The King is Dead, Long Live The King

1st Bryan Benwitz seized the first place crown for the second week in a row, going 4-0 +255. His first game against David was low-scoring, 361-342, with his finds of PEAVIES and TREASON barely getting the job done against his opponent's bingoless assault. (In dorky bingo news, the word TREASON has now been played a measly four times, compared to 13 for its anagram, ATONERS. This proves what we already all knew: -ERS bingos are the best!) An incorrect challenge of Charles' ETHINYL in the next round, while a grievous and wholly inexcusable error, ended up mattering little as he won that game against the club leader, 435-418, playing the bingos RERAISES, PULLEYS, and INTAKES for 101 big points. His string of close-ish wins continued against Dennis, 424-389, despite being outbingoed 3 to 1. His string of close-ish wins then ended with a total shellacking of Thomas, 513-300, featuring  EDIFICES, SPARRING, and a somewhat embarrassing phony of ENSTATE*. The only consolation for Thomas is that this is not his worst defeat ever at the hands of a Madison club member.

2nd Richard Lauder's 3-1 +321 record earned him a place on the podium for the first time in a few weeks. His first-round loss to Andy gave way to three consecutive wins, the first against Susan, 401-348. He followed that up with a solid victory over Dave, 460-279, his power-tile bingo of EXPORTS for 122 overcoming Dave's power-tile bingo of QUINTES (n. the fifth of eight fencing positions. The other seven are also acceptable in Scrabble: PRIME, SECONDE, TIERCE, QUARTE, SIXTE, SEPTIME, and OCTAVE). His bloodlust, however, was not sated by this big win, and so he decided to tally another one, this time 476-305 against Lynda. Lynda's crude drawing of a sad face in her bingo column on the scorecard told the whole, tragic, story.

3rd Andy Bohnsack came in third with a 3-1 +245 record. His first game against Richard proved, ultimately, to be his downfall: if he had won by only 40 more points, he would have come in second instead of third! Keep that in mind next time you lazily play the end of an already won game! Despite only a 2-1 bingo edge, he soundly defeated Barb in his second game, 477-273, playing TOURNEYS and ANTIARS (n. an arrow poison). In the third game, his bingos of HERNIAS and FINGERS were not nearly enough against Thomas' V-bingo assault of THRIVEN, INACTIVE, and INVOICE. He did manage to win against Dennis 435-325, but, again, because of his unneeded compassion against his first opponent, has to settle for third on the night.

David played the word of the week, TEETOTAL. In other bingo news, everyone who came to club had at least two bingos, likely a first for the club! Good work everyone!