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Thanks to Murray Landon and John Baird, instant results from all SNZ tournaments are now available after each round of games finishes, from this link: Elixs Results
Important announcement – at the 2025 AGM, we officially changed our name to Scrabble New Zealand
Mount Albert hosts an inaugural Beginners’ Tournament
Mt. Albert Club held a newbies grade (which attracted 8 beginners) on Sunday, 5 October concurrent with our annual Spring Tournament. It was a big success, thanks to the team effort from many of the club members that helped out in some way. These included:
- Liz Fagerlund, who corresponded with interested members of the public and coordinated the newbies grade and the main tournament
- Julie Atkinson, who did a superb job directing the beginners – teaching them the ins and outs of competitive play along the way
- Alexander Gandar, who designed our lovely ad poster
- Ben Tu’itahi, who contributed funding towards advertising
- Mike Currie, who MC’ed the tournament and introduced all the new players, and treated them to a very in-depth Scrabble poem (with help from Lawson Sue)
- Calum Henderson and George Dodd, who helped out with scoring on Sunday given our scorer on Saturday, Melissa, played in the newbies grade on Sunday
- Chris Tallman provided the prize money for the newbies grade and handled the advertising
Left: 1st Place – Melissa McKenna – 5-0, +769 with a 434 average and 5 bonus words! 2nd Place – Jern Siong – 3-2, +322,
3rd Place – Spencer Woolrich – 3-2, +121, 4th-8th place – Rachel Woodworth, Isabella Ashby, David Wu, Paige Young, Sameen Laiq.
All our beginners seemed to enjoy themselves, and were encouraged to watch our “professional” games when they had time and to interact with us during breaks. Sameen (17) and his brother Aheeb (14) also got some free coaching from our youth stars Cooper and Maheu. We hope to see some of these newbies come back for more, and to do this again some time soon!
Wairarapa Open Scrabble Tournament 2025
The second Wairarapa Open Scrabble Tournament (WOST*) was held on 27 and 28 September at the YMCA in Masterton, where 32 players from Auckland, Rotorua, Waitara, Wanganui and Wellington joined members of the Martinborough, Featherston and Masterton scrabble clubs for a wordy weekend. Seven games were played each day, with the highest score in a single game (641) achieved by A Grade runner-up on Sunday, Chris Tallman from the Mt Albert club in Auckland.
Some of the place-getters on Saturday at the Wairarapa Open 2025
The A Grade winner on both days was Howard Warner from Carterton, winning 6 of his 7 games on Saturday and all 7 on Sunday. Local players also did well in some of the other grades, with Glenys Hansen from Martinborough taking out the C Grade on Day 1, Sarah Le Gros from Featherston winning the D Grade on Saturday and newcomer to tournament Scrabble, Gordon Crichton from Masterton coming second on Day 1 and third on Day 2 in the D Grade.
The World Youth Scrabble Championship is underway in Malaysia
Representing New Zealand are (from left) Maheu Te Pole, Cooper Ashley and Lev Roch. The field and other details can be found here: Malaysian Scrabble Association Livestream of the champs has started and can be viewed live here: World Youth Scrabble Championship 2025
We wish the best of tiles to these very talented boys, and may it be an amazing experience for all!
Photo credit: Chantel Ashley Tee shirts designed by Lawson Sue
Scrabble NZ players did very well at the 2025 Townsville Scrabble Festival
AU Women’s Champs: From left: Carmel Dodd (AU) 3rd, Liz Fagerlund 2nd, Sally Martin (AU) 1st, Julie Brice (AU) Tournament organiser, Val Mills 4th, and Joanne Craig 5th. Cicely Bruce (not present) came a respective 6th.
On Day 1 at Magnetic Island, Cicely was 1st in A grade. Day 2 saw Murray Rogers win B grade. At the Queensland Champs, Val Mills took out 5th and Murray Rogers 6th. Well done everyone! All results here – Townsville Scrabble Festival
Whangarei Club held its 20th Anniversary VICENNIAL ‘Storm in a Tea Cup’ Tournament in July 2025
This was a huge success, thanks to the organizing committee. Gifts of china and sweets were given out to everybody, and the food was fabulous, as always. Five of the original members attended.
Below right: Lynn Thompson, Suzanne Harding, Bev Edwards, Margie Hurly and Allie Quinn (not present).
VIGESIMAL / VICENNIAL / VIGINTENNIAL definition – relating to or based on the number 20
SCRABBLE NZ NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP 2025 WINNER!
