The earliest record that the Association has of any organized Scrabble activity in Singapore comes from a note by the late Terry Hollington, who relates how as an RAF officer in Hong Kong, he was introduced to the game during a holiday in Singapore in 1956 or 1957. (Terry's letter was published in the April 2001 SA News.)

The Community

Singapore was an early user of a points penalty for wrong challenges as a deterrent to wanton challenging. The penalty was originally 10 points but 5 points was subsequently found to be adequate. After the Mandarin era, the National Championships were held at Teck Ghee Community Club for while. Hong Kah East (since renamed Jurong Green) Community Club became a staunch supporter of the game during the 1990s and remains a major organizer of events.

Title System

The Association awards titles on the basis of ratings in SA-rated tournaments. At present each title is awarded if a certain ratings threshold is attained or exceeded three times in a player's tournament career. The ratings used are the post-tournament ratings after each SA-rated tournament in which the player has taken part. Players may have titles whether or not they are SA members but as a rule, SA will only list the titles for members. Modifications to the system may be recommended by the ratings officer and ratified by the SA Committee.