English-language Scrabble is the original version of the popular word-based board game invented in 1938 by US architect Alfred Mosher Butts , who based the game on English letter distribution in The New York Times . The Scrabble variant most popular in English is standard match play, where two players compete over a series of games. Duplicate Scrabble is not popular in English, and High score Scrabble is no longer practised.
20-558: The World Scrabble Championship ( WSC ) is played to determine the world champion in competitive English-language Scrabble . It was held in every odd year from 1991 to 2013; from 2013 onwards, it became an annual event. The most successful player in world championship history is Nigel Richards from New Zealand, who won a record five titles between 2007 and 2019. Sponsorship of the World Scrabble Championship (WSC) formerly alternated between Hasbro and Mattel ,
40-565: A turn if they challenge a valid word. Instead the other player gains points, usually five per challenged word. This means more words are challenged than in North American play. There are only Scrabble competitions for primary and secondary school students in Hong Kong. Inter-School competitions are held by companies and organisations such as Mattel and Broadlearning. In May 2015, Hong Kong Student Scrabble Players Association organised
60-605: Is NASPA Games (formerly North American Scrabble Players Association), which has sanctioned official clubs and tournaments since 2009, taking this role over from the National Scrabble Association . Tournaments range from one-day tournaments of less than 10 rounds to the North American Scrabble Championship , which lasts 5 days and 31 rounds. Larger tournaments can also carry significant prize money. The official lexicon
80-514: Is also practised at tournaments and clubs in the UK. Tournaments follow a similar structure to American ones, usually at least six games. Weekend tournaments where players play 12 to 16 games are not uncommon. The Association of British Scrabble Players sanctions official tournaments with official ratings, which range from about 200 to about 50. The official lexicon is Collins Scrabble Words (CSW19). In contrast to American tournaments, players do not lose
100-482: Is the NASPA Word List . When a player challenges a word, if the word is not in the lexicon it is removed from the board with a score of zero. If the word is in the lexicon, the player who challenged the word loses a turn. Scrabble clubs meet on a regular basis, usually weekly or biweekly at the same venue. Players usually play a smaller number of games than they would play at a tournament. Match-play Scrabble
120-503: Is the most successful country participating in the World Scrabble Championship. This accounts for 27.8% of the total wins. The United Kingdom and Canada each secured 3 victories, placing them both in second place. English-language Scrabble Although English is a worldwide language, the official list of allowable words and some tournament rules differ between territories. The preeminent Scrabble association in North America
140-546: Is the third version published autonomously by NASPA rather than by Merriam-Webster under its copyright. NWL2023 contains every word in the seventh edition of the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary as well as words considered unsuitable for that book (offensive words and trademarks). It also contains words of nine or more letters, unlike the OSPD. It differs from its predecessor, NWL2020, in
160-712: The Inter-School Scrabble Championship. Some schools also organise invitational Scrabble competitions every year. Many countries have small English-language Scrabble associations. 23 countries have been represented at the World Scrabble Championship , including some where English is not an official language, such as Romania , Thailand and France . Other countries that do not use the Latin script also may play in English if
180-544: The North American and global owners of the Scrabble trademark, respectively. However, after Hasbro declined to sponsor WSC 2005 , Mattel has organized and sponsored all championships. Mind Sports International (MSI) began sponsoring the event in 2013 after successfully organizing their own major Scrabble tournament in Prague in 2012. As of 2018, it has been sponsored by Mindsports Academy. On 17 May 2013, Mattel announced that
200-537: The USA and Canada under the aegis of NASPA Games . It is based on the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary (OSPD) with modifications to make it more suitable for tournament play. Its British and international-English counterpart is Collins Scrabble Words . North American tournament Scrabble currently uses the sixth edition of NWL, officially called NWL2023. The NASPA Games Dictionary Committee created this version in mid-2023 and it took effect on February 29, 2024; it
