One nice touch this year was a letter from President Barack Obama to each participant.

20 April 2009
Results: 7th Biennial Cascadia Team Tournament

Calgary Club Director Siri Tillekeratne sends this report:

Seventeen players each from the NW US and W. Canada met in beautiful Coeur d'Alene, Idaho for the 7th Biennial Cascadia team tournament on April 18 & 19. Although the Canadian team was higher rated in both Divisions, the Americans did much better than expected clinching five of the top seven places in the top Division. Only the strong performance of the Canadian Division 2 saved the day, ending up in a Canadian victory of 129 - 109.

FULL RESULTS:

DIV. 1 (USA 69, CANADA 57)

1. Mike Baker (US) 1681, 12-2, +1272, $175
2. Rich Moyer (US) 1667, 11-3, +966, $100
3. Jeff Fleetham (CAN) 1623, 9-5, +197, $70
4. Ruth Hamilton (US), 1575, 9-5, -62, $50     
5. Karen Merrill (US), 1516, 8-6, +509, $30
6. Chris Williams (CAN), 1732, 8-6, +409
7. Dan Goodwin (US), 1678, 8-6, +29
8. Siri Tillekeratne (CAN), 1568, 7-7, +190
9. Wayne Clifford (CAN), 1599, 7-7, -467
10. Juraj Pivovarov (CAN), 1431, 6-8, -358
11. Noella Ward (CAN), 1327, 6-8, -217
12. George Bissonnette (US), 1055, 6-8, -398
13. PK Gott (US), 1420, 6-8, -398
14. Jane Bissonnette (US), 1171, 6-8, -438
15. Wendy McGrath (CAN), 1269, 5-9, -253
16. Brendan Huang (CAN), 1471, 5-9, -419
17. Huguette Settle (CAN), 1325, 4-10, -509
18. Mary LeCompte (US), 1144, 3-11, -671


High Game: Juraj Pivovarov 580
High Turn: PK Gott, SYRUPIER 167
High Non-bingo: Rich Moyer, EQUIP 80
High Loss: Jeff Fleetham, 432
Comeback Kid: Ruth Hamilton won after being behind by 124
Bingo Ace: Mike Baker 27 bingos
(All category prizes are $10 each)

DIVISION 2 (CANADA 72, USA 40)

1. Maureen Morris (CAN), 1200, 11-3, +843, $150
2. Marion Dimond (CAN), 772, 10-4, +79, $85
3. Ben Settle (CAN), 1051, 9-5, +377, $80
4. Betty Bergeron (CAN), 1122, 9-5, +231, $45
5. Sylvia King (CAN), 1003, 9-5, +163, $30
6. Anna Marie Cook, (CAN), 789, 8-6, +459
7. Zana Anderson (US), 1009, 8-6, +458
8. John Aitken (CAN), 1177, 8-6, +186
9. Ed Wilson (US), 846, 8-6, -85
10. Laverne Brookes (CAN), 830, 8-6, -99 
11. Sarah MCConahy (US), UNR, 6-8, -126
12. Skip Leasure (US) UNR, 6-8, -55
13. Tim LeCompte (US), 956, 5-9, -131
14. Peggy Crane (US), 663, 3-11, -741
15. Joey Cross (US), 705, 2-12,-751
16. Neva Hunt (US), 705, -908

High Game: Betty Bergeron, 517
High turn: Ben Settle, HANDLES, 101
High non-Bingo: Maureen Morris BRAZES, 96
High Loss: Tim LeCompte, 426
Comeback Kid: Ben Settle won after being behind by 103 
Bingo Ace: Maureen Morris: 19 bingos 
(All category prizes are $10 each)

Most outrageous successful phoney: Juraj Pivovarov - KABOOM

New ratings available at the NSA cross-table.

19 April 2009
NASPA Bulletin Available Now

The NASPA Bulletin is the North American SCRABBLE Players Association's monthly news bulletin. It is published as a two-page PDF file and made available for download exclusively to NASPA members for one week before a free public release. NASPA members can download the current issue from Member Services.

Back issues are available.

