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We encourage you to review our privacy policy to make sure that you understand how your data is managed, and to contact us if you have any questions.View Privacy Policy Competitive Scrabble Play since 2009 NASPA Games Mobile Member Services Subscribe Contact Edit About Us Membership Join NASPA Mission Statement Committees FAQ News Breaking News Email Message List Monthly Message Archive Official Records Play Scrabble General Information Find a Club Find a Tournament Membership Rules Code of Conduct Media Social Media Media Relations History of NASPA FAQ Images Official Records Clubs About Clubs Club News Find a Club Tournaments General Information Upcoming Tournaments Past Tournament Results Championships Members Renew Membership Member Services Rules Code of Conduct Ratings Find My Rating Directors Director Manual Member Search Member/Director Services Add a New Member Renew a Member Ratings Resources List of Accommodations Software Sanction a Tournament Join or Renew Membership Visit the NASPA Store Advertisements Most Popular Contact us Join NASPA (or renew) 2020 NASC Info 2019 NASC Live Coverage Breaking News FAQ Navigating NASPAWiki Recent changes Random page Editing NASPAWiki Help Tools What links here Related changes Special pages Printable version Permanent link Page information Page Discussion View source History What links here Frequently asked questions From NASPAWiki You are viewing a condensed mobile version of this NASPA webpage. Switch to full version. Here is a list of frequently asked questions (FAQ) about the NASPA. Please check to see if your question is answered here before you contact us. Contents 1 General questions about the Association 2 cross-tables.com 3 Equipment 4 Finance 5 Membership 5.1 Benefits 5.2 Joining and renewing 5.3 Life membership 5.4 Member profile 5.5 Membership numbers and passwords 6 NASPA Championships 7 National SCRABBLE Association 8 Newsletters 9 Other Scrabble Entities 10 Ratings 11 Records 12 Tournaments 13 Volunteering 14 Words 14.1 Word List Contents 14.2 Word List Purchasing, Publishing, Licensing General questions about the Association What is NASPA? NASPA is a nonprofit 501(c)(4) corporation incorporated in Texas. We are an association of tournament, club and avid home Scrabble players in North America. How many members does NASPA have? The exact number varies from day to day as members join, lapse and re-up. We typically have between 2,000-2,500 active paid members and 4,000 past or lapsed members. Our player database lists another 10,000+ players who have competed before our founding, or in affiliated overseas events. We have estimated another 10,000 players competing in our clubs, where membership and registration is not required, based on ratios of members to nonmembers at selected clubs. Who is in charge of NASPA? NASPA is formally governed by the Board of Trustees. Day-to-day management is in the hands of its Executive Committee (EC), which delegates most tasks to its Committees. Decisions of working committees may be appealed to the Advisory Board (AB); AB decisions may be appealed to the EC; EC decisions may be appealed to the Board of Trustees. Do players have a voice in how NASPA works? Yes. Players who have the time and energy to devote to volunteering for one of NASPA's Committees can have the most direct impact on our future by helping to develop our policy. Others are encouraged to either contact the committee in charge of their concern, or their Advisory Board representative for general concerns. The rest of our topics are listed alphabetically. cross-tables.com What is cross-tables.com? Cross-tables.com is a partner website developed and maintained by Seth Lipkin, providing a wealth of statistical information about the history of competitive Scrabble play in North America. What does it mean when it says "Check with NASPA" next to an unrated player's name in a tournament roster? It means that cross-tables.com does not track information about unrated players, and you should use the regular membership tools to verify an unrated player's membership status. Equipment How do I assemble a NASPA round board? You can find instructions here from our partner, Star Boards. My ZMF-II clock stops when it reaches 00:00 and does not go into overtime. How can I set the clock to show up to 10 minutes of overtime? Your NASPA ZMF-II should have come configured for sanctioned Scrabble play. If not, or if you manage to change the settings and aren’t sure how to change them back, click here for the instructions you should follow. My ZMF-II clock resets to 0:00 in the middle of the game. What can I do to prevent this? Make sure that the batteries are snugly installed. We find that batteries vary in dimensions by small amounts and may be loose. Put the batteries in the compartment and roll them with both thumbs. Placing some padding in the compartment can also help to secure the batteries in place. Finance How do I make payments for NASPA? Please see our Payment page for a detailed answer to this question. Is financial information available for NASPA? You may view NASPA's Form 990 on our Financial Reports page. Are there executive stipends, will the members decide them, and will they be published? NASPA reports its budget in accordance with statutory requirements governing nonprofit corporations. Executive stipends, if any, are determined by the board of trustees. As of 2014, there are no stipends as such, but NASPA is reimbursing some expenses necessary for its operation, and disbursing approximately $2,000 per month in consulting fees. When will NASPA start spending its capital reserves? It is important for the organization to maintain reserves for unanticipated liability or expenses, such as the COVID-19 moratorium on play. We do, however, allocate resources