Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!newsswitch.lcs.mit.edu!logbridge.uoregon.edu!nntp.teleport.com!news1.teleport.com!not-for-mail From: stevena+faq@teleport.com (Steven Alexander) Newsgroups: rec.games.board,rec.puzzles.crosswords,rec.answers,news.answers Subject: Scrabble FAQ - General Information Supersedes: <80tn4n$2hd$1@user2.teleport.com> Followup-To: rec.games.board Organization: Teleport Inc. Lines: 3002 Sender: stevena@user2.teleport.com Approved: news-answers-request@mit.edu Expires: Thu, 17 Feb 2000 00:00:00 GMT Message-ID: <8761eg$aj1$1@user2.teleport.com> Reply-To: stevena+faq@teleport.com (Steven Alexander) Summary: Frequently Asked Questions and their answers on the game Scrabble Keywords: Scrabble, crossword game X-Disclaimer: Approval for *.answers is based on form, not content. Date: 31 Jan 2000 23:19:44 -0800 NNTP-Posting-Host: 192.108.254.12 X-Complaints-To: news@teleport.com X-Trace: news1.teleport.com 949389716 192.108.254.12 (Mon, 31 Jan 2000 23:21:56 PST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2000 23:21:56 PST Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu rec.games.board:180582 rec.puzzles.crosswords:17837 rec.answers:55643 news.answers:176099 Archive-name: games/scrabble-faq/general Posting-Frequency: monthly Last-modified: 15 Jan 2000 URL: http://www.teleport.com/~stevena/scrabble/faq.html Copyright: 1993-2000 Steven Alexander Scrabble Frequently Asked Questions This article is posted monthly to the Usenet newsgroups rec.games.board, rec.puzzles.crosswords, rec.answers and news.answers. Other ways to obtain it are by ftp: , and by e-mail (for those without ftp access) send To: Subject: send /pub/faqs/games/scrabble-faq/general Subject: send /pub/faqs/games/scrabble-faq/supplement Changes between versions can be found at . A hypertext version with additional resources is available at . 1. What this FAQ covers 2. The trademark Scrabble 3. Organized Scrabble activity 3.1. National Scrabble Association and Association of British Scrabble Players 3.2. Clubs 3.3. Tournaments 3.3.1. North American, Canadian and World championships 3.3.1.1. Winners of the North American championships 3.3.1.2. Winners of the Canadian (English language) championships 3.3.1.3. Winners of the World (English language) championships 3.3.2. How club and tournament Scrabble differs from the rules in the box 3.3.3. The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary and Official Scrabble Words 3.3.3.1. Why are all those stupid/non-English/indecent words allowed? 3.3.3.2. Words removed from OSPD 1st ed. in 2nd ed. 3.3.3.3. Current corrections to the OSPD 2nd ed. 3.3.3.4. 9-letter root words in OSPD 3.3.3.5. Current corrections to the Franklin Electronic OSPD 3.3.3.6. Expurgation of OSPD and OSPD 3rd ed. 3.3.3.7. Successor to OSPD - TWL98 3.3.4. Tournament pairings 3.3.5. Tournament ratings 3.3.6. Upcoming North American tournaments 3.4. Organizations conducting Scrabble activity outside North America and the UK 3.5. Who plays with which dictionary and which rules? 3.6. Crossword games on the Internet 3.6.1. Crossword games servers 3.6.1.1. Telnet-based 3.6.1.2. WWW-based 3.6.2. Crossword games mailing list 3.6.3. Crossword games related homepages 3.6.4. Crossword games related newsgroup 3.6.5. Chat 4. Differences between Scrabble in North America and in the UK 5. Publications on Scrabble 5.1. Periodicals 5.1.1. Scrabble News 5.1.2. Non-North American periodicals 5.1.2.1. Onwords 5.1.2.2. ABSP Newsletter 5.1.2.3. Forwords 5.1.2.4. Scrabble Club News 5.1.3. Defunct periodicals 5.1.3.1. Letters for Expert Players 5.1.3.2. Matchups 5.1.3.3. Medleys 5.1.3.4. Rack Your Brain 5.1.3.5. JG Newsletter 5.1.3.6. Tourney News 5.2. Books and CD-ROMs 5.3. Word lists 5.3.1. Lexicons 5.3.2. Internet anagram finders and word listers 5.3.3. Printed lists 5.4. Word study/lookup software 6. Basic tactics and methods 7. Typical games 7.1. Typical scores 7.2. Frequency of bingos 8. Scrabble records 8.1. Actual 8.2. Theoretical 8.3. Blocked games 9. Scrabble variants 10. Play-by-mail games 11. Scrabble paraphernalia 11.1. Tiles 11.2. Clocks 11.3. Playing equipment 11.4. Miscellaneous 12. Computer versions of Scrabble 12.1. CrossWise (IBM PC, Windows) 12.2. Gameboy Super Scrabble (hand-held) 12.3. Maven (Macintosh, Windows) 12.4. Monty Plays Scrabble (hand-held) 12.5. Scramble/Literati (IBM PC/Windows) 12.6. Tyler (IBM PC, Macintosh) 12.7. The Scrabble Player (IBM PC, Amiga, Atari ST, Psion) 12.8. Vic Rice's Game (IBM PC) 12.9. Virgin Mastertronic (IBM PC, Macintosh) 12.10. WordsWorth (IBM PC, Windows) 12.11. STrabbler (Atari) 12.12. Unix Scrabble (Unix) 12.13. CRAB (Unix, Sun, Vax and Macintosh) 12.14. Scrabble Door (IBM PC BBS) 12.15. ScrabOut and Networdz (Windows 3.1 and 95) 12.16. X-Words (Macintosh) 12.17. Amiga Scrabble (Amiga) 12.18. Hasbro Scrabble/E-mail Scrabble (Windows, Win CE, Macintosh) 12.19. XScrabble (X Windows) 12.20. Gary's Computer Scrabble (Unix) 12.21. Ortograf (Macintosh) 12.22. dupliKta (Windows) 12.23. Vocabble (IBM PC) 12.24. PC Scrabble (Windows 95, DOS) 12.25. Psion/Sinclair Scrabble (Spectrum, Sinclair Z80) 12.26. Sanaset (Windows) 12.27. WinScra (Windows) 12.28. Niggle (Palm Pilot) 12.29. Scrabble by Strobe (Windows) 12.30. Cardwords (Linux with X Windows) 12.31. Crosswords (Palm Pilot) 13. Glossary 14. Litigation Appendices A0. Copyright A1. FAQ policy A2. Credits [In the supplement:] A3. Roster of clubs in the US and Canada A4. Upcoming North American tournaments A5. Contacts for major Scrabble organizations worldwide 1. What this FAQ covers This article is about competitive English language Scrabble, or more properly, Scrabble Brand Crossword Game. It is North American-centric (and to a lesser extent covers the UK), but information regarding English language Scrabble played anywhere is welcome. It is not concerned with old Scrabble sets as collectors' items or anything else outside the competitive aspects of the game. Even the inclusion of Scrabble-related foofaraw stretches its intended coverage. Although this is about Scrabble, it is not provided or authorized by the owners of the various rights to that game. 2. The trademark Scrabble Scrabble is a registered trademark owned in the United States and Canada by Milton Bradley Company, a division of Hasbro, Inc., and in Great Britain and everywhere else in the world, by J.W. Spear & Sons PLC., a subsidiary of Mattel. Selchow & Righter, listed as the US owner on many of your boards, was bought -- in good health -- in 1986 by Coleco, which shortly went into bankruptcy due to the collapse of the market for their Cabbage Patch dolls. Coleco also led itself to bankruptcy in 1987 by losing a fortune on the Adam home computer flop, and the unexpected (to them) slowdown in Trivial Pursuit sales. (Trivial Pursuit was marketed in the US by Selchow & Righter). Scrabble was sold off to Milton Bradley, which was in turn gobbled up by Hasbro. In North America, technically, the term Scrabble refers to any game or related product Milton Bradley cares to label that way, while the popular board game is "Scrabble Crossword Game". Most people -- including Milton Bradley's own publication -- use the term Scrabble to refer to that game, and so will this FAQ. The magazine Financial World (July 8, 1996, p. 65) estimated the value of the Scrabble brand to Hasbro as $76 million, and 1995 sales under that brand at $39 million. 3. Organized Scrabble activity 3.1. National Scrabble Association and Association of British Scrabble Players The National Scrabble Association ("NSA") is the only organization running Scrabble activity in North America. It is a subsidiary of Milton Bradley. NSA licenses tournament and club directors. Club and tournament play, except for the national and world championships, is sanctioned but not run by NSA. Non-members are required to join before playing in their second tournament. As noted, NSA is an arm of the manufacturer, not a true membership organization. An advisory board and a rules committee are chosen by NSA and Milton Bradley. Ad hoc committees concerning changes in the dictionary and the ratings system also have been created. Membership is $18 per year in the US, $20 (USD) in Canada, and $25 elsewhere, by postal money order outside the US. National Scrabble Association c/o Williams & Company 120 Front St Garden Box 700 Greenport, NY 11944 (631) 477-0033 (631) 477-0294 fax In the UK, the Association of British Scrabble Players ("ABSP"), while not owned by the UK copyright and trademark holder, is bound to it by a licensing agreement. The ABSP organizes many tournaments. It may be reached at ABSP c/o Gareth Williams 15 Melbourne Road Llanishen Cardiff CF4 5NH United Kingdom +44 1222 758249 Membership in ABSP costs #10 per year. Members receive a newsletter six times per year. Its chairman, Graeme Thomas, may be reached by e-mail at . 3.2. Clubs Clubs normally play Scrabble according to tournament rules, although sometimes accommodation for newcomers includes allowing them to refer to lists of two- and three-letter words for their first couple of visits. The current roster of active North American clubs is an Appendix to this FAQ. Some of the listings are more up to date than the most recent listing from the National Scrabble Association, but some are out of date, so call the person listed before trying to attend. A list of clubs in the UK is available at . For further information on them, contact Philip Nelkon Mattel (UK) Ltd Mattel House Vanwall Business Park Vanwall Road Maidenhead Berks. SL6 4UB +44 1628 500283 +44 1628 500288 fax Steve Oliger has written an IBM PC program, Focus (currently in version 2.10), to maintain club statistics. It comes highly recommended by others who have used it. $20 plus shipping ($3 in US). Steve Oliger P.O. Box 7003 Lancaster, PA 17604-7003 (717) 284-2274 3.3. Tournaments 3.3.1. North American, UK and world championships "National Scrabble Championship", really for North America, is held by the National Scrabble Association in even years. In 2000 it will be held in Providence, RI. North American players are eligible for entry if they had played in at least one rated tournament. Players from elsewhere may enter without condition. In odd years, an invitational "World [English language] Championship" is held. The 1999 World Championship was held in November in Melbourne, Australia. Words allowable in North American or British play are allowed. In the UK, Spear runs the National Scrabble Championship. Several regional events (apparently open only to UK residents) are used as qualifiers for the national final. Also in the UK, the ABSP organizes a 17-game British Matchplay Scrabble Championship held each August. It is open to all. 3.3.1.1. Winners of the North American championships 1978, May 19-21, New York City: invitational, 64 contestants David Prinz 1980, November 14-16, Santa Monica: invitational, 32 contestants Joe Edley 1983, August 10-12, Chicago: qualifiers, 32 contestants Joel Wapnick 1985, July 28-31, Boston: open, 302 contestants Ron Tiekert 1987, July 5-7, Las Vegas: open, 300+ contestants Rita Norr 1988, July 31-August 5, Reno: open, 323 contestants Robert Watson 1989, July 29-August 3, New York City: open, 221 contestants Peter Morris 1990, August 5-9: Washington, 300+ contestants Robert Felt 1992, August 9-13, Atlanta: open, 320 contestants Joe Edley 1994, August 14-18, Los Angeles: open, 294 contestants David Gibson 1996, July, Dallas: open, 400 contestants (OSPD2+) Adam Logan 1998, August 8-13, Chicago: open, 535 contestants (TWL98) Brian Cappelletto 3.3.1.2. Winners of the Canadian (English language) championships 1996, Oct 18-21, Toronto: invitational, 40 contestants (OSPD2+) Adam Logan 1998, Oct 16-19, Toronto: invitational, 50 contestants (TWL98) Joel Wapnick 3.3.1.3. Winners of the World (English language) championships 