13 April 2009
Happy Birthday Alfred!

Alfred Mosher Butts, the inventor of SCRABBLE, was born 110 years ago today--on April 13, 1899.

Thanks Alf!

2 April 2009
There are a few slots available for the Cascadia Challenge Tournament

The 18-19 April Cascadia Challenge is the biennial Northwestern U.S. vs Western Canada Challenge Tournament. There are limited entries because both teams are balanced, but a few slots have recently opened up on the US team.
The Coeur d'Alene Golf and Spa Resort has also said they still have rooms available at the special group rate.

SO, if you are interested in participating you need to contact Ruth Hamilton ASAP!

More details on our Tournaments page.

29 March 2009
NSA membership no longer a must. NASPA taking over

With the transition of club and tournament SCRABBLE from the National Scrabble Association (NSA) to the North American SCRABBLE Players Association (NASPA), you NO LONGER need to be a member of the NSA to compete in sanctioned tournaments. You just need to be a member of the NASPA.

NSA memberships are NOT transferrable to the NASPA, so if you have recently received a reminder from the NSA to renew there is NO NEED to do so (unless you want to receive the Scrabble News--which is the only thing you'll get for your NSA membership from now on, and who knows how long they will be publishing it anyway?).

NASPA membership is required to compete in NSA/NASPA tournaments starting July 1st. But, from now until July 1, you can be either an NSA or an NASPA member to compete in tournaments--so if your NSA membership is about to run out, you only need to join the NASPA from now on.

March 30 UPDATE :   The NASPA has just updated their website to clarify the terms of membership:

Memberships purchased on or before December 31, 2009 have an extended initial term: your membership will be valid from the receipt of your dues through December 31, 2010. After that, each membership term is up to one calendar year (from January 1 through December 31).

SO... you DON'T have to join the NASPA by July 1 to get the "good until Dec 2010" deal. But, if you are playing in any tournaments after July 1st you will still need to join before playing.

As always, for the latest info check out the NASPA website: www.scrabbleplayers.org.

29 March 2009
The Seattle SCRABBLE Club is now on Facebook

In keeping with the times, we now have a Facebook group for the Seattle Club. If you are already a Facebook member, you can just join the Seattle Scrabble Club group.

We'll use the group as a way to advertise our club, and as another way for club members to keep in touch, post images, etc. Feel free to sign up, write on the wall, start discussions, and all the other Facebook-y things.

28 March 2009
Another Successful One-Day Tournament

Once again, Jane Bissonnette has organized and directed another fun tournament at Horizon House. Seattle players took the top spot in three of the five groups. Highlights below:

• Mike Frentz was the bottom seed of a very tight Division One, but he managed to earn the win with a higher spread than two other players with the same record.
• Despite the distractions of directing the tournament Jane Bissonnette came in first place in Division 4 (edging past her husband George Bissonnette by spread).
• In Division 2, visiting crossword constructor and naming maven Andrea Michaels took the top, followed by Dan Goodwin in second place and David Ruby in third.
• A similar story in Division 3, where Miriam Saldanha went undefeated, and Lynn Dreyer taking second and Alice Goodwin in third.
• Division 5 was won by Byron Nelson, with second place going to Ellen Lin and Norm Garvin in third.

Full details on the March 28 Results page.

20 March 2009
New fees with NSA/NASPA changeover Effective July 1

As previously announced, the National Scrabble Association will be handing over responsibilities for Tournament and Club SCRABBLE® to the newly formed North American SCRABBLE Players Association (NASPA) by 1 January 2010. Recently, the NASPA has announced (via their website) that some changes are happening effective July 1st.

The NASPA is making these changes to generate new revenue to replace that lost by the lack of funding from Hasbro. Some of the changes announced are:

• Annual Player membership fee in the NASPA will be $30 (up from $20/$25 in the NSA). [they are trying to soften the blow by making the initial NASPA membership good until the end of 2010 if you sign up by July 1st--so you'll get 1.5 years for your first payment.]
  
  
• NASPA membership is required to compete in NSA/NASPA tournaments starting July 1st. NOTE: From now until July 1, you have to be either an NSA or an NASPA member to compete in tournaments--so if your NSA membership is about to run out, you only need to join the NASPA from now on.
  
