Watch New Zealand’s 2025 Scrabble Championship Live

WHAT:  45th New Zealand Scrabble Championship
WHERE: St Paul’s Collegiate School, 77 Hukanui Road, Hamilton
WHEN: All day Sat 31 May, Sun 1 June and Mon 2 June 2025

Seventy avid Scrabble players will be descending on Hamilton this coming King’s Birthday weekend to decide who will be New Zealand’s 45th Scrabble Champion. The premier event on NZ’s Scrabble calendar is being livestreamed for the first time with expert international commentators. With the growing global interest in Scrabble, organisers are expecting over 10,000 views by the end of the long weekend. To tune in to the livestream go to https://www.youtube.com/@ScrabbleNZ/streams 

The current national champion is Howard Warner of Wellington who has won the title a staggering 13 times. Howard is currently ranked #1 in the national standings. Trying to wrest the title from him are several New Zealand Scrabble Grand Masters and world ranked players including: 

Dylan Early (Wellington): Dylan won the 2025 NZ Masters Championship and is ranked #6

Chris Tallman (Mt Albert): Chris is currently ranked #2 in New Zealand

Joanne Craig: A New Zealander resident in Sydney, Joanne is currently ranked #1 in New South Wales and #4 in NZ.  Joanne has won the NZ Championship three times.

Andrew Bradley (Mt Albert): Andrew won the 2023 NZ Masters and is ranked #9

Lewis  Hawkins (Christchurch): At 21 Lewis is one of the youngest players in the Nationals. He came third in the 2025 Masters and is currently ranked 11th overall.

Scrabble is a very popular game in New Zealand, and competition at all levels in the national championship is fierce but also lots of fun. Participants this year are from every part of New Zealand and are of all ages and occupations. The youngest participant is 12-year-old Maheu T-Pole from the Mt Albert Scrabble Club, and there are several competitors 80+ years old.

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