PLAYERS FROM AROUND the world have come to Dublin this weekend to compete in the Continental Scrabble Championships.

Over two days, 65 players will battle it out for a €1,000 cash prize.

The championships are taking place in Taney Parish Centre in Dundrum, Co Dublin, but in previous years they have been held in places like Budapest and The Hague.

It’s not a spectator sport, so the only people present are players, organisers and the director overseeing the tournament. 

“It’s just the rattle of the scrabble bags all around the room,” says Jennie Frizelle, the All Ireland Scrabble Association’s event manager.

For some players, this will be their first tournament, while others have been competing internationally for years. 

Among them is the current All-Ireland champion Lukeman Owolabi. He’s represented Nigeria at the African Scrabble championship, and the UK at the world championship. He now lives in Cork with his family.

Players from 13 nationalities are taking part this weekend.

How it works

There were four “warm-up” games on Friday, but the main event takes place over Saturday and Sunday.

It is not a typical knockout structure. Each player must play the same number of games – about 12.5 hours of play over two days. There are eight games on Saturday and seven on Sunday.

Each game is 50 minutes, so each player has a total of 25 minutes to make all their moves. For every minute a player exceeds this, 10 points are deducted, Frizelle explained.

When people would be playing at home, they could sit over a game for a couple of hours. So it’s quite different in that regard. It’s a lot faster.

Winning games is not the only goal. Players must aim to have the highest “spread”. The spread is the difference between the winner’s score and their opponent’s.

There is one director who oversees the games and can clarify any confusion about rules.

Players bring their own boards, but they must be indented to prevent the tiles from moving. Boards are put on turnstiles, so they rotate smoothly to each player.

Scrabble board with indents to prevent tiles from moving Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Strategy

There are 26 official Scrabble clubs on the island of Ireland. County and national tournaments are held regularly.

In preparation for the continental championships, Frizelle says players prepare in different ways, whether it be at local clubs, at home with family or online.

“Some people would put a lot of time into studying, while a lot of people would just play for the fun of it with whatever words they have and whatever words they pick up along the way,” she said.

“It’s as casual or serious as people want to be with it.”

On game day, players have certain strategies they employ.

“People will be a bit careful not to put a vowel beside a high power square, so like a double letter or triple letter, because that gives their opponent the scope to put down, say, a Z or a Q on that high value square,” Frizelle explained.

The squares double or triple the letter or the word score.

Frizelle also explained the importance of a “balanced rack” – always having a good mix of consonants and vowels.

“People would be very conscious of what letters they keep on their rack and what they would get rid of,” she said.

In Scrabble, players get a 50 point reward for using all seven tiles on their rack at once. This is called a bonus or a bingo.

“It would be unusual for there to be a game where there wouldn’t be any bingos,” said Frizelle.

While the Continental Championships cannot be viewed online, the world championships are usually livestreamed. The next one takes place in September 2027.