A New Zealand man has won the Spanish-language Scrabble World Championship for 2024 — despite not being able to speak the language.
Nigel Richards, 57, defeated his opponent in the final in Granada, Spain to clinch the title overnight.
Over the course of the games, Richards demonstrated an exceptional ability to recall Spanish words, Reuters reported.
The win adds to his impressive list of World Championship titles accumulated between 2007 and 2019, including previously winning the French-language Scrabble World championship in 2015, also without speaking French.
Richards was originally from Christchurch and was now based in Malaysia.
NZ Association of Scrabble said New Zealand has “historically done very well in international tournaments”, especially considering the small population base.
