Internet Scrabble Club
Encyclopedia
The Internet Scrabble Club (ISC) is an online website which allows players from all around the world to play Scrabble
. Players can join the ISC by registering a handle (username), then downloading WordBiz, a free software that allows the player to view the interface.
(SINGLE, DOUBLE, 5-POINTS, or VOID), and the minimum and maximum ratings criteria that the other player must meet.
, hence the URL www.isc.ro. The other administrator is Herve, who is the 2005 French matchplay national champion
, Hervé Bohbot
. The administrators invite certain players to be moderators of a channel where players ask questions. The primary function of the moderators, who are only intermittently present, is unclear. The rest of the players are split into two broad categories—members and contributory members.
The ISC is a free service; no member needs to pay to use the site's facilities. However there are benefits for contributory or support players, who pay an annual subscription. These benefits include the right to play against computer players, to save games in a library, to use an examiner program that suggests solutions for game positions, and many others. A full list of benefits can be found at the ISC website linked below.
, which is used for the rest of the world. However, the ISC caters for multiple languages. It uses ODS 5 for French, LOC v.4 for Romanian, ZINGA for Italian and SWL for Dutch. There is also the "Multi" dictionary, which consists of English, French, and Romanian words, and has proved popular for online tournaments.
There is also the option of playing Clabbers
, an anagram of the word Scrabble. It is not official on the ISC, but it is available. Clabbers is a game of anagramming to fit the players' liking, in terms of points being scored and so on.
Scrabble
Scrabble is a word game in which two to four players score points by forming words from individual lettered tiles on a game board marked with a 15-by-15 grid. The words are formed across and down in crossword fashion and must appear in a standard dictionary. Official reference works provide a list...
. Players can join the ISC by registering a handle (username), then downloading WordBiz, a free software that allows the player to view the interface.
Using ISC
Players start games either by sending or accepting a "seek," or sending or accepting a match request. A seek is a request for a game with certain parameters, including the time limit (between 3 and 60 whole minutes), the type of challengeChallenge (Scrabble)
In the game of Scrabble, a challenge is the act of one player questioning the validity of one or more words formed by another player in the most recent turn. If one or more of the challenged words is not in the previously agreed-upon dictionary, the challenged player loses his or her turn...
(SINGLE, DOUBLE, 5-POINTS, or VOID), and the minimum and maximum ratings criteria that the other player must meet.
Organisation and management
The ISC was created and is run by the player known as Carol (real name Florin Gheorghe), who lives in RomaniaRomania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, hence the URL www.isc.ro. The other administrator is Herve, who is the 2005 French matchplay national champion
Francophone Scrabble
Francophone Scrabble, or French-language Scrabble, is played by many thousands of amateurs throughout the World and the Fédération internationale de Scrabble francophone has more than 20,000 members. Just as in English, points are scored by playing valid words from the lettered tiles. In French...
, Hervé Bohbot
Hervé Bohbot
Herve Bohbot is a French Scrabble player who competes annually in both French and English language Scrabble competitions. He is also an administrator on the online Scrabble site Internet Scrabble Club, the president of the French matchplay Scrabble committee and an official on the International...
. The administrators invite certain players to be moderators of a channel where players ask questions. The primary function of the moderators, who are only intermittently present, is unclear. The rest of the players are split into two broad categories—members and contributory members.
The ISC is a free service; no member needs to pay to use the site's facilities. However there are benefits for contributory or support players, who pay an annual subscription. These benefits include the right to play against computer players, to save games in a library, to use an examiner program that suggests solutions for game positions, and many others. A full list of benefits can be found at the ISC website linked below.
Bots
There are about 35 robots that are playable on ISC. On the server, which is hosted in the US, you may access the list of bots by using "who C". Contributory members have priority over non-contributory members when requesting to play against these robots. The bots have different skill levels. Bamse, Adela, and Myrrhs are novices; Keres, Automat, and Dogberry are intermediates; Waxberry, Alehin, and Woland are experts. It is advisable to set your initial time relatively high, because the bots don't take any time to make their move. When you seek a game by viewing the seek graph on ISC, bots are denoted by a square instead of a dot. The bots also have C next to their names. Finally, if you intend to use an anagram program on ISC, you must inform Carol or Herve, the administrators, so they give you a "C label".Other languages on the ISC
The ISC does its best to use official word lists—those used in club and tournament competition in various countries. It uses two English-language word sets: TWL06, which is used in the U.S., Canada, Thailand and Israel, and SOWPODSSOWPODS
SOWPODS is the word list used in tournament Scrabble in most countries except the USA, Thailand and Canada. The term SOWPODS is derived from the anagram of the two acronyms OSPD and OSW, these being the original two official dictionaries used in various parts of the world at the time...
, which is used for the rest of the world. However, the ISC caters for multiple languages. It uses ODS 5 for French, LOC v.4 for Romanian, ZINGA for Italian and SWL for Dutch. There is also the "Multi" dictionary, which consists of English, French, and Romanian words, and has proved popular for online tournaments.
There is also the option of playing Clabbers
Clabbers
Clabbers is a game played by tournament Scrabble players for fun, or occasionally at Scrabble variant tournaments. The name derives from the fact that the words CLABBERS and SCRABBLE form an anagram pair.-Rules:...
, an anagram of the word Scrabble. It is not official on the ISC, but it is available. Clabbers is a game of anagramming to fit the players' liking, in terms of points being scored and so on.