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The World SCRABBLE® Championship (WSC) was the world’s top international Scrabble championship tournament. Although it ceased to be held under this name in 2011, this page also lists its successor events, which continue to fill the same role within the global competitive Scrabble community.
The tournament rules and word list for current events are set by the World English-Language Scrabble Players Association (WESPA). The direct involvement of NASPA is limited to selecting the American and Canadian teams.
For more information about the most recent event, see 2023 WESPA Championship.
The first WSC was organized by Philip Nelkon of Mattel in London in 1991 and won by Peter Morris, a Canadian residing in the United States, who defeated American Brian Cappelletto in a best-of-three finals. It was conceived as an invitational event to showcase the best players in the world for publicity purposes, and to let the players experience the highest level competition on the way to determining the world champion.
Two years later in 1993, the National SCRABBLE Association under John D. Williams, Jr. organized the next event, sponsored by Hasbro and directed by Michael R. Wise in New York City. It was won by Mark Nyman of England.
From then until 2003, the WSC was organized and sponsored in biennial alternation by Williams & Hasbro and Nelkon & Mattel, during which period Americans and Canadians won two more titles each, and and Thailand one.
From 2005 to 2011, Hasbro declined to sponsor the event, so it was organized and sponsored by Nelkon and Mattel.
In 2013 (Prague, Czechoslovakia) and 2014 (London, U.K.), Mattel licensed Mind Sports International (MSI) to hold an open Scrabble Champions Tournament in place of the traditionally invitational WSC.
This met with opposition from players, because the open format eliminated the cachet of being selected to represent one’s country, and might dilute the strength of the playing field. There was also objection in 2014 to the new annual schedule, which disrupted traditional funding models that players had used for travelling to the championship in alternate eyars.
MSI continued to support the annual, open format however, because it could result in greater entry-fee revenues.
In 2015, Mattel withdrew support for MSI’s SCRABBLE Champions Tournament, and WESPA staged instead their first WESPA Championship, returning to the invitational format. Although WESPA was (and as of 2023 still is) the officially licensed governing body for international Scrabble, they were denied the right to use “World Scrabble Championship” branding. WESPA and NASPA therefore consider this and subsequent WESPA Championships to be world championships (lower-case) of Scrabble, while formally recognizing the ongoing right of Mattel or Hasbro to name anyone a World Scrabble Champion, and providing WESPA’s rating services to event organizers.
In 2016, MSI held what was initially billed as the “MSI World Championships” in Lille, France, and subsequently upgraded to the “MSI World Scrabble Championship” under license from Mattel. WESPA did not hold an event, because it was an even year.
In 2017, MSI staged a Mattel-licensed a “MSI World Scrabble Championship” in Nottingham (U.K.), and The WESPA Championship was organized by national governing body Scrabble Kenya in Nairobi, Kenya.
In 2018, TMA International (formerly known as DB Subscriptions Ltd), doing business as Mindsports Academy, staged the “Mattel World Scrabble Championships” in Torquay, U.K. WESPA did not hold an event, because it was an even year.
In 2019, Mindsports Academy held another “Mattel World Scrabble Championship” in Torquay. The WESPA Championship was organized by national governing body Scrabble Association of India in Goa, India.
No championships were held in 2020 or 2022 due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2021, national governing body Pakistan Scrabble Association staged an unrated virtual event under the name “Gladiators WESPA Championship 2021” on woogles.io. Despite the official WESPA branding, the different nature of online play and its lack of official rating leave the 2021 winner, Alastair Richards, with the title of virtual world champion.
In 2023, binational governing body NASPA returned the event to online play with the WESPA Championship 2023 in Las Vegas, NV.
Details of some events follow, others will be added as time permits.
