The Scrabble Players Championship (formerly the North American Scrabble Championship, the US Scrabble Open, and the National Scrabble Championship) is the largest Scrabble competition in North America. Organized by NASPA Games, the event is currently held every year, and from 2004 through 2006 the finals were aired on ESPN and ESPN2. The 2026 event was held in Cedar Rapids from July 18-22, 2026, with Mack Meller emerging as two-time champion.
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 Department of Parks and Recreation. 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, 1973, 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 tournament was previously called National Scrabble Championship, except in 2006 when it was named US Scrabble Open. In 2015, to recognize the longtime eligibility of Canadian members, it was renamed North American Scrabble Championship. In 2022 it was renamed Scrabble Players Championship.
Since 2009, the tournament has been organized annually by NASPA Games (formerly known as North American Scrabble Players Association). The first event under NASPA was held in Dayton, Ohio, in August 2009. Since then, the championships have been held in various U.S. cities (chosen more or less based on a rotation between five regions: southeast, southwest, northeast, northwest, and central).
The 2020 and 2021 events were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2022 event, the first under the new SPC identity, was held in Baltimore on July 23–27, and was won by Michael Fagen, a data analyst from Quebec.
The Scrabble Players Championship uses the NASPA Word List (NWL, formerly Official Tournament and Club Word List, referred to as OTCWL, OWL, TWL) as the official word authority for play. Beginning in 2012, an additional division was included for international-English play using the Collins Scrabble Words (CSW) list.
Collins The first Collins division in 2012 was won by Sam Kantimathi with a 24–7 record, although Kantimathi was caught palming tiles at the 2013 championship and suspended from tournament play for four years. 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. Past world, national, and Canadian champion Adam Logan won the division easily in 2014 with a 23–4 record and four byes. Peter Armstrong prevailed over past champion Dave Wiegand in 2015, winning 3–2 in the final best-of-five series. David Eldar won the division in 2016 with a 27–4 record, beating past champion Logan by a six-game margin. Austin Shin won the top division in 2017 with a 22–9 record, prevailing over runner-up Dave Wiegand in the final round; this was the first year that Collins players were divided into two divisions. Austin repeated his win in 2022, defeating Waseem Khatri from Pakistan in a 5-game playoff.
Youth Rafi Stern won division 3 of the 2006 National Championship, posting a 20–8 record. Joey Krafchick out of Georgia won division 5 at the 2007 Players' Championship with a 25.5-5.5 record, followed by Bradley Robbins from New Hampshire winning division 6 going 24–4 in 2008. 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. In 2012, Amalan Iyengar of North Carolina won Division 4 with a 22–9 record. Also in 2012, Chris Canik of Texas won Division 3 with a 26–5 record, the best record in that division's history. In 2013, Andy Hoang of North Carolina won Division 3 with a 23–8 record. 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 Division 1 in 2013. 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.
Past events and Division 1 winners
NASPA Word List (NWL/OTCWL/OWL/OSPD)
YearWinnerLocationRegionEntrantsWinner's prizeTotal prize pool2027New OrleansSE2026 Mack Meller (2)Cedar RapidsC242USD 10,0002025 Nigel PeltierHanoverNE256USD 10,000USD 44,7502024 Mack Meller (1)South BendC251USD 10,000USD 45,3002023 Josh SokolLas VegasSW239USD 10,000USD 43,7502022 Michael FagenBaltimoreNE244USD 10,000USD 42,2002019 Alec SjöholmRenoNW249USD 10,000no current data2018 Joel Sherman (2)BuffaloNE403USD 10,000USD 52,0002017 Will AndersonNew OrleansSE365USD 10,000USD 54,3502016 David Gibson (2)Fort WayneC417USD 10,000USD 49,2752015 Matthew TunnicliffeRenoNW340USD 10,000USD 50,2252014 Conrad Bassett-BouchardBuffaloNE524USD 10,000USD 45,7752013 Nigel Richards (5)Las VegasSW521USD 10,000USD 43,7252012 Nigel Richards (4)OrlandoSE339USD 10,000USD 36,1502011 Nigel Richards (3)DallasS329USD 10,000USD 42,0752010 Nigel Richards (2)DallasS408USD 10,000USD 42,0752009 Dave Wiegand (2)DaytonC486USD 10,000USD 43,1752008 Nigel Richards (1)OrlandoSE662USD 25,000USD 85,3852007 James LeongDaytonC451USD 12,000USD 85,3852006 Jim KramerPhoenixSW625USD 25,000USD 85,3852006 Prizes2005 Dave Wiegand (1)RenoSW682USD 25,000USD 85,4152004 Trey WrightNew OrleansS837USD 25,000USD 92,8052002 Joel Sherman (1)San DiegoSW696USD 25,000USD 89,2902000 Joe Edley (3)ProvidenceNE598USD 25,000USD 89,2901998 Brian CappellettoChicagoC535USD 25,000USD 82,2001996 Adam LoganDallasS412USD 25,000USD 75,4851994 David Gibson (1)Los AngelesSW294USD 15,000USD 50,5851992 Joe Edley (2)AtlantaSE315USD 10,000USD 35,9101990 Robert FeltWashingtonE282USD 10,000USD 37,4001989 Peter MorrisNew YorkNE221USD 5,000USD 24,4251988 Robert WatsonRenoSW315USD 5,000USD 23,1001987 Rita NorrLas VegasSW327USD 5,000USD 16,8501985 Ron TiekertBostonNE302USD 10,000USD 52,3701983 Joel WapnickChicagoC32USD 5,000USD 13,6001980 Joe Edley (1)Santa MonicaSW32USD 5,000USD 10,1001978 David PrinzNew YorkNE65 (invitational)USD 1,500USD 8,400
Collins Scrabble Words (CSW)
YearWinnerLocationEntrantsDivisionsWinner's prizeTotal prize pool2026 Joshua Castellano (2)Cedar Rapids3822025 Alec SjöholmHanover482USD 4,000USD 10,5502024 Joshua Castellano (1)South Bend351USD 4,000USD 8,5502023 Wellington JighereLas Vegas, NV471USD 4,000USD 8,5002022 Austin Shin (2)Baltimore341USD 3,000USD 5,8502019 Jesse DayReno351USD 3,000USD 5,8502018 Evans ClinchyBuffalo732USD 4,000USD 10,0002017 Austin Shin (1)New Orleans642USD 4,250USD 10,5502016 David EldarFort Wayne441USD 2,500USD 6,0002015 Peter ArmstrongReno481USD 2,500USD 6,0002014 Adam LoganBuffalo631USD 2,500USD 5,7752013 John O'LaughlinLas Vegas401USD 2,500USD 4,7002012 Sam KantimathiOrlando381USD 1,500USD 3,450
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