About us
Our History
Formed in 2003, WESPA (the World English Language Scrabble® Players Association) provides an official structure for the international Scrabble community. We support Associations with internationally recognized rules and a ratings system whilst promoting a global calendar of Scrabble events designed to cater for players of all ages and levels.
Who We Are?
The World English-language Scrabble Players' Assocation (WESPA) represents the interests of international competitors and national Scrabble bodies across the globe. WESPA promotes Scrabble by maintaining a schedule of worldwide tournaments, a ratings system, an international set of rules and a website.
WESPA aims to further English language Scrabble globally, representing international competitors and associations.
WESPA’s Scrabble Calendar is a truly global one – the WESPA Tournament & Rating Committee coordinates the tournament schedule and sets the rating criteria for tournaments on the World circuit.
Tournaments are Open to all players without discrimination. (Invitational events will be screened by the committee on a case-by-case basis, provided that qualification and/or selection method is conducted in a transparent manner and based either on WESPA or domestic ratings, i.e. Masters event, etc.)
As of March 2022, the WESPA Committee voted to remove restrictions on the number of tournaments that a WESPA member may hold in a calendar year. The criteria for the sanctioning of tournaments is as follows:
- The national association in whose jurisdiction the tournament will be played must have WESPA membership, and must support the application for the tournament to be WESPA rated;
- Tournaments must be played under the current version of WESPA Rules (including the word source specified therein; these are currently version 5.2 and CSW21), or under national rules if this has been agreed in advance with WESPA;
- Payment of the applicable tournament levy (US$1 per participant, subject to a minimum of US$20);
- Organisers must make available to WESPA all relevant documentation and publicity material
Tournaments meeting the following criteria will also be eligible for WESPA rating:
- The World Championships (and WESPACs),
- (a) Any International tournaments awarding a top prize of US$2500 or more; (b) OR attracting significant level of international participation (no more than 60% of participants from any one country);
- Team tournaments between countries.
- Tournaments ancillary to, and organised in conjunction with, those eligible under points 1 to 3 above
NOTE: Tournaments where zero players have a WESPA rating are unable to be properly rated. Please liaise with the Tournament and Rating Committee (TRC) for guidance.
There may be some instances in which the events may be approved by the TRC on an individual basis even if the above criteria are not strictly met. Please contact your regional TRC representative or the TRC chair if you have any questions.