Who Will Be New Zealand’s Scrabble Champ For 2024?
WHAT: 44th New Zealand Scrabble Championship
WHERE: Wellington Bridge Club, 17 Tinakori Road, Thorndon, Wellington
WHEN: All day Sat 1 June, Sun 2 June and Mon 3 June 2024
Around 70 avid Scrabble players will be descending on Wellington this King’s Birthday weekend to play 22 games of Scrabble to decide who will be New Zealand’s 44th Scrabble Champion.
The premier event in New Zealand’s Scrabble calendar has attracted a large number of entries from home and abroad.
Vying to wrest the top honours from current NZ champ Lyres Freeth from Auckland are several New Zealand Scrabble Grand Masters and world ranked players including:
Howard Warner (Wellington): Howard is 11 times NZ champ and current 2022 World Seniors champ
Dylan Early (Wellington): Dylan is a former NZ champ and six times South African champ
Chris Tallman (Kiwi Scrabblers, Hamilton): Chris has played in three US Nationals and the Canadian Nationals
Joanne Craig: Joanne is a New Zealander living in Sydney. She is a former NZ champ and has also won the World Seniors.
Scrabble is a very popular game in New Zealand and competition at all levels in the national championship is fierce but also lots of fun. Participants this year are from every part of New Zealand and are of all ages and occupations. Several have never played in a competition before. There are several young participants this year including 11-year-old Maheu T-Pole and 14-year-old Cooper Ashley both from the Mt Albert Scrabble Club.