Scrabble Players Championship
The North American Scrabble Championship (formerly the National Scrabble Championship) is the largest Scrabble competition in North America. The event is currently held every year, and from 2004 through 2006 the finals were aired on ESPN and ESPN2. The 2018 event was held in Buffalo, New York from August 4-8, 2018 with Joel Sherman emerging as champion.[1]
NSC history
The first officially sanctioned Scrabble tournaments in the U.S. were spearheaded, organized and run by Joel Skolnick in the mid-1970s. Skolnick was a recreation director for the New York City Parks and Recreation Department. He approached Selchow and Righter in late 1972, and the first tournament, open to Brooklyn residents only, commenced on March 18, 1973. The Funk and Wagnalls Collegiate Dictionary was used to rule on challenges, and the official word judge was Skolnick's then-wife Carol. Carol's sister, Shazzi Felstein, who would later finish in ninth place at the first North American Invitational tournament, won the first preliminary round with 1,321 points over three games. The final round took place on April 15, and Jonathan Hatch was the winner of the first official Scrabble tournament
The summer of 1973 saw two more tournaments, held respectively at Grossingers (won by Minerva Kasowitz) and the Concord hotel (won by Harriet Zucker) in New York's Catskill region. Another two tournaments quickly followed in November that same year: in Baltimore, Gordon Shapiro topped approximately 400 contestants; and at the Brooklyn War Memorial approximately 2,000 people entered the nine weekly preliminary rounds of the first all–New York City Scrabble Championship. It was won by Bernie Wishengrad. The New York City Championship was thereafter held annually, jointly sponsored by Selchow and Righter and the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation.
The first national tournament was the North American Invitational, held May 19–21, 1978, in the Presidential Suite of the Loews Summit Hotel in New York City. Joel Skolnick and Carol Felstein, as usual, served as the tournament director and word judge, respectively. David Prinz took the $1,500 first prize, followed by Dan Pratt and Mike Senkiewicz.
In 1980, soon after the publication of the first Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, control of the national tournament passed to the National Scrabble Association. They continued to organize the tournament until 2008.
The official name of the tournament has been National SCRABBLE Championship in recent years, except in 2006 when it was named US SCRABBLE Open.[2] In 2015, to recognize the longtime eligibility of Canadian members, it was renamed North American SCRABBLE Championship.
Since 2009, the tournament is organized annually by the newly formed North American SCRABBLE Players Association. The first event under NASPA was held in Dayton, Ohio in August, 2009. Since then, the championships have been held at various U.S. cities (see table below), with the 2017 championship in New Orleans, Louisiana. The 2018 championship was held in Buffalo, New York.[3][4]
Collins play
In 2012, a Collins division for international-English play was added for the first time, won by Sam Kantimathi with a 24-7 record.[5] In 2013, John O'Laughlin, creator of the Quackle software program, won the division with a 24-7 record, winning $2,500 and claiming his first NSC divisional title.[6] Past world, national, and Canadian champion Adam Logan won the division easily in 2014 with a 23-4 record and four byes.[7] Peter Armstrong prevailed over past champion Dave Wiegand in 2015, winning 3-2 in the final best-of-five series.[8] David Eldar won the division in 2016 with a 27-4 record, beating past champion Logan by a six-game margin.[9] Austin Shin won the top division in 2017 with a 22-9 record, prevailing over runner-up Dave Wiegand in the final round; this was the first year that Collins players were divided into two divisions.[10]
