FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

News

Nigeria is kicking the world's ass at Scrabble

The strategy making Nigeria the world’s Scrabble powerhouse

Nigeria is an international Scrabble powerhouse, currently home to 29 of the top-100 English-language Scrabble players in the world.

And next week, eight of its elite players will represent the country at the 2017 World English-Language Scrabble Players’ Association (WESPA) Championship in Kenya from November 8-12.

In 2015, Nigerian Wellington Jighere became the first African to win a Scrabble World Championship, and will be leading his country’s team at the week-long tournament.

Advertisement

VICE News caught up with Jighere at a Nigerian national level tournament ahead of the world championships, to learn about the tactics that make Nigeria one of the most formidable forces in the Scrabble world.

He says having a concentration of the world’s best players is part of what makes Nigerians uniquely adept at the board-game turned sport.

“It is like a family and we’ve been with each other for so long,”Jighere said.

This segment originally aired on November 3, 2017, on VICE News Tonight on HBO.