2020 North American SCRABBLE Championship

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The 2020 North American SCRABBLE Championship (previously known as the National SCRABBLE Championship) will take place on August 1-5, 2020 at the Radisson Hotel Downtown - Inner Harbor at 101 W Fayette St, Baltimore, MD 21201.

This webpage will be updated regularly as additional details became available.

Eligibility

To play in the NASC, you must (1) be a NASPA member, and (2) have played in an officially sanctioned SCRABBLE tournament to earn an official tournament rating. If you live in the United States or Canada, that rating should be a NASPA rating; if you live elsewhere it may be a WESPA rating or other comparable national rating.

NWL Divisions

If you meet the eligibility criteria and wish to play using the NASPA Word List 2018 (NWL), you may do so. Four NWL divisions will be offered, divided by Qualification Rating (QR), with unlimited play-up available. If your QR is 1800 or higher, or if you do not have a NASPA rating, you must play in Division 1. If your QR is in the range 1400–1799, you must play in Division 1 or 2. If your QR is in the range 1100–1399, you must play in Division 1, 2 or 3. If your QR is below 1100, you may play in any of the four divisions.

Your QR consists of the highest tournament rating attained at the end of any NASPA NWL-rated tournament (or segment of a split-rated tournament) which finished during the period from July 20, 2019 to <XXXX>, 2020 (the start of last year's Championship to the close of registration). If you have a rating, but do not play during this period, your QR is your unchanged current rating.

Collins Divisions

If you meet the eligibility criteria and prefer to play using the international Collins (CSW) lexicon, you may do so. If your Collins Qualification Rating (CQR) is 1500 or higher, you must play in Division 1. If it is 1499 or below, you may play in Division 1 or 2. Players who only have a WESPA rating will be permitted to play in Division 1 or 2 if that rating is 1399 or below. If there are fewer than 20 players registered in either division as of <THREE WEEKS>, 2020, the divisions will be automatically combined into a single division.

If you are thinking about travelling from overseas to play in this event for the first time, please read our 2020 NASC for Overseas Visitors page.

The Collins division will be run using NASPA rules, except that the Collins lexicon will be used and the challenge penalty will be 5 points per word. The Collins division will be NASPA and WESPA rated.

Player division assignments will be reviewed after <XXXX>, 2020 to ensure that everyone is registered in the correct division. If the division in which you registered is not one in which your QR permits you to play, we will automatically move you up to the lowest permissible division.