Looking ahead to the fall Scrabble season
A great deal of the work we do here is geared around the summer Scrabble championship season. This year for example, our big summer thing was Word Cup earlier this month in Williamsburg, so a ton of our organizational efforts were aimed at that. Our brainpower, our personpower, our time, our money - all of it went into making Word Cup the best tournament it could be. We hyped it up, we recruited players, we planned everything, and ultimately we executed.
But Word Cup, like every big Scrabble event, eventually comes and goes. And then it's over, and you're left thinking... OK, now what?
The short-term answer, of course, is we take a quick breather. We get a little sleep back; we get a little sanity back. But soon, a slightly more long-term answer emerges, namely: We move forward. We get to work running more tournaments. After all, the fall season of Scrabble is a big one, too.
So today, let's talk about it. What's on the horizon? What exciting Scrabble events can you all look forward to over the next few months? There are quite a few, actually. So let's dive right in and talk about them.
A busy fall in the Pacific Northwest
If you're anywhere near the top-left corner of the United States (or the bottom-left corner of Canada), good news: We've got plenty of Scrabble tournaments for you.
We've got a 2-day tournament in Vancouver in late September; we've got a 2-day tournament in Portland, too. Then in Seattle the following month, we've got a pair of 1-days on the docket as well.
We're blessed to have a lot of great tournament organizers and directors in this region of North America, and thanks to their efforts, the calendar is jam-packed these next few months. If you live in the PNW, or just like visiting on occasion, you'd best be checking out one or more of these tournaments.
A marquee championship in Minnesota
Of course, the year of Scrabble championships doesn't end with Word Cup. Coming up in November, we've got the biggest CSW-only event you can find on American soil - the North American Collins Championship (NACC), slated for Nov. 6-9 in Minneapolis, MN.
We ran the first NACC back in 2023 in Seattle and it was a big success. After a couple years of us dragging our feet (sorry about that!), we're finally back, and we're excited to make this tournament bigger and better than ever.
We've already got 29 names on the entrants list for this one, and we're just getting started. If you're thinking of throwing your hat into the ring, give us a shout.
A beloved classic in California
And then in December, one of the great tournaments in North American Scrabble is back yet again. We're coming up on the 17th annual California Open, to be held Dec. 11-13 in downtown San Francisco.
There's a reason the CO has been running this long - it's one of the true gems of Scrabble. SF is a uniquely fantastic city for a big Scrabble tournament. There's nowhere else quite like it. If you've played the CO before, you know firsthand how great it is - make sure to hurry back in 2026! And if you haven't, what are you waiting for? No time like the present for your first CO.
Plenty more stuff... we hope!
What you see above is what we have on the tournament calendar so far. It's a good start. The skeleton is there - but we'd always love to see some more meat on those bones. We're always looking for ways we can add to this slate of events. We'd love more of everything - big tournaments, small tournaments, in every nook and cranny of North America.
As always, if you're interested in helping us offer more opportunities for CSW play, anywhere on the map, we would love to hear from you.
Or, y'know - if you're content for now just to play a tournament or two, we'd love to see you do that, too.
Either way...