Nigel Richards is the reigning world champion of Scrabble in Spanish. Just don\u2019t ask him to order a coffee in Madrid. The 57-year-old New Zealander doesn\u2019t speak a lick of Spanish. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the deciding match in November\u2019s Spanish World Scrabble Championship in Granada, Spain, Richards racked up triple-word scores with ENRUGASE (\u201cto wrinkle up\u201d) and ENHOTOS (an archaic word for \u201cfamiliarity\u201d), before clinching victory with TRINIDAD and SABURROSA (an obscure word that describes the coated residue of the tongue). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not that Richards knew the meaning of any of those words. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
One Spanish\u00a0TV broadcaster<\/a>\u00a0called his win the \u201cultimate humiliation.\u201d The global Scrabble community wasn\u2019t so surprised. Richards had done this before\u2014in French.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read it all<\/a>.<\/p> How good is Scrabble\u2019s GOAT? He wins in languages he can\u2019t speak. \u201cHe memorizes words as soon as he reads them once…For him, all words are equal in his memory, and he doesn\u2019t need to know their meaning." https:\/\/t.co\/BzfRLNqVCH<\/a> via @WSJ<\/a> @natasha_dangoor<\/a><\/p>— Gr\u00e1inne McCarthy (@grainnemcc) February 10, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote>