Score Sheets

In com­pet­i­tive Scrabble, both play­ers keep score. Although some play­ers are com­fort­able with a blank sheet of paper, most play­ers pre­fer a preprinted form that, in addi­tion to help­ing them keep score, also makes it eas­ier for them to track tiles, record their own racks, and record the posi­tion of plays to facil­i­tate later game analy­sis. Numerous dif­fer­ent score sheets can be down­loaded from the fol­low­ing club’s web­sites (other sheets can eas­ily be located on other club websites):

Ottawa Scrabble Club, http://​www​.ottawascrab​ble​club​.com/​s​c​o​r​e​s​h​e​e​t​s​.​h​tml
Forest Lake Scrabble, http://​flscrab​ble​.tri​pod​.com/​i​d​2​2​.​h​tml
Los Angeles Scrabble Club, http://​www​.the​scrab​ble​club​.com/​s​c​o​r​e​s​h​e​e​t​s​.​h​tml
Calgary Scrabble Group, http://​www​.cal​gar​y374​.org/​S​c​o​r​e​S​h​e​e​t​s​P​a​g​e​.​php
Seattle Scrabble Club, http://​www​.seat​tle​scrab​ble​.org/​l​i​n​k​s​.​php

Here is a stan­dard NSA score­sheet: NSA_Standard_Scoresheet.

There are a seri­ous of tasks that must be per­formed on each turn of the game:

1. Play your word (posi­tion your tiles on the board, tiles may be moved around, removed, etc.)
2. If you are play­ing a blank, des­ig­nate it.
3. Once you are sure of your play, cal­cu­late and announce your score.
4. Start your opponent’s clock (this ENDS your turn).
5. Record your score and cal­cu­late your cumu­la­tive score (you may con­firm the score with your opponent).
6. Opponent Challenge — If your oppo­nent wants to chal­lenge your play, they will do it now – after you’ve started their clock, but before you draw your tiles – If they announce “chal­lenge” then they will stop the clock and your play will be adju­di­cated. If they want to think about chal­leng­ing, they may say “hold” – in this case you are pre­vented from draw­ing your tiles, but their clock con­tin­ues while they decide whether or not to challenge.]
7. If your play isn’t chal­lenged (or your oppo­nent does not announce a hold), then draw your tiles.
8. Record what­ever other infor­ma­tion you wish at this time (cur­rent rack, your play, the posi­tion of your play, tiles played, etc.)
9. WAIT for your oppo­nent to play (con­tem­plate the board and your rack) – then decide whether or not to chal­lenge (or hold) once they have placed their tiles, declared their score and started your clock.
10. Once your opponent’s turn has ended, record their score (you may con­firm the cumu­la­tive score with your oppo­nent), then quickly record what­ever other infor­ma­tion you wish to record (their words, word posi­tion, etc.) – this should be done quickly (because your clock is running)
11. WAIT (con­tem­plate the board and your rack), when ready to play, go back to Step #1

It is impor­tant that these steps become sec­ond nature so that you can focus on the game.  It is also impor­tant that you are famil­iar enough with your score sheet to be able to use it effec­tively with­out it becom­ing a distraction.

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