Previewing the 2026 North American Collins Championship (NACC)

It boggles my mind a little bit to realize it's been three years - three years! - since the last time we ran our own standalone CSW championship. The year was 2023. Taylor Swift was just beginning her Eras Tour. The "Barbenheimer" phenomenon was bringing Americans back to the movies again. A gallon of gas cost... well, I don't remember what it cost and I'm too lazy to look it up, but I bet it was a hell of a lot less than it is now.

The last North American Collins Championship (NACC) was in November of '23. Since then, we've run about 100 other tournaments, sanctioned about 9,000 total games, and Jennifer has greeted Kevin Fraley as "the reigning North American Collins Champion!" at least 500 times. But now, after all that, the hiatus is finally over. The NACC is back, and it gets underway this weekend.

So today, let's run through what you can expect from our marquee fall championship.

An amazing host city

We couldn't be more excited to host you all this weekend in Minneapolis, a beautiful city in the heart of the American midwest. We'll be right downtown at the Marquette Hotel, walking distance from pretty much everything you could ever ask for. The Marquette is a great venue in an ideal location, and it's ours for four days and four nights.

(And hey - it's not even supposed to be that cold in early November! The temperature should be creeping up into the low 50s most days. Pack a warm hoodie and you're good to go, we promise.)

An impressive field of players

Registration is now closed, which means the player list is final - and we've locked in a field of exactly 40 players for this year's NACC. This is more or less consistent with both the field we drew for Williamsburg for this summer's Word Cup and the group that joined us in Seattle for the last NACC three years ago.

You can check out the list for yourself and take a look at who's playing. Suffice it to say, it's a strong roster of players, with past national and world champions everywhere you look. And that's just in Division 1. The D2 group is looking deep and diverse as well. This is going to be a competitive event for players of all rating levels, no doubt about it.

A juicy prize pool

We really pounded the pavement this year to fundraise for this tournament, and we dipped into the CoCo's (admittedly fairly modest) cash reserves as well. We wanted to offer as generous a prize pool as possible for this year's NACC, and we're pretty happy with how the final numbers have shaken out.

You can refer back to last month's NACC update for more details, but just to summarize it here: We're offering a $6,000 grand prize for this tournament, along with four-figure payouts for the second and third place finishers as well as the D2 winner. All in all, we're looking at about $14,000 in prizes. We're hoping to see some high-level competition with all this money on the line.

Lots of fun, over the board and otherwise

For starters, every player at the NACC gets to play 24 games of high-level Scrabble - plus more for anyone who qualifies for the playoffs or enters the optional Afterword tournament on Monday. But that's just for starters! There's so much more to enjoy about a trip to Minneapolis away from the Scrabble board.

The food scene is excellent - I've been eagerly researching all week. We'll have a climbing outing for people who are into that sort of thing, as well as a spelling bee for people who are into that sort of thing. Plus the Timberwolves and Vikings are both in town, for all you sports fans out there. There's going to be something in Minneapolis for everyone.

Plenty of live coverage to follow along

As always, we try to provide extensive live coverage for our major tournaments so that everyone, whether they're in the playing room or halfway around the world, can keep a finger on the pulse and know what's going on.

That begins with having a world-class stream on our YouTube channel produced by Christian Kay and Andrew Kay, the absolute best in the business, who we are thrilled to have joining us in Minneapolis. But it doesn't end there! We'll also have live stats and standings, some photos, some social updates, and some recaps on the very blog you're reading now.

If you're joining us in Minneapolis, great! We can't wait to see you in just a few days' time.

But even if you're not, we've got you covered. You can sit back and enjoy the show all weekend long. It's going to be a good one.