Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd. recently issued the following statement:

21 July 2000

To all tournament Scrabble players,

Chambers Official Scrabble^® Words - International Edition (OSWI)

Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd would like to announce that they have been granted permission to use the Official Tournament and Club Word List (the official North American Scrabble Word List) in an official combined international Scrabble word list. This combined word list will include the words found in Chambers Official Scrabble Words (4th edition) and the Official Tournament and Club Word List, and will be of particular value to all tournament players in the UK and overseas.

Chambers intend to print this combined word list at the earliest opportunity, probably in January 2001. Price will be confirmed in due course. As this word list is for tournament play it will, in the first instance, be made available directly to Scrabble players rather than through bookshops.

For contractual reasons, this word list will not be available for sale in the USA or Canada.

So whilst the USA has voted for the status quo, a resolution of the UK argument seems closer after Chambers's recent announcement that they will be publishing a combined dictionary in the UK in January 2001.

It's not clear, at this stage, whether and when the Combined Dictionary will be adopted in the UK but the position will become clearer after the AGM of the ABSP (Association of British Scrabble Players) is held at the end of August. The ABSP Committee have submitted a plan for a graduated move over to the Combined Dictionary by January 2002.

The ABSP represents the UK's 1000 or so tournament players. The total number of players in UK Clubs is around 5000 and the clubs will be making their own decisions on this issue over the coming months.