Scrabble

Schedule: Saturday, June 19, 2010 from 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

Venue:      Valley High School (click for map)
                 3650 Woodland Avenue, West Des Moines

Event Regulations:
1. Participants are encouraged to bring their own boards and tiles and Scrabble clocks. A limited number of playing sets will be available.

Format:
1. ISO reserves the right to change the tournament format for any age division based on entry numbers, space restrictions, or other circumstance.

Sport Rules:

SCRABBLE ® Brand Crossword Game, in this tournament, is a word game for 2 players.  The play consists of forming interlocking words, crossword fashion, on the playing board using letter tiles with various score values.  Each player competes for high score by using his letters in combinations and locations that take best advantage of letter values and premium squares on the board.  The combined total score for a game may range from about 500 points to 800 or more depending on the skill of the players.

TO BEGIN:
Place all letters in an opaque sack and shuffle.  Draw a letter for first play.  The player drawing the letter nearest the beginning of the alphabet plays first.  The blank tile beats the “A”.  Put the exposed letters back and re-shuffle.  The first player then draws seven new letters and places them on his rack.  The second player then draws seven new letters and places them on his rack.

THE PLAY:
1. The first player combines two or more of his letters to form a word and places them on the board to read either across or down with one letter on the center square.  Diagonal words are not permitted.

2. A player completes his turn by counting and announcing his score and starting his opponent’s clock if clocks are in use.  Until a player’s turn has ended by announcing his score or by starting his opponent’s clock, he can remove letters he tentatively placed on the board during that turn. Otherwise, once played, letters may not be removed.  He then draws as many new letters as he has played, thus always keeping seven letters in his rack.

3. The second player adds one or more letters to those already played so as to form new words. All letters played in any one turn must be placed in one row across or down the board.  They must form one complete word and if, at the same time, they touch other letters in adjacent rows, they must form complete words, crossword fashion, with all such letters.  The player gets full credit for all words formed or modified by his play.

4. New words may be formed by:

  • Adding one or more letters to a word or letters already on the board.
  • Placing a word at right angles to a word already on the board.  The new word must use one of the letters of the word already on the board or must add a letter to it.
  • Placing a complete word parallel to a word already played so that adjoining letters also form complete words.


5. No letter may be shifted after it has been played.

6. The two blank tiles may be used, as any letter desired.  When playing a blank the player must state what letter it represents, after which it cannot be changed during that game.

7. Any player may use his turn to replace any or all of the letters in his rack.  He does so by discarding them face down, drawing the same number of new letters, then mixing the discarded letters with those remaining in the pool.  He then waits his next turn to play.

8. Any words found in The Official Tournament and Club Word List (Second Edition) effective March 1, 2006 are permitted. Any word may be challenged after the player’s turn has ended and before he draws one or more tiles from the sack for his next turn.  If the word challenged is unacceptable, the player takes back his tiles and loses his turn. If acceptable, the challenger loses his turn.

9. Play continues until all tiles have been drawn and one of the players has used all of the letters in his rack or until that all possible plays have been made.

SCORING:
10. Keep a tally of each player's score, entering it after each turn.  The score value of each letter is indicated by a number at the bottom of the tile.  The score value of a blank is zero.

11. The score for each turn is the sum of the score values of all the letters in each word formed or modified in the play plus the premium values resulting from placing letters on premium squares.

12. Premium letter squares: A light blue square doubles the score of a letter placed on it; a dark blue square triples the letter score.

13. Premium word squares: The score for the entire word is doubled when one of its letters is placed on a light red square; it is tripled when a letter is placed on a dark red square.  Include premiums for double or triple letter values, if any, before doubling or tripling the word score.  If a word is formed that covers, two premium word squares, the score is doubled and then re-doubled (4 x letter count), or tripled and then re-tripled (9 x letter count) as the case may be.  Note that the center-square is a light red-square and therefore doubles the score for the first word.

14. The above letter and word premiums apply only in the turn in which they are first played.  In subsequent turns, letters count as face value.

15. When a blank tile falls on a light red or a dark red square, the sum of the letters in the word is doubled or tripled even though the blank itself has no score value.

16. When two or more words are formed in the same play, each is scored.  The common letter is counted (with full premium value, if any) in the score for each word.

17. Any player who plays all seven of his tiles in a single turn (known as a “BINGO”), scores a premium of 50 points in addition to his regular score for the play.

18. At the end of the game if one player has used all of their tiles (typical situation) their score is increased by twice the sum of the un-played tiles of the other player. If both have letters remaining, each player's score is reduced by the sum of their unplayed letters.