Youth in the community
Bradley Robbins of New Hampshire became the first minor to win a division in 2008 with a 24-4 record in Division 6.[11] In 2010, Richard Spence of Arizona won Division 4 with a 25.5-5.5 record, and in 2011 won Division 2 with a 25-6 record.[12][13] In 2012, Amalan Iyengar of North Carolina won Division 4 with a 22-9 record.[14] Also in 2012, Chris Canik of Texas won Division 3 with a 26-5 record, the highest record in that division's history.[15] In 2013, Andy Hoang of North Carolina won Division 3 with a 23-8 record.[16] Bradley Robbins and Andy Hoang are the only people to have won both the National School Scrabble Championship (2010 for Robbins, 2009 and 2012 for Hoang) and a division in the National Scrabble Championship (2008, Division 6 for Robbins & 2013, Division 3 for Hoang). Mack Meller of New York placed seventh in Division 1 in 2013.[17] He started the 2014 event with a 7-0 record, giving him first place in Division 1 after the first day of the event, and again finished seventh overall.[18]
NSC events and Division 1 winners
Year | Winner | Location | Entrants | Winner's Prize | Total Prize Pool |
2018 | ![]() |
Buffalo | 403[19] | USD 10,000 | USD 52,000[20] |
2017 | ![]() |
New Orleans | 365[21] | USD 10,000 | USD 54,350[22] |
2016 | ![]() |
Fort Wayne | 417[23] | USD 10,000 | USD 49,275[24] |
2015 | ![]() |
Reno | 340[25] | USD 10,000 | USD 50,225[26] |
2014 | ![]() |
Buffalo | 524[27] | USD 10,000 | USD 45,775[28] |
2013 | ![]() |
Las Vegas | 521[30] | USD 10,000 | USD 43,725[31] |
2012 | ![]() |
Orlando | 339[33] | USD 10,000 | USD 36,150[34] |
2011 | ![]() |
Dallas | 329[36] | USD 10,000 | USD 42,075[37] |
2010 | ![]() |
Dallas | 408[39] | USD 10,000 | USD 42,075[40] |
2009 | ![]() |
Dayton | 486 | USD 10,000 | USD 43,175[42] |
2008 | ![]() |
Orlando | 662 | USD 25,000 | USD 85,385[44] |
2006 | ![]() |
Phoenix | 625 | USD 25,000 | USD 85,385[45] |
2005 | ![]() |
Reno | 682 | USD 25,000 | USD 85,415[46] |
2004 | ![]() |
New Orleans | 837 | USD 25,000 | USD 92,805[47] |
2002 | ![]() |
San Diego | 696 | USD 25,000 | USD 89,290[48] |
2000 | ![]() |
Providence | 598 | USD 25,000 | USD 89,290[49] |
1998 | ![]() |
Chicago | 535 | USD 25,000 | USD 82,200[50] |
1996 | ![]() |
Dallas | 412 | USD 25,000 | USD 75,485[51] |
1994 | ![]() |
Los Angeles | 294 | USD 15,000 | USD 50,585[52] |
1992 | ![]() |
Atlanta | 315 | USD 10,000 | USD 35,910[53] |
1990 | ![]() |
Washington | 282 | USD 10,000 | USD 37,400[54] |
1989 | ![]() |
New York | 221 | USD 5,000 | USD 24,425[55] |
1988 | ![]() |
Reno | 315 | USD 5,000 | USD 23,100[56] |
1987 | ![]() |
Las Vegas | 327 | USD 5,000 | USD 16,850[57] |
1985 | ![]() |
Boston | 302 | USD 10,000 | USD 52,370[58] |
1983 | ![]() |
Chicago | 32 | USD 5,000 | USD 13,600[59] |
1980 | ![]() |
Santa Monica | 32 | USD 5,000 | USD 10,100[60] |
1978 | ![]() |
New York | 65 (invitational) | USD 1,500 | USD 8,400[61] |
Collins
Year | Winner | Location | Entrants | Divisions | Winner's Prize | Total Prize Pool |
2018 | ![]() |
Buffalo | 73[19] | 2 | USD 4,000 | USD 10,000[20] |
2017 | ![]() |
New Orleans | 64[21] | 2 | USD 4,250 | USD 10,550[22] |
2016 | ![]() |
Fort Wayne | 44[23] | 1 | USD 2,500 | USD 6,000[24] |
2015 | ![]() |
Reno | 48[25] | 1 | USD 2,500 | USD 6,000[26] |
2014 | ![]() |
Buffalo | 63[27] | 1 | USD 2,500 | USD 5,775[28] |
2013 | ![]() |
Las Vegas | 40[30] | 1 | USD 2,500 | USD 4,700[31] |
2012 | ![]() |
Orlando | 38[33] | 1 | USD 1,500 | USD 3,450[34] |
See also
- World Scrabble Championship
- Canadian Scrabble Championship
- National Scrabble Championship (UK)
- Brand's Crossword Game King's Cup
- World Youth Scrabble Championships
- National School Scrabble Championship
References
- ^ "NASC 2017 Live Coverage". event.scrabbleplayers.org. Retrieved 2017-07-26.