1991, September 27-30, London: invitational, 48 contestants Peter Morris (USA) 1993, August 27-30, New York City: invitational, 64 contestants Mark Nyman (UK) 1995, November 2-5, London: invitational, 64 contestants David Boys (Canada) 1997, November 20-24, Washington: invitational, 80 contestants Joel Sherman (USA) 3.3.2. How club and tournament Scrabble differs from the rules in the box NSA, ABSP and ASPA rules for competitive play are available at , and , respectively, and the rules that come in the box at . Club and tournament Scrabble games are always two-player games. Both players must keep score. A bag is used for tiles (not the box lid). Chess clocks are used to time the game and each player is allowed a total of 25 minutes to make all of his or her moves in the game. If a player's time limit is exceeded, the game continues but the player is penalized 10 points for each minute over the time limit. The validity of words is determined, in North America (and Israel, which uses NSA rules) by the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, and in the UK by Official Scrabble Words. Most other places use both. (These references are described in section 3.3.3.) When a player challenges one or more words in his or her opponent's move, the clock is stopped while a third party (usually a club or tournament director) looks up the challenged words (which the challenger must specify) to determine whether the move is valid. If a challenged word is unacceptable, the play is removed and the player loses that turn. In North American play, the maker of an erroneous challenge loses a turn; in the UK, and most of Australia, they do not. There are no "house rules" that many social players use, such as free exchange of four of a kind, or claiming blanks off the board by substituting for them. Once there are fewer than seven tiles left in the bag, no exchanging of tiles is allowed. Passing is allowed at any time. At the end of a North American game, when one player uses all his or her tiles with none remaining in the bag, he or she receives double the value of the opponent's remaining tiles. In the UK, as specified in the box, that value is added to and subtracted from the players' respective scores. Both methods result in the same spread. Ties are not broken. (The North American box rules give the win to the player with the higher score before leftover tiles are considered; UK box rules don't mention this possibility.) If the two players take six consecutive turns without successfully placing any tiles on the board -- due to any combination of challenges, passes and exchanges -- the game ends, and both players lose the value of the tiles on their racks. A game in which neither player can make a play ends this way, although the players may simply agree that the game is over without going through all six turns. In the UK, exchanges do not count toward the six turns. The box rules do not mention whether one may make written notes during the game. In tournaments and clubs, players are allowed to write anything they wish on their score sheet. One use of written notes is to keep track of which tiles have been played, allowing one to know which tiles remain to be played. This is known as tile- tracking, and players may use preprinted score sheets that show the tile distribution as an aid to tile-tracking. 3.3.3. The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary and Official Scrabble Words The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary ("OSPD"), published by Merriam-Webster, has been the basis of the official lexicon (word list) used for all North American tournament and club play since its first edition was published in 1978. It includes all words of eight or fewer letters, and simplifies the settling of Scrabble word arguments by specifically showing those words' inflections (plurals of nouns, conjugations of verbs, comparatives and superlatives of adjectives). For root words longer than eight letters, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth edition, is used. (The Tenth came out in May 1993 and replaced the Ninth on May 1, 1994.) The OSPD does include inflected forms of up to eight letters whose root words are longer. In 1990, a second edition of the OSPD came out in hardcover. A paperback of the OSPD2 came out in June 1993. Matchups ($1 + $1 shipping, see section 12.6) and Cygnus Cybernetics (see section 12.1) each publish a complete list of the words added (and the handful removed) in OSPD2. A third edition of the OSPD came out in October 1995. See section 3.3.3.5 below for a discussion of its contents. The new words in it are allowable in competitive play as of February 1, 1996. Only SPAZES and HERPESES were removed. A list of the additions is available by ftp at . OSPD2 plus the new words in OSPD3 commonly is called OSPD2+. (OSPD3 is available in a large print edition.) Effective March 1998, TWL98 (see section 3.3.3.7), published by Merriam-Webster, although largely based upon OSPD, supplanted it. The OSPD was created because in the 1950s Selchow & Righter sold the right to put out Scrabble word lists to Jacob Orleans and Edmund Jacobson, authors of Scrabble Word Guide, a 1953 book based on the Funk and Wagnalls Dictionary. The official publication, Scrabble News, is still circumspect about publishing word lists, tending to print them in small chunks to conform to some idea of their remaining rights. Parallel to the OSPD for North America, the UK has Official Scrabble Words ("OSW"), which lists all rules-acceptable words in the Chambers Dictionary ("Chambers") whose uninflected roots have nine or fewer letters, and words of nine or fewer letters which are inflections of longer words. The third edition of OSW, including words from the 1993 edition of Chambers, came out in 1994. Chambers' 1998 edition was followed by OSW4 in September 1999. Challenges of longer words are looked up in Chambers. OSW is available outside the UK from James Thin Ltd 53-59 South Bridge Edinburgh, EH1 1YS Scotland +44 131 556 6743 +44 131 557 8149 fax or Margaret & Sarah Browne Premier Books and Prints 65 High Town Road Luton, LU2 0BW +44 1582 611991 +44 1582 611911 fax who is authorized to sell Chambers titles to Scrabble players at some discount. For trademark reasons, the OSPD is not legally sold outside North America, and OSW is not sold in North America. Here are the relative sizes of the lexicons of TWL and OSW, showing that OSW is a richer lexicon at all lengths. "SOWPODS" is a common abbreviation for the union of the two, combining the letters of OSPD and OSW. length TWL OSW TWL+OSW 2 96 109 121 3 972 1126 1227 4 3903 4769 5140 5 8636 10697 11776 6 15232 18435 20901 7 23109 26539 31144 8 28419 30732 37916 9 24556 30456 36669 total 2-8: 80367 92407 108225 3.3.3.1. Why are all those stupid/non-English/indecent words allowed? The OSPD was formed according to the rules of Scrabble, allowing all non-capitalized words without apostrophes or hyphens which are not designated as foreign. In a compromise between the number of words in a standard college dictionary (such as Funk & Wagnalls, in use before the OSPD) and an unabridged dictionary, the OSPD includes all words found in at least one of five major US college dictionaries, including a total of ten editions, which in the judgment of Merriam- Webster's lexicographers (contracted by the trademark holder to do this) meet the rules. The dictionaries used for OSPD2 are: Funk & Wagnalls Standard College Dictionary (1973 printing), American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (First and Second College Editions), Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary (Merriam-Webster; Eighth thru Tenth Editions), Webster's New World Dictionary (Second and Third College Editions), Random House College Dictionary (Original Edition and Revised Edition). To some extent, this succeeds at capturing the language, not as some set of Scrabble players would have it, but as it is -- according to professional lexicographers. 3.3.3.2. Words removed from OSPD 1st ed. in 2nd ed. AINE AINEE ALIYAHS AUTARKIK BABBOOL BABBOOLS BORAZON BORAZONS DIALOGGED DIALOGGING DUC DUCS ECOLE ECOLES ENFIN INVAR INVARS IODOL IODOLS MISENROLL MISENROLLS NEGRO NEGROES NOIR ONCES PAPULAN PERE PERES PHYTIN PHYTINS SITI SLIVOVICS STETSON STETSONS SULFONAL SULFONALS SURVEILED SURVEILING THERMIT THERMITS UIT WAEFU WITEN WOSTTETH WOTTETH XANTHATE XANTHATES 3.3.3.3. Current corrections to the OSPD 2nd ed. The cumulative corrections to the OSPD2, all (except for DIDDLEYS) corrected in the final printing, are: p16 ALIYAH: -YAHS (not -YAS) 108 CLAUGHT: -ING (not -INT) 109 CLEEK: CLAUCHT (not CLAUGHT) 155 DIDDLEY: DIDDLEYS, DIDDLIES 213 FLANKEN: pl. FLANKEN 272 HONDLE: -DLED, -DLING, -DLES (not -DLIED or -DLIES) 273 insert HOOTY adj HOOTIER, HOOTIEST 321 LEAP: add LEPT as third past 359 insert MISENROLL v -ED, -ING, -S 364 MOJO: add MOJOES 424 PECORINO: -NOS, -NI 436 PINYIN: delete PINYINS 451 delete PREFROZE; insert PREFREEZE v -FROZE, -FROZEN, -FREEZING, -FREEZES to freeze beforehand 481 delete REARMICE; insert REARMOUSE n pl. -MICE reremouse 477 REFALL: add REFALLS 488 delete REREMICE; insert REREMOUSE n pl. -MICE a bat (a flying mammal) 537 SJAMBOK: definition should be "to flog" 635 UNMESH: -ES (not -S) 638 UPFRONT adj 639 URB: pl. URBS 643 delete VANIR 675 insert XANTHATE n pl. -S a chemical salt Some of these "corrections" muddy the rule that all uninflected words in the OSPD have eight or fewer letters. 3.3.3.4. 9-letter root words in OSPD Despite the plan for OSPD, that the only uninflected words it contains should be those of eight or fewer letters, a few 9-letter words have been inserted. These are: GRUELLING KIDNAPPER MISENROLL PREFREEZE RAVELLING REARMOUSE REREMOUSE 3.3.3.5. Current corrections to the Franklin Electronic OSPD additions deletions --------- --------- AMNIA AMNIONIA BRITISH CAUDILLOS CAUDILLLOS CHEERLEADED CHINESE CHRISTMAS CLUBBERS CRACKLES CRACKLEES CRIOLLOS CRIOLLLOS DIDDLEYS EXPIATING GONIONIA GRAMS HALAZONES HIGGLED HONDLES HONDLIES HORNBEAMS IRISH ITALIAN MACHES MISEATE OPALESCING OPALESCESCING OUTDRAGGING OUTEATE OVEREATE OVERLIT PECORINI PINYINS REFALLS S SISSIES SIES UNCLOGGING UNDEREATE 3.3.3.6. Expurgation of OSPD and OSPD 3rd ed. In October 1995, NSA issued an Expurgated Scrabble Players Dictionary ("ESPD"), calling it OSPD3, omitting approximately 167 words labeled as offensive to specific ethnic, racial, sexual and other groups, such as the words "dago", "jew" and "fatso". Hasbro, the NSA's parent, gave as major reasons for the change its desire to promote Scrabble in elementary schools using the OSPD and complaints by offended ethnic groups. Facing much opposition by competitive players who did not want their playing vocabulary restricted to those words considered safe for children, NSA has made the ESPD *not* the official reference for club and tournament play. (It says on the dust jacket, "for recreational and school play.") Instead, starting February 1, 1996, competitions used OSPD2 plus the words added in ESPD. (A few words which reappear in ESPD because of its sloppy basing on early printings of OSPD2 -- before some corrections -- will not be added back, though.) It's anomalous to have the "Official Scrabble Players Dictionary" not be official. 3.3.3.7. Successor to OSPD - TWL98 As of March 1998, club and tournament play in North America use an unexpurgated lexicon, including all two- to nine-letter words and inflections, titled "Official Tournament and Club Word List" (but generally known as "TWL" or "TWL98"), sold only to members of NSA. Send $9.95 plus sales tax for AR, CA, MA, OH or WA, specifying membership number, to Merriam-Webster Inc. P.O. Box 281 Springfield, MA 01102 (800) 201-5029 x100 (413) 734-3134 x100 or $13.95 CAD in Canada, to Thomas Allen & Son, Ltd 390 Steelcase Rd E Markham, ON L3R 1G2 (905) 475-9126 There were 12 deletions in the two- to eight-letter range, DA DEI DES HANGULS KEV LEZES LICENTI SKIWEARS STRID VIN VINS VON, and 38 additions, BACKSTAB BASSETT BASSETTS BEDSIT BEDSITS CHEMO CHEMOS DECLAW DECLAWED DECLAWS FINALISE IGNORAMI ILLER ILLEST LATTE LATTES LEZZES LOUVRED MAGLEVS PETRALE PETRALES PINEALS PREMIXT PYROLIZE REDTAIL REDTAILS RHYTONS SEVRUGA SEVRUGAS SILKIES SMOOTHES TENIASES TRAPEZII UNSELL UNSELLS VOGUER VOGUERS WHINGING. See the Dictionary Committee page for explanations. 