Official Tournament Rules

Officially sanctioned SCRABBLE® play in Canada and the United States must obey the Official Tournament Rules, edited by the Rules Committee.

See also: the NASPA Code of Conduct, which took effect on July 1, 2009.

Effective February 2, 2010

Several clarifications of our existing rules will go into effect February 2, 2010. There will also be several significant improvements, some of which include:

1. Blank Designations
2. Clarification of what should be done if one exchanges with less than 7 tiles in the bag.
3. When the clock is restarted after a challenge

The rules are available in PDF format for online viewing and printing:

• Official Tournament Rules, February 2, 2010
• List of Changes, February 2, 2010

Effective August 1, 2009

Several rule changes came into effect on August 1, 2009. Please read the list of changes carefully.

IMPORTANT: This is a clarification from the Rules Committee regarding rules that refer to “reporting error” when submitting result slips.

A result slip CAN ONLY be amended if the two players’ scores have been reversed; or if the score written on the result slip is a mistake. (i.e. The score on the result slip differs from what both players agreed upon at the end of the game.)

A result slip CANNOT be amended if an overtime penalty was not accounted for; or if tiles left on a player’s rack (or both players’ racks) were not accounted for; or if any sort of recount or mathematical adjustment takes place after the result slip has been signed and submitted.

The rules are available in PDF format for online viewing and printing:

• Official Tournament Rules, August 1, 2009
• List of Changes, August 1, 2009

Effective February 9, 2009

A rewritten version of rule III.A.2 took effect on February 9, 2009. Complete version of rules:

• NSA Official Tournament Rules, February 9, 2009

Effective February 1, 2009

A major rewrite of the tournament rules became effective February 1, 2009.

• NSA Official Tournament Rules, February 1, 2009