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THE GAME

BEFORE

DURING

  1. Participants are to come on time, at least 30 minutes before the competition starts.

  2. Participants must re-register every day.

  3. Participants must keep the building clean. No littering allowed.

  4. Participants must wear neat and polite clothes and shoes around the campus area.

  5. Participants may not smoke, play cards, gamble, and bring any alcohol beverages.

  6. Any possessions or usage of drugs, weapons, and/or sharp objects are not allowed.

  7. Food and drink are not allowed inside the competition room(s).

  8. All the regulations are binding, absolute, and might be altered, added, or diminished by the committee under certain circumstances.

  9. The managers and teachers of the participants can accompany their students to the competition without getting any charge but they will not get the privilege to observe nor watch the entire competition.

  1. Player must show their identity tag which is given by NEON committees when entering the competition room. Registered player cannot be substituted by another person under any condition.

  2. There should be no communication in any form between the players and/or the observers during the match. The player who communicate with his/her friend/other player or observer will get a warning. If they have received the third warning, they will be disqualified automatically. Communication can be made only to the committees.

  3. During the game, players are not allowed to:

    •  open any kind of dictionaries, books, or other reading materials;

    •  turn on any form of communication devices, such as a beeper, mobile phone, etc.;

    •  distract other player’s attention in any way;

    •  and leave the location of the game by any cause, unless permitted by the regulator.

  4. After the game, all players must sign the score sheet, as to agree to the final score.

  5. The total time spent to hold one scrabble match is 50 minutes—25 minutes for each player including 5 minutes overtime for each player.

  6. The committee reserves the right to disqualify a player who refuses to be subjected to the regulations of the game.

COMPETITION RULES

SCRABBLE

COMPETITION

RULES AND REGULATION

GENERAL RULES

LATE ARRIVALS

Duty to be present. All players must arrive by the scheduled starting time for each round. A player is said to arrive only when he or she is seated at the playing table, ready to commence play immediately.

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BOTH PLAYERS ABSENT

If neither player arrives by the scheduled starting time, the tournament director must:

  1. Exercising due discretion, start the timer to be used for the game;

  2. When the first player arrives, whether or not that player is due to play first, start the second side of the timer. The first player will be assigned the time showing on the first side of the timer;

  3. When the player arrives, neutralise the timer. The second player will be assigned the time showing on the second side of timer minus the time already deducted from the first player. The game then proceeds as usual. No tiles may be drawn until both players arrive.

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ONE PLAYER ABSENT

If one player fails to arrive by the scheduled starting time, the tournament director must:

  1. Exercising due discretion, start the player’s side of the timer;

  2. When the late player arrives, neutralise the timer. The player will be assigned the time showing on his or her side. The game then proceeds as usual. No tiles may be drawn until both players arrive.

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COMPULSORY FORFEITURE DUE TO LATENESS

A player who fails to arrive before his or her assigned game time expires forfeits that game.

Consequences of forfeiture due to lateness:

  1. A game forfeited under the rule 1.3 will count as a win for the opponent by a margin of 100 points.

  2. A game forfeited under rule 1.3 will not count towards player ratings for the tournament.

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PLAYER SET

After the player is set, the players will then draw 7 (seven) tiles each from sack, starting from the first player, then goes in a clockwise fashion (to the left side of the first player).

  1. The first player will combine two or more tiles into a legal word and place it across the “star” sign in the middle of the game board. The placement is only either vertically or horizontally. After the first player has done, then the turn goes to the next player (clockwise).

  2. Players can put only one tile to make word(s).

  3. The game is started by starting the first player timer.

  4. After finishing his/her turn, the player has to say “finish” and after that, s/he has to count and announces it, so the opponent can hear it.

  5. To stop the timer and starting the opposite timer, the player has to say finish and announce the score first.

  6. The objection can be made after the player in turn says “finish” and before the scoring sheet is written completely. This objection is divided into score and word challenge.

  7. Score challenge. If the score said by the player is smaller than it should be, there will be no penalty. If the score is higher than it should be, it will be considered as correction.

  8. If a word is challenged, the players have to check it themselves or call the committee to check it according to the dictionary checker to check the word according to the official dictionary.

  9. Word challenge. The player can challenge a word per turn as much as they want. There will be no penalty for the player who challenges if the challenged word is accepted, but the challenged player will get a plus 5 points for each accepted word. The player will have to trace back the tile(s) if there is any unaccepted word, and they will not getthe plus 5 points.

  10. If a word is not challenged by the other player from the opposite player, then the word is considered correct.

  11. If the first word of the game is challenged, and the word turns out to be illegal, the double word tile (the star sign which is at the centre of the board) is still available to be used at the next turn.

  12. If the player has three or more tiles worth the same letter, s/he is not allowed to replace the tiles except s/he says “exchange” in consequence of losing his/her turn.

  13. To replace the tile(s), the player must say “exchange” first and declare how many tile(s) they want to exchange then put the unwanted tile(s) face down on the table, and take as many unwanted tile(s) from the sack, put them in the rack, then put the unwanted tile(s) into the sack.

  14. The game ends if any of these conditions fulfilled:

  15. a player has used all his/her tiles and there is no tiles left in the sack,

  16. all player passed in two cycles (changing tile is not considered a pass),

  17. the time is over.

  18. A player will be decided as the winner of the game when:

  • the total score is the highest when the game ended,

  • the committee disqualifies the opposite player by any reason,

  • or the opposite player walks out [for the winner of walk out, the victory point will get 1 (one) and 0 (zero) margin].

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