3.3.4. Tournament pairings Most North American tournaments are ranked according to win-loss record first, followed by the total of point margin in each game. A few tournaments score according to a predetermined number of credits for winning and for each ten points of margin. UK tournaments sometimes use sum-of-scores (the sum of the number of wins by one's opponents), and Australian tournaments use total game score, as the secondary factor. In small tournaments or ones in where the field is sufficiently divided, each player plays every other once. This is called a round robin. In all the other tournament designs, whom one plays depends on where one stands in the tournament so far. In the first round, generally the players' pre-tournament ratings temporarily stand in for the tournament rank. The modified form of Swiss pairing used at North American Scrabble tournaments is best described by example. Suppose 64 players are at the tournament. In round one, the first player plays the 33rd, the second plays the 34th, etc., and the 32nd plays the 64th. In round two, the same top plays middle is used for the top and bottom halves of the tournament separately: 1 plays 17, 2 plays 18, down to 16 plays 32, and 33 plays 49, down to 48 plays 64. This continues with groups shrinking by a factor of two at each round. Because determining the pairings between rounds can take so long in this method (computers are fast, but data entry can be slow), often the field is divided into four groups, instead of two. So with 64 players, 1 17 33 49 would be grouped together, as would 2 18 34 50, and 16 32 48 64. These groups of four then each play a round robin. Note that this "speed-pairing" method provides the better players an advantage. Denote the four quartiles in order as A, B, C, D. Then the A player plays a B, C and D, while the D plays an A, B and C; this tends to reinforce the pre-tournament estimate of the players' strengths, and thus detracts from the aim of a tournament -- to recognize performance, not rank. A simple improvement has rarely been tried, to have each A player also matched against an A from another group, etc. This models the round robin in small, and seems inherently fairer. (If anyone has references to scholarly treatments of the fairness of tournament designs, I would be grateful to be supplied with them.) In the UK, most tournaments use a version of the Swiss method in which at each round players are paired within groups consisting of those with the same win-loss record. 3.3.5. Tournament ratings Using a system based on the Elo system used in chess, North American tournament players get a rating in the range 0 to ~2150 which indirectly represents the probability of winning against other rated players. This probability depends only on the difference between the two players' ratings as follows: rating probability difference of winning 400 .919 300 .853 200 .758 100 .637 50 .569 0 .500 -50 .431 -100 .363 -200 .242 -300 .147 -400 .081 This represents the area under the standard bell-shaped curve where 200*sqrt(2) points are taken as one standard deviation. (The table shows some sample points on this curve, adequate for good approximations of rating calculations by interpolation, although actual calculations use the exact curve.) To keep current on a player's actual quality of play, the rating is updated after every tournament played. First, the number of games one is expected to win is calculated. Let's use as an example a two game tournament, in which player P begins with an 1800 rating, and plays opponents rated 1900 and 1725. P's rating is 100 below the 1900 player's, so P is expected to win .363 fraction of a game; P's rating is 75 above the other player's, so P is expected to win .603 of a game (halfway between .637 and .569). So in the two games, P is expected to win a total of .966 games. Let's say P won one game. That's .034 more than expected. P's rating goes up some constant multiple of this number. Well, actually it's not a constant, but depends on how many tournament games P has ever played and how high P's rating is. games played Rating < 50 >=50 below 1800 30 20 1800-1999 24 16 2000 & up 15 10 See also the explanation by John Chew. The UK ratings are somewhat similar but simpler: the probability of the better player winning is taken as 50% plus the rating difference as a percent, but no larger than 90%. The Australian and New Zealand rating systems are the same as the North American. Current North American, UK, Australian, New Zealand and South African ratings are available in . 3.3.6. Upcoming tournaments For a listing of upcoming North American tournaments, see the Appendix. 3.4. Organizations conducting Scrabble activity outside North America and the UK Spear, which sells Scrabble sets in 31 languages and 120 countries, organized a Spanish and is considering organizing German and Dutch Scrabble tournaments. Contact Philip Nelkon (section 3.2). The remainder of the information in this section is about English language Scrabble. Membership in the Australian Scrabble Players Association, which is independent of the trademark holder, is $10 per year, $15 overseas. Its quarterly newsletter, 'Across the Board', has columns on playing and tournament listings. It may be reached at The Scrabble Enquiry Centre PO Box 405 Bentleigh Australia 3204 +61 3 578 6767 Bob Jackman Australian Scrabble Players Association PO Box 28 Lindfield NSW Australia 02 9416 9881 02 9416 9479 fax In Israel, English language Scrabble is played by several clubs. There is a large one in Jerusalem. Tournaments are rated under a copy of the North American system. There are occasional national tournaments. Sam Orbaum, who once wrote a weekly Scrabble column for the Jerusalem Post, runs the Jerusalem club, which meets at ICCY, 12 Emek-Refaim St, Jerusalem at 7:30 pm JST Tuesdays. He can be reached at +972-2-587-1003 (H), +972-2-531-5678 (W), . The Thailand National English language Scrabble tournament has drawn as many as 885 contestants, including some top North Americans. For information on the (OSPD-based) yearly tournament usually held around the end of January, contact Mr. Ravee Joradol Thailand Crossword Club 645/1 Petchburi Rd Payathai, Bangkok 10400 Thailand (662) 252-9607, 252-8147 (662) 252-8147 fax In Thailand, sets are sold without regard to Spear's rights (section 2), resulting in its players not being invited to the 1995 World [English language] Scrabble Championships (section 3.3.1). Similarly, before the change in Rumania's regime, unauthorized sets were sold, and in the ensuing vacuum, Rumania was invited to the 1995 WSC only as an observer. Nigeria and Japan each have an active English language Scrabble tournament scene. For addresses of many English and other language Scrabble organizations and contacts, see the Appendix. 3.5. Who plays with which dictionary and which rules? The following is a summary of which lexicon and challenge rules are used in competitive English language Scrabble play in various countries. OSPD, OSW and SOWPODS are described in section 3.3.3. Under single challenge, a turn is lost only by a player making an invalid word that is challenged, so challenges are free. Double challenge has a challenger also risking loss of turn if all the words are valid. In New Zealand, only one word may be challenged at a time. Under Singapore's rule, often discussed as a basis for unification, the maker of a bad challenge loses five points. (Sweden uses ten.) There is a movement afoot, especially strong among top players who have played or have some prospect of playing in the World [English language] Championship (section 3.3.1) (at which SOWPODS and single- challenge have been used to date), toward merging the rules. Most suggestions center on using SOWPODS and some kind of middle-ground challenge rule, such as Singapore's or one penalizing a challenger only for the second and succeeding bad challenges in a game. However, there is not agreement that convergence is desirable. OSPD OSW SOWPODS double-challenge Canada Israel Mexico New Zealand Thailand US - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 10pt-challenge Malta* * - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 5pt-challenge Singapore - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - single-challenge Ireland Australia UK Bahrain Malaysia Philippines Sri Lanka - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - unknown Bermuda Ghana Hong Kong India Japan Kenya Kuwait Nigeria Oman Pakistan Qatar Saudi Arabia South Africa Trinidad United Arab Emirates * Malta is in transition from OSPD to SOWPODS. A few more, and you could appropriately call it a movement. 3.6. Crossword games on the Internet 3.6.1. Crossword games servers 3.6.1.1. Telnet-based A MUD-like server dedicated to playing crossword games (with boards configurable by the players) is available by telnet at brauer.math.utoronto.ca, port 7777 (meaning to reach it under Unix, type "telnet brauer.math.utoronto.ca 7777"). A FAQ for this server is available at , and for MUDS generally at . A robot, , normally is on-line to play there. A Windows graphical interface is at . Other MUDs having crossword-game play among their services are listed at . 3.6.1.2. WWW-based Several servers unlicensed by the rights holders have been closed. Some or all were removed after letters from Hasbro's attorneys. Net-Scrabble, , by Hussein Suleman, US mirror of N-S, Scrabble Zone, , by Dylan Nicholson, Web Scrabble, , in German, Play-by-mail Java Scrabble, , by Graham Savage For now, at least, there is a Java Scrabble at in German. Scrabble Challenge, a duplicate contest, by Kevin Cowtan, at the University of York, UK, is still running. . Some mirrors of Net-Scrabble may move from one server to another guerilla-style. Try . Scribble is another non-matchplay game. , 3.6.2. Crossword games mailing lists The international mailing list crossword-games is open to anyone, crossword-games-pro to active tournament players, and wordgame-programmers to anyone interested in design of programs for crossword games. To join, send mailto , or . Jim Geary maintains a list of frequently misunderstood things for the "pro" list. . There are also a UK-centred list and a SOWPODS list: , 3.6.3. Crossword games related homepages The Scrabble FAQ's hypertext version has an extensive list. 3.6.4. Crossword games related newsgroup No Scrabble-specific Usenet newsgroup exists, and all indications are that such a group wouldn't generate enough traffic. The best newsgroup for discussing crossword games is . The flat-text version of this FAQ is posted there monthly, and occasional questions are asked and answered there. 3.6.5. Chat The Hasbro CD-ROM game (section 12.18) and Networdz (section 12.15) are discussed on IRC Undernet in #scrabble and on DalNet in #scrabble and #scrabbleparlor. 4. Differences between Scrabble in North America and in the UK OSW and Chambers govern Scrabble play in the UK. Australia is moving toward "double-dictionary" play, where words from either Chambers or OSPD are accepted. Some clubs in North America are considering making this at least optional. An added impetus for this trend is the expurgation of OSPD (see section 3.3.3.5). In the UK, a player erroneously challenging suffers no penalty. The UK has a second form of Scrabble play that is waning: high-score tournaments, where only the total of one's own scores matters. Since one's "opponents'" scores are irrelevant, play in this system aims for open boards and encourages elaborate setups often independently mined by the two players. 