Gateway Scrabble Club (SC) of Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State has emerged as the champion of the highly prestigious 2025 NSF InterClub Scrabble Championship. In a commanding performance at the finals, Gateway SC, led by veteran Masters player Cyril Umebiye, outclassed the surprise finalists Yenagoa SC from Bayelsa State with a 4–1 victory, amassing a cumulative score of +1204 points.
Displaying remarkable team strength, Gateway SC notched up 20 wins out of 25 games. Current African champion Oluwatimilehin Doko led the charge with 5 wins and a +618 points margin. His teammate Abdulmumin Jimoh, also a national team player, secured 5 wins and +591 points. Rising star David Ojih and Hakeem Ogundokun dropped just one game each, while Captain Umebiye wrapped up with two wins and a -243 cumulative. Yenagoa SC’s players managed only a win each, with Ezekiel Eniekebi finishing with the highest point deficit of -350.
Gateway SC clinched the title in grand style, winning matches 1 and 2 by 4–1, narrowly losing match 3 (2–3), before sealing the championship with a flawless 5–0 in match 4. The team’s captain credited their success to strong management and generous support from the club’s chairman, Adekoyejo Adegbesan, who ensured players were well catered for throughout the tournament. “Our focus has always been on the game, thanks to the solid welfare structure put in place,” said Umebiye.
Benin City SC secured third place by defeating Central Scrabble Club A of Abuja, captained by Francis Molokwu. The InterClub MVP title went to Oluwatimilehin Doko, who also contributed to Team Ogun’s triumph in the Asaph Zadok National Championship. National coach Sir Anthony Ikolo praised youngsters David Ojih (Gateway SC) and David Yuwa (Central SC A) as standout talents. At the closing ceremony, George Ezinore was honored with the NSF Green Jacket and awarded ₦100,000 by the Chairman of the Edo State Sports Commission, Hon. Desmond Enabulele.
Nigeria completed her sojourn at the 2023 World Scrabble Championship in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA with a respectable fourth and second individual and team final position respectively. Thirty-two (32) preliminary games were played after which the top two players qualified for the best-of-seven finals. One hundred and thirty-five (135) players from twenty-nine (29) countries competed at the tournament.
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The 3rd annual Governor Douye Diri National Scrabble Championship will hold in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State from the 8th to the 9th of July 2023.
The 29th edition of the Asaph Zadok National Scrabble Championship begins today at the National Stadium Abuja as part of the Festival of Scrabble this week from the 2oth to the 26th of March 2023. Fifty-eight (58) players will be competing for the Green Jacket - the ultimate symbol of Scrabble Mastery in Nigeria. The players were drawn from eleven states and will be joined by 4 (four) NSF wildcard players and players from the Nigerian Navy. 2019 winner and defending champion Wellington Jighere is among the top Scrabble players who shall compete for honors. Other top players like Eta Karo (2005 champion), Dipo Akanbi (2017 champion), Dennis Ikekeregor, Emmanuel Umujose, and Olatunde Oduwole (winner, 2016) are also among the top contenders for the prize. (more…)
Malafakumo Akpos of Bayelsa state overcame all opposition to pick the Gold medal in the Female Singles event at the National Sports Festival in Asaba Delta State. (more…)
The second edition of the Governor Douye Diri National Scrabble Championship will take place in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State from July 15 to 17 2022. Over five million nairas in prize monies will be won by participants in the competition.
July 15-17, 2022
Chief DSP Alamieyeseigha Memorial Banquet Hall, Yenagoa
Best Female - N50,000.00 (Masters)
Consolation Prizes for three (3) Best Female (Intermediate) – N40,000.00, N30,000 & N20,000 respectively
Consolation Prizes for three (3) Best Female in Open – N30,000.00, N20,000 & N10,000 respectively
Consolation Prize for one (1) Best Female – N45,000.00
All consolation prizes for females will be given irrespective of whether the person has won other prizes or not.
Registration closes Thursday, July 14, 2022. Registration fee should be paid to:
Account name: Bayelsa State Scrabble Association
Account number: 1214067584
Zenith Bank
Contact Bayelsa Scrabble Association on 08062394553 for more information.
Secondary Schools Spelling Bee and Scrabble Competition was held from 4th to 5th of May 2018 Intercontinental College Kano.