It’s been Dylan Early’s year for excelling at competitive Scrabble in NZ. Congratulations are in order for Dylan winning this years National Championship! He won 17 of his 24 games just ahead of Lewis Hawkins of Christchurch on 15 games and 12-times winner Howard Warner of Wellington on 14. Watch repeats of the live-streaming on https://www.youtube.com/@ScrabbleNZ
Catch up on what’s been happening before and after the Nationals on the media page
Above: Dylan Early celebrates his deserved win! Below left: Dylan was presented the National Championship Trophy by Scrabble NZ Secretary Chris Tallman and Vice-President Murray Rogers. Lewis Hawkins who was Runner-up and Howard Warner (3rd) are missing from the photo. Below right: B Grade – Scott Chaput (2nd), Murray Rogers (1st) and Alexander Gandar (3rd).
C Grade – Jennifer Smith (3rd), Mary Curtis (2nd), Lynn Wood (1st). D Grade – Jenny Litchfield (2nd), Carolyn Kyle (1st), Aidan Robins (3rd).
Left: E Grade – Tei Ngatai (1st), Calum Henderson (2nd),Tara Hurley (3rd). Right: F Grade – Rodney Jardine (3rd), Glenys Hansen (2nd), Cooper Ashley (1st).
Left: Milestone Badges were awarded to Ruth Groffman, Val Mills and Su Walker. Right: Glenys Hansen won the Georgie Trophy for the most improved player.
SCRABBLE PHOTO COMPETITION WINNERS:
Congratulations to avid photographer and Scrabble NZ Prez, Cathy Casey, on winning the contest with her great photo of James Lester (11) Enjoying Scrabble Day 2025 at Whangarei Library. A big thanks to our judge, professional photographer Katherine Williams from White Wolf Studio.
Cathy was also the winner of the People’s Choice Photo with Doggone Scrabble! and her winning photo of James came a close second. Bernie’s Bubs by Bernie Jardine came third. We hope everyone enjoyed our inaugural photo comp and wants another one next year!
Wellington’s Dylan Early is NZ’s 2025 Masters Scrabble Champion
Dylan Early of Wellington has become New Zealand’s 41st Masters Scrabble Champion after a thrilling weekend in which New Zealand’s top 24 Scrabble Players competed over 23 games for the title.
One of the three premier events in New Zealand’s Scrabble calendar, the Masters crown is hotly contested by a field of expert players and grand masters. This weekend’s tournament was decided on the very last game of the tournament. Early tied with current holder Howard Warner with 17 wins but won by having a higher spread of winning points.
This year for the first time, the tournament was livestreamed with commentary from expert international Scrabble players. Thousands of viewers tuned in from all over the world to share the excitement, including expert players and non-Scrabblers.
Early says of his weekend victory: “It was a great tournament, always one of my favourites, and the livestreaming added a new dimension making the event so much more exciting. It’s such a tough field and there are no easy games. Going into the third and final day, any one of the top 5 were in contention – with so many strong players vying for the title, the winner was going to need a strong nerve and a bit of luck. I’m thrilled to have won, albeit by the narrowest of margins. I will definitely be back next year.”
Originally from South Africa, he has been playing Scrabble for over 25 years. He started playing at University and joined a local Scrabble Club where he says, he caught the Scrabble bug. When he entered his first South African National tournament in 1993 he was “humbled” when he failed to win a single game and came in last. This prompted him to begin studying the game and has never looked back since. He went on to win the SA national title six times and also represented South Africa in the World Scrabble Championships.
When Early arrived in New Zealand in 2017, he joined the Wellington Scrabble Club. Since then he has chalked up many and varied Scrabble victories:
- He won the NZ national title in 2018.
- He represented NZ against Australia in 2024, winning the Trans-Tasman Challenge for the first time in 14 years.
- He represented NZ in the World Championships in 2019 in Goa India, finishing a creditable 47th.
- He won the Masters Championship in 2021 and was runner-up in 2022, 2023 and 2024.
- He holds the record for the highest individual game score in New Zealand with an incredible 756 scored at the Masters in 2019 (Fun fact – 756 is also one of the top six scores in the world!)
Dylan Early fun facts:
Early is a self-confessed mnemonics addict and has over 5,000 of them as ways to remember Scrabble words. He says he now has so many mnemonics to remember, that he needs mnemonics for his mnemonics!
Outside of Scrabble, Early enjoys mountain biking, chess, dog walking, Joseph Herscher videos and trying to make the perfect cup of coffee If you missed the excitement, you can watch the matches here:
Day one: https://www.youtube.com/live/dMiApoVSvt8
Day two: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zG72JAUeFDo
Day three: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl2VobibaMs&t=982s
Youthscrabble fun in Australia!
