Kenyan Wordsmith who spoke Pan African scrabble into existence: Part II

In the late 1980's a bunch of scrabble veterans were holed up playing scrabble at Nairobi Railways club when they noticed a young man showing interest in the game.

When he asked to play, they invited him in. Scrabble looks like a very easy board game where you pick seven tiles with letters and arrange on a rack.

But on the board, it is not just a word game, it requires math, strategy, timing and skill.

Mr Andabwa knew they had underestimated him and thought that he was too green. What they did not know was that in the early 1960’s he had learned playing scrabble at St John Rakwaro Seminary school near Rongo, and was uniquely talented at it.

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In school, a boiling point of Kenya’s ethnic mix, speaking mother tongue was prohibited and one had to speak only English.  

For the younger scrabble-man, the game was a great opportunity to expand his vocabulary, it sent him to the dictionary to get synonyms and fed on his desire to improve his English.

As he racked up the words and the points, they quickly realized there was something special with this scrabble man.

“My strength was on vocabulary,” he says in crisp deep set voice the one you would think should be from Morgan Freeman.

I have barely played scrabble myself, so I miss most of his nuances when he tries to explain his skill.

I tried it out at one of my in-laws before. And the excitement of getting a word and scoring points was exhilarating and out of place. I follow nonetheless.

A good scrabbler should either be able to watch and track what is left in the bag.

Tracking the bag is important in scrabble, because Q is the most valuable letter but its combination ‘U’ only comes in four tiles. The game only contains four S tiles, and one has to treasure hunt for A, E, I, L, N, R, S, and T on your rack, as they're very common letters and offer many possibilities.

But Mr Andabwa says he does not get rid of his pieces in order to pick good ones.

“I was once told by someone they do not understand how I play without tracking which tile is left in the bag,” he said.

“I do not get rid of the bad ones to pick the good ones, but with three or so moves the arrangement will come by itself, my rack will just blend and I score,” he said.

And with this hand, he BINGOed his way through local and national competitions.

Until he met three ladies, Wenwa Akinyi (Raila Odinga's sisters and Kenya's first PhD in Chemistry), Cecilia Ruto and Triza Mwaniki in Nakuru Rift Valley Sports Club.

He was used to playing two players and found their style strange because he imagined it lacked the competitive edge. When they invited him to play, he wouldn’t, instead insisting it should be two players. However, he noted they were really good.

When he invited them to the KICC, the three ladies came and thrashed the city men proper and that is how they expanded Nairobi’s scrabble competition.

A continental dream

Later Mr Andabwa became secretary to the Kenya Amateurs Scrabble Association and ascended to the chairmanship where they started considering a tournament for Africa.

In 1994 a bunch of part time scrabble players like Mr Andabwa, a banker by day at Barclays Bank, organized the first continental tournament in Nairobi.

He says the idea came as the team of players in Nairobi expanded welcoming the three ladies.

The plans were meticulous, they chose PanAfric hotel, befitting of the occasion of Pan African players. They made arrangements on how they would pick up the players from the various countries from the airport to the hotel.

Then money problems emerged. PanAfric hotel wanted Kes14,000 a day to host the tournament and they did not have the money.

They were unable to navigate the bureaucracy of hosting diplomatic sports and the national sports council was all about football, athletics, rugby and basketballs. They rarely focused on board games, let alone scrabble.

When they tried to ask for discount rates the hotel was not interested. It was during lunch at 680 hotel that they made inquiries and the hotel offered them space for free.

“Because we had already booked the guests at PanAfric we let them sleep there only one night and moved them to 680 hotel,” he says.

At the opening ceremony they did not have any officials from government, yet the Nigerians, ‘Obasanjo’s military people, had taken the invite very seriously. The South Africans also had a large contingent.

He bluffed his way saying state officials, were on the way coming and this St John Rakwaro Seminary school scrabble man addressed the gathering. He set out the Kenyan dream to have a continental tournament. But this should not be a Kenyan dream anymore, it was time for a continental body to carry this dream, and that is how the Pan African Scrabble Association (PANASA)  was formed.

But before the applause could die out, at the close of the tournament, the players had their flights rescheduled.

Out of money they quickly consulted on what to do, Cecilia took the girls and Mr Andabwa took the men to his flat.

He said that day he learned a valuable lesson; you do not have to give a scrabbler a soft bed. They are more interested in the challenge of the game, hata pombe they will forget it on their side, he said.

“We played scrabble and spread the mattresses on the floor and slept.”

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