CSW Tournaments

This page lists tournaments rated in the NASPA-CSW rating 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 the pent-up 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 2010 will have a top prize of $30,000. These and other upcoming tournaments are listed on Bob Jackman’s SOWPODS 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.

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 of course cross-tables.

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.

Event	2009	2010	2011
Phoenix, AZ		February 13–15, 20 games	February 19–21, 20 games
Eastern Championship, Charlotte, NC			Feb 18–21, 20–22 games
West Coast World Championship Word list Challenge (WCWCWC), Ashland, OR		March 27 28, 16 games	March 25–27, 20 games
Arden Cup, Chicagoland, IL			May 28–30, 20 games
Scrabble Tournament at the Peak, Hancock, ME			Jun 18–19, 16 games, if quorum met
Toronto, ON		July 16, 7 games	July, details TBA
Where the ZO meets the ZA, Portland, OR		May 29, 6 games
Lucky Lab, Portland, OR		May 30, 8 games
Rubber City Collins Instant Classic, Akron, OH		July 10–11, 15 games
World Players Championship		Aug 13–16, 32 games, Dallas, TX
Portland, OR		September 11, 7 games
Leah Katz/Mike Wise Memorial, Toronto, ON	September 11–13, 8+12 games	September 24–26, 8+13 games	September, details TBA
Wisconsin Dells, WI		October 1–3, 15 games
Victoria, BC		October 2–3, 14 games
Portland, OR		October 17, 7 games
Toronto vs. Montreal, Kingston, ON	(January 16–17, 2010, 12 games)	October 30–31, 12 games	October?, TBA
Sacramento, CA		November 6–7, 20 games
Emerald City Scrabble, Seattle, WA		November 12–14, 20 games

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