High schools eyed in Baguio scrabble tourney

BAGUIO CITY -- Not just competitive players but also newbies from the Baguio high schools are expected to see action in the Baguio Scrabble Tournament this weekend at the Porta Vaga Mall.

Some P25,000 in cash prizes are up for grabs in the BST to be staged on Sept. 8 and 9 at the second floor of the mall.

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.

Invites have been sent to Saint Louis Laboratory and Center as well as Pacdal, Berkeley, University of the Cordilleras, University of Baguio, Pines City and Baguio City National High Schools. Both for junior and senior high schools, said Caluza. 

The open category will have 16 games of eight games each and will give P8,000 to the champion and a trophy, even as the first runner up gets P5,000 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 P3,000 plus a trophy and the fourth and fifth placers receive P2,000 and P1,000, respectively in the event backed by Biomedical and Homelife Realty and Construction.

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 P1,200 and P800 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.  –Pigeon Lobien