Blog

1st Bryan Benwitz held his own personal butt-kicking festival at Festival Foods (complete with festive live lute music emanating from the bar area), going 4-0 +423. He opened with a 423-351 win over club standings leader Thomas, playing FULLEST and INJECTOR (if you're ever thinking of playing INJECTER*, play REINJECT instead). He also added insult to injury by sticking his opponent with the Q. In the second round, he faced James, and won 476-405. James opened with ENATION, but it was all Bryan from there, as he played EARLOBES, SAPONINE, and DISRATE. That last one was for 110 points, as he had strategically placed SAPONINE one short of the middle-right triple word score square, then hooked DISRATE onto it. After that, he had an impressive win against Charles, winning by over 250 points, 566-309. His big play in that game was the triple-triple ADHESION for 149, while Charles' big play was... ELATIONS for 68. Bryan faced Mary in the final game, attempting to go undefeated, and barely escaped with a 393-370 win. Mary played REFUSING (probably a weird alternate spelling of REFUSNIK), while Bryan played KAINITES (n. a mineral salt, also KAINIT).

2nd Thomas Reinke went 3-1 +273, earning second place. He lost the opener against Bryan 351-423, with his sole bingo of UNRIGGED not being nearly enough to stop the Bryaniac. He avoided an 0-2 start by squeaking out a win against Mary, 372-366. He had an early GLARIER, then held on for dear life as Mary made her comeback with OUTSIDE coming down late. Thing went a little smoother for him against James in the third round, as he won 517-299 and played four bingos: OVERDONE, CAPOEIRA, VIRAGOES (n. VIRAGO, a noisy, domineering woman. Remember, I don't write the definitions, I just report them), and GESTATED. In the final round he was paired against familiar foe Charles, and won easily 490-269 despite both combatants playing two bingos. His MEDEVACS in that game was chosen as word of the week. MEDEVAC means "to evacuate the wounded from a battlefield by helicopter". The past tense can be either MEDEVACED or MEDEVACKED, and you can also spell it MEDIVAC.

3rd Richard Lauder only stayed for one round, but did enough damage in that one round to come in third with a 2-0 +88 record. As you can probably guess, he played in a two-on-one, facing Dave and Mary. He beat Dave 428-403 with bingos of BARKIEST (does it refer to trees or dogs?????) and NOSTRIL. Dave played DISTRICT and SEARING, but his final blank-containing rack yielded no bingos, allowing Richard to seize the win. Against Mary, Richard won 405-342. He played NATTERS and the phony RECLOSE (only CREOLES is in those letters) while holding Mary bingoless.

In other club news, preparations are being made to move to a new location for the first Wednesday of the month in place of Festival Foods. Nothing is set in stone yet, but we will let everyone know by email and at club when things are finalized.

1st Thomas Reinke took top honors with his 3-1 +460 performance. In defiance of the old idiom, he saved his best for first, scoring an impressive 554 in a first-round matchup against James Frankki (who scored 381). Thomas had five bingos: FLAVORY, CLEAVING, ROUTEING, DETERGED, and TOUPIES. James had just one, CENTRIST, but the combined total of six bingos looked impressive nonetheless. In the second round, against Betty Hasselkus, the bingoability of Thomas' letters dropped significantly (he only played OLESTRA), but he still won handily, 438-298. Another big win was in store for round three as Thomas faced off against Charles Reinke (are they related?) and dominated to the tune of a 525-339 final score. Thomas' big play in that one was a double-double DEGLAZE for 130, but he also added TAVERNA and GOONIES to his bingo list (Charles had MATELOTS to salvage the game in some minimal way). At that point, given the overwhelming dominance displayed in his previous three games, a perfect 4-0 night seemed assured, but Bryan Benwitz had other ideas, winning their matchup 415-376.

2nd Bryan Benwitz went 3-1 but was well short of first place with his +207 point spread. There was a distinct lack of bingo mojo happening in his first game, a 432-379 victory over Helen Flores, as both players were limited to just a single bingo worth 59 points each: Bryan had ASTERNAL and Helen had RETAILER. Bryan then lost a close game against Charles Reinke (the latest in a series of close games between the two of them), 416-411. DUNGAREE and CAIRNED were Bryan's bingos in that one, but they were offset by Charles' INSETTER and CATTIER. In the third round, Bryan was matched against Dave Kinzer, and, as the rest of the club looked on with searing jealousy, was afforded the opportunity to play on Dave's expertly hand-crafted new board. Bryan was not a kind guest on the new equipment, however, and won big, 445-325. Dave did get to play a bingo on his new board (SHINING), but Bryan had two of them (VIADUCT and MELODIC). To finish up the night, Bryan spoiled Thomas Reinke's hopes of an undefeated record by defeating his 3-0 foe by a score of 415-376. Bryan had a nice find of CROWBARS (along with OZONATE) to counter Thomas' nice find of VESUVIAN and not-as-nice find of SERENATE. Let this be a lesson to all those who scoff at the concept of bingoing while holding to V's and a U.

