Airpop Alpha have emerged champions of the 2021/22 Mind Games Incorportated (MGI) Scrabble Premier League championship.
Airpop Alpha were crowned winners of the 12-team Premier Division at the grand finale held on Saturday, 8 October, inside Nebo Hall, Nigeria Army Ordnance, Abalti Barracks, Surulere, Lagos.
The two-day grand finale kicked off Friday 7, October at the same venue.
Lekki Bombers finished second in the Premier Division, Brainiacs placed third while Sterling Bombers finished 12th (bottom) and have now dropped to the Lite (second) Division.
In the Lite Division, Southern Crowns emerged champions and gained promotion to the Premier Division.
And for emerging as the overall best team in the Premier Division, Airpop Alpha got a cash prize of ₦1.5 million, runners-up Lekki Bombers got ₦800,000 and Brainiacs were rewarded with ₦500,000 for finishing third.
Champions in the Lite Division, Southern Crowns got ₦1000,000, the sum of ₦500,000 went to second placed Anagrammers while Bayelsa Virtuosos went home with ₦300,000.
The Most Valuable Player in the Premier Division Wellington Jighere got ₦200,000 and the best player in the Lite Division Victor Osawe was rewarded with ₦100,000 for his efforts.
Meanwhile, Timi Olaitan won the second edition of the Patrons Cup at this season’s MGI Scrabble Premier League.
A total of 40 players participated in the Patrons Cup which was created for players not participating in the grand finale.
The Patrons Cup took place between Friday 7th and Saturday 8th October at Abalti Barracks.
And after the event a Gala Night was held with participants, guests treated to delicious food and drinks.
And speaking after the grand finale, initiator of the MGI Scrabble Premier League, Lukeman Owolabi said:“First of all let me thank God for his grace for making this a successful season. It’s been a long season starting from February up until this weekend. So we started the season in Lagos and we moved to Abuja in May and Benin was in July so this is the final for the season.
“We have winners and congratulations to Airpop Alpha for winning the 2022 season. It has been a long journey like I said we just hope to continue to improve on the standard and everything about the league.
On introducing team aspect for scrabble which is mainly known as an individual game, Owolabi said:“I’m happy that MGI is the first organisation in the entire world to come up with this initiative, this has not been done anywhere in the world. So this is the first scrabble Premier League that you will see anywhere and we thank God for the success of the initiative and we pray that it continues to grow. And personally I’m going to use this opportunity to solicit sponsor from the corporate organisations because scrabble is a fantastic game, has a lot of benefits for the young and elderly. So it’s a game that sharpens your intellectual capacity.
“One of the things we are trying to do is to engage the Nigerian youth, to help them take their minds away from crime. When you engage yourself playing scrabble it takes your mind away from negative things. We want to continue to do what we are doing and hopefully get support from the corporate organisations and I believe we will get to where we are going.”