5. Publications on Scrabble 5.1. Periodicals 5.1.1. Scrabble News This is a publication of the National Scrabble Association (see section 3.1), and comes with membership. Puzzles, contests, gossip, intermediate and advanced tactics, official information from NSA and Milton Bradley, tournament listings and tournament results. 5.1.2. Non-North American periodicals 5.1.2.1. Onwords Billing itself as the "Scrabble Enthusiasts' Magazine", this is the only publication substantially written by more than one person. It features numerous columns, lists, analyses, letters and tournament reports. Subscriptions are #6 for 6 issues in the UK, #10 elsewhere. Allan Simmons Onwords Magazine Shilling House 1 Woolmer Hill Haslemere Surrey, GU27 1LT England 5.1.2.2. ABSP Newsletter The newsletter of the ABSP, section 3.1. 5.1.2.3. Forwords The quarterly official magazine of the New Zealand Association of Scrabble Players, including news, tournament results, comments and competitions. Jeff Grant Waipatu Settlement Rd RD2 Hastings New Zealand 5.1.2.4. Scrabble Club News Published by Spear, #8 for 6 issues. News about clubs in the UK. 5.1.3. Defunct periodicals 5.1.3.1. Letters for Expert Players This letter-form publication, which ceased in December 1986, still forms a rich mine of top expert opinion on interesting positions. Back issues may (possibly) still be available from: Albert Weissman 11 White Rock Road Westerly, RI 02891 5.1.3.2. Matchups Matchups specialized in detailed tournament results, while its supplement, Matchups Extra, picked up from the Letters in using a panel of experts to annotate interesting positions. Published 1984-1991. Back issues available. See section 12.6. 5.1.3.3. Medleys Probably the highlight of this well-edited, entertainingly written monthly were the game annotations. One game per month was annotated in full. Three interesting positions were analyzed by readers, with quotes. Word lists, study techniques, anecdotes, humor and opinions rounded out the publication. The only drawback was a long-running two-page tournament advertisement in this 12 page newsletter. For the 12 issues of 1991 and 1992, $34 each; for 1993, $36; plus $2 shipping ($3 USD in Canada). Also, compiled from the pages of Medleys, "The Art and Science of Anamonics" and "Complete 7+1 Anamonics #1-2100" (section 6). The entire run of Medleys has been reissued as part of "Archive: Two Word Game Classics." See section 5.2. $5 and $29 respectively; plus $0, $2 shipping. "Expert Analysis -- Consensus Game" #1, #2, #3, #4, and "Expert Analysis -- Consensus Extras" vol. 1, vol. 2, $29 each; plus $2 shipping. The second and subsequent least expensive items are charged half the above shipping costs. Nick Ballard 536 Kirkham St San Francisco, CA 94122-3611 (415) LOG-NICK 5.1.3.4. Rack Your Brain Subtitled "Analysis of your favorite crossword game", Brian Sheppard's series of booklets deeply analyzed specific positions. By the author of the program Maven (section 12.3), which is an important tool for move analysis. 5.1.3.5. JG Newsletter This excellent publication followed in the footsteps of Letters for Expert Players (section 5.1.3.1) and Medleys (section 5.1.3.3) in its thorough position analyses. Also included some puzzles. Jim Geary 31 West Cochise Dr Phoenix, AZ 85021-2484 (602) 943-5281 5.1.3.6. Tourney News This provided mostly tournament results listings, with bits of discussion of tactics, issues and occasional word lists. Tourney News Box 2013 Teaticket, MA 02536 5.2. Books and CD-ROMs Out-of-print books listed can be located, among other ways, through . Archive: Two Word Game Classics, Joel Wapnick and Nick Ballard. CD-ROM (for Windows 95/Macintosh), 1999. This consists of (1) a revision of Wapnick's already excellent 1986 "The Champion's Strategy for Winning at Scrabble Brand Crossword Game" in light of later learning and insight, plus (2) the entire run of Ballard's periodical "Medleys" (section 5.1.3.3) (which includes contributions from other players). $26 CAD + $4 shipping within Canada, or $18 USD + $3 shipping to the US, $5 shipping overseas, (shipping in any quantity), from Joel Wapnick, 4851 Cedar Crescent, Montreal PQ H3W 2J1, , , , The Official Scrabble Puzzle Book, Joe Edley. 1997, Pocket Books. In bookstores, $14. Designed to increase board skills. The author was the 1980 and 1992 North American champion. One Wordy Guy, William R. Webster. 1995, WilMar Pub. A novel on Scrabble; includes puzzles. $6 postpaid from WilMar Publishing, c/o William R. Webster, Box 5023, Carefree, AZ 85377. Everything Scrabble, Joe Edley & John D. Williams, Jr. 1994, Pocket Books. In bookstores, $14, or from Cygnus Cybernetics, section 12.1. Practical advice for finding good plays plus practice word puzzles on and off board. The Literate Puzzler, Rita Norr & Audrey Tumbarello. 1994, Sterling Pub. Co. More puzzles using words from OSPD. In bookstores, $4.95. The Word Game Power Workout, Rita Norr & Audrey Tumbarello. 1993, Perigee, Putnam Publ. Endeavors to teach words "through trivia, word meanings, riddles, mnemonics, and geography." This book appears useful for breaking the reader through to thinking in terms of anagrams, hooks, prefixes, suffixes and extensions. Also includes four pages of well thought out, dense suggestions for better Scrabble play. In bookstores, or $10.95 + $3.50 shipping from Cygnus Cybernetics, section 12.1. Scrabble Tournament Success, Darrell Day. A booklet focusing on the thought processes which can help intermediate players improve. Available from the author, an excellent player, for $15. Darrell Day, Marketing Concepts, 1845 Carriage House Cir, #3006, Arlington, TX 76011, . The Ultimate Guide to Winning Scrabble Brand Crossword Game, Michael Lawrence & John Ozag. 1987, Bantam. Good for beginners to intermediates; covers many of the basic approaches to analysis. Out of print. The Champion's Strategy for Winning at Scrabble Brand Crossword Game, Joel Wapnick. 1986, Stein & Day. Out of print. Best for advanced players, with sophisticated analyses of many positions and good study techniques. The author was the 1983 North American champion. Reissued on CD-ROM as part of "Archive: Two Word Game Classics," above. A Guide to Playing the Scrabble Brand Word Game, Gyles Brandreth. 1985, Simon & Schuster. Out of print. The Scrabble Book, Derryn Hinch. 1976, Mason/Charter. Out of print, but a reissue is expected, with major assistance from John Holgate, a top Australian player. The Official Scrabble Player's Handbook, Drue K. Conklin. Harmony Books. Out of print. Scrabble Players Handbook, Selchow & Righter Company. 1974. Out of print. More Fun with Scrabble, Jacob S. Orleans & Edmund Jacobson. 1954, Grosset & Dunlap. Out of print. How to Win at Scrabble, Jacob Orleans & Edmund Jacobson. 1953, Grosset & Dunlap. Out of print. British and Double-Dictionary Scrabble books: Scrabble for Beginners, Barry Grossman. 1998, Chambers. "Lively and humorous ... most .. players will find something of value." (Onwords; see section 5.1.2.1.) The Ultimate Scrabble Book, Philip Nelkon. 1995, Stanley Paul, #14.99. Tips on tactics illustrated with tournament situations; explanation of the British rules. Quizzes and puzzles. Credit card orders in the UK at 01279 635377. World Championship Scrabble, Gyles Brandreth & Darryl Francis. 1992, Chambers. Twenty-two annotated games from the 1991 World (English language) Scrabble Championship, which was played using words in OSW or OSPD. In bookstores, or $7.95 + $3.50 shipping from Cygnus Cybernetics, section 12.1. The Scrabble Companion, Gyles Brandreth & Darryl Francis. 1988, David & Charles. Out of print. Play Better Scrabble Video, Darryl Francis. #10.99 including shipping to the UK, from Spear. How to Play Better Scrabble, Darryl Francis. Chambers. Out of print. Some good strategy tips, reportedly. A Guide to Playing the Scrabble Brand Crossword Game, Gyles Brandreth. 1985, Simon & Schuster. Play Better Scrabble, Michael Goldman. 1983. Focuses on obsolete high-score version of competition. The Scrabble Book, Gyles Brandreth Covers both British & North American Scrabble. $5.99 + $4 shipping, from Cahill & Co., (800) 755-8531. The Scrabble Puzzle Book, Gyles Brandreth. Futura, 1981. Championship Scrabble, Alan Richter. 1980, Kay & Ward. Focuses on obsolete high-score version of competition. 5.3. Word lists 5.3.1. Lexicons Since the list of words from a dictionary has uncertain copyright status, people having such lists for personal use shy away from sharing them. However, a copy of TWL98 is available at plus a copy of the OSPD2 two to eight letter words is available for ftp from , in files named words.?.Z, for ? from 2 to 8. Other copies, in one file, are at and . Also available is a large list of Anamonics (section 6), compiled by John J. Chew III, at . A copy of TWL98 (section 3.3.3.7), accurate for 2- to 8-letter-words except for the spurious "REPTILIA", is at , by Mendel Cooper, . OSPD2+ is still available, at and . 5.3.2. Internet anagram finders and word listers From AA to ZYZZYVAS, , by Jonn Dalton. The Scrabble Rack, , by Jeff Boulter. Anagram Finder, , (OSPD, OSW, Websters 2nd), by Paul Dale, . Mag's Word Finder, , by Tom Magliery, . BigDoggy Word List Page, , by Brian Wagner, . OSPD2+ Word List Generator, , by Jim Miller, . OSPD3 (ESPD) Dictionary Lookup and Anagrammer, from Hasbro, . Unscrambler, , by Bill Williams. Telnet to MarlDOoM at brauer.math.utoronto.ca 7777, give the command "help acbot-words1" for how to summon the multitalented robot ACBot and get it to generate lists to your specifications. See 5.3.3. Printed lists Numerous lists and other items are available from Cygnus Cybernetics (see section 12.1). Short Words; Long Words, John J. Chew III All 2- thru 8-letter, and 9- thru 15-letter words accepted in North American play, updated for OSPD3. CAD $14 or USD $10 each plus shipping from John Chew . Tournament Blank Book, Alan Frank Shows all letters with which each set of six and seven letters anagrams to make a word, updated for TWL98. Also specifies whether more than one word can be formed. Spiral bound. $24 + $3 shipping from Matchups, section 12.6. Tournament Anagram Book, Alan Frank All 2- to 8-letter words anagrammed according to their alphabetized letter sets, updated for TWL98. Two volumes, the second of which handles 9- to 11-letter words. $15 + $3 shipping each (or $49 + $6 shipping together with Tournament Blank Book, above) from Matchups, section 12.6. The Weird Book, Alan Frank Features such retrograde lists as words with weird trigrams, high probability racks forming 7- and 8-letter words with only one low probability tile, and words displaying all ways of forming plurals (e.g. LIKUTA MAKUTA, ZLOTY ZLOTYCH). Out of print. $10 + $2 shipping from Matchups, section 12.6. The Complete Wordbook, Mike Baron & Brian Sheppard Contains (1) specialty word lists: the most efficient lists to study (vowel heavy words; JQXZ 2..6s; -S and non-S surprise shorts; 7s & 8s grouped by studying priority; -INGS, -LIKE, -ABLE, -IBLE lists); (2) hooks: 2-to-make-3s ... 8-to-make-9s; and (3) alphagrams: all 3s ... 8s unscrambled. In US, $20 including The Complete Blankbook and shipping. Outside the US and Canada, add $5 per address. Wordbooks & Listmats, P.O. Box 2848, Corrales NM 87048-2848. The Complete Blankbook, Mike Baron & Jim Homan Lists all 6- and 7-letter sets forming 7- and 8-letter words and all bingos formed. $20 including The Complete Wordbook and shipping. Outside the US and Canada, add $5 per address. Wordbooks & Listmats, P.O. Box 2848, Corrales NM 87048-2848. All Words, Jim Homan All 2- thru 9-letter words accepted in North American play, updated for OSPD3, with new words marked. $12 + $3.50 shipping from Cygnus Cybernetics, section 12.1. Back-Words, Jim Homan All 2- thru 9-letter words accepted in North American play alphabetized from the back, updated for OSPD3. $12 + $3.50 shipping from Cygnus Cybernetics, section 12.1. 