Sports / Other
How did Nigeria become so good at scrabble?
17 Aug 2021 at 11:08hrs | Views
Scrabble is a very popular board game that is played in almost every country in the world. It involves a Scrabble Board and about 100 letters tiles. The game is played between 2-4 players and it is the job of the players to form words using the letters tile that they have available.
In Scrabble, just like Crosswords, the tiles on the board are interlinked and you can make words from previously formed words. Each letter tile has its own point value and at the end of the game, the player with the most points wins the game. At the start of the game, each player receives 7 tiles from the tile pool and after every turn, they have to re-fill their supply.
This might come as a surprise to many people but Nigeria is probably known as the best Scrabble playing country in the world. The most populated country in Africa, Nigeria is ranked at top of the Nations playing Scrabble followed by the great USA. This explains how much popular Scrabble has become in the country.
Recently in 2019, the Nigerian National Scrabble Team won the World English Scrabble Players Association Championship (WESPAC), making the latest title to Nigeria's name. Nigeria has won the WESPAC title for the third time in 2019 and it is the only African Nation that has won a WESPAC championship since it was started in 1991.
Over the years, the Nigerian National Scrabble Team saw a huge increase and improvement in performance. The team finished 3rd in Mumbai in 2007, 11th in Malaysia in 2009, then the country won its first title in 2015, its second title in 2017, and its third title in 2019.
Nigeria is also the African Scrabble Champion and in 2018, Moses Peter from Nigeria won the 2018 African Scrabble Championship, giving Nigeria the title of African Scrabble Champion for the 12th consecutive time.
One of the most surprising things is that Nigeria managed to dominate the whole world on a global stage where the whole competition is based on the English Language even though there are more than 200 local languages and 400 dialects spoken all over the country.
One of the reasons why people are getting so good at Scrabble is that during practice and training, they are using tools such as Scrabble Word Finder which are helping to become better at the game and polish their skills. Also with the advent of online games such as Words With Friends which are similar to Scrabble and easily accessible has also made people so much better at Scrabble because they get to practice a lot just by playing these games.
Another reason why Nigeria is so good at Scrabble is that the Nigerian Government recognized Scrabble as a sport in the 90s and since then, there has been a proper infrastructure to provide opportunities to the players and also support them with grants. This has been one of the main differences between Nigeria and other African nations that other African Governments didn't recognize competitive Scrabble as a sport plus there hasn't been any proper infrastructure for the growth and development of Scrabble players.
The game was recognized as an official sport in the country more than 25 years ago and since then there has been full support for the game and players both by the Government and many philanthropists in the country who have been organizing different Scrabble competitions and also sponsoring different Scrabble Clubs and Corporates in the country for the growth and promotion of the game.
Many young Scrabble enthusiasts in the country are getting into Scrabble and Scrabble has been introduced into the curriculum of a few schools in the country as the parents consider games such as Scrabble as intelligence boosters for their kids.
Regular tournaments are held in Nigeria on weekends and also on weekdays where young, emerging players are provided with the opportunity to showcase their skills. Nigeria is considered the most "Scrabble-Obsessed Nation" in the World and the city of Lagos is the Scrabble hub of Nigeria. Nigeria is just one of few countries that saw the benefits of this game and made efforts to improve this game. Perhaps, it is time for more countries to officially this game as a sport and make efforts to promote its growth.
In Scrabble, just like Crosswords, the tiles on the board are interlinked and you can make words from previously formed words. Each letter tile has its own point value and at the end of the game, the player with the most points wins the game. At the start of the game, each player receives 7 tiles from the tile pool and after every turn, they have to re-fill their supply.
This might come as a surprise to many people but Nigeria is probably known as the best Scrabble playing country in the world. The most populated country in Africa, Nigeria is ranked at top of the Nations playing Scrabble followed by the great USA. This explains how much popular Scrabble has become in the country.
Recently in 2019, the Nigerian National Scrabble Team won the World English Scrabble Players Association Championship (WESPAC), making the latest title to Nigeria's name. Nigeria has won the WESPAC title for the third time in 2019 and it is the only African Nation that has won a WESPAC championship since it was started in 1991.
Over the years, the Nigerian National Scrabble Team saw a huge increase and improvement in performance. The team finished 3rd in Mumbai in 2007, 11th in Malaysia in 2009, then the country won its first title in 2015, its second title in 2017, and its third title in 2019.
Nigeria is also the African Scrabble Champion and in 2018, Moses Peter from Nigeria won the 2018 African Scrabble Championship, giving Nigeria the title of African Scrabble Champion for the 12th consecutive time.
One of the most surprising things is that Nigeria managed to dominate the whole world on a global stage where the whole competition is based on the English Language even though there are more than 200 local languages and 400 dialects spoken all over the country.
One of the reasons why people are getting so good at Scrabble is that during practice and training, they are using tools such as Scrabble Word Finder which are helping to become better at the game and polish their skills. Also with the advent of online games such as Words With Friends which are similar to Scrabble and easily accessible has also made people so much better at Scrabble because they get to practice a lot just by playing these games.
Another reason why Nigeria is so good at Scrabble is that the Nigerian Government recognized Scrabble as a sport in the 90s and since then, there has been a proper infrastructure to provide opportunities to the players and also support them with grants. This has been one of the main differences between Nigeria and other African nations that other African Governments didn't recognize competitive Scrabble as a sport plus there hasn't been any proper infrastructure for the growth and development of Scrabble players.
The game was recognized as an official sport in the country more than 25 years ago and since then there has been full support for the game and players both by the Government and many philanthropists in the country who have been organizing different Scrabble competitions and also sponsoring different Scrabble Clubs and Corporates in the country for the growth and promotion of the game.
Many young Scrabble enthusiasts in the country are getting into Scrabble and Scrabble has been introduced into the curriculum of a few schools in the country as the parents consider games such as Scrabble as intelligence boosters for their kids.
Regular tournaments are held in Nigeria on weekends and also on weekdays where young, emerging players are provided with the opportunity to showcase their skills. Nigeria is considered the most "Scrabble-Obsessed Nation" in the World and the city of Lagos is the Scrabble hub of Nigeria. Nigeria is just one of few countries that saw the benefits of this game and made efforts to improve this game. Perhaps, it is time for more countries to officially this game as a sport and make efforts to promote its growth.
Source - Byo24News
