This is a NASPA-sanctioned club. As such, all players, whether individual NASPA members or not, are bound by NASPA’s Code of Conduct, which applies to anyone playing in any NASPA club or tournament. Please read it if you haven’t already. We as a club also have to remember that the Time to Eat Diner has been letting us play for free, in a great space, with great food, for over ten years. We don’t want to do anything that might jeopardize our relationship with them. So for in-person meetings, in addition to the NASPA Code of Conduct:

• We meet in a public place, and we do something not many people know about. You may be the only competitive Scrabble player someone ever meets. Each of us is an ambassador for the game, and our behavior should never leave an onlooker with a bad taste in their mouth (diner pun intended!).
• Diners can be loud and raucous, but we shouldn’t make that problem worse, nor disturb other patrons. Just as we’re to stay quiet in tournament playing rooms, we should not talk above a normal conversational level, nor should there be excess talking during games.
• The diner staff work very hard to take care of us. Sexist, racist, or any other inappropriate comments to or about anyone working at the diner is absolutely unacceptable as are similar comments to or about other patrons or club players.
• The only place for profanity in Scrabble is on the board, and there is no place at all for slurs of any sort. Diners are by nature family friendly, and we do not want to be teaching nearby children new words their parents don’t want them to learn.
• Foodstuffs are the natural enemy of Scrabble paraphernalia. Eating while playing is prohibited.
• Finally, one of the best things you can do to help us stay in the diner’s good graces is to have dinner, and tip our server well.

If we follow these guidelines, we’ll have the best chance of continuing to play in this excellent space for many more years. Earn a dollar.