3rd Mark Kenas went 3-1 +53, his anemic spread beating out the even more anemic spread of Charles Reinke (-44). As usual, all of his games were Collins contests against his less-bearded opponent, Aaron Bader. He took game one 446-345 thanks to bingos of STOUTER and MORGAYS#; Aaron had word-of-the-week SLIMLINE. Aaron got his revenge in the second game, crushing Mark 522-344 and bingoing four times: LUTENIST, GRILLADE, DAINTIES, and RATOONER (Mark had WOODIEST). Mark didn't take too kindly to that, and won the next two games in order to ensure that Aaron deservedly fell to the bottom of the weekly standings. Game three was a high-scoring affair, 478-447, which saw Mark stick to high-probability TWL bingos (RENATURE, ACONITE, and REGULOSE), while the final round ended in a score of 472-373 and just two bingos on the board (Mark's SORAGES#, Aaron's TOELESS). I thought the Collins dictionary had more words to bingo with?

1st Charles Reinke gave thanks for a 4-1 +392 performance that landed him atop a group of three players that all had 4-1 records. He got a jump start on his first-place effort by playing two games in the first round and winning them both: a close 405-401 win over Bryan Benwitz (seeing him play ZAIDEHS and TONTINE), and a not-as-close 472-289 win over Dave Gilligan (choosing CANNONED over its anagram, NONDANCE). Another large spread was achieved against Dennis Lloyd, 471-282, thanks to bingos of SOILAGE and INSOULS (and a hidden flask of pre-Thanksgiving cranberry sauce for much-needed nutrients). The evening finished up with a pair of games against sworn lifelong enemy Thomas Reinke, and, after losing the first game, Charles took the second game to secure his first-place record. That game ended with a score of 424-359; Charles played DENTISTS and an out-bingo of PASTERNS, while Thomas had HORNETS.

2nd Aaron Bader also went 4-1, with a spread of +342, and averaged 466 points per game while doing it. Four of his games were against regular Collins opponent Mark Kenas, and all of them were victories. One of those wins came in a two-on-one where Aaron also faced off against Thomas Reinke, and that game was his only loss at 405-420. All bingos played were of the "high probability, TWL dictionary" variety: Thomas had LOANEES and ATTIRED against Aaron's TRANCIER and RENOVATE. In that same round, Aaron had his biggest win against Mark, a 504-335 drubbing where Aaron had four bingos: MOSSIEST, CARTLOAD (triple-triple for 149), SAUNTED#, and PERIODED#. Mark played ENTITLED in that game, as in "somebody who has studied all the Collins-only bingos is entitled to at least one win in four games". The closest game between Aaron and Mark was a 480-457 slugfest that ended in Aaron's favor, partially thanks to his bingos of MORTGAGE, TROILITE, and ENDOGENS. Mark had KYANISES, SALUTED, and word-of-the-week RELOCATEE (a good extension for RELOCATE).

3rd Thomas Reinke's 4-1 record was good, but his inferior +135 spread relegated it to "but not good enough" territory. Like his first-place-finishing brother (do I smell a Scrabble-jealousy-fueled Thanksgiving blowout a-brewing?), Thomas had a strong first game, beating Dennis Lloyd 462-329. Dennis did get down TISANES, but Thomas played SOOTIER, TINHORNS, LECTERNS, and AMIDINE. After beating Aaron in an honorary Collins game, Thomas took on Bryan and Charles in a challenging two-on-one, but the challenge was apparently inadequate in preventing Thomas from winning both games. He barely beat Bryan, 356-353, and the win was mostly thanks to a timely SENECIO (Bryan had ORATURES). The game against Charles was higher-scoring, but also closely-contested, ending with a score of 511-462. Thomas' out-bingo of UNREASON (to go along with DEMETONS, PREUNITE, and FRAGILE) was the deciding factor. Charles had COLDEST, ATOMIZED, and PLEURON (with a blank P, so FLEURON and ALEURON were also options without even having to shuffle letters around).