Scrabble Australia
Australian Masters and State Challenge Trophy 2008
Qualification criteria

The event

Twenty of the top players will play the Australian Masters as a round robin in Melbourne in September 2008. At the same time, teams of three players from each of seven states or territories will play the State Challenge Trophy as head-to-head matches.

Criteria applying to both events

  1. To qualify for a state team, or to represent an Australian state or territory, a player must be a financial member of ASPA for the entire qualifying period.
  2. The State of Representation is the State that the player was representing in the majority of games played during the qualifying period. Any anomalies concerning what amounts to a majority of games will be resolved by CASPA.
  3. A player must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident. Temporary visa holders are not eligible.
  4. The method of ranking candidates is by the three peak statistic (the Q statistic) described below.
  5. Players may appeal to CASPA for a special dispensation in exceptional circumstances.
  6. In the event of any unforeseen issue the decision of CASPA is final.

Australian Masters - Qualification criteria

The State Representative: The player with the highest Q statistic from each state (territories are considered states according to the CASPA Constitution) will be selected for the Masters team if he or she is among the national top 40 active players (those players who have played at least one game during the qualification period) ranked by Q statistic. If the top eligible state player declines the invitation to compete, the place vacated will be offered to the next player from that state providing that player meets the above criteria.
Rest of the Masters team: After the state representatives have been selected, further players ranked by Q statistic irrespective of state will make up the total of twenty.

State Challenge Trophy - Qualification criteria

Each state team will comprise three eligible players who have not already been selected for the Masters event and are the next best three from their state, ranked by Q statistic.

If insufficient eligible players are available, the state will not be permitted to participate in the State Challenge Trophy for that year unless a maximum of one stand-in can be fielded before the tournament from any state (generally, but not necessarily, that state in which the tournament takes place). That stand-in must also meet the above criteria.

An eligible stand-in may also be fielded in the event of illness or other unforeseen circumstance during the tournament.

The three peaks Q statistic

The primary criterion for ranking candidates is the Q statistic calculated like this:

  1. The qualification period is July 1 2007 to June 30 2008 inclusive.
  2. Subperiods are July to Oct 2007, Nov 2007 to Feb 2008 and Mar 2008 to June 2008.
  3. The qualifying statistic is Q = (P1 + P2 + 2 x P3)/4 , which is a weighted average of peak ratings in three subperiods.
  4. If you play no games recogbised by CASPA in a subperiod, your peak is zero in that subperiod.
  5. You must have played at least 60 games in the qualifying period before the last peak.

The secondary criterion is number of rated games within the qualification period. If two players have the same Q statistic, the one with the greater number of games in the qualification period is ranked higher.