Does a challenge to a word which is correct cost the challenger their turn?

by Doris
(Denver, Co.)

If a word is challenged and is looked up in the dictionary and is found to be correct, does the person who challenged incorrectly, lose the next turn?

Hi Doris - This one comes up so often that I wrote an entry on it on my Scrabble Rules That Cause Most Arguments page.

Unfortunately, some official Scrabble tournaments are played to the double-challenge rule (where you do lose your turn for incorrectly challenging) and others play to the single-challenge rule (where you don't lose your turn). There's even a third compromise rule that I describe on that page.

Generally, Scrabble in North America (which is under Hasbro's jurisdiction) follows the double-challenge rule, as you'll see if you visit their site. But in most online Scrabble games two players get to agree on which challenge rule they want to play to.