The biggest event on the New Zealand Scrabble calendar brings players of all ages and experience levels together over three days this King’s Birthday weekend.
Day one – Saturday (stream starts 9am)
Click here for live results and standings.
What’s all this then?
Nationals is the biggest tournament on the New Zealand Scrabble calendar – this year 69 players are competing over 24 rounds across three days. This is the 45th edition of the tournament, and the first one that’s being live streamed. Unlike previous live streamed tournaments (the Trans-Tasmans and the Masters) Nationals is open to all, with players split into six grades based on their ratings, so for the first time we’ll get to see a range of skill levels on the stream.
What’s the format?
This year’s tournament is double round-robin (22 games, everyone plays everyone else in their grade twice) followed by two rounds of “king of the hill” (first plays second, third plays fourth etc). This should make for some mouthwatering match-ups come Monday.
Who are the players to watch?
It’s shaping up to be very competitive at the top of the pyramid this year, with 2024 Nationals champion Howard Warner looking to defend his crown, 2025 Masters champion Dylan Early out to dethrone him. Their game at the Masters earlier this year was a classic for the ages:
But it’s certainly not a two-horse race – top five rated players Chris Tallman, Blue Thorogood and Australia-based Joanne Craig are bound to be be in the mix, with plenty of other dark horses lurking.
And the focus won’t just be on the A Grade, either! This weekend will showcase match-ups from all grades, offering a chance to see plenty of Scrabblers who’ve never played in front of an online audience before, from Scrabble documentarian Alexander Gandar (B Grade) to the tournament’s youngest player Maheu Papau T-Pole (12, F Grade). Even I (E Grade) might get a game on stream.
Who’s commentating?
Good commentary plays a huge part in making Scrabble so much fun to watch, and we will be in the safe hands of some of the best in the game all weekend, including world champion New Zealander Alistair Richards, Canadian Scrabble rock star Josh Sokol and more.
What dictionary are they using?
NZ Scrabble adopted the CSW24 lexicon at the start of the year, bringing us in line with most of the rest of the world. The update means a handful of potentially offensive slur words are no longer valid and introduces modern lingo like ADORBS, CHONKY, and WOKERY. (See the full list of new additions here.)
How do I play?
There are Scrabble clubs scattered around New Zealand, and they welcome new players of all ages, abilities and competitiveness levels. There’s also a weekly online Scrabble club on Tuesday nights where you can test yourself against other keen Scrabblers around the country.
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