Seattle SCRABBLE® Club
[National SCRABBLE® Association Club #253, Seattle]

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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).

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).

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

North American SCRABBLE Players Association

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.

22 March 2009
Pearls Before Swine

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
North American SCRABBLE Players Association

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

Laurie Cohen 725 to Nigel Peltier 402, game 19 Phoenix Feb 2009

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

[Note: many of the older articles refer the previous club location and website]

Scrabble in the News

Just some links to articles of interest about SCRABBLE® Pearls Before Swine
webcomic from www.xkcd.com

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