Revision as of 13:09, 6 February 2011

This page lists tournaments rated in the NASPA SOWPODS system, and is part of our introduction to Collins (SOWPODS) in North America.

Collins (SOWPODS) in North America: Tournaments

While there have been occasional tournaments played to the international lexicon in the US since the 1990s (the ’93 Worlds in New York, for example: the Worlds have always been SOWPODS), and occasional others such as Wisconsin Dells, Toronto, and Texas, it has been in 2010 that the number of CSW tournaments has really started to increase. This is in large part due to NASPA’s decision to allow CSW to be rated, which has given the impetus to several organizers to add CSW divisions, or create new tournaments to meet demand.

It remains to be seen how much these numbers will continue to increase, and whether we have reached a tipping point toward a viable CSW scene, but the possibility of being able to play CSW exclusively, particularly on the west coast of the US, if one would like to, is becoming much more workable. Although, perhaps right now, it would be reasonable to say that this is still more the case for either the less prolific tournament player, or one with a large travel budget.

Also of note is that there is an increasing number of prominent international tournaments with quite substantial sponsorship and prizes, several of which are well into the $1000s, and some over $10,000. The Causeway tournament in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, in December 2011, will have a top prize of $50,000, and a prize fund of $180,000. These and other upcoming tournaments are listed on Bob Jackman’s SOWPODS site, and at the WESPA site.

Since the NASPA SOWPODS rating system went into effect, as of September 2010, the following tournaments in North America are either CSW, or have a CSW division. Some earlier tournaments were played in 2009.

Events are listed below in their usual order in the calendar year. Some events will only include a Collins division if a quorum of four players registers in time. Also, non-NASPA sanctioned CSW events (e.g., WGPO) are not listed.

Please note that this page is manually edited, based on the official page of tournament results and the calendar of future events. Another good source for tournament information is cross-tables.

For information on directing a CSW tournament, or adding a CSW division to a tournament, see the page on Directing SOWPODS tournaments.

Please direct comments about this page to its author, Nick Ball.