Stats for March 7, 2018

Charles Reinke at 13 Straight Wins, but there are Cracks in the Facade

1st Charles Reinke came out on top of a smallish group of players by going 4-0 +127, his third-straight undefeated night of Scrabble. However, his smaller-than-usual point spread and his lower-than-usual 398 per-game average showed that he is indeed fallible. Aaron Bader would disagree with that assessment, as he was the first victim in Charles' running of the table; their game ended with a score of 414-344 despite equitable bingo totals (UNDERTOW and SANDABLE for Charles, TAILORED and TEAHOUSE for Aaron). The bingo situation was uncannily similar in a 438-410 win over Bryan Benwitz (the winner's ALIDADES and BROMELIA to the loser's DEACONRY and WIRINESS, note that the use of the term "loser" here is only meant to be lightly disparaging). The two games which followed both saw Charles held underneath the 400-point mark, which is a good start to beating him, but isn't enough by itself (you also have to score more points than him). He barely escaped with a win against noted tough customer Lynda Finn, 348-340, then played a close game, 391-370 against a second tough customer, Helen Flores. For the only time in four wins, Charles out-bingoed his opponent in that one, playing MENORAH and ELEVATED versus Helen's CHARGERS.

2nd Aaron Bader ducked out one game early due to a board shortage, but the missing game turned out not to present a penalty, as he still came in second place with his 2-1 +176 record and nifty 445 average. Besides, going 2-1 against three of the best four players in the club (with Aaron himself being the other) should automatically qualify one for some kind of (prestige-based, non-monetary) award. He got revenge for his first-round loss against Charles Reinke by scoring a decisive win against Thomas Reinke, 518-398. Thomas had two high-scoring bingos, NARCOSE for 94 and PREARMED for 102, but succumbed easily under the combined weight of Aaron's three bingos: PEAFOWL, WATERIER, and GARRISON. Aaron then continued his crusade for revenge, now misguided, by laying some hurt on Bryan Benwitz to the tune of a 474-348 victory. The invaluable value of high-probability seven-letter words was proven once again by Aaron's plays of DEMERIT and AROUSED, and let's not forget Bryan's CRETINS.

3rd Thomas Reinke also played just three games, also due to a deficit of boards (recommendations to "just use your imagination" were not well-received), but nevertheless, he came in third with his 2-1 +48 record. He was out-bingoed in his first game by Lynda Finn (LAUDERS, THEREIN, and INSANER vs. BESTREW and ISOLATE), but still came away with the win, 475-409. After enduring a tough loss to Aaron, described in more detail above in case you have a short attention span or are taking well-deserved breaks between paragraphs, Thomas rebounded against Bryan Benwitz (who seemed to be on the wrong end of things all night, judging by this write-up), using his well-developed point-scoring prowess to take the glory of victory for himself, 483-381. Bryan played SMIDGEON and TENNISES (because we all know there's more than one kind of tennis), while Thomas had SCENTED, CHORTLED, and AIRSIDE.

New player Alex made her Scrabble club debut with a win in addition to two bingos, ENDLESS and word-of-the-week RUGRATS (no longer just the name of a Nickelodeon cartoon, it was added in the last dictionary update).

Wednesday, April 17:
Scrabble at Misty Mountain Games

Wednesday, April 24:
Scrabble at Covenant Church

Wednesday, May 1:
Scrabble at Covenant Church

Wednesday, May 8:
Scrabble at Covenant Church

Saturday, June 29:
Madison Area Twin Scrabble Tourneys

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