220-487: The event would be renamed the Scrabble Champions Tournament, and the tournament would be held annually as part of Mind Sports International's Prague Mind Sports Festival. MSI introduced a 'Last Chance Qualifier' tournament, giving players a last opportunity to qualify for 5 places in the main event if they failed to achieve a place on their national team. A four-way knockout stage was introduced for
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#1732801157158240-543: The event, making him the first British World Scrabble Champion since Mark Nyman in 1993. In 2015, following cancellation of the SCT, Mattel and MSI agreed to allow WESPA to organize the 2015 WESPA Championship (WESPAC) . It was held in Perth , Australia and followed the invitational format of pre-MSI WSC events. 130 players qualified to play. Wellington Jighere of Nigeria emerged as WESPA Champion after beating Lewis Mackay 4–0 in
260-486: The final. In 2016, the tournament was split into two divisions based on players' rankings. MSI also hosted world championships in other languages, including French, German, Spanish and Catalan, alongside the French Duplicate Championship. The 2017 MSI World Championships followed the same format as the 2016 event. This was won by Australian David Eldar . The 2018 World Scrabble Championship
280-508: The introduction of over 4,500 words, including additions to OSPD7, and 11–15 letter words from COD2. The decision to bowdlerize the OSPD's third edition by removing a large number of possibly offensive words necessitated a separate, unabridged word list for tournament use. The first edition of OWL was created by the NSA Dictionary Committee, chaired by John Chew , and took effect on March 2, 1998. To avoid controversy, it
300-429: The language is not suitable for Scrabble, such as Japan . The largest tournament in the world, by number of players, is Thailand's English-language Brand's Crossword Game King's Cup , which draws as many as 8,000 players. NASPA Word List NASPA Word List ( NWL , formerly Official Tournament and Club Word List , referred to as OTCWL , OWL , TWL ) is the official word authority for tournament Scrabble in
320-491: The top four finishers, which consisted of a best-of-3 semi-final followed by a best-of-5 final. Nigel Richards became World Champion here, making him the first player to defend his world title. In 2014 the Scrabble Champions Tournament continued in London, but it became an open event, with all players invited to compete. A quarter-final stage was added, meaning that the top 8 progressed to the knockout stages. Craig Beevers won
340-455: Was available for sale only to NSA members, and unlike the OSPD, did not include definitions. To provide additional value for tournament players, the OWL includes words whose base or inflected forms have up to nine letters, rather than the OSPD's eight. OSPD3 was created from OSPD2 by adding all appropriate words that had been added to Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (MWCD) in the interim; OWL
360-763: Was organised by Mindsports Academy. The main event was held in Torquay , Devon, but the best-of-5 final was held in London to celebrate the game's 70th anniversary. The event was won by Nigel Richards. In 2019 Nigel Richards went on to defend his title (and win his fifth championship) against David Eldar at the Riviera International Centre in Torquay . After 2019, unofficial world championships are held at WESPAC because WESPA has been denied permission from Mattel and/or Hasbro to be called an official world championship. From 1993 to 2023, New Zealand, represented by Nigel Richards with his 5 victories,
380-415: Was produced by NASPA in collaboration with Merriam-Webster, and under its own copyright for the first time. The 2020 update NWL2020 differed from its predecessor only in the removal of 259 words deemed to be personally applicable offensive slurs, precipitated by rule changes proposed by the North American holder of SCRABBLE trademarks, Hasbro, Inc. , in the wake of that year's anti-racism protests. Unlike
400-488: Was then formed by restoring the possibly offensive words removed from OSPD3 and adding nine-letter words from MWCD. The 2014 update OTCWL2014 added several thousand words from two new sources, Oxford Collegiate Dictionary Second Edition and Canadian Oxford Dictionary Second Edition. OTCWL2016, a minor update in 2016, added over 1,000 nine-letter words. The 2018 update NWL2018 added over 3,000 words, including additions to OSPD6 and MWCD, and ten-letter words from COD2. It
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