Scrabble New South Wales

15/06/2026

The third Epping Club Scrabble Tournament is in the books!

Read on below to see who joined the Socceroos in the winner’s circle.

🏆 Division A
🥇 Josh Watt
🥈 Ryan Sutton
🥉 Asanka Dissanayake
🔥 High Game: Nathan Tang – 544
💡 High Word: Edward Okulicz – TERYLENE (140)

🏆 Division B
🥇 Linda Hawkes
🥈 John Barker
🥉 Margaret Berliner
🔥 High Game: Linda Hawkes – 522
💡 High Word: Hailey Sutton – BRONZING (140)

🏆 Division C
🥇 Lucas Luu
🥈 Jenny Templeton
🥉 Devorah Ullman
🔥 High Game: Lucas Luu – 436
💡 High Word: Devorah Ullman – SOAKERS (93)

🏆 Social Division
🥇 Phi Long Ma
🥈 Eric Phan
🥉 Justin Eng
🔥 High Game: Brendan Tia – 618
💡 High Word: Eric Phan – SPLINTER (140)

Thanks to everyone who played, supported, and helped make this our third successful Epping tournament—we’re building something special here.

🧠 Brain teaser: Do you know the lone anagram of EPPING?
Clue: you wouldn’t want to play a Scrabble tournament here.

01/06/2026

A few snaps of our New South Welsh representatives at Michael Tang’s mammoth Causeway Challenge in Bangkok, Thailand. Attracting 438 players from over 30 countries, this tournament was the Scrabble event of the decade—of course it may be topped by the 2028 Malaysia Causeway which will have 1,000 vacancies. Congratulations to Victoria’s David Eldar for winning the Premier Division!

25/05/2026

We held our second Ratings Improvers tournament of May at Burwood on Saturday. Jyoti Chandna was the most significant improver in Division A, winning 5 from 8 games and collecting 40 ratings points. Sharon Sorensen’s gain of 33 points was the second-highest, followed by Colleen Birch’s increase of +24. Edward Okulicz may not have turned any heads with his 5-point gain, but he took home a prize for finishing atop the field.

Jean Noonan wasn’t messing about in Division B, achieving a clean sweep and the highest rating gain. The next-best gains were from Sheela Sree Kumar (+37) and Phi Long Ma (+25). Phi Long’s final position of 8th from 17 earned him a prize for the highest finishing social player.

Joanne Craig won both the High Game (582) and High Word prizes. Impressively, two of her words tied for 149: SHAGGIER and PERILLED.

Hungry for more Scrabble? Our next tournament is at the Epping Club on Sunday, 14 June. Entry information can be found on the Scrabble NSW homepage.

03/05/2026

The first of two Ratings Improvers tournaments in May took place yesterday at Club Burwood RSL. 46 players took part, including three new faces in the social division.

Highest rating gainers were Greg Pinchbeck (50) and Ryan Sutton (39) in A Division, John Barker (53) and Jean Noonan (32) in B Division, and Krystyna Batten (47) and Julie Banister (41) in C Division.

06/04/2026

Incumbent World Scrabble Champion, Adam Logan (Canada), has won the 2026 Australian Championship in Canberra with 19 wins and a spread of +1134. David Eldar and local lad Ronnie Bennett rounded out the top three.

South Australia's Victoria Gates won the Plate Division, edging out Ryder Lo and Olga Visser. The whole of NSW was barracking for Ryder, who looked poised to take the crown at the end of day 2. While it wasn't to be for our popular junior, we know he'll emerge from this tourney stronger than ever!

24/03/2026

The Lake Macquarie Autumn tournament took place at the Birch residence on the shores of Lake Macquarie on Saturday 21st March. One late drop out caused numbers to drop to 23 and a necessary bye.

Our interstate visitor Rex Shakespeare won seven out if his 8 games to prevail over Jyoti Chandna and Josh Watt a win further back.

Here are a few photos:

14/03/2026

01/03/2026

The 2026 Matchplay Qualifier was held at Club Burwood RSL yesterday. A staple on the Scrabble NSW calendar, the Matchplay Qualifier sees the top 8 finishers across two divisions advance to a matchplay series (best of 7, 9, and 11 games).

Edward Okulicz (6.5 wins, +1094) and Ryder Lo (6.5 wins, +623) were the division winners at Saturday’s tournament, but we won’t know our overall champions until later this year.

Ryder’s hot form saw him collect a second prize for highest rating gain (+36). Harry Hubber wasn’t far behind with a gain of +32.

Links to the matchplay draws can be found on the Scrabble NSW homepage.

26/01/2026

The City of Sydney International Masters is done and dusted for another year, and it was interstate master Andrew Fisher who finished ahead of the pack. Andrew won 14 out of 18 games. A near-flawless second day saw Edward Okulicz place second. Carmel Dodd (QLD), Oscar Ivanovski (VIC), and our own Joanne Craig rounded out the top five.

Not content with only winning the main prize, Andrew also clinched High Game with 616, while Tony Hunt’s INTERCOM (158) earned High Word.

Shukanya Prachi emerged with the highest rating gain, with a leap of 121 points. Nathan Tang impressed with his gain of 73 points.

Thanks to everyone who made it a fun and successful weekend!

📸: Jing Lou & Steve Savona

11/01/2026

Still feeling the heat from yesterday’s Janboree—and that wasn’t just the Sydney heatwave ☀️🔥 Some of those bingos were absolutely scorching!

A whopping 58 players packed into Club Burwood RSL, with 50 in the Competitive divisions and 8 in the Social comp.

Special shout-out to the juniors: 6 kids won their division or finished second—the next generation is coming through fast!

Results:
🏆 Division A – Esther Perrins 1st, Edward Okulicz 2nd
🏆 Division B – Greg Pinchbeck 1st, Nathan Tang 2nd
🏆 Division C – Ivor Zetler 1st, Ryder Lo 2nd
🏆 Division D – Harry Hubber 1st, Vincent Nguyen 2nd
🏆 Division E – Sam Pizzano 1st, Oliver Klistorner 2nd
🎉 Social – James Lo 1st, Jayco Lo 2nd

- Overall High Word, Competitive section: Tony Hunt - AVIANISE (158)
- Overall High Game, Competitive section: Tony Hunt - 602
- High Word, Social division: Jayco Lo - FIGURES (102)
- High Game, Social division: James Lo - 667