English-language

Scrabble ''Scrabble'' is a word game in which two to four players score points by placing tiles, each bearing a single letter, onto a game board divided into a 15×15 grid of squares. The tiles must form words that, in crossword fashion, read left t ...

is the original version of the popular word-based

board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a co ...

invented in 1938 by US architect

Alfred Mosher Butts Alfred Mosher Butts (April 13, 1899 – April 4, 1993) was an American architect, famous for inventing the board game ''Scrabble'' in 1938. Personal life Alfred Mosher Butts was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, on April 13, 1899, to Allison B ...

, who based the game on

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

letter distribution in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

''. The Scrabble variant most popular in English is standard match play, where two players compete over a series of games.

Duplicate Scrabble Duplicate Scrabble is a variant of the board game Scrabble where all the players are faced with the same board and letters at the same time and must play the highest scoring word they can find. Although duplicate is rarely played at competition l ...

is not popular in English, and

High score Scrabble High score Scrabble is a variant of the board game Scrabble that was popular among tournament players in the United Kingdom in the 1970s and 1980s. The first National Scrabble Championship of the UK was played by high score rules in 1971, and was ...

is no longer practised. Although English is a worldwide language, the official list of allowable words and some tournament rules differ between territories.

North America

The preeminent Scrabble association in North America is

NASPA Games NASPA Games, formerly known as North American Scrabble Players Association (NASPA), is a nonprofit organization founded in 2009 to administer competitive Scrabble tournaments and clubs in North America. It officially took over these activities f ...

(formerly North American Scrabble Players Association), which has sanctioned official clubs and tournaments since 2009, taking this role over from the

National Scrabble Association The National Scrabble Association (NSA) was created in 1978 by Selchow & Righter, then the makers of Scrabble, to promote their game. It coordinated local clubs and Scrabble tournaments in North America, including the National Scrabble Championship, ...

. Tournaments range from one-day tournaments of less than 10 rounds to the

North American Scrabble Championship The Scrabble Players Championship (formerly the North American SCRABBLE® Championship, and earlier the National SCRABBLE Championship) is the largest ''Scrabble'' competition in North America. The event is currently held every year, and from 2004 ...

, which lasts 5 days and 31 rounds. Larger tournaments can also carry significant prize money. The official lexicon is the

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 the USA and Canada under the aegis of NASPA Games. It is based on the ''Official Scrabb ...

. 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.

United Kingdom

Match-play Scrabble 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 The Association of British Scrabble Players oversees competitive Scrabble in the UK. It was formed in 1987 by agreement with J W Spear & Sons, the game's trademark owner, who were subsequently bought out by Mattel in 1993. It currently has around ...

sanctions official tournaments with official ratings, which range from about 200 to about 50. The official lexicon is

Collins Scrabble Words Collins Scrabble Words (CSW, formerly SOWPODS) is the word list used in English-language tournament Scrabble in most countries except the US, Thailand and Canada. The term SOWPODS is an anagram of the two abbreviations '' OSPD'' (Official Scrabble ...

(CSW19). In contrast to American tournaments, players do not lose 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.

Hong Kong

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 Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company has presence in 35 countries and territories and sells products in more ...

and Broadlearning. In May 2015, Hong Kong Student Scrabble Players Association organised the Inter-School Scrabble Championship. Some schools also organise invitational Scrabble competitions every year.

Smaller countries

Many countries have small English-language Scrabble associations. 23 countries have been represented at the

World Scrabble Championship The World Scrabble Championship (WSC) is the most-prestigious title in competitive English-language Scrabble. It was held in every odd year from 1991 to 2013. From the 2013 edition, it became an annual event. It has been an open event since 2014 ...

, including some where English is not an official language, such as

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. Other countries that do not use the

Latin script The Latin script, also known as Roman script, is an alphabetic writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae, in southern I ...

also may play in English if 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 The Brand's Crossword Game King's Cup is the Thai national Scrabble competition in the English language. It has also been known as the Thailand International in the past. The tournament has been honoured to accept a trophy from His Majesty the Kin ...

, which draws as many as 8,000 players.

Records

* High game (OSPD) – 830 by Michael Cresta (MA), October 12, 2006. Cresta defeated Wayne Yorra 830-490.830-point Game at the Lexington Scrabble Club
/ref>830! How a carpenter got the highest Scrabble score ever. - By Stefan Fatsis - Slate Magazine
/ref> * High game (OSW) – 793 by Peter Preston (UK), 1999. * High game (SOWPODS) – 850 by Toh Weibin (Singapore) to Rik Kennedy's (Northern Ireland) 259, 2012. The game broke records for highest score, and highest spread in an official tournament, and featured two triple-triples: BEAUXITE for 275, and ALLiGATE for 122. *High combined score (OSPD) – 1320 (830-490) by Michael Cresta and Wayne Yorra, in a Lexington, MA, club, 2006. *High combined score (SOWPODS) – 1157 by Phillip Edwin-Mugisha (Uganda) and Vannitha Balasingam (Malaysia), at the 2009 World Scrabble Championship. *Highest losing score (OSPD) – 552 by Stefan Rau (CT) to Keith Smith's (TX) 582, Round 12 of the 2008 Dallas Open.
2008 Dallas Open live coverage. *Highest tie game (OSPD) – 502-502 by John Chew and Zev Kaufman at a 1997 Toronto Club tournamen

*Highest opening move score (OSPD) –

BEZIQUE Bezique () or Bésigue () is a 19th-century French melding and trick-taking card game for two players that came to Britain and is still played today. The game is derived from Piquet,''Transactions of the Philological Society'', Philological Soc ...

124 by Sam Kantimathi (CA) in Portland, OR Tournament in 1992. The highest possible legal score on a first turn is MUZJIKS, 128. *Highest opening move score (SOWPODS)

124 Joan Rosenthal.Tournament records - All-time best
/ref>

124 Sally Martin *Highest single play (OSPD) – QUIXOTRY 365 by Michael Cresta (MA), 2006. *Highest single play (SOWPODS) –

CAZIQUES A ''cacique'' (Latin American ; ; feminine form: ''cacica'') was a tribal chieftain of the Taíno people, the indigenous inhabitants at European contact of the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. The term is a Spa ...

392 Karl Khoshnaw. *Highest Average Score (two-day tournament) (OSPD) – 467 by

Joel Sherman Joel Sherman (born 1962), nicknamed "GI Joel", is a top American Scrabble expert and former world champion. He is chronicled in Stefan Fatsis's book ''Word Freak'', in Eric Chaikin's film ''Word Wars'', and in Scott Petersen's film ''Scrabylon ...

over 11 rounds; Wisconsin Dells, WI 1997.

Notes

External links

NASPA GamesAssociation of British Scrabble Players
{{DEFAULTSORT:English Language Scrabble Scrabble by language