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NSA Official Tournament Rules

The complete contents of the May 1st, 2004 edition of the NSA Official Tournament Rules are available online in four formats. Changes that took effect on May 1st, 2004 are listed under ‘changes’ in the rules index, and are highlighted in the comparison edition. The rules were reprinted in 2005 without changes; no date has been announced for the next edition of the rules.

  1. Framed edition: navigate your way through the rules keeping the table of contents or index open in a frame.
  2. Single-file edition: read through or print the rules from start to finish in one long file
  3. Comparison edition: same as the single-file edition, but highlights all changes since 2002.
  4. Printable PDF: An Adobe Acrobat PDF edition that you can print to get a facsimile of the regular print edition. Visit the Adobe web site to get their free Acrobat Reader if you can’t open the file.

The Official Tournament Rules, edited by the NSA Rules Committee, govern all NSA-sanctioned tournament play. Printed booklets are available through NSA Word Gear.

The index for the Rules is available only in the on-line edition and is prepared by John Chew, to whom indexing errata and addenda should be sent.

Addenda

In Issue 189 of the newsletter, the following text appeared, and is considered to have the force of a rule.

Blank Designation Slips: We have redesigned these slips to list the alphabet twice. That’s one letter for each blank. Players are instructed to circle the letter the blank represents. As with recording the blank by writing the letter, once you circle the letter the blank represents, unless you immediately correct a careless circle, you are mandating that letter to the designated blank, and you may be challenged as such."

Also available on this web server are the NSA’s Official Tournament Anagrams Rules.

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