Indonesian Scrabble News By Albert Martono
Organization : Indonesian Scrabble Federation (ISF)
Website :
http://indonesianscrabble.org
Scrabble activities in Indonesia have increased significantly since late 2011 which most of them involved universities and students. On May 24th-26th 2014, we've run the fourth Indonesia Scrabble Challenge (ISC) - the name for National Championship in Indonesia - in Palembang, South Sumatra with Christian Oktavius crowned as the National Champion for the second time. Scrabble in Indonesia are still largely centralized in Jakarta and Lampung, the two powerhouses in Indonesia.
We also have a one-day tourney called Mini Tourney in Jakarta, held monthly or bimonthly. Players in Lampung have their own called Playmate. These mini events are addressed to gain new players and help the other local players to practice. Big national tournaments are still limited for non-institutional/open players because many of the tournaments are held by universities and only open for university students or less. Scrabble players in Indonesia are majorly students. But lately, some universities started to make tournament open for everyone, like BINUS University (and its English Club, Bina Nusantara English Club) with BNEC Scrabble Open.
In 2014, ISF conducted a qualification phase for joining WYSC. There were fundraising events called WYSC Bonanza held in both Jakarta and Lampung to ease the representatives fee. Unfortunately, none of the selected candidates could go because they were lacking of funds.
Indonesian Scrabble is still developing, more than 300 players have ever played a rated tournament. We also face some problems and difficulties, like some good players are no longer active due to their other activities, younger players still hesitate to join the bigger scene of tournament (joining higher division, facing experienced players) and funding to hold events/tournaments. We are keep working to spread and build Scrabble communities all around Indonesia and to create Scrabble as one of the most famous game in the country.