Challenge (Scrabble)
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In the game of Scrabble, if a player feels that an opponents word is not an English word or is an English word but not in the agreed upon dictionary, they must challenge the word. The player does this by calling for an adjudicator to verify if the word or words are in the agreed dictionary. However there are multiple systems for deciding the outcome of a challenge. In tournament play there are three current variations: single challenge, double challenge and penalty challenge.
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[edit] Single Challenge
In single challenge, if a player places a word and his opponent wishes to challenge, the challenger may do so with no penalty. If the word is valid, it remains on the board. If it is invalid, it is removed from the board, the players gets back exactly the same letters as he had, and the move is noted as a pass with a score of zero points. The challenger receives no penalty in terms of points deduction or loss of a move no matter if the move challenged is valid or invalid.
A suggested criticism of this is that a player can challenge any word at any time, and thusly buying himself time to think about his next move. A player can gain an unfair advantage by challenging a word he knows to be valid, and using the thinking time unfairly.
[edit] Double Challenge
If a player makes a move and the opponent challenges, the opponent will lose his right to make a move (that is, to play a word) if the play he has challenged turns out to be valid. However if the move is invalid, the tiles are taken off the board and he retains his right to make a move.
A suggested criticism of double challenge is that it allows lots of phoneys (or invalid words) to remain on the board, and it becomes more like a game of poker than a game of Scrabble.
[edit] Penalty Challenge
In penalty challenge, a fixed amount of points for the penalty is agreed before the game, either by the two players or more often in tournament play, by the organizers. If a player challenges his opponent's move and it is invalid, the letters are taken back as usual. However if the word is valid, the word remains on the board and the challenger loses 5, 10 or however many points the agreed penalty was. This can either be given to the opponent or subtracted from the challenger's score, depending on the agreed rules.
This is a medium between single and double challenge, and carries a lot of the strengths and weaknesses of these two. Players are unlikely to challenge a word they know for thinking time, because it costs them 5 points, but 5 points may be enough to discourage a player challenging a word they believe to be invalid, increasing the odds of an invalid word remaining throughout the game.
[edit] Strict Challenge
In this case a player loses a turn as well as 20 points on a wrong challenge. This is a very harsh punishment and it generally appeals only to professional Scrabble players. Currently it is offered as an option at Scrabulous
[edit] Internet Variations
On the internet, for example Literati, Internet Scrabble Club or Scrabulous players can play with automatic verification. This means that is it literally impossible to play an invalid word. While this tidies up the board because players (and especially weaker players) cannot play an invalid word, it also allows for unlimited guessing. Players can simply guess at words until the computer verifies that one of them is acceptable. On the Internet Scrabble Club where multiple languages are available, automatic validation allows players to play in their second language or even languages they have no experience with, without the fear of an invalid word ever being played.
