The gate to the third edition of the Scrabble In The Jungle! will be opened this Friday when the immediate past African champion Enoch Nwali, 2024 African Championship No. 2 George Ezinore, African Games Side-event champion John Aiyedun and strong Master player Tega Okeimute head into the contest of wits, guile and endurance.
Scrabble In The Jungle is one of the most interesting variants of the game where subscribers have exclusive access to activities of contestants through dedicated WhatsApp channels.
The jungle, known for extracting the survival skills of its inmates, will put the resilient skills of the top four rated players to test when they face one another in an excruciating round of 23 games over two days.
For Nwali, going into the jungle is not a new adventure.
At the maiden edition in 2022, the national champion who has featured in tough scrabble encounters, was one of the 10 ‘Word Spillers’ in Warri where they were lockdown in tough battles over 36 rounds of games with the likes of former World Champion Wellington Jighere, former African champions Nsikak Etim, Dennis Ikekeregor, Eta Karo, Oshevhire Avwenega and others.
Inspite of this advantage, however, his adversaries in Ezinore, Aiyedun and Okeimute are bound to provide their own style of strategies when they meet at the table.
The mental, psychological and physical demand of being kept in a bootcamp is expected to squeeze out the best playing strategies from the heavyweights.
Dr Musa Olasupo who oversees the Scrabble Las Vegas; owners of the SITJ said they are quite thrilled with the progress plan as the event hits the third level.
Last year, a special edition with the “Gen Z” theme was won by a University of Lagos undergraduate Musa Lateef.
