Almost everyone who first sees a club or tournament game realizes they aren't watching the game they know. Strange words, long words, fast play with clocks, customized boards and tiles — this is something entirely different from the casual play they see at home. Yet, it's still the same game. It's just being played at a different level. It's the difference between golf or tennis pros and the weekend player.

Something else is noticeable, too. Even when an unfamiliar word is played, the game goes on. Occasionally, someone will challenge a play. But instead of arguing about whether it's really a word, or demanding that it be used in a sentence, the players merely get an adjudication, usually from a computer set aside for that purpose, sometimes from a person looking up the word in the official dictionary.

There are two things happening here. The reason so few odd words get challenged is that, at this level of play, the words aren't so odd. The players know them or have some recollection of seeing them before, and won't risk losing a turn with an unsuccessful challenge. The other thing is the official dictionary. Tournament and club players long ago saw the need for an official, universal word authority. While that authority has changed somewhat over the years, it remains relatively stable and has eliminated any confusion over which words are acceptable.

That doesn't mean that words aren't debated, or that the dictionary is universally liked. Dictionary issues are covered in another paper. For now, accept the fact that the official dictionary is the single most important component that allows fair and consistent play. The other important component is the existence of a set of rules and guidelines that all players follow. The rules inside the box that players first learn are the basis of the official club and tournament rules, but players found out early on that the box rules didn't cover every situation.

An organization was formed, now called the National Scrabble^® Association, that established the set of rules that would govern club and tournament play. Now, players could travel anywhere in North America and know that the game would be played under the same rules, with the same word authority, that they use at local clubs and tournaments. This gave rise to a rating system that let players know where they stood compared to others, the growth of an active club and tournament scene with sanctioned directors, and even national and international championships with significant top prizes of $25,000 or more.

Today, across North America, there are hundreds of clubs, and hundreds of tournaments every year. A thriving and growing school program is in place. There are computer programs for word judging as well as for studying and playing the game. Books have been written on various aspects of the game, from strategy to study guides to annotated games and analysis. There are on-line news and discussion groups, on-line sites for playing against players all over the world, club websites, player blogs, and more. Almost all of this has happened in a relatively short time, since the mid-1970s.