Scrabble Association Tournament Rules and Regulations 2020

With effect from 1 Jan 2020, WESPA applies Rules v4. WESPA Rules v4 can be found on WESPA site (https://www.wespa.org/wesparulesv4.pdf). WESPA has also summarized the changes on WESPA site (https://www.wespa.org/wesparulesv4changes.pdf).

SA-rated tournaments from 1 Jan 2020 may opt to use WESPA Rules v4 with the same adaptations as previously used on WESPA Rules v3.

It is expected that the SA committee will decide to formally adopt WESPA Rules v4 in the 2020 AGM or earlier.

Scrabble Association Tournament Rules and Regulations 2016

Following up from the 2016 AGM, the SA committee has decided that the WESPA tournament rules version 3 (or "WESPA Rules v3" in short) will be adopted as the standard for SA-rated tournaments from 1 May 2016. WESPA Rules v3 can be found on WESPA site ( http://www.wespa.org/rules/rulesv3.pdf)

Specific adaptations for use in SA-rated tournaments are listed in the addenda in Appendix A. This section is also recommended for international players who play in SA-rated tournament, or SA members who are already familiar with WESPA Rules v3.

To ease the transition, a summary of key changes from the previous SA rules to WESPA Rules v3 can be found in Appendix B (the previous SA rules in effect until 30 April 2016 are available for reference). However, it is still recommended that anyone playing in SA-rated tournaments read the WESPA Rules v3 in the entirety where possible before playing with the rules for the first time.

More information:

• WESPA Rules v4 [pdf]
• WESPA Rules v4 changes [pdf]
• WESPA Rules v3 [pdf]
• Appendix A: SA-specific Addenda to WESPA Rules v3 (also v4) [pdf]
• Appendix B: Key Changes Under WESPA Rules v3 [pdf]
• Previous SA Rules in effect until 30 April 2016

Tournament Formats

All tournament details are subject to changes. Division cutoffs and actual format used are subject to practical constraints such as time and venue availabilities. Prize allocations are subject to enough prize funds being secured.

TOURNAMENT PAIRING METHODS

The following are brief summaries of the tournament pairing systems commonly used singly or in combination in SA rated tournaments.

• Round Robin: every player in the group plays every other player once. Repeated round robins are playable. The number of rounds played in a full round robin is the number of players less one.
• King-of-the-Hill (KOTH): players in the field are ranked in order of games won with (usually) cumulative margin as a secondary ranking. The player currently in 1^st position plays the player currently in 2^nd position, the player currently in 3^rd position plays the player currently in 4^th position and so on.
• No repeat KOTH or "Australian Draw": Going down the current standings the computer program will pair an unpaired player against the next highest player he has not previously played.
• "Swiss" Pairing: This is normally used for the first round before standings have been determined. Players are seeded in order of ratings. In a field of N players the 1^st-seeded player plays Player (N/2)+1; the 2^nd-seeded player plays Player (N/2)+2 and so on.
• Progressive Round Robin: the field is seeded by ratings and then divided into equal sized groups which play a round robin within each group. Those finishing at the bottom of their group are demoted to the next lower group for the next round and those finishing at the top of their group are promoted.