9-Letter Hooks and Anagrams, Jim Homan Shows what letters extend 8- to 9-letter words, and letter sets forming all 9-letter words. $10 + $3.50 shipping from Cygnus Cybernetics, section 12.1. High Probability Bingos, Jim Homan The 1000 most likely 7- and 8-letter words to draw to an empty rack. Also, the 1000 7- and 8-letter words most often played by a computer in a substantial sample of games. $3.25 + $3.50 shipping from Cygnus Cybernetics, section 12.1. JQXZ Words, Jim Homan 2- through 9-letter words containing the four top tiles. $3.50 + $3.50 shipping from Cygnus Cybernetics, section 12.1. The Family Bingo Tree, Randy Hersom Similar to the two above, it groups together all 7- and 8-letter words formable from each 6-letter set. $45 from Randy Hersom (section 5.4). hookiesT, Randy Hersom 2-to-make-3 thru 7-to-make-8 hooks. $22 from Randy Hersom (section 5.4). Hooklets, John Babina Traces chains of words each hooking the one before. Also has lists of non-hook words and prefix and suffix lists. $12 plus $3 shipping, at Northeast tournaments or by arrangement for postal mail, from John Babina, . BigDoggy Book of Word Lists, Brian Wagner All 7- and 8-letter words, vowel dumps, JQXZ words, and various prefix and suffix lists. $20 plus $4 shipping, plus $5 outside North America. Brian Wagner 815 E Fremont Ave #53 Sunnyvale, CA 94087 New Words Study Guide and Definitions, Pat Cole Lists words added due to OSPD3, with inflections and brief definitions, plus some important lists of new words and hooks, study hints, variant spelling and anagrams. $10 plus $2 postage from Pat Cole, 5816 Eastpines Dr, Riverdale, MD, (301) 927-5537, fax 249-2609, . The definitions also are offered on line. Double List Word Book, Ethel Cannon Sherard OSPD1 based, alphabetically by word length and by last letter. Has numerous omissions. Gwethine Publishing Co, P.O. Box 41344, Los Angeles, CA 90041. The Scrabble Word-building Book, Saleem Ahmed; $5.99 Not based on any standard word list. The Official Scrabble Word Finder. Macmillan, Robert W Schachner; $7 Revised edition due out March 1998. The 1988 edition of this was useless for competitive Scrabble. Official Scrabble Word Guide. Grosset & Dunlap, Jacob Orleans; $6.95 This 1953 book, still found in stores, is based roughly on the Funk & Wagnalls dictionary then current. Redwood International Word List, Barry Harridge, Lesley Mack and Geoff Wright. Redwood Editions. Out of print. Lists all words of 2 to 9 letters in either Chambers/OSW or TWL98 marked according to source. Hinkler Book Distributors Pty Ltd 20-24 Redwood Dr Dingley, Victoria 3172 Australia (03) 9558-0611 Distribution was halted by an injunction issued in Australia at the behest of Chambers, but Hinkler and Chambers have announced plans to collaborate on future Scrabble-related titles. Official Scrabble Words, 3rd ed. 1994, Chambers. Comprehensive listing of 2- to 9-letter words in the official Scrabble word reference, the Chambers dictionary. Official Scrabble Lists, 2nd ed. 1994, Chambers. Numerous lists based on OSW3; useful playing hints. Available in the same places as OSW. Griffon Word List 1995 Based on OSW + OSPD, listing all words up to 8 letters in length. #15, US $24, Aus $28 includes international air mail, Aus $20 each for ten. Geoff Wright PO Box 13 Brunswick Australia 3056 Barry Harridge Celebrity Scrabble, Lois Kahan Proper names acceptable under OSPD. Lois Kahan 392 Central Park West New York, NY 10025 English Jus Ain Twat Tizwas, Arlene Fine Humorous and, the goal is, memorable mispronunciations of many double-dictionary words in short narratives and lists. SOWPODS. Real definitions are given in a glossary. Arlene Fine 87 Sandler Rd Percelia Estate Johannesburg 2192 South Africa The Consogram Book, Barry Harridge Seven- and eight-letter words, showing racks alphabetized first by consonants and then vowels. SOWPODS, marked if OSW- or OSPD-only. For example, DMNSAEE shows DEMEANS, #AMENDES and $SEEDMAN. Barry Harridge SOWPODS Five-Letter Words, Bob Jackman Unusual double-dictionary fives defined and organized by common characteristics as an aid to learning. $18 AUD within or $16 AUD outside Australia. Four-Letter Words Allowable in Scrabble, 2nd ed., Bob Jackman Unusual double-dictionary fours defined and organized by common characteristics as an aid to learning. OSW with OSPD supplement. $10 AUD. Bob Jackman P.O. Box 28 Lindfield NSW 2070 Australia Official Scrabble Words on Compact Disk This is supplied for Sony's Data Diskman. Search facilities are reportedly poor. Official Scrabble Players Electronic Dictionary No longer being produced by Franklin, this credit-card sized device contains OSPD2. It does anagram queries and queries with blanks in fixed position. Some proper nouns have crept in as acceptable words, apparently from careless scanning of the printed OSPD2. Available for $60 in person, plus $3.75 shipping for 1-4 units from Bob Smith 1785 O'Farrell St #7 San Francisco, CA 94115 (415) 931-0141 (415) 968-7297 fax although I have heard complaints about Smith's service. Smith ships each device with a card listing all the current corrections -- for which, see section 3.3.3.5. Although it is becoming less useful, Smith raises its price as time passes. It was rumored in 1993 that the Franklin OSPD might be withdrawn because of wrangling between Franklin and Milton Bradley about the proceeds, but nothing has been heard about this since. There are no plans to manufacture a version for OSPD3 or later. The Official Scrabble Page-a-Day Calendar, John D. Williams, Jr., Joe Edley. Workman Publishing. One word, puzzle, or tip per day from OSPD in a 1999 calendar. $8.95, $10.95 CAD. Scrabble Roll-A-Puzzle, Herbko For one low price of $20 ($35 for a back-lit version), you get 24 (48) high-score puzzles like those you can get for free by reading the crossword-game mailing list, section 3.6.2. Herbko Intl, Inc. 301 W Hallandale Beach Blvd, Hollywood, FL 33023, (954) 454-7771. 5.4. Word study/lookup software LexAbility (IBM PC), besides an anagram study system, includes a feature allowing play of Scrabble by modem. $50 postpaid in US and Canada. Randy Hersom 115A Rhyne St Morganton, NC 28655 (704) 437-6841 Puzlpack (IBM PC), $25 + $3 shipping. Chuck Fendall Recroom Recware P.O. Box 307 Pacific Grove, CA 93950 Anna (IBM PC), $99 + $5 shipping, quizzes on anagrams without requiring typing words. It emphasizes words missed over time, and allows custom lists as well as functioning as an anagrammer. Mary Rhoades 2325 Shady Grove Dr Bedford, TX 76021 (817) 545-3216 LeXpert (Windows, Windows CE), free, updated for TWL98, tests on or presents a timed slide show of anagram and hook lists, using predefined or customized word sets; lists words containing patterns or letter sets. OSPD, OSW and SOWPODS versions. For download from , or $9.95 shipping + $5 outside US and Canada. Everything's Possible 39757 Manchester Ct Northville, MI 48167 (248) 305-7770 WordLexica (Windows95+), $15 registration fee. Tests on lists, remembering the user's previous performance. Refuses to use the naughty words, otherwise TWL98. Wordy (IBM PC), $2 registration fee. More useful for its set of list construction tools than its word-formation game. Mendel Cooper P.O. Box 237 St David, AZ 85630-0237 Judge (Unix, X11, DOS), free. Has to be compiled for the target machine. Performs lookups for challenges. From Mendel Cooper, above. qz (Unix, Macintosh, DOS), free. Tests on questions and answers supplied by the user individually or inserted from a file. By John J. Chew III, . . Word Ear-Obics (cassette tapes), $10 for each of three cassettes, which contain high-frequency seven-letter words from common six- letter stems, eight-letter words from the stem AEINST, and four and five letter JKQXZ words with hooks. 4414 Sparta Way N Las Vegas, NV 89030 (702) 656-7570 Video Flashcards (IBM PC). Tests on anagrams and hooks. The flashcards of this well done program's paradigm can be chosen, sorted, filtered and saved straightforwardly. Words solved needn't be typed. Shows definitions from a user-supplied file. Excellent visual reinforcement. Available from Cygnus Cybernetics, section 12.1. Flash (IBM PC), #18.50 in the UK. For studying OSW bonus (bingo) word lists starting from the top 99 6-letter racks. (The program is licensed to use OSW; its author is considering an OSPD or double- dictionary edition.) Ian Burn 8 Cromer Close Reading, Berks England RG31 5NR Look (IBM PC), free. Performs lookups in both OSPD and OSW, making membership in each lexicon explicit. It is used for official adjudications in Australia, and is beginning to be used in North America. Requires a separate lexicon file. Barry Harridge 1B Gladstone St Windsor VIC 3181 Australia (03) 9510 9381 TEA - The Electronic Alveary (Windows), shareware, #20. Finds anagrams and other restricted lists. Bryson Limited 10 Wagtail Close Twyford Reading RG10 9ED United Kingdom +44 118 9344153 +44 118 9344153 fax Frances (Windows 95), $26 on CD-ROM. Builds and prints lists, or displays them in a slide show. Carlene Wallis 1968 Fieldcrest Dr Sparks, NV 89434 Whiz Cards (paper). Flash cards, $3 to $35 per set, from Gary Moss (section 11.4). 6. Basic tactics and methods Rack Balance Some groups of letters combine well, others poorly. Most obviously, racks full of vowels or of consonants usually are hard to play. Also, racks with duplicate letters -- even "good" letters (except most often S and sometimes E) -- reduce flexibility. Therefore, give weight in evaluating possible plays to how well the leave combines. As a corollary, also consider what replacement tiles you're likely to draw. For example, if the choice between playing FARM and FORM is otherwise indifferent, and there are many "A"s unplayed but few "O"s, use the A to minimize the likelihood of duplication on the next rack. The simplest application of attending to leave is attempting to keep good tiles. On average, S, E, R, and so on form words most flexibly, and are particularly conducive to bingos. Choices between letters lower down also matter: P is better than B. But racks with Z or X tend to score high without playing long words. Which type of "good" letter is best to keep varies. In applying all these ideas, consider the board situation. If there is a prime spot for a T, not used by the candidate plays, but none for an S, prefer to play off the S. If the letters available to be played through are mostly consonants, lean further toward keeping vowels. Tile-tracking Since the set of tiles in a game is always the same, knowing what is left is as useful to the Scrabble player as to the card-counting blackjack player -- only easier. While some find tracking hurts their concentration, after practice, most do it without disruption. Others count only when they see a specific need. Tracking allows better rack balancing: knowing there are many more "A"s than "O"s outstanding allows one to lean toward playing an A. It keeps one aware of whether the Q is outstanding, and of the risk and opportunity in other tiles which fit particularly well or poorly with the board. Finally, once no tiles remain in the bag, tracking determines what exactly is on the opponent's rack. Just before the bag is empty, it allows fairly confident guessing what the opponent has. These allow all kinds of end-game play: set-ups, plays to assure the opponent cannot go out and enable one to throw out all rules of thumb and simply analyze cases for how to win. Challenging One of the tactical considerations