  
• The old Tournament rating fees will be replaced by a "Tournament Participation Fee". The existing fee structure is a fixed amount per player per tournament ($1 per player per Local Club tournament, $1.50 per player for an open-rated tournament with 16 games or fewer, and $1.75 per player an open-rated tournament with 17 games or more). The new fee will be $.50 per player per tournament game.
  For example a one-day 8 game tournament under the NSA would cost $1.50 per player; but the new fee will be $4.00 per person. A three-day tournament with 20 games would cost $1.75 per player under the old system, but $10 per player with the new one. Players should expect that tournament entry fees will be raised and/or prize payouts will be reduced to accommodate this change.
  
  
• Annual $30 fee for NASPA sanctioned clubs. [Apparently this is also due starting July 1st.] Also, Tournament directors must be members of NASPA for their clubs to retain active, sanctioned status.

What does all this mean for you?
Well, if you just come to club you shouldn't notice any change. We have enough money in our club fund to cover the annual sanctioned club fee so that is no problem. If you attend tournaments, expect to pay a little more for your NASPA membership (sign up by July 1st for the best deal to start with!), and expect to pay $5 to $10 more for every tournament you enter.

As always, for the latest info check out the NASPA website: www.scrabbleplayers.org.

14 March 2009
Tacoma Club night changed to 2nd Saturday

Because the Tacoma club director and many of the club regulars will be in Vancouver BC the first weekend of March to attend the annual Vancouver Tournament, the March meeting of the Tacoma Scrabble Club will be moved to the second Saturday, March 14th.

It's Official!   Tacoma club Director Lynn Dreyer has announced:

Because of conflicts with several upcoming tournaments, as well as personal preferences of several of our founding members, the monthly meeting of the Tacoma Scrabble Club has been changed to the 2nd Saturday of the month (from March onwards).

8 March 2009
Seattle winners in Vancouver BC

Lynn Dreyer won Division 2 in the Early Bird Tournament (prize $100). Rebecca Slivka won $50 for finishing in third place in the top division.

In the Main Event, Seattle players did the best in Division 4, where Daval Davis took First place ($400), Lynn Dreyer took Second ($250), and Jim Porter placed 4th ($100 prize). Daval Davis also won the "Bingo Ace" award, getting the most number of bingos (27) in the tournament for his division to win $20.

David Ruby placed Second in division two (winning $400). Note that he had the same record as the top finisher, but just 12 points less cumulative--so spread matters! David also won the questionnaire drawing so he got a brand new Sam Board!

Congratulations everyone!

NSA Crosstables for:   Early Bird   Main Event

6-8 March 2009
Travel Alerts for Vancouver Tournament

From WSDOT: Heading to Canada in March? Plan ahead for I-5 work in Bellingham

Going to Canada, hey? You'd better plan some extra time into your schedule if you're traveling there during the first two weekends of March. Crews will close one lane of southbound I-5 north of Bellingham near the Northwest Avenue exit the weekend of March 6 and March 13 for panel replacement work.

Check for updates and get the full details at WSDOT website.

Also, make sure you are prepared for the border crossing, as new identification document requirements went into effect 31 January 2009.

Passport Requirement by Land or Sea

Effective January 31, 2008 U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers will no longer accept oral declarations of U.S. or Canadian citizenship from those traveling by land or sea.

U.S. and Canadian travelers will be required to present:

• A government-issued photo ID, such as a driver's license AND
  A birth certificate or other proof of citizenship;
• Or - for youth 18 and under - a birth certificate alone

OR one of the following from the list below:

• A valid Passport*
• NEXUS Card
• SENTRI Card
• FAST Card
• U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Mariner's Card
• Military ID and Official Orders
• I-551 Permanent Resident Card (Green Card) for U.S. legal residents

Still have questions?   Check this US Government website.

21 February 2009
New NASPA website launched!

The web site for the new North American SCRABBLE Players Association is now up at:

                www.scrabbleplayers.org

As mentioned in the current (#225) issue of SCRABBLE News, NASPA will be taking over responsibility of club and tournament SCRABBLE from the NSA over the course of this year. We are extremely busy at the moment getting the new organization set up and preparing to run this year's NSC, but constructive feedback about the web site will always be appreciated.

