TWL, the current Northern American wordlist. TWL (Tournament Word List) is a subset of CSW, but is itself drawn from a range of sources, mostly different editions of Webster's. North American tournaments generally use TWL alone for domestic play, but all tournaments under the auspices of WESPA must use CSW. The current word list (CSW19) came into force internationally on 1 July 2019, including updates from the most recent editions of original OSW sources as well as eliminating some inconsistencies in previous editions. CSW19 contains over 275,000 words in total (up to the theoretical maximum fifteen letters in length), of which around 119,000 are up to eight letters in length. By contrast, TWL holds approximately two thirds as many words in total. CSW is therefore substantially larger than TWL and has a more international flavour, including a number of local or dialect words from around the world. Ratings International Scrabble ratings have been maintained since their inception by Bob Jackman in Sydney, Australia, using a variant of the Australian ratings calculation system. All tournaments played to WESPA rules are able to be rated within the system, and regular updates are posted on the WESPA website. The first rated tournament in the system was the 1993 World Scrabble Championship, which was held in New York. Tournaments WESPA has established the criteria for running international Scrabble tournaments, and it is now mandatory for WESPA rules and the WESPA word list to be used. Tournament organisers are also required to pay a ratings levy on a fee per player basis, in order for the tournament to qualify for international rating. The tournament committee oversees the calendar of international Scrabble events, and has also liaised with Mattel on a number of issues relating to the World Scrabble Championship (WSC), including the number of games to be played and the format of the finals. Furthermore, a country's allocated number of representatives may fluctuate for each WSC depending on the team performance in the previous event, and WESPA has ratified the formula for changes to team allocations. In short, after each event the participating countries are ranked according to the average individual finishing rank of their players; teams falling in the top half may be entitled to gain a player for next time, while teams in the bottom half may lose a player. Following the establishment of Mind Sports International, the title 'World Scrabble Championship' was