More than P25,000 in cash prizes are expected to be given to winners in the Baguio Scrabble Tournament on Sept. 8 and 9 at a venue yet to be announced by organizers.
The two division tournament organized by the Baguio-Benguet Word Builders Club and under the Unified Scrabble Association of the Philippines, Inc. will see some of the top Scrabblers in the country including beginners as well as students, said William Caluza of the organizing BBWBC, ratings chair of the USAPI.
The open category will have 16 games of eight games each will give P10,000 to the champion and a trophy, even as the first runner up gets P6,000 and a trophy in the Swiss System, king of the hill tournament organized with the City of Baguio as sponsor for the Baguio Day celebration.
Caluza will apply the same system he used in the National Scrabble Championship last month where the first 12 rounds were Swiss system, and the last four, a KOTH format that saw leader Nora Labog lost all her last three games to Renante dela Cerna, allowing the latter to snatch the win.
The third placers gets P4,000 plus a trophy and the fourth and fifth placers receive P2,000 and P1,000, respectively.
The Division B will be a combination of beginners and students which is 14 games of seven games each per day. The winner gets P2,000 and a trophy while P1,000 and P500 plus medals will be given to the second and third placers.
Special prizes will be given to the high game, high bingo, high combined points and most innovative game.
The Collins fourth edition will be the official reference of the tournament which will be a 25 minute per player competition.
Entry fee for the open division is P800, while P200 will be charged against the division B players. **PML