for challenging is not special to Scrabble. If the only way you can lose is to challenge your opponent's word, refrain. If winning requires a successful challenge (plus perhaps some further luck) and there is any chance the word is phony, challenge. It is generally best not to challenge a bingo if an alternative bingo was playable. I once played (P)SCHENT for several fewer points than CH(A)STEN because I knew my opponent would be outraged that I'd try such a stupid word on him. He should have calmed his emotions and considered my alternatives. Of course, had he found the over ten point better play, he might have inferred I had missed it, and challenged. Consider the possibility that you are better off with the (possibly) phony word on the board. If it creates a lucrative opening for you, makes especially good use of your rack, or wastes your opponent's blank, offset the point benefit to you against the benefit to opponent of not losing this turn. Weight this calculation using your degree of certainty as to whether the word is good. Use your right to challenge all words formed. Since the director gives only one ruling on the acceptability of all challenged words, your opponent may be uncertain which word was phony and try the bad word again. Study The great variety in learning styles prevents any definitive recommendation of study methods, but there are some principles. Study the words most likely to occur. Know the two-letter words cold, since they are essential to common parallel plays. On the way to learning the three-letter words solidly, learn all front and back extensions for the twos. Learning the part of speech and the meaning of the two-letter words helps many people assimilate this; it is a technique that allows many to derive dual benefit from all kinds of study. Also extra likely to occur because of the reward, as well as worthy of special study simply because of the reward, are the seven- and eight-letter words. Many techniques are possible. One top player has memorized an ordered list of these words each of which is the first element of one of a set of subsidiary lists which encompass the entire set of bingos. That method is only for the very dedicated. Practice anagramming by matching the remaining letters to a common suffix or prefix. Some claim success in extending this technique to allow recognition of words which, for example, contain the letters ING but form only a non-"-ING" word, such as LINGOES. Unless you have a photographic memory, try to learn words in small enough sets that you can master them to the point that you recognize both when you can and cannot anagram to one of them. For example, learn the list of all eight letter words containing exactly the vowels EEIIO (EOLIPILE and others). Then the phony OLEINIZE will not get by you, nor will you try it yourself. Try Anamonics, a memory-efficient technique for learning, positively and negatively, which letters 6- and 7-letter sets anagram with to make words. For example, the letters of SLANDER make an 8-letter word with each of the letters in CALL GOD A PIOUS CHUMP. For this and other very effective techniques, see back issues of Medleys (section 5.1.3.3). Practice anagramming at any time there are words around you on whose meaning you do not need to concentrate. This will soon take over your life so that even reading the newspaper, SENATOR will translate to TREASON and ATONERS, deeply affecting your world-view. 7. Typical games 7.1. Typical scores In the 1998 North American championships, the four divisions from expert down had the following statistics for points scored per side: 1 2 3 4 overall mean 387.5 369.8 359.1 341.5 364.7 stddev 60.5 57.4 54.7 55.4 59.3 median 371 367 348 326 363 7.2. Frequency of bingos In the 1983 national championship among 32 selected players, players got 2.9 bingos per game between them in games that happened to be annotated. Graeme Thomas has calculated the probability of having a playable bingo on the first rack as 12.63% for OSPD2+, 13.65% for OSW and 14.87% for SOWPODS. 8. Scrabble records 8.1. Actual The following records are for sanctioned (that is, in an official club or tournament) North American play. Some UK records are mentioned, but not those occurring under high-score rules. See section 4. Note that North American scores are not strictly comparable with others because there the first to play out receives the value of opponent's tiles twice rather than once. See section 3.3.3. Games played under SOWPODS (section 3.3.3.) allow higher scores. The high individual score was obtained in a 1993 California tournament by Mark Landsberg, who scored 770 against his opponent's 338. (In a Malta club, Godfrey Magri Demajo scored 792 using OSPD.) (Peter Preston scored 793 in a UK club in 1999, using OSW.) (Nick Ballard scored 792 at a Chicago club, but used 4 phony bingos, and did not report it.) The high combined score of 1110 was achieved in an Atlanta club in 2000, 664-446, Ray Smith defeating Ron Tiekert. The highest losing score of 505 was achieved or suffered by Steve Polatnick of Florida in a 1999 New Jersey tournament. (In New Zealand, John Foster has lost with 513.) The high margin of victory including phonies was by Ken Lambe of Michigan, who scored 716 versus his opponent's 147, using a single phony. The high single turn, 338 points, was achieved in a club game by Jeff Widergren of California. (Randy Amatoeng scored 374 in Ghana, Magri Demajo 392 in Malta, and Marjorie Smith 320 points in a Nottingham, England tournament in 1998.) The high opening turn, 124 for BEZIQUE, was reached by Sam Kantimathi of California in a 1993 Oregon tournament. Longest consecutive opening sequence of bingos by one player: Jeremiah Mead of Massachusetts played five in a 1989 North American championship tournament game; Joseph Levine of California did the same in a 1996 club game, and Devonna Gee in the 1996 Nationals. 8.2. Theoretical These records allow words only from the OSPD (2nd ed.) and Merriam-Webster (9th ed.). The highest-scoring single play, found by Dan Stock of Ohio, shown with the hooked words: A1 OXYPHENBUTAZONE 1458 1A OPACIFYING 63 3A YELKS 12 4A PREI(N)TERVIEWED 25 h1 BRAINWASHING 63 k1 AMELIORATIVE 17 l1 ZARFS 27 15A EJACULATING 63 +bonus 50 ---- 1778 The highest combined score, found by Steven Root of Massachusetts: H2 LANKEST 74 8F METRICAL 60 8A GRAVIMETRI(C)ALLY 293 2F SULTANA(S) 61 1E HE, ES 7 1E HEN, NU 8 1I UT, UT, TA 6 1I UTA, AN 5 1M ON OS 3 L2 AR 2 L2 ARF 12 1A OXYPHENBUTAZONE, BLANKEST, ZARF 1576 5E GINKGOES, ZARFS 123 B1 XI 18 O7 PYRUVATE 67 N14 WE, WE 20 D8 VERDITER 76 13B DIT 8 B13 DE 6 B13 DEI 4 15D ROT 3 G14 OE, ROTE 6 13G JOE, JO 35 I13 BA, JOB 22 I13 BAH 8 14I AI 4 K14 LI, AIL 5 11D DEADWOOD 106 15A MICROTECHNIQUES, IN, PYRUVATES 1264 +2 times "F" 8 ---- 3642 8.3. Blocked games The position from which no play is possible no matter what tiles are held, which is reached with the fewest plays and tiles (found by Kyle Corbin of North Carolina) is: (J) J U S S O X (X)U Without using blanks, the smallest, found by Rick Wong of California, is: F HUP FUCI PIU 9. Scrabble variants In Anagram Scrabble (Clabbers, to some), where in the usual game, a word in the dictionary may be used, the adjacent tiles need only anagram to such a word. A player when challenged must come up with a single word to which the challenged set of letters anagrams. Tiles are still fixed in position once placed. In an idea discussed in Medleys, called New Scrabble, the role of luck in the draw of blanks is reduced in that both players have one blank, not in the bag, which they may use to replenish their rack once during the game. Ecology Scrabble allows recycling blanks, in accordance with a common "house rule". See section 3.3.2. In Duplicate Scrabble, players all play the same board, competing for high score on each move. Duplicate tournaments are held in France. Open Sequence Scrabble, which has been used as the basis for English language duplicate competition, is easy to play by e-mail. Two players have an ongoing game on the Web, . 10. Play-by-mail games Open-book Scrabble by snail mail used to be run by Medleys. (See section 5.1.3.3 for its address.) Perhaps suggestions on how to run such games are available from there. Nate Hekman runs e-mail games with an automated intermediary. . Matchups resumed running play-by-mail competition early in 1997. Contact ; see . In the UK, the Postal Scrabble Club is very active. See the Appendix for a contact. 11. Scrabble paraphernalia 11.1. Tiles Milton Bradley will replace without charge individual lost tiles from in-print sets sold in North America. Call Hasbro, Inc. Consumer Affairs (888) 836-7025 (401) 431-8697 with the tiles, set type, and item number of the set. Standard-issue tiles are "braillable", that is, particular letters (and especially blanks) can be distinguished inside the bag by feel, and "false blanks" may be played, since the back of all tiles is the same as the front of a blank. Protiles, which are preferred according to tournament rules, prevent this. They are long-lasting, and the seller replaces lost tiles without charge. Available for $18 + $3.50 shipping from Cygnus Cybernetics, section 12.1, or for $18 per set (10% off for 10 or more) from Robert Schoenman 3366 NE Oregon St Portland, OR 97232 fax (503) 977-5379 Protiles in a 3-piece design (front and back encasing a paper letter), in standard and jumbo fonts, $25 + $2 shipping, are made by Roy Peshkin and also sold by Mary Lou Thurman, section 11.3, and Cygnus Cybernetics, section 12.1. For $8.50 per set, Nate Kates will imprint the back of plastic Protiles with a name of up to 4 or 5 letters. Nate Kates 8170 Reche Canyon Rd Colton, CA 92324 In the UK, Spear makes Tournament Tiles, which besides having thinner, harder to braille ink than the regular Spear tiles, do not wear as quickly, nor smudge when wet. Available from Philip Nelkon (section 3.2) for #6. Imran Siddiqui of Pakistan makes comparable tiles, but may not be exporting them out of Pakistan. Extra-long maple racks are $10/pair with shipping from Jack's Better Racks Jack Jones 6291 Chimney Rock Trail Morrison, CO 80465 (303) 697-4754, fax 697-9805 11.2. Clocks Chess clocks, used to time games at clubs and tournaments, are available where chess paraphernalia is sold, but avoid analog models on whose faces the individual minutes past zero are not marked, and digital models which do not show seconds past zero. Analog quartz clocks are sold by Cygnus Cybernetics, section 12.1, for $76 + $5 shipping, and also by Matchups, section 12.6, $67.50 + $5 shipping. Wind-up clocks are sold by Matchups for $41 + $5 shipping and Cygnus for $48. The US Chess Federation sells various clocks. Their Game Time, at $120 to non-members, seems to be their best suited digital. The following clocks all are well suited to Scrabble, and are assigned equal highest preference by NSA rules. A wood-housed precision analog quartz clock is sold for $125 with padded case. It features a second hand which stops at discrete positions to assure rulings as precise as those using a digital clock. Richard Buck 10 Gilkey Ct Watertown, MA 02472 (617) 923-8909 A digital model, called the "Adjudicator 3000," is $110 USD plus $6 shipping. It has a slanted face with one-inch numbers showing seconds of overtime and 60-second courtesy draw and low-battery indicators, and is reprogrammable. Gene Tyszka 1060 Argus Dr Mississauga ON L4Y 2L8 Canada (905) 270-9662 The "2Timer" is similar to the above, and has a 20-second hold indicator. It is $90, but introductorily $80 for chess and Scrabble club members. 