| School | GOLD | SILVER | BRONZE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intercontinental | 3 | 2 | |
| Spring College | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| St Thomas | 1 | 2 | |
| St Louis | 1 | 1 | |
| First Grade School | 1 | 2 |
| Rank | School | Wins | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Intercontinental School | 4 | 593 |
| 2 | Spring Secondary School | 4 | 82 |
| 3 | First Grade Comprehensive | 3 | 14 |
| 4 | St Thomas Secondary School | 3 | -8 |
| 5 | Rumfa College | 3 | -109 |
| 6 | St Louis School | 2 | 110 |
| 7 | Brilliant Academy | 1 | -125 |
| 8 | Government Technical | 0 | -557 |
| HIGH GAME: Intercontinental School 390 | |||
| Rank | Player | Wins | Margin | School |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fatima Tahir | 5 | 621 | Intercontinental College |
| 2 | Solomon Bashir | 3 | 344 | St Thomas Secondary School |
| 3 | Sultan Atanda | 3 | 265 | Spring Secondary School |
| 4 | Hajara Abubakar | 3 | -53 | First Grade Comprehensive College |
| 5 | Eze Ashley | 3 | -118 | St Louis Secondary School |
| 6 | Abdullahi Abdullahi | 1 | -216 | Rumfa College |
| 7 | Abdulsamad Muhammed | 1 | -308 | Government Technical College Nassarawa |
| 8 | Usman Bello | 1 | -535 | Brilliant Academy |
| HIGH GAME: Fatima Tahir 362 | ||||
Winifred Awosika Foundation a non profit, non-governmental organization focusing on the well being of children and women has been promoting the game among school children for the past few years. This year, the foundation has decided to give her annual youth Scrabble tournament, the Winifred Awosika Scrabble Tournament for Schools (WASTFS) a national outlook with the inclusion of qualifiers from each of the 6 geo-political zones.
The tournament is restricted to primary school pupils only. There will be zonal preliminaries in each zone at the zonal headquarters comprising of 3 qualifiers from each state in a particular zone.
At the end of the preliminaries, three players each will emerge to represent each zone. Lagos and Abuja are not inclusive as special arrangements are already in place for their representatives to emerge.
The qualifiers and one chaperone each for each state will be sponsored by the foundation to Lagos Chrisland School in Opebi Lagos where the finals will take place in May.
Participating students (youths) will be given T-shirts and bags while gifts will be given to participating schools. There will be medals and trophies for winning schools with cash prizes for top (youth) player and school. Find details of the cash prizes below.
Date: 31st May - 2nd June 2018
Venue: Chrisland High School, Opebi, Lagos
Nigeria successfully defended her title as the best Scrabble playing nation at the 2nd edition of WESPAC (World English Language Scrabble Players Association Championship) tournament held from the 6th to 12th of November 2017 in Nairobi, Kenya. The championship tournament featured 119 players from 30 countries who played 32 round-robin games each at the end of which two finalists emerged. At the first edition of WESPAC held in 2015 in Perth, Australia, Nigeria's Jighere Wellington emerged world champion. This edition also produced a superlative performance from another Nigerian, Mr Moses Peter, a top Scrabble player and captain of our team.
Moses Peter finished the 32 games in second (2nd) place with 22 wins +1762 behind Akshay Bhandarkar of Bahrain who had 23 wins and +1082 spread. The two players played a best-of-7 finals where Moses Peter gallantly lost 3-4. 
Bhandarkar won the 1st and 3rd games. Moses Peter made sure he was not left behind by winning the 2nd and 4th games. He then pulled ahead with a 3rd win in the 5th game. Bhandarkar then needed to win the last 2 games for the title which he did. For his efforts, Bhandarkar went home with $7,000 and a trophy while Peter got $6,000 and a trophy. In third place was Nigel Richards of New Zealand, arguably the best player on the planet whom Peter had to defeat in round 32 to qualify for the finals.
Overall, our representatives were expected to put up a formidable challenge at the tournament and they did not disappoint. 2016 champion Wellington Jighere with 21 wins +1181 spread, finished strongly in fourth place while Olaiya Kabir (6th), Eta Karo (9th) and Dennis Ikekeregor (13th) also rallied to ensure Nigeria dominated the top 15 places. Worthy of note also in 11th position was former African champion, Nigeria's Femi Awowade who represented England at the championship. With the team performance, Nigeria retained her title as WESPAC Best Scrabble Playing Nation.
Photos used courtesy of the 2017 WESPAC event website and various sources online.
Mind Games Incorporated invites the Scrabble community and the general public to the maiden edition of Nigerian MindGames Festival. The event will be held between 2nd - 5th November 2017 at Kakanfo Inn and Conference Center 1 Nihinlola Street Off Ring Road, Joyce B Road, Ibadan Nigeria. The 1st Nigerian MindGames Festival will feature Scrabble, Draughts and Chess events in different categories.
The Scrabble event comprises of Open, Intermediate and Masters categories. To participate in the 1st Nigerian MindGames Festival you must be an active member of Mind Games Incorporated. Registration starts on 15th August 2017. Early registration ends October 15 2017. Late registration starts October 16 2017. All registrations end 22nd October 2017. Late registrations attract an N2,500 surcharge. Entries will not be accepted after 22nd October 2017.
Credit/debit cards are accepted during registration on the MGI website. Players may also pay registration fees via bank deposits/transfers. Players are required to register online with their teller/bank deposit code as soon as bank deposits are made. Please make bank payments payable to the following account: PHILLUC ASSOCIATES NIG LTD FCMB 403 100 4016
Players can play up if they wish but playing down is not allowed.
For more information, please visit the 1st Nigerian MindGames Festival event page