for various publicity activities. Will NASPA spend its capital reserves to subsidize prize pools at major events? In general, no, because we believe that this would lead to the very top players being paid better without an increase in overall membership. We would rather spend money on reaching out to a broader group of potential players to encourage them to join the association. Can my tournament sponsors make a charitable donation through NASPA? No, we are a 501(c)(4) corporation, not a charity. Donations are accepted instead by the NASPA Foundation. Membership Benefits What do I get with my membership? You get the right to participate in official tournaments, access to member-only sections of the website, access to the NASPA Store where you can buy a printed NASPA Word List and tournament equipment, the right to volunteer for or stand for election to our committees, and the right to have your club and tournament accomplishments officially recognized. Do I get a printed membership card? We will not mail them out to you, but you can either print your own using our online tool or ask us in person at Championships. Can I buy member-only publications such as the NASPA Word List from WordGear as a NASPA member? No, because Word Gear went out of business on July 1, 2013. You can now buy it from the NASPA Store. Are newcomers allowed to attend one open-rated tournament before joining as members? No, but they have an option to purchase a 6-month trial membership for US$15. What services do you provide to inmates of correctional facilities? We answer inquiries about NASPA or the game as we do from the public at large. Joining and renewing How do I buy a NASPA membership? The membership page explains how to pay online using a credit card to activate your membership right away, or submit your data and follow up with a check to have your membership activated when we receive payment. My credit card is being rejected, but I'm sure it is valid: what should I do? As explained on the Payment page, we do not have control over the format in which our bank expects you to enter your address; please be especially careful about using the standard abbreviation for your state or province, and entering it in the correct box. These are the two most common errors. I'm a tournament director and I need memberships for some players so that my upcoming tournament can be rated. What do I do? Click on the Member Services link, then click on Add New Members in the Director section. Fill out the membership information for your players, then choose Payment with your next tournaments participation fee as your payment option. I want to renew my NASPA membership but don't remember my membership ID, what should I do? You can enter your name instead of your membership ID in the renewal form. Life membership Do life members in the former NSA get life membership in NASPA? No. The NSA and NASPA are two separate organizations. Life membership in NASPA costs $20/year of age up to age 80. What proof of age do I need to show to obtain life membership? You can send us a copy of government-issued identification showing your date of birth, or show it to any NASPA-certified Director and ask him/her to attest to us on your behalf. Member profile How do I change my NASPA contact information? Click on the Member Services, then Edit Profile. Contact us at [email protected] if you need to change your name. Why did I not receive my prize winnings or other correspondence? NASPA sends mail to the address given in your member profile; check to make sure that its up-to-date. Membership numbers and passwords What is my membership number (NASPA ID)? You can look it up in the member database. I dont have Internet access; will you mail me my membership number? If you cannot ask a friend to look up your number, you can contact us and we will look it up for you. Can you send me a password to log onto the membership services section of NASPA? You can access your own password by going to the member services page, entering your member number and clicking on Email me my password. My current email address is not in the member database. How can I receive my password? Contact us at [email protected] to receive a password and have your email address updated in the database. How do I change my password? Go to the Member Services page, then click on the Change Password button at the bottom of the page. If you dont remember your password, enter your member number and click on Email me my password. I tried entering my NASPA ID and password but keep being told Youre trying to connect to an unknown session. Please log on again. We use browser cookies to keep track of sessions at our website. If you see this message and use AOL as your ISP, make sure that you are using Firefox as your browser and not the default AOL browser. Otherwise, make sure that you have cookies enabled in your browser preferences. NASPA Championships When/where is the next NASPA Championship? The 2024 Scrabble Players Championship is scheduled to take place in South Bend, IN, from July 20 to 24, 2024. Who decides the format of the Scrabble Players Championship (SPC)? The NASPA Championship Committee is charged with organizing and running our annual championship tournament. The Championship Committee makes hundreds of decisions with respect to the organization of the SPC. The Championship Committee functions much like the organizers/directors of other NASPA tournaments, choosing a venue, negotiating terms, setting entry fees, establishing division cutoffs, determining pairing format, etc. Major decisions of the Championship Committee are typically reviewed by the Advisory Board. National SCRABBLE Association What happened to the NSA? It transferred many of its duties to NASPA in 2009, and went out of business in July 2013. What happened to Word Gear? Word Gear is…