2007 Can-Am SCRABBLE Challenge

2007 Can-Am Director's Notes

Here are some notes on directing the Can-Am SCRABBLE Challenge, prepared by the director of the 2006 Can-Am, John Chew.

  1. The qualification system for the event is administered by John Chew. The director may need to remind John to post qualification standings on the association web site.
  2. The director should locate the trophy well in advance of the event to ensure that it will be brought to the event. Usually the last person to have possession of the trophy on the defending team will play to defend it, but if not, arrangements have to be made at the defending team’s expense for the trophy’s shipment.
  3. If enough game recorders can be recruited on a voluntary basis to record most of the event’s games, this should be done, and players who are not assigned recorders should be encouraged to provide their own game records. Recorded games should be posted online according to the linked instructions.
  4. An entry fee should be collected at the beginning of the event. The entry fee should be sufficient to cover the ratings fee, the cost of the venue and any other expenses incurred by the director. No prize money is awarded. The director should pay the ratings fee in the normal way when he submits the ratings data at the end of the event. (The Challenge is a fully-rated tournament.)

  5. The top seven players from each country play each other twice, according to the following schedule:

    Rounds 1, 2 1-7, 2-6, 3-5, 4-4
    Rounds 3, 4 1-6, 2-5, 3-4, 7-7
    Rounds 5, 6 1-5, 2-4, 3-3, 6-7
    Rounds 7, 8 1-4, 2-3, 5-7, 6-6
    Rounds 9, 10 1-3, 2-2, 4-7, 5-6
    Rounds 11, 12 1-2, 3-7, 4-6, 5-5
    Rounds 13, 14 1-1, 2-7, 3-6, 4-5

    If you are using tsh, here is what the .t file should look like: 

    USA One   1933 14 14 13 13 12 12 11 11 10 10 9 9 8 8
USA Two   1773 13 13 12 12 11 11 10 10 9 9 8 8 14 14
USA Three 1902 12 12 11 11 10 10 9 9 8 8 14 14 13 13
USA Four  1922 11 11 10 10 9 9 8 8 14 14 13 13 12 12
USA Five  1930 10 10 9 9 8 8 14 14 13 13 12 12 11 11
USA Six   1939 9 9 8 8 14 14 13 13 12 12 11 11 10 10
USA Seven 1988 8 8 14 14 13 13 12 12 11 11 10 10 9 9
CAN One   1879 7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1
CAN Two   1938 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 7 7
CAN Three 1884 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 7 7 6 6
CAN Four  1924 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 7 7 6 6 5 5
CAN Five  1930 3 3 2 2 1 1 7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4
CAN Six   1878 2 2 1 1 7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3
CAN Seven 1811 1 1 7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2

    Note that the sample player ratings shown do not appear to be in the expected descending order, because player numbers should be assigned based on Qualifying Rating and not current rating.

  6. At the beginning of the tournament, the director should instruct the team captains (i.e., the top seed on each team) to draw from a bag of tiles to determine which side plays first in all of its games in odd-numbered rounds; the other side plays first in even-numbered rounds.
  7. The trophy should be sent home in its carrying case with a member of the winning team who is likely to compete in the following year. They should arrange locally for this year's results to be engraved on the trophy, and are responsible for ensuring that the trophy makes it safely to the next year's tournament site. Players on the winning team may arrange a schedule for sharing possession of the trophy over the course of the year. The cost of the engraving is born by the NSA.
  8. Unlike some team tournaments, game scores are recorded, not just wins and losses. The scores are used only for submitting as part of the tournament ratings data, and do not determine the overall winner of the tournament: if the teams are tied on wins and losses, the event is declared a tie and the defending team retains possession of the trophy.
  9. If a game cannot be played, e.g. due to a player's late arrival or illness, and an alternate time for the game cannot be scheduled, the game is simply omitted from the tournament and does not count as a win for either side.
  10. The director should organise meals for the players, but the players are individually responsible for paying for their meals and may opt out. At the 2008 Can-Am, for example, Chinese food and pizza were ordered in for lunch for players and staff each day and Saturday night dinner was held at a nearby restaurant, with 100% participation in each case. In this case, the meals were not ordered through the event hotel, which was a business hotel that did not have weekend kitchen staff. A hotel that did offer meal service would probably offer a much reduced room rate in exchange for a catering commitment.
  11. A group photo should be taken at the end of the event, for posting to the NSA web site and/or the newsletter.

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