Scrabble Players Championship

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The Scrabble Players Championship (formerly the North American Scrabble Championship, and earlier the National Scrabble Championship) is the largest Scrabble competition in North America. The event is currently held every year, and from 2004 through 2006 the finals were aired on ESPN and ESPN2. The 2025 event was held in Hanover from August 9–13, 2025, with Nigel Peltier emerging as champion. [1]

Contents

Championship history

The first officially sanctioned Scrabble tournaments in the U.S. were spearheaded, organized and run by Joel Skolnick in the mid-1970s. Skolnick was a recreation director for the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. He approached Selchow and Righter in late 1972, and the first tournament, open to Brooklyn residents only, commenced on March 18, 1973. The Funk and Wagnalls Collegiate Dictionary was used to rule on challenges, and the official word judge was Skolnick's then-wife Carol. Carol's sister, Shazzi Felstein, who would later finish in ninth place at the first North American Invitational tournament, won the first preliminary round with 1,321 points over three games. The final round took place on April 15, 1973, and Jonathan Hatch was the winner of the first official Scrabble tournament.

The summer of 1973 saw two more tournaments, held respectively at Grossingers (won by Minerva Kasowitz) and the Concord hotel (won by Harriet Zucker) in New York's Catskill region. Another two tournaments quickly followed in November that same year: in Baltimore, Gordon Shapiro topped approximately 400 contestants; and at the Brooklyn War Memorial approximately 2,000 people entered the nine weekly preliminary rounds of the first all–New York City Scrabble Championship. It was won by Bernie Wishengrad. The New York City Championship was thereafter held annually, jointly sponsored by Selchow and Righter and the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation.

The first national tournament was the North American Invitational, held May 1921, 1978, in the Presidential Suite of the Loews Summit Hotel in New York City. Joel Skolnick and Carol Felstein, as usual, served as the tournament director and word judge, respectively. David Prinz took the $1,500 first prize, followed by Dan Pratt and Mike Senkiewicz.

In 1980, soon after the publication of the first Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, control of the national tournament passed to the National Scrabble Association. They continued to organize the tournament until 2008.

The official name of the tournament has been National Scrabble Championship in recent years, except in 2006 when it was named US Scrabble Open. [2] In 2015, to recognize the longtime eligibility of Canadian members, it was renamed North American Scrabble Championship.

Since 2009, the tournament has been organized annually by NASPA Games (formerly known as North American Scrabble Players Association). The first event under NASPA was held in Dayton, Ohio, in August 2009. Since then, the championships have been held in various U.S. cities (chosen more or less based on a rotation between five regions: southeast, southwest, northeast, northwest, and central). [3] [4]

The 2020 and 2021 events were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [5] The 2022 event, the first under the new SPC identity, was held in Baltimore on July 23–27, and was won by Michael Fagen, a data analyst from Quebec. [6]

Collins

In 2012, a Collins division for international-English play was added for the first time, won by Sam Kantimathi with a 24–7 record, [7] although Kantimathi was caught palming tiles at the 2013 championship and suspended from tournament play for four years. [8] In 2013, John O'Laughlin, creator of the Quackle software program, won the division with a 24–7 record, winning $2,500 and claiming his first NSC divisional title. [9] Past world, national, and Canadian champion Adam Logan won the division easily in 2014 with a 23–4 record and four byes. [10] Peter Armstrong prevailed over past champion Dave Wiegand in 2015, winning 3–2 in the final best-of-five series. [11] David Eldar won the division in 2016 with a 27–4 record, beating past champion Logan by a six-game margin. [12] Austin Shin won the top division in 2017 with a 22–9 record, prevailing over runner-up Dave Wiegand in the final round; this was the first year that Collins players were divided into two divisions. [13] Austin repeated his win in 2022, defeating Waseem Khatri from Pakistan in a 5-game playoff. [14]

Youth

Rafi Stern won division 3 of the 2006 National Championship, posting a 20-8 record. Joey Krafchick out of Georgia won division 5 at the 2007 Players' Championship with a 25.5-5.5 record, followed by Bradley Robbins from New Hampshire winning division 6 going 24-4 in 2008. [15] In 2010, Richard Spence of Arizona won Division 4 with a 25.5–5.5 record, and in 2011, won Division 2 with a 25–6 record. [16] [17] In 2012, Amalan Iyengar of North Carolina won Division 4 with a 22–9 record. [18] Also in 2012, Chris Canik of Texas won Division 3 with a 26–5 record, the best record in that division's history. [19] In 2013, Andy Hoang of North Carolina won Division 3 with a 23–8 record. [20] Bradley Robbins and Andy Hoang are the only people to have won both the National School Scrabble Championship (2010 for Robbins, 2009 and 2012 for Hoang) and a division in the National Scrabble Championship (2008, Division 6 for Robbins & 2013, Division 3 for Hoang). Mack Meller of New York placed seventh in Division 1 in 2013. [21] He started the 2014 event with a 7–0 record, giving him first place in Division 1 after the first day of the event, and again finished seventh overall. [22]

Past events and Division 1 winners

NASPA Word List (NWL/OTCWL/OWL/OSPD)

