A Scrabble competition held recently in Malta will be recorded in the history books after players set a new world record for the most points scored in a tournament game.

The new record, which combines the two players’ final scores in a Scrabble game, was registered during the 12th Malta International Scrabble Open, MISO12, an annual tournament organised by the Malta Scrabble Club, which is affiliated with the World English Scrabble Players Association (WESPA).

In all, 57 players from 15 countries participated. The event attracted over 300 players since its maiden edition in 2008. The competition is held in three stages over an entire week.

It came hot on the heels of the 36th Malta National Scrabble Championship, which ran from early January to late April.

WESPA chairman Elie Dangoor announced that the combined score during the seventh round was 1,213 points, the highest ever in tournament competition. The previous record was 1,157.

The game was between Englishman David Webb, the winner of the 2016 MISO, and his countryman, Bob Violett, who managed to score an impressive 502 points, but lost to his opponent’s 711-point score.

Many casual games fail to reach even a total of 400 points. Players are not actually competing to see which pair can score the highest combined total but will be competing indi-vidually by trying to outscore each other.

The Malta Scrabble Club is represented in the biennial WESPA Championship (WESPAC), which is effectively the World Cup of English Scrabble.

The next edition of WESPAC will held in November, in Goa, India. Malta is set to be represented by three players.