Looking ahead to Word Cup - and the North American Collins Championship (NACC)
When we first hatched the idea for the North American Collins Championship (NACC) way back in 2023, it was pretty much borne out of necessity. We weren't included in the Word Cup process that summer, and as a result, we didn't really have a major championship for our players to compete for. So we figured - hey, why not create our own? We built a marquee event from scratch, and we're pleased to say it was a big success. Some of the most positive player feedback we've ever gotten came from players who enjoyed the inaugural NACC we held in Seattle back in the fall of '23.
But then 2024 happened, and 2025 after that. We ended up back on the Word Cup team again, and we put all of our championship-running focus into co-running that event. For a time, the idea of holding another NACC faded into the background. We'd talk about it as a possibility from time to time, in board meetings and in more informal conversations, but we never actually ended up doing the thing. We figured that was OK for the time being. After all, Word Cup was thriving, and that was our championship. There was no need to rock the boat.
Eventually though, we realized: We could have the best of both worlds. Both championship events, Word Cup and the NACC, were beloved by players in their own right - so why not try and have both? Finally, for 2026, we took the plunge and set out to do it. In November, we announced that the NACC would return next fall, in Minneapolis, MN; in January, we followed up with news that we were teaming up with our friends from WGPO to host Word Cup over the summer in Williamsburg, VA. For the first time, we're poised to do both.
The way we see it, both tournaments have value in their own distinct ways. There are valid reasons that for some people, the NACC is their championship event of choice. For players who strongly prefer Collins, it's nice to walk into the playing room and know that CSW is the only game in town. It allows you to feel like your division is the true main event. At the same time, there are perfectly good reasons to view Word Cup as the real marquee event of the year. It's a big, long event with a chance to see lots of your Scrabble friends all week long, not to mention compete for lots of prize money. There's definitely merit in that.
Some people like the NACC; some people like Word Cup. Some like both. So why not allow everyone to choose their own adventure?
It's important to note that our internal data supports this choice. When we conducted our first-ever CoCo Player Survey about a year ago, we asked the community whether they wanted to compete for a championship at Word Cup, NACC, both, or neither. The results were unequivocal - just over 56 percent of people chose both. Simply put, you all wanted more Scrabble. So, what kind of democracy would we be if we didn't deliver?
I've been asked a couple of times over the last few months about our choice to bring the NACC back this year. People have put the question to me: Was this an act of aggression? Were we bringing our championship back in an effort to compete with Word Cup and assert our dominance? I've consistently replied that actually, I see it much the opposite. If anything, we see hosting the NACC as an act of unity. We're trying to bring the Scrabble community together and unite them behind the idea of having more tournament options, on more dates, in more locations. Ultimately, we're all just trying to grow Scrabble.
Now, are we as a community ready to fill two big championships? Do we have enough people to play them, people to direct them and staff them, enthusiasm to make both of them smashingly successful from day one? Honestly, I don't know. But I'm certain that that's something worth aspiring to. So there's no better time than the present, I'd reckon, to give it a try. It's like they always say - you dress for the job you want, not the one you have. We're going to start running two championships because it's the future we want. All that's left now is for the player community to grow into them.