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Difference between revisions of "Software"

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(Tournament management: put programs in alphabetical order)
(qz: 2019-09-21 - Per Steven Alexander)
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'''Software''' plays an increasing role in organized [[SCRABBLE]]® activities.   
+
'''Software''' plays a major role in organized [[SCRABBLE]]® activities.   
 +
 
 
[[NASPA]]'s [[Web Committee]] offers web hosting space to software developers,  
 
[[NASPA]]'s [[Web Committee]] offers web hosting space to software developers,  
and works with them to develop standards.  The [[Technology Committee]] evaluates software for use at tournaments and clubs.
+
and works with them to develop standards.   
  
Note: the Technology Committee does not evaluate or endorse the various study tools available, but has provided a list here for information purposes only.
+
The [[Technology Committee]] evaluates and certifies word judge software for use at tournaments and clubs.  
  
== Tournament and club software ==
+
NASPA also licenses the [[NASPA Word List]] and [[NASPA School Word List]] for use by developers.
  
=== Word judge (software self lookup) ===
+
Certification and licensing are separate processes; software may be either, neither, or both. Uncertified, unlicensed software is listed here only for information purposes, and not as an endorsement.
 +
 
 +
== Certified word judge software ==
  
 
NASPA recommends that [[tournaments]] and [[clubs]] use laptops running word adjudication software to process  
 
NASPA recommends that [[tournaments]] and [[clubs]] use laptops running word adjudication software to process  
 
challenges in competitive games.  The following Software Self Lookup (SSL) programs were evaluated by the [[Technology Committee]] and are approved for use in club and tournament situations as noted below.
 
challenges in competitive games.  The following Software Self Lookup (SSL) programs were evaluated by the [[Technology Committee]] and are approved for use in club and tournament situations as noted below.
  
; [[Zyzzyva]]
+
=== [[Zyzzyva]] ===
: developed by [[Michael Thelen]], is used at all major events, including the [[National SCRABBLE Championship]], [[National School SCRABBLE Championship]] and [[Canadian National SCRABBLE Championship]]
+
* '''Features''': anagramming, definitions, word judge, word study
: Requirements: Windows or MAC
+
* '''Developers''': [[Michael Thelen]], [[Ross Brown]]
: Acceptable for tournament and club play
+
* '''Systems''': Linux, macOS, Windows
 
+
* '''Notes''': certified and licensed, used at all major events,including the [[National SCRABBLE Championship]], [[National School SCRABBLE Championship]] and [[Canadian National SCRABBLE Championship]]
; [http://www.wolfberg.net/what/ '''WHAT''']
 
: developed by [[Mike Wolfberg]]
 
: Requirements: Windows
 
: Acceptable for tournament and club play
 
 
 
; [http://www.metagrams.com// '''WordJudge''']
 
: developed by [[John Babina]]
 
: Requirements: Requires bootable floppy drive
 
: Acceptable for tournament and club play
 
 
 
; [[Lexpert]] (No longer available but previous versions exist)
 
: developed by [[M.G. Ravichandran]]
 
: Requirements: Windows, Windows CE
 
: Acceptable for club play only
 
 
 
=== Tournament management ===
 
 
 
Tournament management software assists the director in pairing players, recording game results, generating pairing reports and standings for printing, and generating final tournament data for submission to NASPA for rating of tournaments.
 
 
 
; [[Director!]]
 
: developed by [[Marc Levesque]], in 2009. Runs on Windows.
 
 
 
; [[TMENU]]
 
: developed by [[RA Fontes]], is also widely used in the United States but no longer distributed. TMENU requires DOS or Windows.
 
 
 
; [[TourneyMan]]
 
: developed by [[Jeff Widergren]], formerly used at the [[National SCRABBLE Championship]] and still widely used in the United States. It has a limited set of features but is relatively easy to learn. TourneyMan requires Windows.
 
  
; [[tsh]]
+
=== [http://www.wolfberg.net/what/ WHAT] ===
: developed by [[John Chew]], is used at all major events, including the [[National SCRABBLE Championship]], [[National School SCRABBLE Championship]] and [[Canadian National SCRABBLE Championship]]. It has a very rich set of features, but most directors need some help at first learning to use it.  tsh runs under OS/X, Linux, DOS and Windows.
+
* '''Features''': anagramming, word judge
 +
* '''Developer''': [[Michael Wolfberg|Mike Wolfberg]]
 +
* '''System''': Windows
 +
* '''Notes''': Certified and licensed. Stands for "Wolfberg's Helpful Anagramming Tool".
  
== Study tools ==
+
== Tournament management software ==
  
Note: the Technology Committee does not evaluate or endorse the various study tools available, but has provided a list here for information purposes only.
+
Tournament management software assists the director in pairing players, recording game results, generating pairing reports and standings for printing, and generating final tournament data for submission to NASPA for rating of tournaments. There is not yet a certification process for this category of software.
  