- ^ National SCRABBLE Association: Championship Archive
- ^ North American SCRABBLE Players Association: NASPA
- ^ North American SCRABBLE Players Association: National SCRABBLE Championship
- ^ http://www.scrabbleplayers.org/tourneys/2012/nsc/build2/standing/5/31.html
- ^ http://event.scrabbleplayers.org/2013/nsc/build/tsh/2013-nsc-s/html/CSW-ratings-031.html
- ^ http://event.scrabbleplayers.org/2014/nsc/build/tsh/2014-nsc-s/html/CSW-ratings-031.html
- ^ http://event.scrabbleplayers.org/2015/nasc/build/tsh/2015-nasc-f1/html/
- ^ http://event.scrabbleplayers.org/2016/nasc/build/standing/5/31.html
- ^ "NASC 2017 Live Coverage".
{{cite web}}
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(help) - ^ http://www.scrabbleplayers.org/tourneys/2008/nsc/build/player/6/069.html
- ^ http://www.scrabble-assoc.com/tourneys/2010/nsc/build/standing/4/31.html
- ^ http://www.scrabble-assoc.com/tourneys/2011/nsc/build/standing/2/31.html
- ^ http://www.scrabbleplayers.org/tourneys/2012/nsc/build2/standing/4/31.html
- ^ http://cross-tables.com/tourney.php?tourneyid=7717&div=3
- ^ http://event.scrabbleplayers.org/2013/nsc/build/standing/3/31.html
- ^ http://event.scrabbleplayers.org/2013/nsc/build/standing/1/31.html
- ^ http://event.scrabbleplayers.org/2014/nsc/build/standing/1/31.html
- ^ a b NASC 2018: Registered Players
- ^ a b 2018 North American SCRABBLE Championship prizes
- ^ a b NASC 2017: Registered Players
- ^ a b 2017 North American SCRABBLE Championship prizes
- ^ a b NASC 2016: Registered Players
- ^ a b 2015 North American SCRABBLE Championship prizes
- ^ a b NASC 2015: Registered Players
- ^ a b 2015 North American SCRABBLE Championship prizes
- ^ a b NSC 2014: Registered Players
- ^ a b 2014 National SCRABBLE Championship prizes
- ^ NSC 2013 Division 1 Standings: Round 31
- ^ a b NSC 2013: Registered Players
- ^ a b 2013 National SCRABBLE Championship prizes
- ^ NSC 2012 Division 1 Standings: Round 31
- ^ a b NSC 2012: Registered Players
- ^ a b 2012 National SCRABBLE Championship prizes
- ^ NSC 2011 Division 1 Standings: Round 31
- ^ NSC 2011: Registered Players
- ^ 2011 National SCRABBLE Championship prizes
- ^ NSC 2010 Division 1 Standings: Round 31
- ^ NSC 2010: Registered Players
- ^ 2010 National SCRABBLE Championship prizes
- ^ NSC 2009 Players: Alphabetical Listing
- ^ 2009 National SCRABBLE Championship prizes
- ^ NSC 2008 Division 1 Standings: Round 28
- ^ 2008 NSC Prizes
- ^ 2006 Prizes
- ^ 2005 NSC Prizes
- ^ 2004 NSC Prizes
- ^ 2002 NSC Prizes
- ^ 2000 NSC Prizes
- ^ 1998 NSC Prizes
- ^ NSC 1996 results at cross-tables.com
- ^ NSC 1994 results at cross-tables.com
- ^ NSC 1992 results at cross-tables.com
- ^ NSC 1990 results at cross-tables.com
- ^ NSC 1989 results at cross-tables.com
- ^ NSC 1988 results at cross-tables.com
- ^ NSC 1987 results at cross-tables.com
- ^ NSC 1985 results at cross-tables.com
- ^ NSC 1983 results at cross-tables.com
- ^ NSC 1980 results at cross-tables.com
- ^ NSC 1978 results at cross-tables.com
- ^ NASC 2018: CSW Final Standings
- ^ NASC 2017: CSW Final Standings
- ^ NASC 2016: CSW Final Standings
- ^ NSC 2015: CSW Final Standings
- ^ NSC 2014: CSW Final Standings
- ^ NSC 2013: CSW Final Standings
- ^ NSC 2012: CSW Final Standings