2Timer c/o MELCO P.O. Box 4026 Bellevue, WA 98009 The "SamTimer", a similar model sold for $109 (+ $10 for padded bag + $6 shipping), long was the only choice for one-inch numbers showing seconds of overtime (partly because its maker caused that ability to be removed from a competing model). It has a slanted face and a 60-second courtesy draw indicator and is larger than competing models because it shows an hours digit, since it is also sold for chess. Sam Kantimathi 300 Salmon Falls Rd El Dorado Hills, CA 95762-9786 (888) SAM-TIME (916) 933-5000, fax 933-3361 Out of production but still in circulation is a light, simple digital clock with the minimum features to make it one of the models preferred by NSA rules. It is fixed to start at 25 minutes per side. 11.3. Playing equipment In addition to various plain, deluxe (rotating) and travel editions sold by the trademark holders, a few types of circular rotating boards are sold. These generally incorporate paper markings taken from an authorized board. Cymbal bags fit most of them well. For information, write to any of Roy Blizzard 2132 Marwood Ln Albemarle, NC 28001 (704) 982-4723 Mike Connally 12488 S US Hwy 181 #7 San Antonio, TX 78223 (210) 633-3308 John Cornelius [current information sought] Roy Peshkin 1020 Grande Isle Ter Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33418 (561) 691-0220, fax 691-0221 Evi Pike (905) 793-3477 Phil Rosenberg 864 Colonial Av Union, NJ 07083 Mary Lou Thurman 2627 24th St Lubbock, TX 79410 (806) 744-7702 Gene Tyszka 1060 Argus Dr Mississauga ON L4Y 2L8 Canada (905) 270-9662 or to Eileen Willis 3664 Danielle Ct North Liberty, IA 52317 (319) 626-6391 A uniquely compact "Star Board," of nesting plastic using the deluxe board grid is available for $150 from Ossie Mair (954) 741-5516 A lightweight wooden turntable into which the British deluxe board can be inserted, #32.50, comes from Martin A Reed 32 Lauser Road Stanwell Staines Middlesex TW19 7PT 01784-210738 or 0956-436566 Krylon No. 1310 Dulling Spray should serve to remove the deluxe board's glare for those who find it annoying. Blind players do play in tournaments, bringing their own braille sets, which have visible printed letters. Braille and Low-Vision Scrabble, variants of the deluxe, turntable edition, are sold by Maxi-Aids 42 Executive Blvd P.O. Box #3209 Farmingdale, NY 11735 (800) 522-6294 (516) 752-0521 Visionaries Store Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind 1421 P Street, NW Washington, DC 20005 (202) 462-2900 x3050, fax 667-8095 Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind Equipment Resource Centre 557 St Kilda Rd Melbourne 3004 Australia 03 9522 5222 1800 33 55 88 fax 03 9510 4735 The Franklin Mint sells a Scrabble set (complete with a copy of the OSPD2), with wooden board and shiny metal tiles, for $495, even higher in the UK. No serious player I know owns one except a few who have won this garish item as a Franklin-donated tournament prize. Evi Pike also sells game carrying bags, $16-25; tile bags, $6-$14; round board covers $7-$18; and book covers, $5-$6. Prices vary due to specialty fabrics; matching sets on request. Mike Connally sells Protiles, bags and nameplates. Mary Lou Thurman (above) sells several things, including: a cover of light plastic mesh for the deluxe edition of Scrabble allowing collecting tiles from the board all at once, $2.50 square, $3.50 round; tote bags, $15-$20; tile bags, $6-$10; chess clock bags, $7; OSPD book covers, $6-$7; Wordbook covers, $7; all optionally decorated or embroidered with names. 7.5% tax and $1.50-$4.00 shipping up for $10-$40 of merchandise. Luise Shafritz sells lined tile bags with a spring device to prevent tiles from falling out, clock protectors, TWL98 covers and other items. Bags are $10 plus $1 shipping ($2 for more than one). 2740 Meadowcrest Ct Wexford, PA 15090 (724) 935-5896, 935-3072 fax Peter and Trudy Olson sell silk tile bags with rounded corners for $21, by money order, including postage. P.O. Box 236, McKenna, WA 98558, (360) 894-1340. Punch bound books of 100 score-sheets in various colors and tracking orders, with or without board diagrams, are available for $5 each plus $3 shipping for up to 3 books from Danny Gatlin 191 Lakeshore Rd Jackson, MS 39212 11.4. Miscellaneous Here are listed various somewhat fetishistic objects not usable for playing Scrabble. Spear (section 3.2) (shipping is to UK and Ireland only) T-shirts, standard #5.99, deluxe #7.99; baseball caps, #5.99; pins #1.25; tournament tiles #6.00; pens #.30 each, plus #1 shipping Magnificent Mouchoirs Boxer shorts, #12.95; handkerchief, #6.95; silk tie, #19.95; braces (suspenders) #24.95; bow tie, #14.95; cuff links, #14.95. Shipping #1.95 within UK, #4.00 within Europe, #6.00 outside Europe. The cuff links are of individual Scrabble tiles; Q, U, V, X, Y and Z are not available. The others depict the board from the deciding game of the 1993 World [English language] Scrabble Championship; on the handkerchief, the board is exact, on the others, it is taken from a continuous fabric of that board, resulting in distortions. The players (and authors?) of that game (Mark Nyman and Joel Wapnick) are not credited and are not being compensated. Magnificent Mouchoirs Quayside Lodge William Morris Way London SW6 2SY +44 171 371 7017 +44 171 371 7115 fax Novel-Tees Authorized Scrabble t-shirts, with such sayings as "Scrabble Is My Life" spelled out, at least in part, in tiles. $9.95 each plus $2.95 shipping, $1.50 each additional. Silk scarves $25, silk boxer shorts $15, silk ties $20, cloth ties $12, some with erroneous tile values. Novel-Tees 84 Greensward Lane Cherry Hill, NJ 08002 (609) 321-1211 Scrabble area rug $100 at various retail outlets, or plus $15 shipping: Gary Moss 1131 Back Bay Dr #5313 Newport Beach, CA 92660 (714) 759-4871 12. Computer versions of Scrabble There are (1) Scrabble-playing programs licensed in the US and UK; (2) "crossword game" programs which can be configured to play Scrabble; and (3) programs which ignore the trademark and copyright issues. All are represented below. Only programs which themselves play Scrabble or provide on-line intermediaries are listed, not those which solely provide an electronic set. For a citation to a publication on efficient Scrabble move finding, see section 12.13. An improvement on the method described there appears in: A Faster Scrabble Move Generation Algorithm Steven A. Gordon Software Practice and Experience, 24:2, Feb 1994, pp. 219-232 The following paper compares approaches for move selection: A Comparison Between Probabilistic Search and Weighted Heuristics in a Game with Incomplete Information Steven A. Gordon AAAI Fall 1993 Symposium on Games: Playing and Learning, AAI Press Technical Report FS9302, Menlo Park, CA James A. Cherry () will mail back computerized critiques of played games, after being supplied properly formatted game logs. 12.1. CrossWise (IBM PC, Windows) A ridiculously fast player which plays at the highest level, twice having won the international Computer Olympiad at Scrabble. Highly configurable, with a professionally programmed interface. Contains all TWL98 words, but no others over eight letters. (An augmentation of the dictionary to cover 9 letter words is $12.50.) No setup capability; hinting ability is "limited" to showing all moves in score order. $35 + $4.50 shipping for DOS, $45 + $5.00 shipping for Windows. Cygnus Cybernetics Corporation 2013 Weathertop Fort Collins, CO 80526 (800) 357-8168 (970) 490-1288, 493-5370 fax A variant of CrossWise is sold in the UK. See section 12.7. Note that the shipping charge for orders of multiple items is $3.50 for the first $29.99 of merchandise, plus $.50 for each $10 up to a maximum of $6. 12.2. Gameboy Super Scrabble (Nintendo) Based on an American Heritage Dictionary, not OSPD. Plays for high score, and never bingos. 12.3. Maven (Macintosh, Windows) An extremely strong and intelligent player. Never having entered the now discontinued international Computer Olympiad, its strength can't reliably be compared to CrossWise's. It includes excellent facilities for position analysis, including simulations. The program keeps track of various statistics about the player. All rights to Maven have been sold to Hasbro, which made it the engine for its own official version (section 12.18), so it is no longer sold or supported. 12.4. Monty Plays Scrabble (hand-held) Ritam Corporation. Originally available for the IBM PC and Apple II, since 1987 only as a hand-held unit. Comes with 20,000 words from OSPD1, upgradable to about 40,000, which is still incomplete. Deplorable strategy. The hand-held version requires scrolling around a small screen to find the board area of interest. Reportedly sometimes changes the letter represented by a played blank. Apparently no longer licensed by Milton Bradley, its current availability is unknown. 12.5. Scramble/Literati (IBM PC/Windows) These are very pretty games. But note this from the documentation of Scramble, available for ftp at , (which applies as well to Literati, the Windows port): "Q. How come I can see my opponent's rack? Shouldn't it be hidden? A. You must be thinking of some other crossword game. This is Scramble. In Scramble, you get to see your opponent's rack." The machine player plays for high score on each turn. While substitution of a user-provided dictionary for the quite incomplete one supplied is provided for, this slows down an already slow game. French version available, too. . Ted Gruber Software P.O. Box 13408 Las Vegas, NV 89112 The unregistered version of Literati v1.15, available at or , is limited to using the provided small dictionary and a non-Scrabble board; registering at $24.95 plus shipping ($4 in the US) brings a full dictionary but still not a standard board. MVP Software 1035 Dallas S.E. Grand Rapids, MI 49507-1407 12.6. Tyler (IBM PC, Macintosh) Written for the IBM PC and ported to the Macintosh (not very smoothly, I am told), this version is distinguished by a complete OSPD2 and Merriam-Webster dictionary up to 15 letters, with a UK dictionary also available, by good strategy and by good setup and hint facilities. (I long used it to automatically critique my tournament games.) Unfortunately, the latest version, 3.04 is flaky, and the author has not been upgrading as frequently as he had. $50 + $2 shipping. TWL98 version due out soon. Matchups c/o Susi Tiekert PO Box 908 Bowling Green Sta. New York, NY 10274-0908 (212) 689-4046 sales support 12.7. The Scrabble Player (IBM PC, Amiga, Atari ST, Psion) This is essentially similar to CrossWise (section 12.1), but comes with the complete contents of the OSW. Reviews in the ABSP newsletter say "a splendid opponent ... speed is quite astonishing ... graphics and facilities are excellent." Cost is around #20, but availability uncertain, as its license for sale in the UK has expired. Eidos Interactive +44 121 356 0831 12.8. Vic Rice's Game (IBM PC) This goes under the name "Scrabble" but for clarity, I'm denominating it according to its author's name. Available from Vic Rice 4026 Bayou Grove Dr Seabrook, TX 77586 and from the bulletin board system (BBS) where the author resides: Ed Hopper's PC Board (713) 782-5454 12.9. Virgin Mastertronic (IBM PC, Macintosh) Licensed for sale in the US. Sold in three versions, about $15, $25 and $35. The standard version has about 20,000 words from the OSPD1. The two deluxe versions have the complete OSPD1 with some errors. In the IBM PC program, the deluxe version adds VGA graphics. The $35 version is the deluxe for Windows, which stops running when in the background. Reportedly plays at the level of a middling tournament player, but with no discernible strategy. Also reportedly very slow, with the deluxe versions, holding the full OSPD1, taking two to three minutes per move on a 386/33. Windows deluxe version was available at $18.95 from Surplus Software, (800) 753-7877. Mac version may be available from MacPlay. 