It's been almost two months now since we announced our plans to run the Word Cup Collins division in July, and we're very pleased with how the field has been shaping up ever since. As of this writing, we're up to 78 total entrants expected, including 55 paid and 23 tentative, and we're optimistic that more players will continue to trickle in as time goes on. It's exciting to see everything come together.

Of course, with a CSW cohort this big, there have been plenty of questions about how the tournament is ultimately going to look. Will we have one big open field? Will there be multiple divisions? What's the plan?

Today, it's time to answer those questions. When we first announced this event in January, we wrote that we "enthusiastically hope to offer two Collins divisions" at Word Cup, and that we'd announce a decision once we had enough information on the field to make a decision. Now, we have more than enough, so here goes.

As of today, we are officially committed to offering two Collins divisions at Word Cup. Any player who wants to enter the top division, where they can compete with the world's best players and vie for a top prize of $10,000+, is welcome to do so. But for players whose ratings fall below the threshold for Division 1, there will be an option to enter Division 2 instead.

Here are the ground rules:

• All players will be seeded and placed into divisions based on the average of their CoCo, WESPA, and WGPO CSW peak ratings between June 1, 2021 and June 1, 2022.

• If a player does not have a rating in one or more of these organizations, we will use the average of whichever ratings they do have.

• All players with average peak ratings of 1600 or more will be required to play in Division 1.

• All players with average peak ratings under 1600 will have the option of playing in Division 2, though they may play up if desired.

• If a player does not have a rating in any of the above organizations, they may be allowed to play Division 2 - this will be up to the directors' discretion.
  
  

To all those feeling a little confused by these rules: My sincerest apologies! They're a little convoluted, I'll confess. But with three different Scrabble organizations involved - the CoCo, WESPA, and WGPO - we wanted to come up with a fair system that placed people into divisions fairly, accounting for everyone's stats from everywhere. This was the approach that worked best.

If you take a look at the new Word Cup entrants list page that we just launched today, you'll notice we've made a few changes. Rather than simply list players in one big group, ranked by their CoCo ratings, we've reorganized the list to show all players' peak ratings in all three organizations, and we've ranked and sorted the field based on the mean values of those ratings. This, we hope, will give everyone a clearer picture of where they stand.

For now, we've got the field set up so that all players who qualify for Division 1 are in Division 1, and all players qualified for Division 2 are in Division 2. Play-ups to the top division are permitted - so if you are currently listed in the lower division but would like to be moved up, just let us know. Also, if you think you've spotted any errors in the calculation of these mean ratings, do let us know that as well. Or if you just have any general questions or comments or concerns, that's fine too - our inbox is open.

I'll just close with a brief personal note: For me, it's immensely gratifying to make this announcement, as I think it's a big step forward for the CoCo and for Collins play in North America. For years, I've heard players lament that CSW is only a lexicon for the "elites" of the game; many have shied away because they don't want to square off against a gauntlet of world champions and take a beating. I've always thought that this doesn't have to be the case. Collins Scrabble, at its core, has nothing to do with elitism - it's simply a way to unify the entire Scrabble-playing world, giving us all a level playing field on which to compete together. This should be equally accessible to players of all skill levels - and my sincere hope is that with today's announcement, this vision will be closer to a reality.

This is the first CoCo tournament ever to offer multiple divisions. It won't be the last. You have my word on that.

Anyway, check out the list and see who's slated to compete where in Word Cup, which is now less than four months away!