Scrabble New South Wales
Online Play in NSW During COVID-19 Lockdown - Hub-Based Internet Tournaments
Overview
Now that gatherings within people's homes are allowed, we are now are in a position to stage online tournaments of any size. The following outlines how this could be done for tournaments organized by Scrabble NSW. Essentially the plan is to have hubs of players, typically gathered in somones home, playing simultaneous games using ISC with players gathered in other homes.
Proposed Structure
Each tournament would have a Tournament Supervisor, ideally a member of the NSW Committee. The role of the supervisor is to take entries, receive and enter scores and publish draws after all results are in
Each hub (usually a home) would have a supervisor who watches over play, and liaises with the Tournament Supervisor during the event in submitting scores and announcing pairings. This can be done either througha Google Hangout or by texting winners to the Organiser. A hub would have at least two players and an independent supervisor, or three players including one supervisor player. The maximum number of players would be dictated by the wifi capabilities of the playing room.
Each hub (or home) would have a host who prepares the playing room and ensures wifi access to all players
Each player would need to have ISC loaded onto their device, have a handle, and know how to use the software.
Tournament Software
The proposal is to use TSH, the software widely used in most countries. This software can be used in a Windows 10 environment. Results and draws can be published on the fly. The software has an inbuilt rating system, so the intention is to introduce a new ratings system just for games played in Hub-based Online Tournaments. Each player would get an intial rating of 1200, and after playing one tournament would acquire a HOT Rating, a Hub-based Online Tournament Rating
Upcoming Hub-based Tournaments
Once the software has been mastered, the proposal is to stage an online tournament just for NSW players. Entry to this would be free. Players would acquire a HOT Ratings. 8 games of 15 minutes on ISC would be played between 10 and 5. If players in the same hub are drawn to play each other, the that game could be played on a conventional board, with 20 minutes each on the clock
If the trial is successful, teh proposal is to play out te Winter Challenge and the Winter Masters over the designated weeked, with number of games to be determined. There would be an entry fee, prizemoney and hubs from other States would be would be allowed to take part. Only those players who have paid their entry fee would be in initial draw<.P
If this second event is successful, the Australian Masters and State Challnge being hosted by NSW could be played out in the same format. In thsi instance, every Sate would have hubs of players taking part
Conclusion
HIP Tournaments enable social interaction that face-to-face tournament players enjoy, in a time when large gatherings of tournament players is not possible. By there very format, they practically eliminate the possibility of cheating. They also rnder teh possibility of teh occasional face-to-face game. All the player needs to take part is an ISC account and the ability to travel to the hub to which they are invited to play