North American Scrabble Championship

The North American Scrabble Championship (formerly the National Scrabble Championship) is the largest Scrabble competition in North America. The event is held every one or two years, and from 2004 through 2006 the finals were aired on ESPN and ESPN2. The tournament rotates locations around the United States; the 2016 event was held in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The current North American Scrabble Champion is David Gibson, who won his second championship after first winning in 1994.^[1]

NSC history

The first officially sanctioned Scrabble tournaments in the U.S. were spearheaded, organized and run by Joel Skolnick in the mid-1970s. Skolnick was a recreation director for the New York City Parks and Recreation Department. He approached Selchow and Righter in late 1972, and the first tournament, open to Brooklyn residents only, commenced on March 18, 1973. The Funk and Wagnalls Collegiate Dictionary was used to rule on challenges, and the official word judge was Skolnick's then-wife Carol. Carol's sister, Shazzi Felstein, who would later finish in ninth place at the first North American Invitational tournament, won the first preliminary round with 1,321 points over three games. The final round took place on April 15, and Jonathan Hatch was the winner of the first official Scrabble tournament

The summer of 1973 saw two more tournaments, held respectively at Grossingers (won by Minerva Kasowitz) and the Concord hotel (won by Harriet Zucker) in New York's Catskill region. Another two tournaments quickly followed in November that same year: in Baltimore, Gordon Shapiro topped approximately 400 contestants; and at the Brooklyn War Memorial approximately 2,000 people entered the nine weekly preliminary rounds of the first all–New York City Scrabble Championship. It was won by Bernie Wishengrad. The New York City Championship was thereafter held annually, jointly sponsored by Selchow and Righter and the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation.

The first national tournament was the North American Invitational, held May 19–21, 1978, in the Presidential Suite of the Loews Summit Hotel in New York City. Joel Skolnick and Carol Felstein, as usual, served as the tournament director and word judge, respectively. David Prinz took the $1,500 first prize, followed by Dan Pratt and Mike Senkiewicz.

In 1980, soon after the publication of the first Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, control of the national tournament passed to the National Scrabble Association. They continued to organize the tournament until 2008.

The official name of the tournament has been National SCRABBLE Championship in recent years, except in 2006 when it was named US SCRABBLE Open.^[2] In 2015, to recognize the longtime eligibility of Canadian members, it was renamed North American SCRABBLE Championship.

Since 2009, the tournament is organized annually by the newly formed North American SCRABBLE Players Association. The first event under NASPA was held in Dayton, Ohio in August, 2009. The 2010 and 2011 events were held in Dallas, Texas, and the 2012 Championship was held in Orlando, FL, where it had been held in 2008. The 2013 event was held in Las Vegas, and the 2014 event in Buffalo, New York. The 2015 championship was held in Reno, Nevada, while the 2016 championship was held in Fort Wayne, Indiana.^[3][4]

Collins play

In 2012, a Collins division for international-English play was added for the first time, won by Sam Kantimathi with a 24-7 record.^[5] In 2013, John O'Laughlin, creator of the Quackle software program, won the division with a 24-7 record, winning $2,500 and claiming his first NSC divisional title.^[6] Past world, national, and Canadian champion Adam Logan won the division easily in 2014 with a 23-4 record and four byes.^[7] Peter Armstrong prevailed over past champion Dave Wiegand in 2015, winning 3-2 in the final best-of-five series.^[8] David Eldar won the division in 2016 with a 27-4 record, beating past champion Logan by a six-game margin.^[9]

Youth in the community

Bradley Robbins of New Hampshire became the first minor to win a division in 2008 with a 24-4 record in Division 6.^[10] In 2010, Richard Spence of Arizona won Division 4 with a 25.5-5.5 record, and in 2011 won Division 2 with a 25-6 record.^[11][12] In 2012, Amalan Iyengar of North Carolina won Division 4 with a 22-9 record.^[13] Also in 2012, Chris Canik of Texas won Division 3 with a 26-5 record, the best record in that division's history.^[14] In 2013, Andy Hoang of North Carolina won Division 3 with a 23-8 record.^[15] Bradley Robbins and Andy Hoang are the only people to have won both the National School Scrabble Championship (2010 for Robbins, 2009 and 2012 for Hoang) and a division in the National Scrabble Championship (2008, Division 6 for Robbins & 2013, Division 3 for Hoang). Mack Meller of New York placed seventh in the elite Division 1 in 2013.^[16] He started the 2014 event with a 7-0 record, giving him first place in Division 1 after the first day of the event, and again finished seventh overall.^[17]

NSC events and Division 1 winners

Year	Winner	Location	Entrants	Winner's Prize	Total Prize Pool
2016	David Gibson (2)	Fort Wayne	417[18]	USD 10,000	USD 49,275[19]
2015	Matthew Tunnicliffe	Reno	340[20]	USD 10,000	USD 50,225[21]
2014	Conrad Bassett-Bouchard	Buffalo	524[22]	USD 10,000	USD 45,775[23]
2013	Nigel Richards (5)[24]	Las Vegas	521[25]	USD 10,000	USD 43,725[26]
2012	Nigel Richards (4)[27]	Orlando	339[28]	USD 10,000	USD 36,150[29]
2011	Nigel Richards (3)[30]	Dallas	329[31]	USD 10,000	USD 42,075[32]
2010	Nigel Richards (2)[33]	Dallas	408[34]	USD 10,000	USD 42,075[35]
2009	Dave Wiegand (2)[36]	Dayton	486	USD 10,000	USD 43,175[37]
2008	Nigel Richards (1)[38]	Orlando	662	USD 25,000	USD 85,385[39]
2006	Jim Kramer	Phoenix	625	USD 25,000	USD 85,385[40]
2005	Dave Wiegand (1)	Reno	682	USD 25,000	USD 85,415[41]
2004	Trey Wright	New Orleans	837	USD 25,000	USD 92,805[42]
2002	Joel Sherman	San Diego	696	USD 25,000	USD 89,290[43]
2000	Joe Edley (3)	Providence	598	USD 25,000	USD 89,290[44]
1998	Brian Cappelletto	Chicago	535	USD 25,000	USD 82,200[45]
1996	Adam Logan	Dallas	412	USD 25,000	USD 75,485[46]
1994	David Gibson (1)	Los Angeles	294	USD 15,000	USD 50,585[47]
1992	Joe Edley (2)	Atlanta	315	USD 10,000	USD 35,910[48]
1990	Robert Felt	Washington	282	USD 10,000	USD 37,400[49]
1989	Peter Morris	New York	221	USD 5,000	USD 24,425[50]
1988	Robert Watson	Reno	315	USD 5,000	USD 23,100[51]
1987	Rita Norr	Las Vegas	327	USD 5,000	USD 16,850[52]
1985	Ron Tiekert	Boston	302	USD 10,000	USD 52,370[53]
1983	Joel Wapnick	Chicago	32	USD 5,000	USD 13,600[54]
1980	Joe Edley (1)	Santa Monica	32	USD 5,000	USD 10,100[55]
1978	David Prinz	New York	65 (invitational)	USD 1,500	USD 8,400[56]

See also

• World Scrabble Championship
• Canadian Scrabble Championship
• National Scrabble Championship (UK)
• Brand's Crossword Game King's Cup
• World Youth Scrabble Championships
• National School Scrabble Championship

References

External links

• NSC 2013 Official Site