Doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs and many other community members came together for some friendly competition at the Benoni Scrabble Club competition, in the All Souls Anglican Church Hall, in Northmead, on December 7.
The competition began at 8am.
Each player played eight games, which lasted for about 50 minutes (25 minutes per player).
One of the players, Gbadamosi Old, who was born in Nigeria, said that playing Scrabble has opened doors for him, after winning silver and gold for his school in Scrabble. He was awarded a scholarship.
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He would like to encourage the youth to find an interest in the game as it promotes opportunities, including finding employment or travelling the world.
Gbadamosi currently works at a logistics company and is also part of the top 12 Scrabble players in South Africa.
Company director Howard Rayner and lecturer at the University of Pretoria’s math department Harry Wiggins, who also took part in the Benoni Scrabble Club competition on the weekend, recently competed in a competition in Gou, India, and took second place.
Chairperson of Scrabble South Africa Andrew Goldberg said the organisation is trying to expand the number of players and clubs across the country, adding that the best way to find out about Scrabble is to play a game.
“The Benoni Scrabble competition was a good entry point for new players or anyone interested in playing,” he said.
“The competitions are aligned to the World English Language Scrabble Players Association, which was formed in 2003.”
Scrabble South Africa is a non-profit organisation that is run by Scrabble enthusiasts.
For more information, contact Goldberg on 083 260 7530/agoldberga@gmail.com or vice chairperson of Scrabble Gauteng Steven Gruzd on 084 581 0777/steven.gruzd@wits.ac.za
Three winners were selected per sector, they are as follows:
Section A:
• Trevor Hovelmeier
• Howard Rayner
• Harry Wiggins
Section B
• Sheba Bagg
• Stephan Peter
• Kathy Cameron
Section C:
• Sheila Civin
• Hymie Jocum
• Brian Civin