Inter-School Scrabble Championship 2020

About the Championship

Date: 14 March 2020 (Sat)

Time: 09:00 – 17:00. Registration starts at 08:30
Players are expected to stay for the whole tournament, while there will be a lunch break in between. Details will be announced on the day.

Venue: School Hall, PLK WWCWD Fung Lee Pui Yiu Primary School, 11 Kwun Tsing Road, So Kwun Wat, Tuen Mun
Near Hong Kong Gold Coast bus stop. Players may take 52X, 53 or 61M from Tuen Mun Road Bus-Bus Interchange.

Eligibility:

• Primary Category: All primary schools in Hong Kong are eligible to send a team of 3 to 5 players from Primary 1 to 6.
• Secondary Category: All secondary schools in Hong Kong are eligible to send a team of 3 to 5 players from Secondary 1 to 6. Each team must consist of at least one junior secondary (Secondary 1 to 3) player.

Application fee: Free

Format:

For the top division (Division A)
6 games for Secondary Category, 5 games for Primary Category
Australian Swiss Draw for first 5 (Secondary) / 4 (Primary) rounds and King of the Hill (KOTH) for last round
5-point unsubstantiated challenge penalty.

For lower division(s)
4 games for both Primary and Secondary Category
Australian Swiss Draw for first 3 rounds and King of the Hill (KOTH) for last round
Free challenge.

For all divisions
25 minutes per player, WESPA rules version 4

Players from the same school will not play against each other except in the last game. Each division consists of around ten schools, while the organiser reserves the final rights to make appropriate changes.

Rating qualification: Top Division (Division A) of each Category will be HKSPA-rated.

Dictionary: Collins Official Scrabble Words 2019 (CSW19)

Prizes: For each category -

School prizes (Trophies)
Champion, 1^st Runner-up and 2^nd Runner-up for each division.
To compete for school prizes, a school must have at least three players participating in each round of the tournament. For Secondary Category, each school must send at least one Secondary 1-3 player in each round. When calculating school ranking and awards, only the top 3 players from each school will be counted.

Individual prizes (Medals)
Individual Champion, Individual 1^st Runner-up, Individual 2^nd Runner-up for each division
High Word, High Game for the whole category
Most Valuable Player for each school having at least three players playing in all rounds

Certificates of Participation will be issued to all participants. Certificates of Award will be issued to participants after the tournament for those participants with school and individual awards on request.

Workshop for new players: Introductory workshop will be provided for novice players enrolled for the championship on 22 February 2020 (Saturday). The workshop will introduce basic game rules and techniques. Please click here for more details.

Update: The introductory workshop is cancelled and will be replaced by an online workshop video. Participating schools and students will be notified the details later.

Enrollment:

As the Championship is postponed, applications are temporarily suspended. Please stay tuned for further details.

For the Championship
School teachers may submit an online application form on behalf of their school online on HKSPA Tournament Enrollment System. Please mark down your application reference or link your application form to your HKSPA School Member account.

For the introductory workshop
School teachers may register their students for the workshop after submitting the application form for the Championship. Please log in the enrollment system with your application reference code or your HKSPA School Member account.

Deadline of application:

• Joining both Introductory Workshop AND the Championship: 7 February 2020 (Friday)
• Joining the Championship only: 21 February 2020 (Friday)

Enrollment will be served on a first-come-first-served basis.

School may change players on or before the application deadline by themselves via the HKSPA Tournament Enrollment System. Players added after 7 February 2020 may not be able to join the introductory workshop. Players deleted from the application form of the Championship will be deemed as withdrawing from the workshop as well (if applicable).

If there are any special circumstances that change of player(s) is required after the deadline, please write to the organiser providing the details and the required change(s). Subject to the organisers’ discretion, changes may be permitted. $50 administrative charge will be levied per name changed to cover the administrative cost and printing cost incurred. Schools are normally not allowed to change the players within one week before the tournament.

Players with symptoms of sickness should not participate in any tournaments. School teacher should notify the organiser if they are aware that any players will be absent from the event. The school teacher may notify the organiser if his or her school would like to replace the sick player prior to the tournament, as soon as practicable. The administrative charge for such replacement will be waived under such circumstances.

Please let us know as soon as possible if you expect any player cannot attend the tournament for any reasons to facilitate our arrangement.

Acknowledgement: The venue for the championship is kindly sponsored by PLK WWCWD Fung Lee Pui Yiu Primary School.

Enquiries: For any enquiries, please email info@hkscrabble.org.

Remarks

Please note and observe the following policies BEFORE you enroll for this championship.

Displayed name policy
You are required to submit a displayed name for your student. The name will be recorded for identification and HKSPA rating purpose, and will be displayed publicly.

• You are highly recommended to use the name on their HKID card.
• Please follow the format of “English Name”, “SURNAME”, “Chinese Name”. e.g. Peter CHAN Tai Man / Ruben LOFTUS-CHEEK / YIP Yat Sum / Carson TSANG.
• The displayed name cannot exceed 20 characters (including spaces). e.g. Peter LEUNG Shou Chi contains 20 characters.

Players who have played in any HKSPA-rated or WESPA-rated tournaments before should use the SAME displayed name as they used in any previous tournaments. They are normally not allowed to change their displayed name.

Verification Policy
To confirm the students you enrolled are studying in your school, please note that your student MUST bring their student card to the venue. They may use their student handbook instead of their student card if your school does not issue student card. We accept original of the document only.

Players who forgot to do so could show us a photo of the student card/student handbook for verification. They will be charged an administrative fee of HK$50.

Students may not be allowed to play if you cannot prove their identity before the championship begins, even if they know the committee members personally.