=== Game analysis ===
+
There is at least one popular software package not listed below, at the request of its publisher.
  
; [http://www.quackle.org Quackle]
+
=== [[tsh]] ===
: developed by [[Jason Katz-Brown]] and [[John O'Laughlin]], is the strongest SCRABBLE playing program in the world. It is used by many players for training, and to analyze their games to improve their future play.
+
* '''Features''': tournament management, word judge
 +
* '''Developer''': [[John Chew]]
 +
* '''Systems''': DOS, Linux, macOS and Windows.
 +
* '''Notes''': used at all major events, including the [[National SCRABBLE Championship]], [[National School SCRABBLE Championship]] and [[Canadian National SCRABBLE Championship]]. It has a very rich set of features, but most directors need some help at first learning to use its command-line interface.
  
; Maven
+
== Licensed software ==
: developed by [[Brian Sheppard]], is also a strong program, but was withdrawn from the market when its rights were sold to [[Hasbro]].  Sheppard continues to develop the program, a branch of which was available briefly from Hasbro in CD-ROM form.
 
  
; ACBot
+
The following software contain licensed copies of NASPA word lists, but have not been
: developed by [[James Cherry]], and used to provide game analyses to users of DOoM servers, is no longer available.
+
certified for competitive use.
  
=== Anagramming and word lookup tools ===
+
=== [http://www.tylerhosting.com/hoot/ Hoot] ===
 +
* '''Features''': anagramming, word judge, word study
 +
* '''Developer''': [[Dana Bell]]
 +
* '''Systems''': Android, Windows
 +
* '''Notes''': Licensed, but not certified as a competitive word judge tool.
  
; [[Zyzzyva]]
+
=== [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=www.scrabbleclock.com.scrabbleclock Wali Timer] ===
: developed by [[Michael Thelen]], allows a variety of word lookup methods, includes definitions, cardbox studying, quizzes, etc.  Also authorized SSL word judge for tournaments and clubs.
+
* '''Features''': anagramming, game timer, word judge
: Systems supported: Windows, MAC, Linux, etc.
+
* '''Developer''': [[Wali Khubaib]]
 +
* '''Systems''': Android
 +
* '''Notes''': Licensed, but not certified as a competitive word judge tool or game timer.
  
; [http://www.wolfberg.net/what/ '''WHAT''']
+
=== [http://www.wordupdude.com/ Word Up Dude] ===
: developed by [[Mike Wolfberg]], Wolfberg's Helpful Anagramming Tool. Also authorized SSL word judge for tournaments and clubs.
+
* '''Features''': word game
: System:  Windows
+
* '''Developer''': [[Timothy Gardner|Tim Gardner]]
 +
* '''Systems''': Android, iOS
 +
* '''Notes''': Licensed to use official word lists in its own word game.
  
; [[Lexpert]]
+
== Unlicensed software ==
: developed by [[M.G. Ravichandran]], anagramming and study tools. No longer supported or easily available, but a Windows version is available at [http://www.valuecube.com/lexpert www.valuecube.com/lexpert].
 
: Systems: Windows, Windows CE (palm-pc)
 
  
; [http://members.shaw.ca/lampwords/ LAMPWords]
+
The following software is neither certified nor licensed, but may be of interest to our
: developed by [[Paul Sidorsky]], runs on Palm devices.  No longer actively being developed, it is still an excellent program to search for words for a given rack or set of tiles. Also has a word judge feature (that has not yet been authorized by the [[Technology Committee]] for offical use at tournaments or clubs).
+
members.
: System: Palm
 
  
; [http://cowboyprogramming.com/2008/07/06/checkword/ CHECKWORD]
+
=== [https://aerolith.org/ Aerolith] ===
: app for the iPhone that anagrams letters to find words. Also has a word judge feature (that has not yet been authorized by the [[Technology Committee]] for offical use at tournaments or clubs).
+
* '''Features''': word study
: System: iPhone
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* '''Developer''': [[Cesar Del Solar]]
 +
* '''Systems''': web app
 +
* '''Notes''': License pending. Features competitive high-score lists.
  
=== Dictionaries ===
+
=== [http://www.quackle.org Quackle] ===
 +
* '''Features''': anagramming, game analysis, game play
 +
* '''Developers''': [[Jason Katz-Brown]], [[John O'Laughlin]], [[John Fultz]]
 +
* '''Systems''': Linux, macOS, Windows
 +
* '''Notes''': License pending. Strongest SCRABBLE playing program in the world. It is used by many players for training, and to analyze their games to improve their future play.
  
