Day 1 results and review of Scrabble in the Jungle championship..
Former African Champion and current national title holder Enoch Nwali raced into the lead on the opening day of Scrabble in the Jungle.
Nwali scored 8-5 as George Ezinore and Tega Okeimute kept close tabs on his progress while John Aiyedun struggled for survival in one of the most exciting games.
The top four Scrabble juggernauts were locked in a boot camp somewhere in Lagos, where they will compete over 23 rounds of games for prizes, prestige, and power.
Nwali began the day with a slim 472-471 defeat to Okeimute in an intense encounter as Ezinore bested John Aiyedun 552-414 in a clear sign of intent in the contest.
In the third round, Aiyedun who is one of the fans' favourite struggled to find a grip as he failed to record a win while the other trio marked a 2-1 results on the table.
After round eight, both Ezinore and Nwali maintained an identical score of 5-3 while Okeimute had 4-4 as Aiyedun slipped further down the ladder with just two wins.
As the tournament wore on, Nwali the former Emmanuel Egbele Annual Scrabble Tournament (EEAST) winner built on his lead in Round 10 after he found the right word combination to lead the rest with 7-3 score while Ezinore had 6-4, Okeimute's 4-6 and Aiyedun 3-7.
In the following round, Nwali plucked another win 390-379 from his game against Ezinore while Aiyedun fell 387-427 to Okeimute.
With weariness setting in, the 'Drummer Boy's would lose in Round 12 and 13 to Aiyedun and calculative Okeimute respectively to finish Day One as the leader with 8 wins and 5 losses with +79 cumulative points.
Ezinore and Okeimute would complete the day with 7 wins and 6 defeats each while Aiyedun headed back to his tent with a 4-9 result.
The tournament which was designed by Scrabble Las Vegas to test the endurance limit of contestants has so far enjoyed a good rating according to subscribers following the blow-by-blow account through dedicated Whatsapp channels across the world.
Day Two resumes on Saturday with 10 rounds of games.