Thursday, September 20, 2007

Burns Scrabb'e, rules for tournament play:

The rules of Burns Scrabb'e are the rules of Scrabble™ with the following additions & modifications:

1) The canonical reference for the settling of challenges is the copy of the works of the poet Robert Burns in closest physical proximity to the players. The onus is on the challenged player to produce an example of Burns's use of the challenged word from this copy. Only text presented as from the pen of Burns himself may be cited in defense. In the case of ambiguity with regard to physical proximity (e.g., one player is in closer proximity to one edition of the works of Burns, another to another), the authoritative volume is to be determined by the age of the editions, with the older presiding. In the case of works of indeterminate or equal antiquity, the edition with the higher page count is to be used. Should this criterion also fail to decide the matter, the authoritative work is to be determined by the toss of a coin, with the challenging playing calling & the challenged flipping. In no case are translations or editions employing modernized spelling to be used.

2) All words which can be shown to flow from the pen of Burns are allowed, this includes contractions (see rule 3, below), proper nouns & words of a single letter. In the case of words of a single letter, when such a word is played onto an existing word, the single letter word is also to be scored.

3) Either a standard English Scrabble™ set or a regulation Burns Scrabb'e set may be employed, in any given tournament, all sets must be of a single type. A Burns Scrabb'e set differs from the standard by the addition of ten one point apostrophe tiles to the standard hundred. In play with a standard English set, words written by Burns with one or more apostrophes may be played with the apostrophes omitted, in the case of a Burns set, their use is mandatory.

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