John Chew (poslfit on MD/WD/PD)
Cochair, NASPA Steering Committee

Note: they mostly have just the framework up at this point. There's lots of info yet to be added, but you should check back there over the next few weeks or months for updates and news about the NASPA and the transition.

16 February 2009
Nigel Peltier wins early bird in Phoenix

Nigel Peltier went 6-2 (+554) to win Division One Early Bird at Phoenix on Friday, February 13th. Congratulations Nigel!

Then, during game 19 of the Main Event, Nigel scored 402 against Laurie Cohen but that was not enough to win the game. Laurie scored 725(!) to win and their game becomes the second highest combined score (1127) in a Tournament Scrabble Game EVER!

Click on the image at right to see a close-up picture of the final board. You can also read a write-up (with some questionable facts) in this Arizona Republic article.

Laurie Cohen was interviewed by Scott Simon on Weekend Edition Saturday. Listen at: NPR website.

Nice article about Nigel and the game at ASU's website: Wordsmith breaks record: ASU student plays in 1,127-point Scrabble game.

13 February 2009
Hasbro wants your feedback on the newly-designed DIAMOND SCRABBLE

They don't ask very often. Here's your chance:

Hasbro wants your feedback on the newly-designed Deluxe SCRABBLE game, DIAMOND SCRABBLE. Before end of day Friday, February 13th please go to www.scrabble-assoc.com and click on the survey box to send off your comments.

We are thrilled the marketing team wants to listen to comments, so the NSA would apppreciate your constructive input on this.

Jane Ratsey WIlliams
National SCRABBLE Association
PO Box 700
Greenport, NY 11944

10 February 2009
Snow what! Club is still ON tonight!

Yes, it's snowing. But the roads are just wet, so I'll be going to club. Hope to see you folks there!

For detailed info on Puget Sound weather, check out the Cliff Mass Weather Blog.

8 February 2009
Fine for not turning in your card: $3

As you know from attending club, you are supposed to turn in your (white or blue) score card at the end of the night. The cards are used to generate the weekly Club Statistics.

Some folks are starting to get a little lax about this, and the missing score cards create a lot of extra work for our statistician so we are instituting a small stick fine of $3 in hopes this will eliminate the problem.

27 January 2009
No Emerald City Tournament this Year (2009)

As most Seattle club members are aware, Club Director Rebecca Slivka announced last year that she would not be directing another Emerald City Tournament after last year's 20th Annual Memorial Weekend tournament at the Grand Hyatt Seattle.

While Club co-Director Jane Bissonnette has been instrumental in bringing one-day tournaments to Seattle, no other director(s) have offered to take over the more demanding multi-day tournament. The Memorial weekend date has been problematic for us anyway, with declining attendance due to competition with other tournaments. So, even if the Emerald City tournament were to be revived it would likely be moved to a different date or back to a smaller venue.

Perhaps Seattle will offer a multi-day tournament again. Meanwhile, there are lots of other tournaments to choose from. SCRABBLE ON!

24 January 2009
Successful Tournament and Fundraiser January 24th

Another successful tournament organized by Jane Bissonnette. In addition to providing a great competition, we also raised $445 for the Page Ahead Children's Literacy Program.

Full details on the Jan 24 Results page.

21 January 2009
Stone Soup Theatre presents: Eleemosynary

Stone Soup Theatre is offering discounted tickets to our Club members for their production of Eleemosynary. The lead character in Eleemosynary is a spelling bee champ in this lovely piece about 3 generations of brilliant women.

To get the discounted ticket price, just tell them you are with the Scrabble® Club and you will receive $5 off the normal price. Offer is good during the first 2 weeks of the production (Feb 19-March 4).

Thanks to Maureen Miko, Stone Soup Artistic Director, for making this offer available!

...and yes, ELEEMOSYNARY is acceptable in Scrabble®!

20 January 2009
Printable version of new Rules Available

The NSA has posted a printable version [pdf] version of the new rules at the NSA website. Since you are responsible for learning and following the new rules, it would be a good idea to print out your own copy (the NSA has not announced when a new booklet version will be available, so this is the only way to get a copy at this point).

