Dylan Early of Wellington has become New Zealand’s 41st Masters Scrabble Champion after a thrilling weekend in which New Zealand’s top 24 Scrabble Players competed over 23 games for the title.

One of the three premier events in New Zealand’s Scrabble calendar, the Masters crown is hotly contested by a field of experienced players and grand masters. This weekend’s tournament was decided on the very last game of the tournament. Early tied with current holder Howard Warner with 17 wins but won by having a higher spread of winning points.

This year for the first time, the tournament was livestreamed with commentary from expert international Scrabble players. Thousands of viewers tuned in from all over the world to share the excitement, including expert players and non-Scrabblers.

Early says of his weekend victory:

“It was a great tournament, always one of my favourites, and the livestreaming added a new dimension making the event so much more exciting. It's such a tough field and there are no easy games. Going into the third and final day, any one of the top five were in contention – with so many strong players vying for the title, the winner was going to need a strong nerve and a bit of luck. I'm thrilled to have won, albeit by the narrowest of margins. I will definitely be back next year.”

Early, originally from South Africa, has been playing Scrabble for over 25 years. He started playing at University and joined a local Scrabble Club where he says, he caught the Scrabble bug. When he entered his first South African National tournament in 1993 he was “humbled” when he failed to win a single game and came in last. This prompted him to begin studying the game and he has never looked back since. He went on to win the SA national title six times and also represented South Africa in the World Scrabble Championships.

When Early arrived in New Zealand in 2017, he joined the Wellington Scrabble Club. Since then he has chalked up many and varied Scrabble victories:

• He won the NZ national title in 2018.
• He represented NZ against Australia in 2024, winning the Trans-Tasman Challenge for the first time in 14 years.
• He represented NZ in the World Championships in 2019 in Goa India, finishing a creditable 47th.
• He won the Masters Championship in 2021 and was runner-up in 2022, 2023 and 2024.
• He holds the record for the highest individual game score in New Zealand with an incredible 756 scored at the Masters in 2019 (Fun fact - 756 is also one of the top six scores in the world!)

Dylan Early fun facts:

Early is a self-confessed mnemonics addict and has over 5,000 of them as ways to remember Scrabble words. He says he now has so many mnemonics to remember, that he needs mnemonics for his mnemonics!

Outside of Scrabble, Early enjoys mountain biking, chess, dog walking, Joseph Herscher videos and trying to make the perfect cup of coffee.

Top ten Masters placings:

If you missed the excitement, you can watch the matches here:

Day one: https://www.youtube.com/live/dMiApoVSvt8

Day two: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zG72JAUeFDo

Day three: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl2VobibaMs&t=982s

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