The Nigerian Scrabble Federation (NSF) says it is introducing a new level of scrabble tournament titled; “Scrabble In The Jungle”, which would start from Aug. 26 to Aug. 28.
The NSF said this in a statement made available to newsmen on Friday in Lagos.
The body said that the tournament would involve a selection of eight top ranked players in NSF.
It also said that the tournament would include four wildcard nominees, who would compete over a 36-round of games.
According to the federation, the tournament will take place in a closed location where the nominees will be for three days.
“The 12 players would be kept in a boot-camp like arrangement in a controlled space, where the juggernauts will test their prowess against one another at a highly competitive level.
“The heavyweights will hunt for points on the boards with different strategies as they square up against one another in what has been described by many as a blockbuster showpiece,” it said.
The body said that supporters would also be given the chance to adopt any of the players who they bet could go on to win the title and the grand prize money at the end of the show.
Musa Olasupo, President of Scrabble Las Vegas, the organisers of the Scrabble In The Jungle Series, said that the desire to raise the stakes and make the sport more attractive and sustainable, birthed the new variant of scrabble event which would be the first in the world.
“The Scrabble In The Jungle is a boot camp arrangement where we keep players under one roof to live, eat and drink scrabble for three days,” he said.
“Our focus is to encourage competitive scrabble that will reward excellence.This is maiden edition. It will feature the top eight players, according to NSF July ratings and four wildcards.
“Management of Vegas have discretionary powers on the four wildcards, but we hope to make the players of equal strength,” Olasupo said.
According to him, the tournament willg row to a level where they can muscle enough resources to have live viewings, eliminations and other innovations to make it bigger and more glamourous.
Nigeria remains the best scrabble playing nation in the world and also successfully became the first African nation to win the World English Language Speaking Scrabble Players Association Championship (WESPAC) when Wellington Jighere made history in Perth, Australia in 2015.(NAN)