St. Michael s Invitational Scrabble Championship

Transcription

1 St Michael s Invitational Scrabble Championship Date: Time: 8:30 am -4:00 pm Venue: SKH St Michael s Primary School (School Hall & Art Room) Address: 23 Fortress Hill Road, North Point, Hong Kong Island Route Map: Registration 1 There are two categories for school teams to compete: Junior Secondary section (F3 or lower) or Senior Secondary section (F4 to F7) 2 In each section, a team of 3-4 players from the same school (excluding the home team) is eligible to compete for school prizes and individual titles 3 Deadline of registration: (Friday) A first-come-first-serve basis would be adopted to select the successful applicants *We allow any changes in players after the deadline Just make sure a team would 1

2 come on that day! Format of Play Each player would play all 5 rounds as an individual 1 After 5 rounds there would be a list of final ranking of individual players, ranging from the most number of wins to the least number of wins, spread would be used to break the tie between players with the same number of wins All prizes will be awarded based on the list of final ranking 2 The pairings of the first round would be random, but players from the same school would not play against each other 3 For the remaining rounds, pairings would be decided by the ranking of the previous rounds, where the first-placed contestant would play against the second-placed contestant, the third would play against the fourth etc 4 In case players from the same school are supposed to play against each other under this system, minimal adjustment in pairing would be made so that at least the top-ranked players are guaranteed to play with opponents from other schools 5 The ranking of school teams is determined by the contribution of its 3 top-ranked players The number of wins among them is the first priority to be taken into account the basic criterion of sorting out the best team from the pack Should the number of wins be the same, then the Spread would be the final indicator to distinguish which school team to prevail For details please see the last page: Illustration Prizes and Titles 1 School prizes: Champion: 1 st runner-up: 2 nd runner-up: A Champion trophy A First runner-up trophy A Second runner-up trophy 2 Individual titles: Title Description Book Coupon Scrabble King / Queen Top finisher in the list of final ranking $100 Scrabble Master Top 2 players (excluding the Scrabble King / Queen) $50 2

3 Rules of play 1 As there will be no invigilators, players are required to check on each other s moves and scores, as well as to ensure that rules are observed 2 Time allotted: Each player is allowed TWENTY MINUTES (20) to complete a game There is however no time limits on the time taken per move No overtime play is allowed 3 Blanks: The TWO BLANKS may be played as any desired letter When blanks are played, the player must state what letter it represents, after which it cannot be changed during the game 4 Tile Exchange: In the course of the game, a player may use his/her turn to exchange one or more tile(s) (the exchange is a turn - no word(s) shall be played on the board) Announce to your opponent how many tiles you wish to exchange Spread the tile(s) to be replaced face down on the table, start your opponent s time and then pick the same number of tile(s) from the bag Place them down on the table to verify the count, put the replaced tile(s) into the bag and shuffle the bag You may exchange tiles on any turn provided there is a minimum of SEVEN (7) TILES in the bag There is no limit to the number of changes The player will score zero (0) for that turn 5 Passing: A player may pass his/her turn any time during the game The passing of one s turn is not equivalent to the exchanging of tiles In this case the player should state PASS and activate his/her opponent s clock without playing any tiles on the board 6 Challenges: A player may challenge any of the word(s) played by the opponent during the turn itself when the opponent plays the word(s) No word challenge is permitted after the turn is over The player will only signal his intent to challenge when the opponent has depressed his timer, which means that the move is complete; or in absence of this, when the opponent is about to draw replacement tile(s) for the move When a player is considering a challenge he must promptly advise the opponent not to draw replacement tiles (a) Hold procedure: A player considering a challenge may call HOLD any time during his turn This courtesy is usually extended for not more than 15 seconds after which the challenger shall use his own time to deliberate on proceeding with the challenge A player replenishing his rack while a hold is in effect should keep fresh tiles separate from leftover tiles so that they may be returned to the bag in the event of a successful challenge ie words are found to be invalid (b) Challenge procedure: On making the decision to challenge, the challenger should call CHALLENGE and neutralize the timer at which point the challenge becomes irrevocable The challenger must write clearly on a Challenge Slip one or several or all the words formed by the challenged player during the turn The challenged player may verify the accuracy of the completed Challenge Slip The Challenge Slip should then be handed to the officials on duty The adjudicators will decide on the legitimacy of words and their decision shall be final Acceptable challenged word(s) will be indicated by a YES and by a NO if the word(s) is/are not acceptable; in the case of multiple challenges, if one or more words is/are not acceptable, the adjudicators will merely indicate a NO Word(s) not accepted will be removed from the board 3

