A Brief Overview of Scrabble playing Associations

Scrabble was invented by unemployed architect Alfred Butts in 1938. Little did he know at the time just how far his simple crossword board game would go. The original name of Scrabble was 'Criss-Crosswords'. It was designed as a modification to his earlier game 'Lexico'. Under the name 'Criss-Crosswords' the game made it's way through backrooms in New York and became popular. It was through the eventual sale to Peter Brunot, a lawyer, that Scrabble was born.

The first three countries to have rights to market Scrabble were the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. Since that time, major organizations have been formed with one purpose in mind: serious Scrabble play. They each serve their countries a hot plate of Scrabble well done.

In North America, the National Scrabble Association (NSA) has been in existence for over 60 years. It is considered the ultimate source for Scrabble in North America. The NSA acts as the governing body for all Scrabble tournament play and is operated as such. The NSA consists of a governing body with elected officials. The NSA is divided into separate committees: the rules committee, an advisory board, a technology committee, ratings committee, Tourneyman Task Force, a dictionary committee, and pairings committee.

In Australia, where Scrabble became marketed in 1955, they have their own governing body. The Council of Australian Scrabble Players Association (CASPA) is charged with the promotion of Scrabble throughout Australia. This is accomplished through tournament play on the state and national level. These tournaments are sponsored by CASPA. CASPA also provides Scrabble teams for international competition. These Australian representatives are determined through these year-round tournaments all across Australia.

In the United Kingdom (UK) the Association of British Scrabble Players (ABSP) rules the board. Similar to both the NSA and CASPA, the ABSP has it's own governing system. The ABSP has an honorary President, Committee Officers, and Committee Members. Members of all committees are volunteers. The current Honorary President of the ABSP has the distinction of being the founder of the National Scrabble Tournament in the UK. The Honorary President also has the distinction of serving on Trevor McDonalds' Better English campaign.

Scrabble is not just for adults: kids are invited to play. All three associations encourage youth participation through their various School Scrabble programs. These programs are geared towards teaching proper spelling and increasing vocabulary through game play. In addition to this, youth tournaments are held annually. In this way, they each manage to meet their desired result. They simultaneously educate the next generation and provide more competition. With all of this they keep the game of Scrabble alive and kicking for another generation.

While the various organizations differ over proper English spellings, they all have one thing in common: the love of Scrabble. Since there are no variations in the rules of game play, Scrabble has become a veritable good will ambassador to each nation. Each, in it's own way serves up a hefty helping of jumbled up letters in a way that's had players screaming for more. This has gone on for years and will probably continue for many decades to come.