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1st Bryan Benwitz stood head and shoulders above the rest of the field with a flawless 4-0 +593 record, his closest adversary in the standings possessing a lowly 2-2 record. Disaster was narrowly avoided in round one as Bryan pulled off the closest-possible win against Andy Bohnsack, 357-356. The game saw significantly less in the way of bingo fireworks than is typical for their games: Bryan found ERISTIC, while Andy had LETTUCES. Bryan also fought to a low-scoring 355-301 win against Sara McLaughlin, playing OVERAGED. All this pent-up demand for bingos and points was unleashed in the final two games of the night; first to feel the wrath was Richard Lauder, who was buried under a veritable avalanche of scoring from Bryan's side, the final score being 553-241. Bryan slapped down ATTENDEE, PUNINESS, LASTBORN, and ARIDEST in that one. Perversely unsatisfied by this big win, Bryan conjured another four-bingo game to clinch 4-0, playing REDDLES, FERVOUR, LITHEMIA, and EARPHONE in a 544-318 victory against Lynda Finn.

2nd Charles Reinke, feeling the absence of a certain player who looks a lot like him, was pressed into a four-game Collins-lexicon series against Mark Kenas, and came out ahead in spread, 2-2 +107. Game one was a nailbiter, but sadly a loss, 420-425, despite finds of ETATISM and PROUDISH. Charles whipped up a four-bingo game of his own to win the next one, getting BUTMENT#, DOTIEST, NONADULT, and HERNIAE in a 530-432 win. He would take the next one as well, 410-323, getting TRUEBORN and ANATASE. Mark got in a few counterpunches of his own in the final game, getting DECORATE, HEATERS, and RETELLER to even the series with a 473-400 winning score.

1st Steve Hartsman topped a diminished field of six players with a 3-1 +128 record. In game one, his poor luck against Bryan Benwitz continued; after all was said and done, it was a 505-304 win for Bryan, who had SPUMANTE, RARITIES, and SIDESMAN to Steve's REGRATES. The best remedy to losing a game by 200 points is to win the next game by 200 points, and Steve put that old adage into practice with a 512-299 win over Helen Flores in the second round. He piled on bingos of RELOANED, PAESANI, ENAMOUR, and the phony GRISTLED* (a phony common enough that it was played at our club once before, in 2015). Steve wrapped up his first-place effort with a 391-308 win over Dave Kinzer (getting ESTUARY and DILATION) and a 413-380 victory against Richard lauder (finding the ultra-common SERIATE, which is the sixth-most common bingo played at our club, with 29 occurrences since 2011; its anagram, AERIEST, has been played 26 times).

2nd Helen Flores went 3-1 -133, timing her strike for exactly the week when certain high-level players were absent to secure a coveted writeup paragraph. She started off with a tight two-point win over Dave Kinzer, 364-362, countering his Word-of-the-Week PARFAIT with her own GROANER. Helen's luck took a nosedive as she was steamrollered (Steverollered?) by Steve Hartsman 299-512, but she quickly recovered to get a big win off of Dennis Lloyd, 442-381. Helen found DERISION and WARDENS in that one, while Dennis had PALLIATE and FIDGETS. But Helen's signature win waited until the last round, as she felled the bingo-knowledge titan Bryan Benwitz by a score of 412-395, making her the winner in two of their last five contests. Bryan was held to a single bingo of REMORSE, while Helen had SNAKIER and DEMONIC, proving once again that "bingoing early and often" is never a bad strategy.

1st Bryan Benwitz rose to the top of the weekly standings with a 3-1 +497 record and a stingy 339 per-game average for his opponents. A 504-368 win over Helen Flores was a nice way to start the evening, and his bingo list had a bit of flair to it with a nine-letter NEMATODES (to go with the more mundane METERING and LEAFIEST). Sadly, in the next game, Bryan would run into the commonly-encountered obstacle named Andy Bohnsack, and that was where Bryan picked up his only loss of the evening, 396-419. It was a totally different story against Richard Lauder, as Bryan got his second exactly-600-points game of the year, winning 600-239 thanks to bingos of EXPIRING, PYRITISE, and FLINTED. Strangely, that 600-pointer wasn't even the highest game of the night, as Andy had a 616 in a separate game (buoyed by AGONISED for 149), good for highest score this year. Bryan concluded his evening with a less bombastic 354-331 victory against Dave Kinzer.

2nd Thomas Reinke went 3-1 +326 with a sizzling 475 per-game average. He scored very close to that average with a 474-362 win against Steve Hartsman in round one, finding TRUEBRED and DANCIEST to Steve's DATELESS. Thomas was (deservedly, some might argue) smothered by bingos in round two as he lost 437-461 to Charles Reinke; his valiant NOVATING was no match for ISOGONY, RECOILER, UNITEDLY, and AVIATES from his opponent. A later rematch saw the tables turned, as Thomas had five fully vengeful bingos (EXHORTED, TAPIOCA, FOOTLES, SNOUTING, RESILES) to Charles' meager REBELLED in a 532-430 win. Thomas also beat Dave Kinzer 457-321 to add to his win total.

3rd Steve Hartsman overcame early adversity to finish 3-1 +95 and snag third place by forty spread points. That alluded-to adversity was a 362-474 loss to Thomas Reinke which put Steve in a sizable hole early. However, he climbed right out of that hole with a 451-324 triumph over Helen Flores, with a 104-point PESKIER being his single, albeit potent, bingo (Helen had TANGIEST). Steve's success continued as he found PINNULA and DEMOTES while beating Sara McLaughlin 409-346. Squaring off against Andy Bohnsack in round four, with a middling-to-moderate amount of glory at stake for both sides, Steve managed to seize the means of bingo production, holding Andy to zero bingos (a rarity) while getting three himself: ARIETTES, HEEDING, and TEASING. The result was a closer-than-perhaps-expected 423-406 win.

Dave's 101-point LEATHERY, which also won him some prize money, was word of the week.