Information for Players

This page will be updated frequently as the 2005 World SCRABBLE^® Championship draws nearer. Participants are requested to check it for last-minute announcements before travelling to the event.

Registration

If you have qualified to represent your country at the 2005 WSC, please read and follow the registration instructions carefully. In particular, be sure to fill out the online registration form as soon as possible, and be sure that you arrive on time for event registration at 7:00 P.M. on Wednesday 16 November at the Marriott Regent's Park Hotel.

What to Bring

All equipment, including game timers, scoresheets, tiles, tile bags, boards and racks will be provided.

Prizewinners will be paid by credit transfer after the contest so please ensure you have details with you of a bank acccount that your prize can be paid into.

Rules

The Championships will be played under ABSP Game Rules, except as noted below. Wilma Vialle (Australia) will be Tournament Director.

There will be a 24-round modified Swiss tournament, with eight, nine and seven games played respectively on Thursday 17, Friday 18 and Saturday 19 November, starting each day at 8:30 a.m. The top two players will contest a five-game final on Sunday 20 November beginning at 10:00 a.m., with closed circuit coverage to an audience.

In the first round, no two players representing the same country will be paired with each other. The freely available tsh program will be used and the pairing system that will be used is described in its online documentation.

The word references for the event are Official Scrabble Words International for words of up to nine letters and their inflections, and Long List and Chambers 1998 for longer words. If a challenge is unsuccessful, there will be a five-point penalty on the challenger for each challenged word that is found to be acceptable.

To accommodate one of the players — Zev Kaufman (Canada) — playing on the Sabbath (Friday evening and all day Saturday), the following rules will apply for his games on those days:

1. He will record his and his opponent’s cumulative scores by using bookmarks in a book. He and his opponent will agree on the current cumulative score after each turn.
2. He will tile track by using a specially designed box containing 100 tiles which are turned over as they are used.
3. A spring-operated non-electric wind-up clock will be used for those games.

Venue

Please see the venue page for information about the Marriott Regent's Park Hotel. It is your responsibility to make your own travel arrangements, including booking accommodation.

Meals

We will be providing buffet lunch only for all contestants and officials during the Championships. No other refreshments will be provided but there will be water stations in the playing room.

Other Accommodation

According to the Youth Hostel Association, the nearest YHA hostels are Hampstead Heath (in a pleasant part of London about 3 miles away) and King's Cross (more centrally loccated for sightseeing, with Underground access to the venue taking about 20&ndash-30 minutes).

Other Tournaments

If you are planning on arriving a few days before the WSC, you may wish to play in a one-day six-game tournament in Luton (30 miles north of London) on 12 November. See the ABSP Calendar for further details.

There is also a two-day eleven-game tournament in Milton Keynes on 26-27 November which at least a few WSC competitors will attend.

Publicity

We would be grateful if you would co-operate with requests for interviews etc. from now on and including the event.