School SCRABBLE® Rule Highlights

Rule Highlights

Review the topics below with your team before the Championship. Please see also the complete rules and sportsmanship guidelines.

Students will play five 40-minute games. Sand-timers will be used to limit each play to 3 minutes.

If tiles are found under the table or on the floor competitors should call over the Tournament Director who will first determine which set they belong to. If there are tiles still in the bag, the extra tiles will be put back. If there are no tiles in the bag and at least one player has fewer than seven tiles, the Director will determine who should have drawn the extra tile(s) and add it (them) to their rack. If the game is finished, then the extra tile(s) should be ignored.

To challenge a play, the challengers should write down the questionable word(s) and raise their hands to get a Word Judge to rule on the challenge. A play may be challenged when the opposing team announces their score. Remind students that counting aloud is not the same as announcing the score. This will help to prevent early challenges. In the case of a premature challenge, the team has the option of changing their play or not.

Whenever there is a challenge, ALL words formed on the play may be challenged simultaneously. If all the words are acceptable, then the challenger loses his/her turn. If at least one word is unacceptable, then the player removes the play and loses that turn. Only ONE turn is lost on any challenge, regardless of the number of words acceptable or not.

Students should practice filling out a contestant scorecard (See APPENDIX E of the COUNTDOWN TO A CLASS ACT brochure). If contestants develop good habits like double-checking addition and making sure that the opposing team initials the scorecard, the transition between rounds will be as smooth as possible.

Six minutes prior to the official end of the game, announce to the players that the first portion of the game is over. At this point each side now gets one more turn. Make it clear that if a team is in the middle of their turn, that is considered their last turn, and they DO NOT REPLENISH their rack.

Then, announce when three minutes are up to allow the other team equal time for their final turn. Now the other team has three minutes to make the last play of the game - BUT NOT REPLENISH their rack.

The reason for not replenishing the rack is because the players have control over what points they have to subtract from their rack. It seems highly unfair to have the possibility of the last random draw decide who will win the game in a close match.

Once the game is over, if there are still tiles on the teams' racks, they must subtract the total number of points on their own rack from their score to get their FINAL ADJUSTED SCORE.

HASBRO is the owner of the registered SCRABBLE^® trademark in the United States and Canada. © 2008 HASBRO. All rights reserved. "SCRABBLE^® Brand Crossword Game" is the proper way to refer to this unique group of word games and related properties marketed by HASBRO. "SCRABBLE^®" is not a generic term. To use it as such is not only misleading but also does injustice to the company responsible for the trademark's longtime popularity. All we ask is that when you mean SCRABBLE^® Brand Crossword Game, you say so.

The SCRABBLE^® trademark is owned by J.W. Spear and Sons, PLC, a subsidiary of Mattel, Inc. outside of the United States and Canada.

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Drawing for first play:	A blank tile supersedes all other tiles.
Playing a blank:	Blank tiles should be recorded (and verified) by both sides at the time the blanks are played.
Score value:	The score value of a blank tile is zero.
Premium squares:	When a blank tile is played on a pink or red square, the value of the word is doubled or tripled, even though the blank itself has no score value.