What has changed?   The most significant change to the rules is that are no more "Guidelines"; they have all been incorporated into rules. Also the Rule numbering system has changed. There are some significant rules changes, but most of them apply more to Tournament than Club play.

To help with the transition, you can also view and print a Summary of Policy Changes. Remember, though that this summary document just paraphrases the changes--the Rules themselves are the official last word. The current rules (2004) remain in effect until 31 January 2009; the new rules become effective 1 February 2009.

14 January 2009
NSA Revised Rules: Effective Feb 1st

Until the rules have been posted on the NSA site, here is a link to them: NSA Rules Effective Feb 1, 2009
You can also view and print a summary of Policy Changes (formatted for viewing/printing from an email sent by Steve Oliger).

Note: ALL players are responsible for learning and following the new rules!

Text of recent email (13 January 2009) from Steve Oliger:

Last year, John Luebkemann became chairman of the Rules Committee. We lost former chair Joe Edley as well as members Charlie Southwell, Rod MacNeil, Larry Gradus, and Evan Berovsky. We gained Dan Stock, Steve Oliger, Mary Rhoades, David Boys, and Geoff Thevenot. Much of 2008 was spent reorganizing and reevaluating our somewhat outdated rules. The revision was then vetted by John Green, John Chew, Chris Cree, NSA staff writers, Joel Sherman, and Joe Edley. The RC considered all of their suggestions and has now finished the update (which will take effect on Feb. 1). Please see John Luebkemann's article in SCRABBLE NEWS, Issue 224, for a description of major changes. A fairly comprehensive list of policy changes is listed below. And below that is a table which cross-references the old "guidelines" to their positions in the newly organized rules.

Note that some of you will no doubt be dissatisfied with certain changes. The committee itself was split on a few issues (most notably "blank designation" and "resignations policy"). We compromised on those issues. (Note to Mike Early: It would have been great to be able to poll the NSA membership on the more difficult matters, although probably none of them are as significant as our lexicon issue.)

About nine rules changes were made just before the NSC this summer. Those are included in the following list. The terms of a few of those will change slightly on Feb 1. Until John Chew has posted the new rules to the NSA website, you can temporarily view them at:

http://home.epix.net/~aeinrst3x3x/nsa_rules_feb09.htm

Steve Oliger (for the Rules Committee)

13 January 2009
Recent NSA changes: Rules, Tournaments, Ratings

The NSA has recently announced a series of changes that will be going into effect the next month or so:

• REVISED RULES
  The 2009 edition of the North American Tournament Rules will be posted to the NSA website very soon. The new rules will be effective February 1, 2009.
  -- John Luebkemann
  Chair, North American Scrabble® Rules Committee
  Check NSA Rules to see them when they appear. Note: rumor has it this is a massive rewrite--but I haven't seen a draft yet so it's anyone's guess.
  
  
• REVISED TOURNAMENT CALENDAR
  The NSA website will have minimal information about tournaments--instead directors and players should look to cross-tables.com to post and view detailed tournament listings.
  Read the full announcement on the NSA website.
  
  
• REVISED TOURNAMENT RATINGS
  As posted previously, the new Ratings Formula went into effect 7 January 2009. See below for more details. On Jan 13th, the NSA posted a notice about the new ratings on their website.
  They have also posted a new online rating calculator that uses the new ratings formula.

23 December 2008
Club CANCELLED for Tuesday Dec 23rd

With all the snow, ice, and poor road conditions, we are CANCELLING club for this Tuesday, December 23rd.

Stay home and keep warm! We'll see you all next week.

(Go online and play on ISC instead!)

2 December 2008
NSA Announces New Ratings Formula Effective 7 January 2009

They have announced a date for the adoption of the new Ratings Formula.

On Wednesday, January 7th, 2009, the new rating system, currently in testing on the NSA web site, will officially take effect. On that day, player ratings data will be copied again from the traditional rating system, erasing the test data currently being posted, and from that point forward only the new ratings will be computed and displayed.

Qualification systems in progress (such as for the WSC, CNSC and PC) will switch to using the new ratings on the same day.