Date | August 31–September 4 |
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Place | Lille Grand Palais, Lille, France |
Winner | Brett Smitheram (Eng) |
Runner-Up | Mark Nyman (Eng) |
Winning Teams | ? |
Winner’s Prize | €7,000 |
Prize Pool | €18,000+ |
Players | 72 |
National Teams | 23 |
Format | 24 rounds followed by best-of-3 quarterfinals, best-of-5 semifinals, best-of-5 finals |
Sponsor | Mattel, HarperCollins |
Organizer | MSI |
Director | Peter Thorpe |
Date | November 4–8 |
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Place | Gloucester Park, Perth, Australia |
Winner | Wellington Jighere (NGA) |
Runner-Up | Lewis Mackay (Eng) |
Winning Teams | ? |
Winner’s Prize | $10,000 |
Prize Pool | ? |
Players | 131 |
National Teams | ? |
Format | 32 rounds followed by best-of-7 finals |
Sponsor | WESPA |
Organizer | ASPA |
Director | Wilma Vialle |
Date | November 19–23 |
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Place | ExCeL London Exhibition and Convention Centre, London, England |
Winner | Craig Beevers (Eng) |
Runner-Up | Chris Lipe (USA) |
Winning Teams | Sri Lanka (singleton), Canada (multiplayer) |
Winner’s Prize | £3,000 |
Prize Pool | £7,000 |
Players | 108 |
National Teams | 32 |
Format | 24 rounds followed by best-of-3 quarterfinals, best-of-5 semifinals and best-of-5 finals |
Sponsor | Mattel |
Organizer | MSI |
Director | John Chew |
Date | December 4–8 |
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Place | andel’s Hotel, Prague, Czech Republic |
Winner | Nigel Richards (NZL) |
Runner-Up | Komol Panyasophonlert (THA) |
Winning Teams | Israel (singleton), Australia (multiplayer) |
Winner’s Prize | $10,000 |
Prize Pool | $22,500 |
Players | 110 |
National Teams | 38 |
Format | 31 rounds followed by best-of-5 semifinals and best-of-5 finals |
Sponsor | Mattel |
Organizer | MSI |
Director | John Chew |
Date | October 11–16 |
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Place | Hilton Hotel, Warsaw, Poland |
Winner | Nigel Richards |
Runner-Up | Andrew Fisher |
Winning Team | Northern Ireland |
Winner’s Prize | $20,000 |
Prize Pool | $50,000 |
Players | 106 |
National Teams | 39 |
Format | 34 rounds followed by best-of-5 finals |
Sponsor | Mattel |
Organizer | Philip Nelkon |
Director | Wilma Vialle |
Date | November 26–29 |
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Place | Zon Regency Hotel, Johor Bahru, Malaysia |
Winner | Pakorn Nemitrmansuk |
Runner-Up | Nigel Richards |
Winning Teams (mean team member rank) |
India (singleton), Thailand (multiplayer) |
Winner’s Prize | $15,000 |
Prize Pool | $30,500 |
Players | 108 |
National Teams | 39 |
Format | 24 rounds followed by best-of-5 finals |
Sponsor | Mattel |
Organizer | Philip Nelkon |
Director | Wilma Vialle |
Date | November 9–12 |
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Place | Taj President Hotel, Mumbai, India |
Winner | Nigel Richards |
Runner-Up | Ganesh Asirvatham |
Winning Teams (mean team member rank) |
U.A.E. (singleton), Malaysia (multiplayer) |
Winner’s Prize | $15,000 |
Prize Pool | $30,500 |
Players | 104 |
National Teams | 38 |
Format | 24 rounds followed by best-of-5 finals |
Sponsor | Mattel |
Organizer | Philip Nelkon |
Director | Wilma Vialle |
Date | November 16–20 |
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Place | Marriott Regent’s Park, London, England |
Winner | Adam Logan |
Runner-Up | Pakorn Nemitrmansuk |
Winning Teams (mean team member rank) |
Qatar (singleton), Australia (multiplayer) |
Winner’s Prize | $15,000 |
Prize Pool | $30,500 |
Players | 102 |
National Teams | 39 |
Format | 24 rounds followed by best-of-5 finals |
Sponsor | Mattel |
Organizer | Philip Nelkon |
Director | Wilma Vialle |
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