As a Scrabble fan you may have already thought about joining a Scrabble tournament. But are you good enough yet? Can you take on the many good players? Maybe it’s a good idea to start with an online competition, the Facebook Scrabble League (FSL). I have tested it for you.
What is the Facebook Scrabble League?
The Facebook Scrabble League is, as the name suggests, a Scrabble competition played on the Facebook Scrabble app. Since the app has no tournament function, some Scrabble players found a clever way to help themselves. They build a website to organize the Facebook games. On this website opponents are determined, scores are noted, and you can find your own status in the FSL community.
I have to admit that beforehand I could not quite imagine how it all works. But of course after my test I was smarter.
The first step in joining the Facebook Scrabble League is the hardest
To be honest, registering for the Facebook Scrabble League was more daunting than it was motivating. Before you can sign up for a round at all, you have to struggle through the rules. They don’t just explain the procedure of the game and the dos and don’ts. While reading the text I felt like there were hundreds of possible mistakes I could make and many technical errors that could occur. After you’ve been through this you have to take a test. This test verifies that you have really read the rules. All this suggests to the reader: People, this is NO FUN! Don’t even dare to think that this is going to be easy!
So I imagined that this was not going to be fun and I really lost the desire to play. But you know what? After all I DID have fun!
I’ll make the first step a little easier for you, here are the basic facts you should know:
Facebook Scrabble League – Good to know
- You should be on Facebook and use the Scrabble app on Facebook. It is good if you have already played some games there, so that you are well-versed in the functions of the app.
- The games in the Facebook Scrabble League take the Collins Dictionary as their basis.
- You will play 12 games within two weeks.
- Based on the skills of the players, games are played in different divisions. As a newcomer you will start in the lowest division. The best players will be moved up into a higher division.
- Cheating is not allowed, of course. You can’t use the mentor from the Facebook Scrabble app, but you can use the list of two-letter words
- As stated in the instructions: You WILL have technical problems. I had them. Some of my opponents told me they had problems. But the good news is that all these problems are solvable.
- My experience was that the other players are always there to help you and the FSL organizers react quickly in the Facebook chat when there are problems.
- Communication is valued. Many players consider it polite to greet each other. If you do not have time to play for a few days, it’s nice to tell your fellow players.
Finally, let’s start playing!
I had passed the test and signed up for a round. The games were supposed to start on a Sunday. On the FSL website I found an overview of the duels in my round. To play with all of my opponents, we needed to become Facebook friends, so at first I added lots of new Scrabble friends. For every game, the duel list determines who is supposed to start and make the first move. You need to note the word of the first move on the FSL website, so that the admins know that all the games have started. There were two players in my round that didn’t react to my friendship request so I couldn’t start a game. The other players in my round had the same problems. Obviously, these players had changed their minds and decided not to play without telling us. In this case we were allowed to note a fixed final score in our favor. There was also one player I already was friends with, but I still couldn’t start a game. The app wrongly opened a game against another player several times. My opponent gave me the advice to try it again later and it worked!
Over the next two weeks I spent a lot of time playing Scrabble with players with very different skills. I must admit that most of them played better than me. But I enjoyed it anyways, because while I was playing I talked to people from all over the world. This really is a nice aspect of the game. With one of the players I even started some friendly matches, which was very nice.
After you’ve finished one of the games in your round, you are supposed to enter the final score of the game. Then your opponent is prompted to confirm the final score. Now you’ve successfully finished one of your 12 games in the Facebook Scrabble League.
My conclusion on Facebook Scrabble League
First of all, the most important question: No, I did not end up in the top three (the top three players can play the next round in a higher division), but still it was fun to me. I got to know lots of good players and in my opinion I learned a lot in this Facebook Scrabble League round. If you like playing Scrabble, just try the Facebook Scrabble League! Basically, you’ve got nothing to lose. You don’t need to pay money for a registration. You don’t have to go anywhere to play. And you get to know at least 12 new people who also love to play Scrabble. This by itself is beneficial already!