John Chew
NSA Webmaster

Note: in addition to changing the win probability calculation (see new formula below), they are also proposing to reduce the threshold for bonus points to 3.5 points per game (from the current 5).
For more background, check out John Chew's page explaining How Ratings Work.

1 December 2008
NSA Announces New Ratings Formula

In a recent Scrabble® News, the NSA announced that work was being done on revising the Ratings formula. They have used the new formula* on all tournaments in October 2008 and published the ratings side by side on cross-tables linked at the NSA website.

If you are curious how this affects your rating, you can download the following Excel Spreadsheet and play around with it (thanks to Adam Boocher who created the spreadsheet several years ago - I just modified it to add the new stuff). The spreadsheet also includes a chart comparing the old and new Probability functions, if you are interested.

The NSA has not yet announced when the new ratings formula will become official (or if any modifications will be made to this current formula).

The message below was posted to CGP on Dec 1st:

As you are now aware, pro forma cross tables implementing the "Traditional" and the "2008 Revised" ratings systems have been posted at the NSA website. Thanks to John Chew for doing this work.

As many of you will remember, one of the motivations for this work was the perception that the Traditional ratings calculations were inherently unfair to the higher rated player.

[A quick technical background on ratings calculations: The amount of points gained or lost are driven by a function that estimates the probability the higher-rated player would win based on the difference between the two players' ratings. The Traditional ratings system uses a function that overestimated this probability when compared against actual historical results. The RRC looked at several years worth of game data and constructed a function that provides this probability based on that actual game data. This is the basis for the "2008 Revised" system.]

The major case-in-point raised in many of the threads is Brian Williams. He would typically win the tournament, but lose ratings points because his rating is that much greater than the fields'. Look at the Nov 1 results: Brian wins, going 11-2 with a spread of +1074. Under the traditional system, he loses 12 points. Under the 2008 Revised system he gains 19 points.

The RRC, when initially discussing the Traditional system, identified other areas for study and possible adjustment. These included:

(1) The ratings deflation / compression phenomenon
(2) Initial ratings calculations for new players and the effect on their opponents' ratings
(3) Long term methodology / process for maintaining the system to minimize systemic bias.

We chose to limit our scope of the initial recommendation in order to minimize the overll impact and allow for a smooth transition to the ultimate ratings system. What you are seeing is the first step in that evolutionary process. The RRC is committed to a long term study of the ratings system and the implementation of a system that produces accurate and stable ratings for their stated purpose.

I invite feedback on the 2008 Revised system. Please bear in mind that I have run many simulations of the system using actual game data and have a decent feel for the short term (i.e. one or two tournament) impact to an individual. When commenting, please try to take a broader look - consider the entire division or tournament when assessing the impact. I will be monitoring the CGP listserve (although my yahoo account seems to be a spam magnet recently, so I need to sift through much drek to find your pearls of wisdom.) I will try to respond to questions / comments posed directly to me in a timely fashion, however the Austin tournament is this weekend and I have plenty of work to prepare for that.

Best regards,

Jim Hughes
Managing Director, NSA Ratings and Recognition Committee

*New Rating Formula (to calculate win probability P):

P = e coefficient * Ratings difference / (1 + e coefficient * Ratings difference)

There are two parameters to the logistic regression model:

Rating difference - provided for each game
Coefficient - used as weighting factor in the equation

We analyzed game data and determined the coefficient to be 0.0031879.

The formula can also be written as:   P = 1 - 1/(1+exp(0.0031879*(Rating difference)))

Old News

Read archived News and announcements on our Old News page.

