It's been a week now since we opened the Collins division of this summer's Word Cup for registration and, whoo boy, what a week it's been. We've seen a flurry of activity from all of you over the last seven days - we've had players signing up, players expressing tentative interest, and players writing in with various questions and comments about the tournament. It's been a tad overwhelming, to be honest, but in a good way! I can't tell you how exciting it is to see this much enthusiasm for an event from the player community, not just in North America but worldwide.

I thought this week's blog would be a good opportunity to follow up and clarify a few things about the tournament. We’ve gotten quite a few questions about some of the finer details of this event, and there’s no better time than the present to explain everything in full.

To that end, here's an FAQ that covers a little bit of everything. This should help give you all a clearer picture of what to expect from this summer's championship event. If you've been wondering about one or more of these topics yourself, then wonder no more! Just read on...

Q: So you guys are working with WGPO now! Does this mean your two organizations are partners, or what?

A: Sort of! Yes and no. It's complicated. The two organizations still have some philosophical differences - for example, we believe in strongly pushing all of North America toward embracing Collins, whereas WGPO is more hands-off about the lexicon debate - but we're willing to keep an open mind about working together with WGPO in certain situations where it makes sense.

Here, it makes sense. With this tournament, WGPO had a venue already booked and a tournament already planned, plus lots of funding; these were precisely the missing puzzle pieces we needed to make a major championship happen in 2022. So we moved forward.

That doesn't mean we're committing to other collaborations of this nature just yet; we'll have to wait and see how things go. In our planning meetings with WGPO over the last few months, we've referred to this partnership as a "date," not a marriage. You know how first dates are. There's always a little uncertainty, but hey, a first date can be exciting, too.

Q: Wow, $10,000! That's a lot of prize money. Is that really just for first place, or is that the total for everybody?

A: No, seriously - that's just for first! And given how well the first week of registration has gone, I'm optimistic that we'll be able to keep driving prize money up, up, up. My hope is to throw down more than ten grand for first place, plus hefty four-figure checks for second place, third, and more. The more people sign up, the more cash we'll have to dole out!

And the prizes should be generous not just for the top overall performers in the tournament, but for the winners of lower divisions, as well. Speaking of which...

Q: It says here that "there may be two Collins divisions" - what do you mean by this? It's sort of vague.

A: Yeah, it's a little vague on purpose, because the division breakdown still depends on how a bunch of variables sort themselves out. At this point, I can say we're pretty confident we'll have a Collins Division 2, seeing as turnout for the CSW side of the event is looking pretty strong already. But the exact parameters are TBD.

We'll probably establish some sort of rating cutoff, using a combination of CoCo and WESPA and perhaps WGPO Collins ratings to evaluate players. Everyone above the cutoff will be in the top division, and everyone below it can either stick to D2 or opt to play up. But it'll probably be a bit later before can announce that cutoff, so bear with us.

Q: Speaking of vague language, what's up with this COVID stuff? What does "booster shot(s)" mean? Why do you say that masks "may" be required? Little help please.

A: Again, sorry, but vague on purpose. The pandemic is such a fluid situation, and so many different places all over the world have different rules and regulations, that it's hard to establish firm rules.

As far as vaccination, we ask that you get as many shots as the federal government in your country recommends. For example, if you live in the United States, you can check the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines - they say you should get vaccinated, then get a booster shot 5 months after your previous vaccination. Because the CDC recommends that, we're requiring that all players do it. If you live in another country, please check with the public health authorities in your country and do whatever they advise.

As for masks, it just depends on how the next 5-6 months ago. If I had to bet right now, I'd say it's pretty likely we require masks for everyone, but you never know. If we're lucky, the pandemic situation will improve enough that that won't be necessary.

If you have questions about any of this, you can always ask. There's a handy "Contact the Directors" button on the Word Cup event page, so hit us up if you need to.

Q: What lexicon are you using for this tournament?

A: That would be CSW21. Playing the same dictionary as the rest of the English-speaking Scrabble world is important to us; CSW21 is the book WESPA has adopted, so it's what we're moving forward with as well. For those who are strongly anti-expurgation, sorry, you're out of luck.

Q: I live outside of North America. Can I still play in this tournament?

A: Yes! Absolutely. In fact, that's a very important part of the CoCo mission. We encourage players from the U.S. and Canada to play Scrabble with the rest of the world, and we're excited to have more players from overseas come here, too. We're hoping for the Word Cup to have a diverse crowd of players from all over.

If you have any questions about how to come to the U.S. from abroad and play with us, please let us know. We'll do whatever we can to help - including writing letters to help you get a visa, if necessary. All you need to do is ask.

Q: I want to play the Word Cup, but I'm not totally sure yet I can make it. Can you mark me down as tentative?

A: Sure. There's a "Sign Up as Tentative" button on the event web page - feel free to put your name down.

But remember - being tentative for this tournament does not mean you're guaranteed a spot. The event is limited to the first 250 people who sign up, and that's 250 total, including both the CSW field and those playing the other lexicon. And "signing up" means actually filling out the complete form (including your COVID vaccination info) and submitting your entry fee. So, feel free to stay tentative for now, but remember that you'll soon need to lock down that spot for real.

Q: The website says you're capping the event at 250, but "may raise the cap later." What does this mean?

A: We would like to have more than 250 players at this event, but we're still in the process of figuring out exactly how many people our venue can hold. So, we're saying 250 for now, but if there's demand for more than that, we'll try to push that number closer to the 300 range.

It's still early in the game at this point, and there are still a lot of moving pieces, obviously. But if you want to be absolutely, positively, 100% sure that you've got a spot in this year's Word Cup with your name on it, there's only one thing to do.

Sign up now.