Cicely Bruce of Whangārei says she is "flabbergasted" to win New Zealand’s inaugural Women’s Scrabble title.
Cicely Bruce of Whangārei says she is "flabbergasted" to win New Zealand’s inaugural Women’s Scrabble title.
New Zealand’s inaugural Women’s Scrabble Champion, Whangārei’s Cicely Bruce, says she is “flabbergasted” with her title win.
Bruce took out the women’s tournament in Auckland over the weekend by winning 15 out of 16 round-robin matches.
Despite being a Scrabble Grand Master and experienced international player, she said she didnot expect to beat the strong field of 20 players from Australia and New Zealand.
But Bruce said she had a charmed run, with “beautiful tiles”. Over the 16 games, she scored an average of 443 points per game, including 30 seven-letter bonus words.
She was one of five players from Whangārei Scrabble Club who helped to push for the women’s tournament, drawing on her experience at last year’s Australian Women’s Championship in Townsville for inspiration.
Bruce said the women’s championship was all about encouraging more women to give competitive Scrabble a go.
“Some think a gender-based tournament is wrong because they don’t like the idea of excluding men. We felt, on balance, it was a good thing to advertise and promote to women to give it a go,” she said.
“The top levels of Scrabble tend to be dominated by men... We wanted to showcase that women can and do play good Scrabble and there’s a place for everyone.”
The second day of the event was livestreamed to thousands of viewers on international channel Let’s Play Scrabble, with commentators including Canadian expert Heidi Robertson and Australian champion Anand Bharadwaj.
The seven-letter word "jimmied" helped Whangārei's Cicely Bruce win New Zealand’s inaugural Women’s Scrabble Championship.
Both praised the tournament for its excitement and talent, Litchfield said.
“We knew the women were talented players but to have it coming from world-class experts was huge.”
The tournament has already succeeded in getting more women into competitive Scrabble, attracting a novice mother and her 9-year-old daughter. Both have now joined a local Scrabble club, Litchfield said.
Attracting younger players is key to the game continuing, she believed.
While Scrabble has always been a board game favourite, online gaming has resulted in a surge of interest, particularly in the one-on-one matches, Litchfield said.
Bruce said being good at Scrabble involves memorising how to spell words but not necessarily what those words mean.
“I don’t do as much study as I should... I do learn my seven-letter words because they get you the points.”
Bruce’s experience includes being a member of the New Zealand team that won the Trans-Tasman Championship last year and competing at the World Seniors Championship, held in Berlin last year.
She is now keen to defend her New Zealand Women’s title next year.
While the date for next year’s event has not yet been set, Litchfield said any locals keen to give competitive Scrabble a go can join the Whangārei Scrabble Club, which has an annual tournament in July.
Denise Piper is a news reporter for the Northern Advocate, focusing on health and business. She has more than 20 years in journalism and is passionate about covering stories that make a difference.