YearWinnerLocationRegionEntrantsWinner's prizeTotal prize pool
2025 Flag of Oregon.svg Nigel Peltier Hanover NE256 [23] USD 10,000USD 44,750 [24]
2024 Flag of Kentucky.svg Mack Meller South Bend C251 [25] USD 10,000USD 45,300 [26]
2023 Flag of Quebec.svg Josh Sokol Las Vegas SW239 [27] USD 10,000USD 43,750 [28]
2022 Flag of Quebec.svg Michael Fagen Baltimore NE244 [29] USD 10,000USD 42,200 [30]
2019 Flag of Washington.svg Alec Sjöholm Reno NW249 [31] USD 10,000no current data [32]
2018 Flag of New York.svg Joel Sherman (2) Buffalo NE403 [33] USD 10,000USD 52,000 [34]
2017 Flag of Pennsylvania.svg Will Anderson New Orleans SE365 [35] USD 10,000USD 54,350 [36]
2016 Flag of South Carolina.svg David Gibson (2) Fort Wayne C417 [37] USD 10,000USD 49,275 [38]
2015 Flag of Ontario.svg Matthew Tunnicliffe Reno NW340 [39] USD 10,000USD 50,225 [38]
2014 Flag of California.svg Conrad Bassett-Bouchard Buffalo NE524 [40] USD 10,000USD 45,775 [41]
2013 Flag of New Zealand.svg Nigel Richards (5) [21] Las Vegas SW521 [42] USD 10,000USD 43,725 [43]
2012 Flag of New Zealand.svg Nigel Richards (4) [44] Orlando SE339 [45] USD 10,000USD 36,150 [46]
2011 Flag of New Zealand.svg Nigel Richards (3) [47] Dallas S329 [48] USD 10,000USD 42,075 [49]
2010 Flag of New Zealand.svg Nigel Richards (2) [50] Dallas S408 [51] USD 10,000USD 42,075 [52]
2009 Flag of Oregon.svg Dave Wiegand (2) [53] Dayton C486USD 10,000USD 43,175 [54]
2008 Flag of New Zealand.svg Nigel Richards (1) [55] Orlando SE662USD 25,000USD 85,385 [56]
2007 Flag of British Columbia.svg James Leong [57] Dayton C451USD 12,000USD 85,385 [56]
2006 Flag of Minnesota.svg Jim Kramer Phoenix SW625USD 25,000USD 85,385 [58]
2005 Flag of Oregon.svg Dave Wiegand (1) Reno SW682USD 25,000USD 85,415 [59]
2004 Flag of Texas.svg Trey Wright New Orleans S837USD 25,000USD 92,805 [60]
2002 Flag of New York.svg Joel Sherman (1) San Diego SW696USD 25,000USD 89,290 [61]
2000 Flag of Michigan.svg Joe Edley (3) Providence NE598USD 25,000USD 89,290 [62]
1998 Flag of Illinois.svg Brian Cappelletto Chicago C535USD 25,000USD 82,200 [63]
1996 Flag of Ontario.svg Adam Logan Dallas S412USD 25,000USD 75,485 [64]
1994 Flag of South Carolina.svg David Gibson (1) Los Angeles SW294USD 15,000USD 50,585 [65]
1992 Flag of Michigan.svg Joe Edley (2) Atlanta SE315USD 10,000USD 35,910 [66]
1990 Flag of Tennessee.svg Robert Felt Washington E282USD 10,000USD 37,400 [67]
1989 Flag of Michigan.svg Peter Morris New York NE221USD 5,000USD 24,425 [68]
1988 Flag of Minnesota.svg Robert Watson Reno SW315USD 5,000USD 23,100 [69]
1987 Flag of New York.svg Rita Norr Las Vegas SW327USD 5,000USD 16,850 [70]
1985 Flag of Florida.svg Ron Tiekert Boston NE302USD 10,000USD 52,370 [71]
1983 Flag of Quebec.svg Joel Wapnick Chicago C32USD 5,000USD 13,600 [72]
1980 Flag of Michigan.svg Joe Edley (1) Santa Monica SW32USD 5,000USD 10,100 [73]
1978 Flag of New York.svg David Prinz New York NE65 (invitational)USD 1,500USD 8,400 [74]

Collins Scrabble Words (CSW)

YearWinnerLocationEntrantsDivisionsWinner's prizeTotal prize pool
2025 Flag of Washington.svg Alec Sjöholm [75] Hanover 48 [76] 2USD 4,000USD 10,550 [77]
2024 Flag of Virginia.svg Joshua Castellano South Bend 35 [78] 1USD 4,000USD 8,550 [79]
2023 Flag of Nigeria.svg Wellington Jighere [80] Las Vegas, NV 47 [81] 1USD 4,000USD 8,500 [82]
2022 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Austin Shin (2) [83] Baltimore 34 [29] 1USD 3,000USD 5,850 [30]
2019 Flag of New York.svg Jesse Day [84] Reno 35 [31] 1USD 3,000USD 5,850 [34]
2018 Flag of Washington.svg Evans Clinchy [85] Buffalo 73 [33] 2USD 4,000USD 10,000 [34]
2017 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Austin Shin (1) [86] New Orleans 64 [35] 2USD 4,250USD 10,550 [36]
2016 Flag of Australia (converted).svg David Eldar [87] Fort Wayne 44 [37] 1USD 2,500USD 6,000 [38]
2015 Flag of California.svg Peter Armstrong [88] Reno 48 [39] 1USD 2,500USD 6,000 [38]
2014 Flag of Ontario.svg Adam Logan [89] Buffalo 63 [40] 1USD 2,500USD 5,775 [41]
2013 Flag of California.svg John O'Laughlin [90] Las Vegas 40 [42] 1USD 2,500USD 4,700 [43]
2012 Flag of California.svg Sam Kantimathi [91] Orlando 38 [45] 1USD 1,500USD 3,450 [46]

See also

References

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