4 and the player misses a turn If the word is accepted, the challenger does not miss a turn but a penalty of five (5) points is added to the opponent score for each word that is found to be valid 7 End of turn: A player must not remove any tile or shift the tiles or change of words on the board once he has activated his/her timer If a player forgets to activate his timer, he/she is deemed to have ended his/her turn when he replenishes his/her rack 8 Dictionaries, Word Lists & References Players are NOT ALLOWED to consult any word list, dictionary or any other forms of references during the game a) The word rules permit any words except those spelt with an initial capital letter, abbreviations, words as part of a phrase, prefixes and suffixes, words requiring apostrophe and hyphens, and words listed as taboo, obscene, vulgar, swear and/or offensive/derogatory in the official references used for the Tournament b) LeXpert will be used to check if the words placed are valid LeXpert is the software used by the official Inter-School tournament by Mattel 9 The match ends: (a) when any player has used all his tile(s) on the rack AND there are no more tile in the bag (b) when both players pass their turns consecutively three (3) times, simultaneously with each other s passing of turns (c) when the Tournament Director has declared an end to the round 10 Tile Penalty: At the end of each game, each player s score is reduced by the sum of his un-played letters However, if one player has used all his tile(s), his score is increased by the sum of the un-played tile(s) on his opponent s rack (opponent also has to deduct his un-played tiles) 11 In case a player runs out of time, the player would be declared a loss of spread of 75 pts or (if losing) the spread of that time, whichever is larger 12 Incomplete Tile(s): The game shall proceed as it is in the event of discovering that the set during play has letter distribution frequency that does not correspond to the original frequency 13 Matters in Dispute All questions of eligibility, legitimacy in the progress and outcome of the game including walkover, forfeiture of game, alteration in the number of games played, annulment and/or invocation/reversal of final result, interpretation of rules as well as all other matters in dispute not covered in the above-mentioned rules and regulations shall be referred to the Organizing Committee whose powers are that of an arbitrator and whose decision is FINAL 4

5 Schedule Time Event 08:30-08:40 Registration, Opening Ceremony and Announcement 08:41-09:40 Round 1 + Arrange pairing for Round 2 09:41-10:40 Round 2 + Arrange pairing for Round 3 10:41-11:40 Round 3 + Arrange pairing for Round 4 11:41-1:00 Lunch 1:01-2:00 Round 4 + Arrange pairing for Round 5 2:01-3:00 Round 5 3:01-4:00 Fun Time and Prize Presentation Reminders 1 It is a must for participants to put on school uniform 2 Please bring along your stationery since it is not provided Contact Teacher-in-charge: Mr Hui Kwok Ping Tel: / valjeanhui@gmailcom 5

6 Illustration Suppose after 5 rounds the list of ranking is like this: Rank Name School Form Wins Spread 1 Johnson AAA Jeremy CCC Samson BBB Euclid CCC Michael BBB Felix BBB Gary AAA Enoch BBB Tom AAA Sarah CCC Jason BBB Andy CCC School Prize: Number of wins of School AAA = = 11 (Spread: =1106) Number of wins of School BBB = = 11 (Spread: =1463) Number of wins of School CCC = = 9 (Spread: =770) Champion: BBB 1 st runner-up: AAA 2 nd runner-up: CCC Individual Titles: Scrabble King Scrabble Master Johnson Jeremy & Samson 6

7 St Michael s Invitational Scrabble Championship Application Form School Name: Section to take part: Junior Secondary/Senior Secondary/Both Person-in-charge: Contact no of person-in-charge: No of applicants (3-4 in one section): Nọ Junior Secondary Name of applicant Stud y Leve l Nọ Senior Secondary Name of applicant Stud y Leve l * Should the number of applicants in the senior section be inadequate, junior players from the same school may take the place 7