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Lexington, MA SCRABBLE® Club Weekly Reports

There is a one-sheet handout available at the club each week with the current club standings, reports of the previous session's highlights, and some general news. This web site has these viewable as:

As of September, 2011, the club is also providing ratings of games using the Collins lexicon for International play. These games are separately rated and there is a weekly sheet available on the web and via email. This web site has these viewable as:

This news is usually limited to the ratings. See the main news of the club for newsy items. If you want to subscribe to receiving the Collins Games News by email, let Mike know.

The fiscal year of the club is from the beginning of September through the end of August. The wins, losses, and game averages start over in the first session held in September. Club ratings carry over the club year boundary.

Each new player is given an estimated rating which will be recalculated after that person has played ten games. A "UNR" is listed as a new player's rating until at least four games are played. Then a provisional rating is shown (followed by a slash and the number of games). New players are not ranked until they have played ten games. The "/A" after a player's rating indicates that player has been absent for at least 4 club sessions and is thus not ranked. A player who has been absent for at least 10 sessions is not listed. A player who has played less than 5 total games is no longer listed after missing 4 sessions. When a game is a tie, each player is credited with a win.

Within the standings report, starting on 16-Sep-99 (but the exclamation point was added 14-Aug-03), there is a one-character indicator just before a player's rating to indicate one of the following:
- plus sign - the player's rating went up at the previous session
- minus sign - the player's rating went down at the previous session
- equals sign - the player played but remained at the same rating
- question mark - the unrated player played, but has played under 10 games
- exclamation point - the player has just received an initial rating
- no indicator - the player did not play at the previous session

Following the standings is the news of significant scores, plays, and rating changes from the previous session. A high-above-average winner is announced. A player must have played at least 20 games (changed from 10 games in Sep-99) to be eligible for this accolade. This computation is based on each player's average at the beginning of the session, as shown on the standings sheet. For each game, we compute the percentage above that average a player scores. It is quite difficult for a high-average player to achieve a high percent above average, so these announcements tend to span the entire club roster over the course of a season - it does seem to favor a certain level of player.

A standard feature of each week's report is the list of challenged and considered words. The words are listed above a dividing line in their raw form. Then, below the line are the acceptable words and their anagrams. Here is an example:

These are the words challenged or considered:

DUM, ECU, GUP, CHAY, JEON, VONS, AXION, BINGY, GAMAS, HANHS, HANKS,
MIQUE, TROPE, BOWSER, JUTTER, VICARY, ELODEAS, LEARNEE, LENSERS,
MOONIES, NATTERS, NICKING, OUTWAIL, OVERSIT, PHONILY, PRODING,
SIDEMAN, UNFILED, BEWASHED, FEUDINGS, KNEADERS, NUTATIVE, OVERTAME,
PRICINGS, RANTINGS, SLENDERS, ULTRAISM, UNDOINGS, UNMASTED,
WISHABLE, WORMLIKE, PRETUNING
--------------------------------------------------------------------
(MUD), ECU (CUE), (PUG), CHAY (ACHY), JEON, AXION, GAMAS (AGMAS),
HANKS (ANKHS KHANS SHANK), TROPE (REPOT TOPER), (BOWERS BROWSE),
ELODEAS, (NOISOME), NATTERS (RATTENS), NICKING, PHONILY, SIDEMAN
(MAIDENS MEDIANS MEDINAS), (DEFUSING), KNEADERS, OVERTAME,
(CRISPING), ULTRAISM (ALTRUISM MURALIST), UNDOINGS (SOUNDING),
WORMLIKE

The words above the line were played and challenged, or at least considered by someone. Below the line are acceptable words only. When a considered word is acceptable, it is repeated below the line. Acceptable anagrams of the considered words are listed below the line inside of parentheses. Words below the line are sometimes shown with a suffixed plus sign, and this denotes the word was new in the most recent update to the lexicon. This notation is used in answers in the WHAT program.

Take your own quiz by covering up the words below the line, and ponder whether you would challenge or accept each of the above-the-line words. If you don't want to contaminate your word knowledge, look only below the line. But if you want to relate the considered words and the results, it's helpful to look both above and below. For example, in this week's lists, DUM was challenged, and so it appears above the line, but since it is not acceptable, only its acceptable anagram appears below the line.

The remainder of the news varies each week. Sometimes there is a report of how our members have fared at recent tournaments. Sometimes there are announcements of upcoming tournaments. When there is nothing special to say, we usually include some useful information, such as a reminder where and when the other local clubs meet.


back to the top of this page This page, maintained by Mike Wolfberg, was last updated on February 11, 2019 .