MUMBAI: Mattel Toys India Pvt. Ltd, in association with Birla Sun Life Insurance, has set the stage for the Mattel National School Scrabble Championship 2006. The zonal rounds will be held on 11 and 12 November and the final on 22 November in Mumbai.

This year the brain-teasing word game championship will reach out to more than 200 schools across India, with a total of over 1000 students participating from Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata and Pune, states an official release.

Mumbai city alone, is expected to witness the participation of more than 300 students from close to 60 schools. Ten winners from each zonal final will be shortlisted for the national finals.

The championship is applicable for students between the age group of 7-15 years and the event will be organised under the aegis of Scrabble Association of India.

The big highlight of this year's championship will be a grand trip for the champion and his parents to Malaysia, courtesy Cox and Kings. Kingfisher Airlines has joined in to support the event as the Travel sponsor for the Championship.

Announcing the championship, Mattel Toys India managing director Sanjay Luthra said, "Scrabble, now 56-years old, is the world's largest selling word game, with over 100 million sets sold in 29 different languages across 121 countries. In India our efforts have always been to try and encourage school kids to develop their vocabulary and analytical skills through the game of Scrabble.

"The Mattel National School Scrabble Championship provides a platform for students to test these skills at a competitive level. This year, the Championship will be much bigger than ever before, with a lot more students pitting their Scrabble® skills against each other."