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Scrabble Australia

  • ️Fri Jan 26 2001

Bob Jackman OAM

Jan 26 Bob Jackman has been prominent in organising, promoting and innovating in Scrabble for many years. He has also played in many tournaments in Australia and overseas. In this year;s Australia Day Honours, he was awarded the Order of Australia medal for service to competitive Scrabble.
Joanne Craig and Bob at the CSIM

The nomination was put forward by Joanne Craig with help from John Holgate and Howard Warner. Joanne Craig spoke at CSIM about how he deserved the award because of his many years as President of ASPA NSW and his work in establishing and supporting clubs. He set up a national OzScrabble mailing list, and had acted as rating officer for Australia and also internationally. He started events such as the City of Sydney International Masters and the Trans Tasman.

Bob has represented Australia in international events, including the World Scrabble Championship. He came runner up in the Pan Pacific Scrabble Championship in Kuala Lumpur in 1998.

2025 CSIM

Jan 26 The City of Sydney Masters has been a major event for decades. This year it was hotly contested, with the top spot always in contention right to the end. Josh Watt who has only been playing since 2023, won convincingly.
Josh's final game with Ryan Sutton clinched the title

Prizes were presented down to fifth place. 
1   14  +785 Josh Watt
2   13  +999 Cameron Farlow
3   12 +1313 Andrew Fisher
4   12  +590 Joanne Craig
5   12  +496 Ryan Sutton
Several new records for 2025 were made.
Large game margin 384
Oscar Ivanovski 591 against Anne Hough 207
High drawn game
Greg Pinchbeck 409 against Oscar Ivanovski 409
High combined score 1023
Nick Ivanovski 531 against Asanka Dissanayake 492
High losing score 504
Fadlan Satria 504 against Jane Taylor 514
High play, not bonus: 101
ZATIS byJosh Watt
ZATIS scores 101
ZATIS is 34 × 2, ZE is 31, AS is 2
Long word 11 letters:
REELECTIONS by Bob Jackman
REELECTIONS
RE(E)ELECT + IONS
Many bingos 5
ADDIBLE, OCTANES, UNFROZE, MALAISE, KETAMINE : Noel Barrett
DRONGOS, HELIUMS, BARITES, CATELOGS, ALUNITES : Nick Ivanovski
Long winning streak 9
(6+3) Cameron Farlow at Logan Clovers and CITY OF SYDNEY MASTERS
See 2025 Records
Barry Harridge provided a webshow of full round by round results.
This tournament has been rated by WESPA using the new WESPA rating system. This system has higher ratings generally, and considers the volatilty of each player as measured by their rating deviation. See WESPA rating of CSIM.

Happy New Words

Jan 1 Australian Scrabblers are now using an updated version of Collins Scrabble Words. You can check out our word advice here, including update kits, books, apps and printable lists.
The last tournament of 2024 (Decathon in Victoria) and the first tournament of 2025 (Janboree in NSW) cheerfully started using these new words. Look at these savvy plays.
AVI
AVI (slang) An avatar (profile picture) on a social media platform
BAW
BAW A ball usually found in a pair in a BAWBAG (Scots)
UWU
UWU The emoticon (U ω U) for cuteness
MPox
MPOX Monkey pox, a viral illness
GLAMAZON
GLAMAZON A tall glamorous woman
VAQUITAS
VAQUITA A rather small porpoise from Spanish for little cow

Nationals 2025

19-21 April 2025
Adelaide
Join us in Adelaide for the Scrabble National Championships. You can now easily register and pay. Please go here for all details.

Townsville

August
Townsville

Townsville is proud to be hosting both the Australian Women's Scrabble Championship and the Queensland Scrabble Championship in 2025 and they are organising further fun on beautiful Magnetic Island in between.

  • Australian Women's Championship Townsville CIC Meeting Rooms, 280 Flinders St, Saturday 9th to Sunday 10th
  • Magnetic Island Tournaments Magnetic Island Bowls Club, 18 Marine Parade, Arcadia Bay, Wednesday 13th and Thursday 14th
  • Magnetic Island pub trivia at Arcadia Village Hotel, Thursday 14th
  • Queensland Championship Townsville CIC Meeting Rooms, 280 Flinders St,Saturday 16th to Sunday 17th
All tournaments will use CSW24 and be WESPA rated.

Townsville experiences 24 sunny days and an average daily maximum temperature of 26° in August, making it an ideal time to visit.

There are direct flights to Townsville from Cairns, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide, as well as overnight train trips from the Gold Coast and Brisbane.

The Townsville tournaments will be held in the CBD within walking distance from a range of accommodation and restaurant options.

There is much to see and do in Townsville and around. Make a holiday of it.

Julie Brice can give you further information and advice.

WYSC

Aug 30

The first World Youth Scrabble Championship was held in Australia in 1995, and our David Eldar won it.

Logo for WYSC 2025
WYSC website

Since then the event has been held in many parts of the world. This year is the 20th WYSC and will be held in Malaysia (at the Sri Kuala Lumpur International School - Primary at Subang Jaya, Selangor). It is a three day event (Aug 30 to Sep 1) with 24 games, but there will also be a Plate section of 15 rounds. Prizes are awarded for overall placings and placings within age groups.

The Australian team of 6 will be selected considering the ratings of the players over a 12 month period. See the selection process.

2025 WESPA Championship

Nov 12-16 2025
See wespac.ghanascrabble.com
The 2025 WESPA Championship will be held at The Rock City Resort,in the Kwahu-Nkwatia mountains in Eastern Region of Ghana.
  • November 9 - WESPAC check in
  • November 11 - Last Chance Qualifier
  • November 12-15 - WESPA Championship 8 + 8 + 8 + 8 games
  • November 16 - Best of 7 Final and awards ceremony
Australia is entitled to send 14 players in addition to David Eldar who qualifies because he was World Champion. Selection is by ratings over a twelve month period ending May 31 2025. See full details

World Team Scrabble Championship

16 flags
Nigeria, Ghana, USA, Australia
Saudi Arabia, Kenya, Pakistan, UK
Ireland, Canada, Brazil, Cameroon
South Africa, Uganda, India, Liberia
  • November 7-10, 2025 - World Team Scrabble Championship and Side Events.

    Sixteen teams of five players will play over three days as a group Round Robin and then Knock-Out matches.

    See who will play for us, applicants so far.

    More details at the World Team Scrabble website