About The Club

Notes by Club Director Carol Dustin

These notes were written prior to the creation of the new club 651 in February of 2007.  Most of the information contained in these pages is still applicable to our clubs, however please see Changes in 2007 page for some updated information.

How We Play the Game

We are affiliated with the National SCRABBLE® Association (NSA) and play according their official club and tournament rules.  The full rules are available on at the NSA website at www.scrabble-assoc.com/rules/index.html.

Additionally, our clubmember and frequent tournament director, Sue Hoehn, has created two shorter documents that are especially helpful for newer players. View, download, and/or print these PDF documents here:

   Basic SCRABBLE® Rules
   Tournament Basics

These rules make the game a little different than what you may be used to.  The major differences are:

• Chess clocks are used to time the games.  The chess clock, if you're not familiar, is a double-faced clock which, during the game, is always running on the side of whose turn it is (it can be neutralized to adjudicate challenges, settle disputes and reconcile scorekeeping). Each player gets 25 minutes to make all their plays.  You can "go over" time, but you will have 10 points deducted from your score for every minute or fraction thereof that exceeds 25 minutes.

  IMPORTANT: announcing the score for your play and then hitting the clock, which starts your opponent's time running, marks the definitive end of your turn.  Before that, you may change your play; once you've hit the clock, you may not.

• Dictionaries and/or word lists may not be consulted during play.  We play by the "double challenge" rule: if you challenge your opponent's play, you must wait until after he has hit the clock starting your time, then you must say "hold" or "hold the play" or "considering", BEFORE your opponent begins to draw new tiles, otherwise it's too late!  Then, you can think it over and decide whether you will accept the play (the clock runs on your time while you are deciding).  You may challenge just one word, or all the words formed in the play simultaneously, whichever you specify.

  After considering, you will either tell your opponent that you accept the play, or you will stop the clock, say "challenge!" Either a word judge will come to your table and lookup the challenged word(s), or you and your opponent will use a supplied computer and lookup program to adjudicate the play.   The player who is wrong in the challenge loses his/her turn, and the clock is restarted for the other player.

• Both players keep score.  You can check with your opponent occasionally throughout the game, when it's your turn, to make sure you both agree on each others' scores.  You do this verification with your clock running, but can stop the clock to resolve a disagreement.  Score sheets are provided at club and at tournaments.
• We always play two-player games.  If we have an uneven number of players, we have an equitable system for taking turns sitting out for one game, so that each player has to sit out only a couple of games each year.
• Players are paired randomly for the first round, and by performance for subsequent games.  We make every effort to avoid pairing new folks with our highest-rated 'champs' until they've had a chance to get their feet wet!
• You may know that when you play all seven tiles and get the 50-point bonus, it's called a BINGO.  There are some other conventions/rules/practices/terms that you can pick up as you go along.  Soon they will become habit, and it'll be SCRABBLE® as usual, the game you know and love!

The Dictionary and Word Source

The word source that we use is called the "Official Club and Tournament Word List, 2nd Edition" (OCTWL2), published by the NSA and available for $10 through their website. (Please note that this word source is only available to NSA members.) The red-covered 4rd Edition SCRABBLE® Players' Dictionary (OSPD), available at bookstores (and the NSA website), is an expurgated version ("offensive" words that had been acceptable in the 2nd Edition have been removed!) So the TWL is now based on the 4nd Edition, but with the inclusion of expurgated words. Proper nouns, most abbreviations and hyphenated words are excluded from all editions. If you are already accustomed to playing with either the 3rd or 4th edition SCRABBLE® dictionaries, you will find the TWL2 to be very similar.

Special Rules for Newcomers

Now, if you're still with me, here's the best news! At club (but NOT at tournaments!), we provide a few breaks for newcomers to the club scene.

For the first four times you attend, you get these advantages: An extra five minutes on your chess clock (you get 30 minutes, your opponent gets 25).  Also, you will be allowed 3 "free" challenges per game of your opponent's plays... you won't lose your turn if you lose the challenge (you will still lose a turn if your opponent successfully challenges a word YOU play!).  AND... I will give you a list (which you may keep) of all the 2- and 3-letter words that are included in TWL, and you can use it during play for the first 4 times you attend the club.

See our Disclaimer - Questions or comments? Write to