12.10. WordsWorth (IBM PC, Windows) Shareware versions 2.2 for Windows 95 and 1.3 for PC/Windows, from and , use OSPD3 and OSPD2, respectively, restricted to words of up to six letters. Registration of the latest version at 75 S. African Rand, $25 USD or #20 brings the complete OSPD and Merriam-Webster; the earlier version no longer is supported. Graham Wheeler 12.11. STrabbler (Atari) Shareware, it is available for ftp from . It requires at least 1MB of memory. Words are played by click-and-drag using the mouse. The program plays solely for high score. It contains a 45,000 word editable and browsable dictionary. 12.12. Unix Scrabble (Unix) This program, by James A. Cherry, has to be compiled for the target machine. It comes with an American Scrabble dictionary, for which a single word file in simple ASCII may be substituted. Currently in version 1.31. The player faces from one to three computer opponents which play for highest score at each move. Available from . 12.13. CRAB (Unix, Sun, Vax and Macintosh) Based on their article in a research journal: The World's Fastest Scrabble Program Andrew W. Appel and Guy J. Jacobson Communications of the A.C.M. v.31 no.5, May 1988, pp. 572-578, 585 review: this product from Jacoppel Enterprises (the Unix, Sun and Vax version of which is currently in version 1.3) appears primarily designed to demonstrate the speed of their move-finding method, but does permit a real, player-versus-machine game to be played. Their method is no longer the fastest (their timings on more sophisticated machines are far outdone by CrossWise on a lowly IBM PC), but illuminating nonetheless. The Mac version is available at any mirror of the Info-Mac archive, including mirrors.aol.com, directory /pub/info-mac/game/word, in the file x-words-10.hqx; the Unix source code is available by ftp from the Crossword Archives, . 12.14. Scrabble Door (IBM PC BBS) When installed by the system operator, allows playing others on an IBM-PC based BBS. Player, logged on to the BBS, need not be using a PC. Shareware, $25 payable by sysop. Registered version includes built-in dictionary based on OSPD3, and allows sysop-supplied ASCII dictionary. Rather than challenges, plays with phonies are rejected, costing a player's turn only after 3 bad attempts. Christopher Hall 1007 Cable Creek Dr Grapevine, TX 76051 12.15. ScrabOut/Networdz (Windows 3.1 and 95) User-installable dictionary. ScrabOut played merely for high score and didn't see parallel plays. Networdz, the successor, is more sophisticated in strategy and configurability, and allows play over the Internet (but even there, phonies are not allowed) and in 16 languages. In both versions, having to drag tiles to the board is annoying. Hasbro has required the author to withdraw these programs. Until Mattel takes similar action, they are available for use outside North America from or . See for further information. 12.16. X-Words (Macintosh) Registration of this shareware product by Andrew Trevorrow, , is $20. Handsome interface, easy to set to common board configuration. Will kibitz high scoring and best play; has setup (a bit laborious) but not simulation capability. Reportedly fast, with strategy somewhat weaker than Maven's (section 12.3), still leaving it fairly strong. Freeverse Software 447 W 24 St New York, NY 10011 (212) 929-3549, fax 647-0562 12.17. Amiga Scrabble (Amiga) Scrabble for the Amiga. Available by ftp from ftp.aminet.org in the directory /systems/amiga/aminet/game/2play file scrabble.lha. Author and features unknown so far. 12.18. Hasbro Scrabble/E-mail Scrabble (Windows, Win CE, Macintosh) Although based on Maven (section 12.3), this Hasbro product on CD-ROM falls far short of it. The ability to alter the position has been removed, the board is seen only from a non-perpendicular perspective, it sometimes deals 3 blanks, doesn't show a clock in tournament mode, requires 25MB of disk although 5MB is claimed, and even a human opponent cannot play a phony. It allows play over modem, local network or the Internet, except that this doesn't work yet on the Mac, and Internet users by default are routed through a pay-per-minute service. For related chat, see section 3.6.5 or Microsoft Gaming Zone, . Available at as low as $18, it plays in English, French, German or Spanish, but features the ESPD (section 3.3.3.5), not the full OSPD. Hasbro Interactive is at (800) 638-6927, (617) 746-2903 or (508) 921-3722, and provides support at , and . Being a Hasbro product, it is available only within Hasbro's domain, the U.S. and Canada. Spear's separate CD-ROM game was released in November 1999, at about #30. Unofficial resources include Nancy Overman's excellent page about using the program over the Internet, , Nina Gary's on its flaws, , help on playing at the Zone at , and replacement dictionaries, . A version for Windows CE (including Palm Pilot) was due out in March 1998, at about $30. How similar it is to the CD-ROM version is not yet known. A play-by-email version is now published by Hasbro. Exchanging tiles can yield back some of the same tiles. 12.19. XScrabble (Unix/X Windows) This program, by Matt Chapman and Matthew Badham, has to be compiled for the target machine. It allows saving and restoring games, and comes with OSPD3. Available at . 12.20. Gary's Computer Scrabble (Unix) Distributed in source form, it requires python, Tkinter, gcc and shared libraries. If this means something to you, you can try it. 12.21. Ortograf (Macintosh) Plays in duplicate or match-play modes, in French or English. Shareware, $25. 12.22. dupliKta (Windows) Plays duplicate in French. Trial version at . Other French shareware programs, many only for duplicate Scrabble, are in . 12.23. Vocabble (IBM PC) Plays duplicate in French. . 12.24. PC Scrabble (Windows 95, DOS) Plays duplicate or match play. . Other French commercial programs are in . 12.25. Psion/Sinclair Scrabble (Spectrum, Sinclair Z80) For the Psion Spectrum, 1983, by ftp from and for the Sinclair Z80, , appearing to be recompilations of the same program. These have no more than about 6000 words. 12.26. Sanaset (Windows) In Finnish. 12.27. WinScra (Windows) In French. . 12.28. Niggle (Palm Pilot) Uses OSPD3 or TWL98. . 12.29. Scrabble by Strobe (Windows) Supplied or user-provided or dictionary. . 12.30. Cardwords (Linux with X Windows) A highly genericized form of the game, currently in alpha release. . 12.31. Crosswords (Palm Pilot) Version 3.1, allows choice of TWL98 or SOWPODS. 13. Glossary Anamonic: See section 6, Study. Bingo: A play that uses all seven of a player's tiles, earning a 50-point bonus. Good tournament players average one to two such plays per game. The unlovely term "bingo" is used by North American players. British players say "bonus play" or just "bonus". Double-Double, Triple-Triple: A play that covers two double word scores, or triple word scores, respectively, scoring quadruple or nonuple the raw score of the word. In the UK, "4-timer" and "9-timer". Exchange: A turn in which a player trades letters rather than playing on the board. This is allowed only when at least 7 tiles remain in the bag. In the UK, "change". Hook: A play adding one letter to one end of of a word already played, while creating a main word perpendicular to the extended word. Leave: The tiles remaining on a player's rack after their play. Parallel Play: A play making several words perpendicular to the main word by extending existing words or inserting letters between existing tiles. Pass: A turn in which a player does nothing. Compare with exchange. Phony: A word played that is not in the official dictionary or dictionaries. 14. Litigation Scrabble's trademark and copyright protections and its owners have been involved in several lawsuits in the USA. This section (in draft) describes some of those. (None of this is to be taken as legal advice -- anyone needing to know how the law applies to their situation will have to consult an attorney willing to take them on a client.) Landsberg v. Scrabble Crossword Game Players, Inc., 736 F.2d 485 (9th Cir.) (holding that defendant's "Scrabble Players Handbook" did not infringe the copyright on plaintiff's draft book "Championship Scrabble Strategy", submitted by plaintiff to defendant, because, although the lower court found defendant surreptitiously retained copies of and copied from plaintiff's work, what was taken was at most uncopyrightable ideas; for example, defendant "had taken" its "notational system"; but remanding on whether its conduct violated an implied-in-fact contract to compensate him if it used his ideas, and for possible attorneys' fees for "vexatious, oppressive, obdurate and bad faith conduct of [the] litigation," 736 F.2d at 491), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 1037 (1984). Worth v. Selchow & Righter Co., 827 F.2d 569 (9th Cir. 1987) (defendant's trivia game did not infringe copyright of trivia encyclopedia because it copied only a fraction of the game's facts and organized them differently), cert. denied, 485 U.S. 977 (1988). Selchow & Righter Co. v. Decipher, Inc., 598 F. Supp. 1489 (E.D. Va. 1984) (defendant's "Real Questions For Your Trivial Pursuit Game" infringed the trademark licensed to plaintiff by imitating the trademarked product's appearance, or "trade dress" and by overuse of the term "Trivial Pursuit," where these were not functional). Horn Abbott Ltd. v. Sarsaparilla Ltd., 601 F. Supp. 360 (N.D. Ill. 1984) (temporarily enjoining sale of a book "In Further Pursuit of Trivial Pursuit", which reproduced all 6000 questions and answers in plaintiff's game (plus explanations) and imitated its "trade dress"). Production and Marketing Co. v. E.S. Lowe Co., 390 F.2d 1013 (Ct. of Cust. & Pat. App. 1968) (denying defendant use of the name "Scribbage" for a crossword game, as infringing on "Scrabble"). Selchow & Righter Co. v. McGraw-Hill Book Co., 580 F.2d 25 (2d Cir. 1978) (preliminarily enjoining publication of defendant's "The Complete Scrabble Dictionary" as tending to render plaintiff's trademark generic; noting however, that "[t]he extent to which it has come into general use to describe a game or games rather than their origin or source of supply is fairly open to proof." 580 F.2d at 28). Selchow & Righter Co. v. Book-of-the-Month Club, Inc., 192 USPQ 530 (S.D.N.Y. 1976) (denying a preliminary injunction against defendant's "The Scrabble Book" based on plaintiff's failure to show irreparable harm from its publication). A0. Copyright This article is copyright 1993-2000 Steven Alexander. Except as follows, all rights are reserved. Copies may be made in propagating any of the entire Usenet newsgroups on which this is posted by the copyright holder. Archives accessible by ftp which collect all available FAQs or entire Usenet newsgroups may maintain a copy. Individuals may make single copies for personal, non-commercial purposes. Each copy permitted must be complete. Other than the above, no permission is granted to copy or distribute. No permission is granted to prepare derivative works. A1. FAQ policy In an effort to keep the FAQ actually and apparently credible, I don't accept anything of value (other than newsletters) from people who sell things reviewed, except where necessary for me to understand the product. In those cases, a hampered version should suffice. A2. Credits Many thanks to Graeme Thomas, John J. Chew III and Jim Homan for numerous corrections and improvements. Also to Barry Harridge and Philip F.X. Ryan for information on Australia. Thanks to Edith Berman, Gary Dismukes, Steven Gordon, John C. Green Jr., Adam Logan, Maggie Morley, Larry Sherman and Harriet Strasberg for helpful comments, and to the members of the mailing list crossword-games-pro (section 3.6.2), who ferret out and share much useful information. If you have suggestions or better information on anything here, please mail me at with "FAQ" in the subject. Street address and fax number are available upon request. -- Steven Alexander