1st Charles Reinke found himself on the top of the proverbial heap with a perfect 4-0 +334 record. His first game was, unsurprisingly, a victory, with Charles triumphing 418-334 over James Frankki. Charles had SNEERED and PANIERS as his bingos, while James had SERENADE (which is SNEERED + A). A match against Dave Gilligan ended with Charles' out-bingo of GURGLING, which took a relatively close game into "drubbing" territory, 452-267. The upward trajectory for Charles continued as he faced off against Bryan Benwitz and won 516-389. Bryan played CRISPIER and URETHANS, but Charles proved once again that three bingos is better than two by playing DETENTS, DEBATING, and EMENDERS. That previously-mentioned upward trajectory, which seemed poised to unceasingly continue upward for all eternity, did drop down a little bit in the final game as Charles squeaked out a close game against newcomer Barb Pratzel, 398-376. Barb's SQUAREST for 100 was the highest-scoring bingo of the night, but it fell just short of securing her the victory.

2nd Thomas Reinke went 4-1 +224, but his 80% winning percentage was barely higher than his 79.2% winning percentage for the club season, meaning he should have tried harder to go 5-0. His first game was a two-on-one with mixed results; he beat Dennis Lloyd in a tightly-fought 385-369 contest, but fell to Bryan Benwitz 397-440 in the other game. Interestingly, Thomas phonied Dennis with the plausible-sounding misscore, a word which all Scrabble players have used at least one time while correcting an incorrectly-counted play. In the second round, Thomas had another close game, but used bingos of DIVORCEE and DRONERS to take out James Frankki 408-392. James played CHOLERA, which is good in Scrabble but not good in real life. After a solid 405-324 win against Betty Hasselkus, Thomas went up against Mark Kenas in a game using the Collins dictionary. That one was a blowout in Thomas' favor, 493-339, and he had a trio of nice bingos: ACACIAS, FURANES, and word-of-the-week NAPROXEN.

3rd Bryan Benwitz finished 3-1 +147, taking third by just a few spread points over Barb Pratzel. He started strongly and fearlessly by taking down Thomas Reinke 440-397, playing bingos of ALEURONE, ENDORSEE, and ARRAIGNS to great effect. A game against Gail Salm in the next round was slightly less comfortable for Bryan, but he still got the win, 398-375. Gail did outbingo him by getting UNSEATS and BETAINES to Bryan's sole SUNTANS. In the third round, Bryan suffered his only loss, the 389-516 final score wiping out all of his spread and leaving him in the negatives. However, all that spread was gained back and more with a 524-316 win over James Frankki. His three bingos of MENTION, REVILER, and TORSADE were nice, but even nicer were his non-bingo plays of FUNPLEX and QAJAQ, the latter of which might not get played for another two decades.

4th Barb Pratzel, in her first-ever experience with competitive Scrabble, went 3-1 +130 (with a 406 average!) and just barely missed out on the top three. Her best game was a 458-378 win against Gail Salm where she played UNEARTHS and STRIVEN. With six bingos in four games, she found herself right at home with the club's collection of bingo-prone players!

Experts
Charles Reinke4-0 +418
Thomas Reinke4-1 +224
Bryan Benwitz3-1 +147
Barb Pratzel3-1 +130
Aaron Bader2-1 +216
Dave Gilligan2-2 -162
David Kinzer1-1 +37
Betty Hasselkus1-2 -83
Dennis Lloyd1-3 +70
Gail Salm1-3 -103
James Frankki1-3 -176
Mark Kenas1-3 -370
Sue Goldstein0-3 -348
Intermediates

 
NameWin% W   L  T  Avg  Opp Avg Bingos  Avg Phonies % v2
Experts
Thomas Reinke751545114463724762.31112.320
Charles Reinke74.11585514433754622.1651.125
Aaron Bader61.8684204454192432.215422.22
Bryan Benwitz61.51127004213793241.7872.21
Lynda Finn52.918161395385521.4911.95
Andy Bohnsack5022040238661.5000
Richard Lauder48.7384003763961321.694311
David Kinzer40.216241349381220.5414.50
Dennis Lloyd36.923402373406801.23911.38
Mark Kenas35.7407204164452302.054419.10
Helen Flores35.15710613483991330.81861
Intermediates
Sue Goldstein18.217781309370240.2528.30

Bingos
Bryan Benwitz9ALEURONE ENDORSEE ARRAIGNS SUNTANS CRISPIER URETHANS REVILER MENTION TORSADE
Charles Reinke8SNEERED PANIERS COPILOTS GURGLING DETENTS DEBATING EMENDERS RESTATE
Thomas Reinke8GAMIEST DRONERS DIVORCEE FOOTSIE NAPROXEN FURANES ACACIAS misscore
Dennis Lloyd8WALLETS ETESIAN BRAINING AUTOMAT LEAKING NAILSET unspring bailist
Mark Kenas7STIRRED MISSOUT PONTILS STERNWAY UNDERLIE REJOINS TENTIER
Barb Pratzel6AUDITORS INQUIRE UNEARTHS STRIVEN SQUAREST methene
Aaron Bader5FUCOIDS GESTATE ABALONE CODINGS TUTORED
Gail Salm5OATIEST UNSEATS BETAINES GRANITES INCOMES
Dave Gilligan4OVERSOAK CINDERS SNORTED GROUNDED
James Frankki4SERENADE CHOLERA DISUNITE TINKERS
Betty Hasselkus3STAGIER PIMENTO ANGLERS
Sue Goldstein2TEACHER LANCERS
David Kinzer1READOUT
24-Apr: Scrabble at Covenant Church1-May: Scrabble at Covenant Church8-May: Scrabble at Covenant Church15-May: Scrabble at Misty Mountain Games