The following changes to the Rules were made in the edition published
on December 1, 2016.
Major Changes
- I.D. Distracting Speech or Behavior
- Misleading your opponent is no longer explicitly forbidden; the Rules Committee determined that such a rule was unenforceable.
- II.C. Protocol
- Tournament rules not to be used as a tool for intimidation.
- II.D. Director's Discretion
- Directors should try to unwind the progress of a game as necessary even to the point of un-starting a clock and returning time to a player.
- III.A.1. References
- OTCWL2016 is now in effect.
- III.A.2. Tiles
- Tile thickness and wear are now considerations.
- III.G.2. Establishing Orientation
- Ambiguous initial tile orientation should be clarified immediately.
- III.G.3. Misoriented Tiles
- Plays with misoriented tiles should be corrected, not challenged.
- IV.B.3. Loose Tiles
- Rules concerning this situation have been rewritten and expanded.
- IV.B.4. Played Tiles Gone Missing
- Rules concerning this situation have been rewritten and expanded.
- IV.B.7. End of Game Underdrawing
- If you don't record cume, then underdraw, the regular overdraw procedure applies.
- IV.B.8. Overdrawing Tiles when Fewer than Seven in the Bag
- Rules concerning this situation have been rewritten and expanded.
- IV.B.9. Exposing Tiles when Fewer than Seven in the Bag
- Rules concerning this situation have been rewritten and expanded.
- IV.C.3. Tiles from an Adjacent Game
- Rules concerning the case where the situation is not immediately detected have been rewritten and expanded.
- IV.C.4. Tile Bag Access
- A new rule has been added to explain who has priority of tile bag access.
- IV.F.1. How to Designate the Blank
- If written, the blank must be in capital letters.
- IV.I.2. Holding the Play
- Players must now announce that they are drawing provisional tiles. The procedure for releasing a hold after the drawing of provisional tiles is now documented, as is the penalty for returning provisional tiles to the bag unseen.
- IV.J.1. Software Self-Lookup Procedure
- Re-adjudication is not permitted after tiles are commingled or a subsequent play made and clock started.
- IV.K.4. Requesting a Second Opinion
- If a player asks for a second opinion about a play's validity, and the second opinion contradicts the first one, then in the absence of a third opinion, the first opinion takes precedence.
- VI.A. Word Reference
- CSW2015 is now in effect.