Back in the days of yore it was decided that the greatest vocabularies of M+N would be pitted against each other to ascertain bragging rights and be yet another flimsy excuse to get drunk.

Ever since that fateful day, this contest has been looked at with a mixture of fear, amusement and pedantry as it reached epic proportions never seen before in the world of board games, with hissy fits, inventive rules, champion scrabble moves and words never before uttered all delighting and disgusting the populace.

As the days become shorter and thoughts of indoor activities enter the mind, the clarion call is again rung, and warriors of words cross the land armed with tile racks and shielded by dictionaries start the pilgrimage to the battleground.

Do you have what it takes?

The 2009 edition of the M&N Scrabblefest is back like an 80's band reunion.

Sydney holds the title at the moment after MrMusic defeated Nicko last year at the Warren View, and the interstate total is 3-1 in favour of the Harbour city, dispelling rumours of Sydneysiders not liking to drink Chardonnay and read books.

As like last year, I'm administrating the Sydney showdown, and Loadie is looking after Melbourne's moment of truth, and as last year's was pretty much straight forward, not changing any of the rules involved, we'll worry about 3 way finals and the like once we've got all the registrations worked out.

For any newbies the format is a random draw in both Melbourne and Sydney with an interstate play-off to decide the winner.

Official rules are below and are mostly non-negotiable.

Scrabblefest 2009 Rules:

Entry Cost: $20 (to cover transport for finalists and prize money)

Tournament Format:

Bracketed Elimination mini-tournament in Each City, winner progressing to the next round, loser eliminated.

Once both City champions have been crowned, the player with the highest average score over all rounds played has home ground advantage, and can choose the location of the final, transport will then be organised with relevant parties.

Prize money will be the amount leftover from pool after transport arrangements have been made. 2/3rd's of the Amount to the Final Winner, and 1/3rd to the Loser.

Game Rules:

• Each game is conducted in a public venue agreed by the two players, using a dictionary that the two players agree on.
• Players must contact each other to organise their rounds and they must do so promptly.
• An independent adjudicator/scorer must be present at the game, preferably the city organiser or their delegate.
• In the event of a challenge, only the adjudicator may consult the dictionary. players may not handle or consult the dictionary themselves AT ALL.
• Dictionaries are only to be used for challenges, and not to be open for use during turns.
• Each board and score sheet to be photographed and uploaded to m+n for the entertainment of all.
• Not turning up to your game is considered a forfeit.

Specific Scrabble Rules:

• Endgame: first person to put all their tiles down ends the game. Leftover tiles are added up and that number is subtracted from the non-finisher’s score, as well as added to the finisher’s score.
• Challenges: As per official scrabble rules; result of a challenge is loss of turn. (For challenger if word exists, for word placer if it doesn't)

Register your interest here - remembering to include the state you are playing in, going to try to have it all organised by next sunday.