'Not afraid to use a few risqué words': 99-year-old Scrabble master stays sharp

At 99, Grace Hartley still plays her favourite board game, Scrabble, every night – and hardly ever loses a game.

Like clockwork in the early evening and after reading her newspaper, the Arvida St Albans wordsmith sets up the board to play against nurse Natasha Patterson.

Grace said they help each other when they get stuck finding a word but are still competitive.

“I’m not afraid to use a few risqué words to try and win a game and make Tash laugh at the same time. I do the big words and Tash does the small words.”

Grace took up playing Scrabble about 10 years ago when she moved into the retirement village.

Patterson became her playing partner when Grace’s daughter could no longer take part due to the Covid restrictions.

She played so much the letters wore off her original Scrabble set due to overuse.

But Grace has now received a new set to make sure she is always game-ready and thinking of the next big word for the win.