C-H-A-M-P-I-O-N-S. After two days of heated play, champions were crowned at the annual North America School Scrabble Championship, sponsored by Hasbro! Nathanael Campos, a 7th-grader from Ridgefield, CT, Walden Giezentanner, an 8th-grader from Webster Groves, MO, and Ruth Li, a 12th-grader from Toronto, Canada won the high-stakes competition hosted at the Planet Word Museum in Washington D.C.
Sponsored by Hasbro, Inc, a global branded entertainment leader, and the Word Game Players’ Organization, the 2023 the North America School Scrabble Championship welcomed more than 100 players from across the United States and Canada to the nation’s capital for the spirited, high-stakes Scrabble play. The event, which featured 105 players total from all over North America across 42 teams in the Championship Division (elementary and middle school) and 27 players in the High School Division, was livestreamed in full and presented by Scopely on Twitch TV.
All of the students played eight games, followed by one-game championship finals in both divisions. In the younger age bracket, Campos of Scotts Ridge Middle School and Giezentanner of Hixson Middle School won with a final score of 463-266, finishing the tournament undefeated. In the high school division, Li of Bloor Collegiate Institute came in first place with a final score of 408-348, capping off an undefeated tournament to become the first female to win the high-school division of the North American School Scrabble Championship, and just the second female to win a division since the event began in 2003. Some of the championship-winning words included GUINEAS (a formerly used British coin), ATELIER (a workshop or studio) and HARTS (adult male deer). The highest scoring word of the event was CHARLOCK (194 points), a wild mustard with yellow flowers, commonly found as a weed in fields and along roadsides.
“The North America School Scrabble Championship is an event we can’t get enough of,” said Adam Biehl, SVP & General Manager, Hasbro Gaming. “We love seeing the next generation of wordsmiths showcase their skills as they add to Scrabble’s enduring legacy as an all-time favorite game that helps showcase and build one’s vocabulary.”
For 75 years, Scrabble has been a favorite with friends and families across the globe whether it be for a family game night, a night out with friends, or as an indoor activity. With different ways to play and strategies according to skill level, Scrabble helps people bring back cherished memories and create new ones. Scrabble is a fun game for ages 8 and up and is available for purchase at Amazon.com and most major retailers!