Press reports of our Club or Club members

• 5 November 2009 It's raining, it's boring - what to do? Let the games begin - Seattle Times
• 19 July 2009 Will Crosswords Follow Poker's Lead? - New York Times (question posed by club-member David Ruby)
• 15 July 2009 SCRABBLE is a Family Affaire - NASPA Newsletter Vol.1, Issue 1
• 2 April 2009 Word Wizards - Lake Oswego Review [Okay, Not our club--but Portland is close by, and it's a nice piece.]
• 26 February 2009 Wordsmith breaks record: ASU student plays in 1,127-point Scrabble game - ASU Web Devil
• 27 May 2007 In Scrabble, victory is the $6,000 word - HeraldNet
• 27 May 2007 Wordplay is serious business in Scrabble tournament - Seattle P-I
• 18 November 2006 Scrabble: It's man vs. machine - Seattle Times: Erik Lacitis
• 31 Auguest 2006 The Tile Driver - JTNews
• 23 May 2006 Kink Calendar - The Stranger *view at your own discretion*
• 31 May 2005 Go 2 Guy: Like Scrabble? Read this C-O-L-U-M-N - Seattle P-I: Jim Moore
• 31 May 2005 It was a mad scramble for Scrabble title - Seattle P-I: Jennifer Langston
• 31 May 2005 Portland man tops at Scrabble contest - Seattle Times: Local Digest (scroll to view)
• 29 May 2005 Don't wirra: its meaning is irrelevant - Seattle Times: Peter Lewis
• 26 May 2005 Scrabble: For tile masters, this word game means war Seattle P-I: Rebekah Denn
• 26 May 2005 Kink Calendar - The Stranger *view at your own discretion*
• 10 January 2005 Ralph Neubeck, 63, Franklin High history teacher Seattle Times: (Obituary)
• 1 June 2004 Scrabble competitors seek v-i-c-t-o-r-y - Seattle Times: Marsha King
• 11 February 2004 Get Your Word Freak On Spelling "Love" With Scrabble - Seattle Weekly: Neal Schindler
• 19 June 2002: Letter to Editor responding to nerd-stereotyping in previous Seattle Weekly article.
• 5 June 2002: "what a bunch of nerdy freaks" article - Seattle Weekly: Christopher Frizzelle
• 27 December 2001 Quirky clubs liven up the dead of winter - Seattle Times: Stephanie Dunnewind
• 28 May 2001 In-your-face and letter-perfect - Seattle Times: Jolayne Houtz
• 20 November 2000 Word warriors - Seattle P-I: Jean Godden
• 23 May 1994 Scrabble scuffle - Seattle P-I: Jean Godden
• 5 November 1990 California teaming - Seattle P-I: Jean Godden
• 24 August 1990 Word to the wise - Seattle P-I: Jean Godden
• 15 January 1990 Scrabble Club Attracts People Wild About Words - Seattle Times: Don Duncan
• 6 September 1989 Word wars - Seattle P-I: Jean Godden
• 28 August 1989 Encouraging word - Seattle P-I: Jean Godden
• 10 April 1989 Not the final word - Seattle P-I: Jean Godden
• 22 September 1988 Seattle's Diehard Word Lovers Love Their Scrabble - Seattle P-I: Jean Godden
• 22 February 1987 Success Is Often Just a Two-Letter Word for This Scrabble King - Seattle P-I: Don Tewkesbury
• 26 January 1987 Scrabble Aces Mind P's & Q's - Especially Q's - Seattle P-I: Don Tewkesbury

Scrabble in the News

• 28 December 2009 Agency hopes Scrabble benefit spells success - Bellingham Herald (Erika Werdal)
• 8 September 2009 Scrabble expert to take on all comers - Kelowna Capital News (Jesse Matthews)
• 27 August 2009 Hard Scrabble existence? Not for 'full-contact' spellers - Rocky Mountain Independent
• 12 August 2009 A seven-letter word for national Scrabble champion: Wiegand - OregonLive.com
• 9 July 2009 Scrabble Rousers use words to raise funds - Tacoma Weekly
• 7 July 2009 Jilted Hasbro CEO Laughs Coldly As Scrabble Destroys Another Relationship - The Onion
• 18 March 2009 Price Drop: Stocks, Homes, Now Triple-Word Scores - Wall Street Journal : Numbers Guy (Carl Bialik)
• 17 March 2009 The Scrabble Statistics - Wall Street Journal : Numbers Guy (Carl Bialik)
• 15 March 2009 Scrabble elicits wonders of words - Springfield News Sun : Tom Stafford
• 19 January 2009 Annals of Games, "Spreading the Word" - The New Yorker : Judith Thurman [registration required]

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