Harry Wiggins, 35 years old, a mathematician and former contestant on Survivor South Africa, is South Africa’s National Scrabble Champion.
The South African National Scrabble Championships was held at Huddle Park Golf Club in Johannesburg over the weekend. Fifty players from around the country matched wits over 16 gruelling rounds.
[pic: Harry Wiggins, University of Pretoria)
Wiggins won the title in the last, nerve-wracking game from frontrunner Jeyad Page, a lawyer from Cape Town. The top ten players in the country are in order, Harry Wiggins, who holds a doctorate in mathematics and is a Pretoria University lecturer, Jeyad Page, Trevor Hovelmeier, who is a Johannesburg medical doctor, and in fourth place, Cape Town interior designer, Diana Mason.
Wiggins and Hovelmeier will be representing South Africa at the World English-Speaking Scrabble Players’ Association Championships (WESPAC) in Goa, India, on 16-20 October 2019. Several other top SA players are expected to compete as well.
The Nationals is an annual competition which rotates between Johannesburg and Cape Town each year. This year there were 34 players in the main section who hailed from Cape Town, Gauteng and Zambia.
Every tournament includes a social section for unranked players and for those who would like to play, and the nationals was no different. Players ranged from as young as 8 years old to 88 years old.
Scrabble South Africa is a small organisation, which relies on sponsorships and contributions by members.
The Scrabble Organisation says big schools tournament is planned for 15 September 2019 in Johannesburg, as they try to grow the game amongst young people.
It teaches vocabulary, dictionary skills, arithmetic, spelling, strategy, composure, temperament and so much more.
There are Scrabble clubs across the country where new players can visit to observe or participate.
- African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Naomi Mackay
