Membership

Effective July 1, 2009, players must be NASPA members to play in sanctioned tournaments. The cost and benefits of membership will be evaluated and may be changed at the end of 2009.

Membership Terms

Membership in NASPA currently costs US$30 per year (regardless of residence: U.S., Canada or overseas), which may be paid in several different ways as explained in our Payment page.

If you are not paying online, you must attach a completed Membership Application Form to your payment.

Memberships purchased on or before December 31, 2009 have an extended initial term: your membership will be valid from the receipt of your dues through December 31, 2010. After December 31, 2009, each membership term is twelve calendar months.

Trial Memberships

First-time tournament players (those who do not have a tournament rating) may buy either a full NASPA membership or a trial six-month membership (US$15) through their tournament organizer. If they opt for a trial membership, they have the option to extend it to a full membership by sending in an additional $15 at any time during the six-month trial period.

Benefits of Membership

The main current benefits of membership are:

• Eligibility to play in NASPA tournaments. These are rated, sanctioned SCRABBLE tournaments. NASPA is the only organization in North America licensed by Hasbro to use the registered name, “SCRABBLE”. These events are played with an accepted tournament word list with rules for both play and comportment and a system in place to ensure that these rules are adhered to.
• Sanctioned recognition of individual achievements in tournament play.
• Subscription to the NASPA Bulletin in electronic form

More benefits will be added as the NASPA Membership Committee prepares them.

In addition, players who join NASPA before July 1 will receive low-numbered membership numbers, a visible demonstration of their support for our nascent organization. Players who have a specific number that they want for their membership number may obtain it by paying a higher membership fee of US$50, provided the number is still available.

Members will be required to comply with a Code of Conduct, which is currently available for preview in draft form, and which took effect on July 1, 2009.

Current Members

As of April 6, 2009, the NASPA membership database is now online, and may be used to verify a person’s membership status.

Membership Numbers

NASPA membership numbers consist of AA followed by six digits, and are normally assigned in sequential order. Members may request larger numbers out of sequence by paying $50 rather than $30 for their membership.

Committee members pay the same fees as regular members, but are recognized with special membership numbers beginning with “CM”; regular members have numbers beginning with “AA”. Membership numbers CM000001–CM000016 are reserved for Steering Committee members.

Refund and Privacy Policies

A refund policy is currently being discussed and will be determined by the Membership Committee.

In order to keep track of your membership, we need to record information about you. How we handle this information is described in our Privacy Policy.