Seven young players competed in the Australian Championship in Adelaide at Easter (after a Youthscrabble workshop). Two of them were from NZ. Maheu and Lev now have provisional WESPA ratings, as well as Australian ratings:
Lev Roch 1366 WESPA and 957 Aust
Maheu Papau T-Pole 1291 WESPA and 924 Aust.
A great time was had by all, and friends made for life.
Switching to CSW24
Srabble NZ has now adopted this current lexicon officially, and further information can be found on the
Internet Resources and Word Lists page. CSW24 will be used for the first time in NZ at the Nelson tournament on 15th/16th February. The new 2, 3 and 4-letter word lists will be available shortly.
A new Grandmaster and two Experts!
It is with great pleasure that we can now announce our 3 new lifetime awards recipients. Chris Tallman gains the title of Grand Master following three post-tournament rankings that put him in the top 10 in a 12 month period. Mike Currie and Jason Simpson have both gained the title of Expert after three post tournament rankings in the top 20 in a 12 month period.
Nigel wins the Spanish World Scrabble Championship 2024
New Zealander Nigel Richards, who currently resides in Malaysia, has just won another World Champs without being able to speak the language. Go to the Media page to watch a video of the competition narrated by Will Anderson.
New Zealand wins against Australia at Scrabble
From left: Howard Warner (NZ Captain) with the Trans-Tasman Challenge Cup, and the John Foster Trophy for Top NZ player presented by John himself.
NZ competitors, Jason Simpson and Cicely Bruce, holding the TTC shield at the Whangarei Scrabble Club headquarters where it will reside for awhile.
New Zealand decisively beat Australia this weekend to win the Trans-Tasman Scrabble Challenge for the first time since 2010. This first livestreamed Scrabble tournament in New Zealand attracted a wide international audience over the three days.
The Trans-Tasman Challenge is one of the premier events in New Zealand’s Scrabble calendar, taking place every two years with hosting duties alternating between Australia and New Zealand. Since its inception in 1996, New Zealand has only won the challenge three times – in 1998, 2000 and 2010. Out of the 288 games played over three days, New Zealand had 165 wins to Australia’s 123.
Howard Warner from Wellington, the captain of the New Zealand team, took out the trophies for the best individual player overall and the best individual kiwi player. Howard won 18 of his 24 games. His closest Australian rival was Russell Honeybun who had 16 wins.
Left to right (back) Cicely Bruce, Jason Simpson, Chris Tallman, Andrew Bradley, Howard Warner, Joanne Craig, Blue Thorogood (front) Stanley Ngundi, Dylan Early, Anderina McLean, Lawson Sue, Patrick Carter
Howard says it was a very successful weekend for New Zealand Scrabble:
“I’m very proud of the New Zealand team, who redressed the balance between our two countries. Australia has beaten us ten times out of the 13 times we have played for the Trans-Tasman title. We also successfully livestreamed the event for the first time which ushers in a new world of brain sports being accessible to the world and puts New Zealand at the forefront of this revolution. And I had a great tussle for the individual title with fellow New Zealander Dylan Early. It was very close at the end. It is my first Trans-Tasman title since 2002, the only other time I’ve won it.”
Technical co-ordinator Alexander Gandar says streaming the event live meant the public was able to watch the tournament free on the New Zealand Scrabble YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@ScrabbleNZ and was a significant step forward for New Zealand Scrabble:
“Aided by prominent international Scrabble players and streamers, for the first time in history NZ Scrabble was able to stream one of its major tournaments online, with the broadcast being viewed live by thousands of people in New Zealand, Australia, and around the world. Viewers were delighted by the commentary provided by top class players. Watching commentated online Scrabble is totally addictive. Next year we aim to broadcast our national championships and our masters tournament as we look as we look to grow the profile of our established and emerging New Zealand’s players on the digital stage. Live streaming Scrabble is definitely the way of the future.”
Check out the widespread public interest in the New Zealand Scrabble scene in Media coverage.
Anyone, regardless of age or ability, can join one of our many friendly NZ Clubs, enjoy playing Scrabble with others, and improve their game. See who has been winning the recent club, independent or national Tournaments.
To contact Scrabble NZ, email playscrabblenz@gmail.com
SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark of J.W. Spear & Sons, England (a subsidiary of Mattel Inc.) within New Zealand and the rest of the world (except North America).