; [http://www.absoluteword.com/ RoadLingua]
+
=== [http://www.poslarchive.com/math/software/qz/ qz] ===
: application for Palm devices that allows upload of OSPD4 definitions (and OWL2 for words 8-letters or less).  Free version interrups with a registration pop-up every few lookups--pay $10 and that goes away.
+
* '''Features''': word study
: Dictionary: OSPD4/OWL2 (others available)
+
* '''Developer''': [[John Chew]]
: System: Palm OS, Windows Mobile
+
* '''Systems''': Linux, macOS, Windows
 +
* '''Notes''': Unlicensed. Generic flashcarding tool intended for word study, does not ship with word lists, supports bulk input of quiz text files
  
; [http://app.weiphone.com/wedict/ WeDict Pro]
+
=== [https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ulu-ultimate-lookup-utility/id1281832323 ULU] ===
: app for iPhone devices that allows upload of OSPD4 definitions (and OWL2 for words 8-letters or less).  Price $5.99 for app (OSPD4 dictionary available free).
+
* '''Features''': anagramming, game timer, word judge
: Dictionary: OSPD4/OWL2 (others available)
+
* '''Developer''': [[Seth Lipkin]]
: System: iPhone
+
* '''System''': iOS
 +
* '''Notes''': License pending. Not certified for use a word judge or game timer.
  
; [[Zyzzyva]]
+
== Legacy Software ==
: Includes definitions along with word list and study tools.
 
: Dictionary: OSPD4/OWL2, OSW, ODS4
 
: Systems supported: Windows, MAC, Linux, etc.
 
  
; Franklin Electronic Dictionary
+
Software that is no longer actively supported, or has not been updated to current
: available at [[Word Gear]] and other stores for approximately $50, allows lookup and definition of OSPD4 words.  Use a password to unlock OWL2 words (no definitions for them). NOT authorized for word judging (no multiple work lookup and wordlist hasn't been verified).
+
standards, can be found in a separate list of [[legacy software]].
: Dictionary: OSPD4/OWL2
 
: System: standalone device.
 

Revision as of 22:03, 21 September 2019

Software plays a major role in organized SCRABBLE® activities.

NASPA's Web Committee offers web hosting space to software developers, and works with them to develop standards.

The Technology Committee evaluates and certifies word judge software for use at tournaments and clubs.

NASPA also licenses the NASPA Word List and NASPA School Word List for use by developers.

Certification and licensing are separate processes; software may be either, neither, or both. Uncertified, unlicensed software is listed here only for information purposes, and not as an endorsement.

Certified word judge software

NASPA recommends that tournaments and clubs use laptops running word adjudication software to process challenges in competitive games. The following Software Self Lookup (SSL) programs were evaluated by the Technology Committee and are approved for use in club and tournament situations as noted below.

Zyzzyva

WHAT

  • Features: anagramming, word judge
  • Developer: Mike Wolfberg
  • System: Windows
  • Notes: Certified and licensed. Stands for "Wolfberg's Helpful Anagramming Tool".

Tournament management software

Tournament management software assists the director in pairing players, recording game results, generating pairing reports and standings for printing, and generating final tournament data for submission to NASPA for rating of tournaments. There is not yet a certification process for this category of software.

There is at least one popular software package not listed below, at the request of its publisher.

tsh

Licensed software

The following software contain licensed copies of NASPA word lists, but have not been certified for competitive use.

Hoot

  • Features: anagramming, word judge, word study
  • Developer: Dana Bell
  • Systems: Android, Windows
  • Notes: Licensed, but not certified as a competitive word judge tool.

Wali Timer

  • Features: anagramming, game timer, word judge
  • Developer: Wali Khubaib
  • Systems: Android
  • Notes: Licensed, but not certified as a competitive word judge tool or game timer.

Word Up Dude

  • Features: word game
  • Developer: Tim Gardner
  • Systems: Android, iOS
  • Notes: Licensed to use official word lists in its own word game.

Unlicensed software

The following software is neither certified nor licensed, but may be of interest to our members.

Aerolith

  • Features: word study
  • Developer: Cesar Del Solar
  • Systems: web app
  • Notes: License pending. Features competitive high-score lists.

Quackle

  • Features: anagramming, game analysis, game play
  • Developers: Jason Katz-Brown, John O'Laughlin, John Fultz
  • Systems: Linux, macOS, Windows
  • Notes: License pending. Strongest SCRABBLE playing program in the world. It is used by many players for training, and to analyze their games to improve their future play.

qz

  • Features: word study
  • Developer: John Chew
  • Systems: Linux, macOS, Windows
  • Notes: Unlicensed. Generic flashcarding tool intended for word study, does not ship with word lists, supports bulk input of quiz text files

ULU

  • Features: anagramming, game timer, word judge
  • Developer: Seth Lipkin
  • System: iOS
  • Notes: License pending. Not certified for use a word judge or game timer.

Legacy Software

Software that is no longer actively supported, or has not been updated to current standards, can be found in a separate list of legacy software.