





The 2018 MindGames Premier Championship (MPC) for scrabble and chess has come and gone but the sweet memories will linger for a long time. The Grand Finale, a two-day event at the Country Club, Ikeja was the culmination of the Regional Qualifying tournaments which were played earlier in the year in Lagos, Sapele, Port Harcourt and Abuja. In addition to the N2.5 million cash prizes in both scrabble and chess, winners went home with state of the art plaques and trophies. Mr. Lukeman Owolabi, a world-class scrabble player and founder of MindGames Incorporated and the MindGames Premier Championship said that the objective of the tournament was to develop the intellectual abilities of participants, especially students.
In his closing remarks, the Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Gas (SNG), the Major sponsors of the tournament, Mr. Ed Ubong, promised that the next edition of the MPC would feature the Students Category. This is an attestation to the pioneering role of Shell Nigeria Gas in fostering Community Development in the country. Shell Nigeria Gas Ltd is a fully owned Shell company incorporated in 1998 for the downstream distribution of gas to industries in Nigeria. Its mission is to provide manufacturing and service industries with a clean, reliable, low-cost alternative to liquid fuel and to assist in building a stronger economy. The Nigeria Scrabble family that SNG for the unprecedented support of the development of scrabble in Nigeria and by extension in the diaspora. The 2018 MPC featured participants Liberia, Philippines and Gambia.
Nigeria is the only country to have won the World Scrabble Championship. With the continued support of Shell Nigeria Gas (SNG) and other sponsors, MindGames and the MPC will continue to do Nigeria proud in Africa and the world.
History of Nigeria’s Participation at the African Scrabble Championship
The African Scrabble Championship is a biennial event which features national champions from all countries in the continent. The African Championship started in 1994, and ten (10) editions have taken place with Nigeria winning nine (9) times!
History of the African Scrabble Championship
Edition | Host country | Year | Winner | Winning Country |
1st | KENYA | 1994 | IFEANYI ONYEONWU | NIGERIA |
2nd | NIGERIA | 1996 | FEMI AWOWADE | NIGERIA |
3rd | SOUTH AFRICA | 1998 | JIMOH SAHEED | NIGERIA |
4th | GHANA | 2000 | MOSHOOD SANNI | NIGERIA |
5th | KENYA | 2002 | TREVOR HOVELMEIER | SOUTH AFRICA |
6th | TANZANIA | 2004 | DENNIS IKEKEREGOR | NIGERIA |
7th | NIGERIA | 2006 | DENNIS IKEKEREGOR | NIGERIA |
8th | KENYA | 2008 | JIGHERE WELLINGTON | NIGERIA |
9th | GHANA | 2010 | JIGHERE WELLINGTON | NIGERIA |
10th | ZAMBIA | 2012 | OGBAKPA REX | NIGERIA |
11th | SOUTH AFRICA | 2014 | NSIKAK ETIM | NIGERIA |
12th | GHANA | 2016 | SAIDU AYORINDE | NIGERIA |

Scrabble: Best Female – Bukunmi Afolayan; FairPlay Award Winner – Racquel Lightley; Foreign participants from Liberia, Philippines and Gambia

