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Thanks to Murray Landon and John Baird, instant results from all NZASP tournaments are now available on the day(s), and after each round of games finishes – from this link:
https://landonsoftware.azurewebsites.net/Elixs/Results

  • Lyres Freeth
    NZ Champion
  • Lawson Sue – B grade
  • Laura Griffiths – C grade
  • Karen Miller – D grade
  • Suzanne Harding
    E grade
  • Gil Quiballo – High Game trophy (595 points)
  • Laura – Georgie trophy
    (149 rating points)
  • Lynn Wood – Eileen McLean trophy (245 tournament games in the last year)
Lyres Freeth is the new NZ Scrabble Champion for 2023 – congratulations!

Auckland Scrabble player Lyres Freeth has become New Zealand’s 43rd Scrabble Champion. After a thrilling weekend Lyres won 18 of her 22 games to fend off a strong field of experienced international players and grand masters from NZ and overseas. Her win was all the more exciting because Lyres returned to the championship after nearly two years off from competitive Scrabble after having a baby.  It is her first national win. After the weekend, Lyres is now ranked 3rd in the New Zealand rankings. Her husband Dr Alastair Richards is ranked number one in NZ and is the current world champion.

Another exciting win at the national champs was a stunning performance by Christchurch Scrabble Club player Laura Griffiths in C grade. Laura was playing in her first ever national championships and won 16 of her 22 games. Laura also won the Georgie Trophy for the most improved player. After the weekend she has moved up 17 places from 62nd in the NZ rankings to 45th.

The tournament attracted 68 players from all parts of New Zealand and of all ages and occupations. Whangarei Scrabble Club took out the team prize.

Presentations were made to the prizewinners by our new prez Cathy Casey!

Cathy, who was elected at the AGM held during the weekend, now hails from the Whangarei club, along with treasurer Cicely Bruce and webmaster Suzanne Liddall. Stan Gregec from Tauranga has joined the exec as the new veep, and we have gladly retained Liz Fagerlund from Auckland as secretary of the association. Liz managed the 3-day tournament like the professional that she is, and a fabulous time was had by all.

  • The lovely Val Mills, our dedicated Forwords Editor was presented a Life Membership award from outgoing President Howard Warner.
  • Val and her Forwords team – Jeff, Jennifer, Lyres, Anderina and Glennis celebrating the next issue in Spring will be the 150th
  • Jennifer Smith – 3000
  • Anderina McLean – 2000
  • Frances Higham – 1000
  • Judy Driscoll – 1000

Milestone badges for tournament games played were also presented to the recipients above by incoming President Cathy Casey.


Congratulations to Andrew Bradley for winning the 2023 Masters! Andrew had an impressive 21.5 wins so essentially nailed it! NZASP VP Cathy Casey presents Andrew with the Masters Shield and Dylan Early in 2nd place with the runner-up trophy. Howard Warner was in 3rd place, and Val Mills in 4th place. Congratulations everyone!

Photos by Barbara Derrick

The 2023 Masters is being held during Easter weekend and hosted by the Whangarei Scrabble Club for the first time. We can now all follow the results when they start going live on Saturday 8th April, after which they will be updated after each game until play ends on Monday 10th. Many thanks go out to John Baird and Murray Landon for their work in setting up this online system.

Big congratulations to New Zealand scrabble’s new Grand Master – Gil Quiballo.
Gil achieved the title this year, having three top 10 ranking finishes in the last 12 months. In January 2022 after the Wellington tournament he had a post tournament ranking of 10th, followed by the Masters in April with a ranking of 8th, and the third was after the Wellington tournament in October where he once again finished 10th on the rankings. A remarkable achievement considering the only other tournament Gil played in 2022 was the Nationals in Christchurch.
Gil had a long break from scrabble, and we are delighted to welcome him back on the scrabble scene. Well done Gil.

Congratulations to our Prez Howard Warner who won the 2022 World Senior Champs in Sydney, with Joanne Craig in 2nd and Cicely Bruce who came 4th. Howard also won the Best Kiwi award for the 2022 Trans-Tasman Challenge. Many thanks to Karen Richards and team for organising these fabulous events!


Karen and Howard – Bob Jackman and Howard – Cicely

Winners of the World Seniors Champs 2022 – The Trans-Tasman NZ Team – the “All Blanks”

Our NZL-based Zebra Word Judge app is now available for Android (non-Apple) devices. You can download it from the Google Play Store. See installation instructions. Before you can use it, you will need to install the NZL21 (New Zealand Lexicon 2021) file. Apply to scrabblenz@gmail.com for a link to this file.

The versions for iOS (Apple devices such as iPhone) and Windows (PCs and laptops) are under development. We hope to get them to you soon. Note, all versions will include accessibility features for blind players.

A huge thank-you to Dylan Early for all his hard work in designing, developing and testing the app. It will allow us to continue word-judging using our own unexpurgated word source.

Check out the widespread public interest in the NZ 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 NZASP, email scrabblenz@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).