Blog

1st Dennis Lloyd far exceed his typical scoring numbers with a 428 per-game average on his way to a flawless 4-0 +456 record. He started off with a solid 385-305 win over Helen Flores, getting down a single bingo of RECALLED. That was followed up with a 399-342 victory against Steve Hartsman, where finds of ASSURED and the triple-O SONOROUS were crucial to Dennis' winning chances. Marching ever onward, Dennis made quick work of Dora Kilburn, winning 471-243 and upping his bingo count to three: DISASTER, GHOULIES, and ATTENDS. Up to this point of the night, Dennis' opponents had not played even one bingo against him; that changed in round four, but Dennis still pulled out the win against Thomas Reinke, 456-365. Thomas got RADIANCY and RADISHES, while Dennis had DEARIES and ORALIST. Moral of the story: don't let your opponents bingo. Steal tiles from their rack if you have to.

2nd Thomas Reinke went 4-1 +389, holding steadfast at the top of the yearly standings. He suffered a scare in round one as he made out with a single-digit win against Mark Kenas, 412-403, countering Mark's nice LOLLOPED with GONENESS and NITERIE. Their rematch two rounds later was more comfortable for Thomas, 455-377. In between, Thomas displayed the full extent of his bingo knowledge by playing five of them in a 554-317 drubbing of Lynda Finn. The illustrative bingos in question: AUDITORY, ELOINED, MOVINGLY, ALIGNER, and AVENSES (AVENS is a type of plant, pluralizing to AVENSES - don't play AVEN* or AVENSE*). Thomas wrapped things up with a two-on-one match, but was barred from a perfect record when Dennis Lloyd beat him 365-456. Luckily for Thomas' morale, he did not have to suffer two losses at once, as he was able to vanquish Steve Hartsman 491-335, getting SINOPIE, TENTERS, and OILIEST.

3rd Charles Reinke finished 3-1 +362, forever trying to catch his brother in the standings but not making as much progress as he would like. Charles walked all over Andy Bohnsack in the first game with a 507-295; Andy's famously bingo-oriented playstyle yielded no such bonus plays, while Charles found HAULIERS, PANGOLIN, SIENITES, and the nine-letter PICOMETER (PICOMETRE is also good despite its audaciously British construction [but don't even think about trying FEMTOMETRE# - that's only FEMTOMETER (who can even keep track of this stuff?)]). In the second game, Charles got a low-scoring win against Mark Kenas, 369-340, thanks to AFFICHES. Facing off against John Bialek, Charles repeated the strategy he had employed against Andy, holding John to zero bingos while getting four of his own (CAVEMEN, CAUDATES, SOUNDER, EPILATED); the result was a 519-324 win. Perfection was denied by Mark Kenas, who won their rematch 481-407; Mark's NOCUOUS (like INNOCUOUS but...not...) was the highlight among a batch of cool bingos played by both players.

1st Andy Bohnsack crushed most (but not all) of his opponents with a 4-1 +449 record. His two-on-one set in round one was an unqualified success, as he vanquished both Lynda Finn (436-364) and Dennis Lloyd (516-324). The only blemish was a phony of RONDEAUS* against Dennis - RONDEAU only pluralizes to RONDEAUX (meanwhile, a word like TONNEAU pluralizes both ways). Phonies struck again when Andy beat Bryan Benwitz 404-337 with TRIGONAL and ALENCONE* (ALENCON is valid). All eyes will be on Andy's scoresheet in future weeks as we try to figure out if he has become a serial phonier or if this is a one-off anomaly. Andy dominated Thomas Reinke in the next game, getting down BRASSED and FUSIONAL for a 555-367 win. Sadly, success against Reinkes was fleeting as a loss to Charles Reinke in the final round, 394-464, ended Andy's hopes of remaining undefeated.

2nd Charles Reinke went 4-1 +135, losing his first game before reeling off four straight. That first-round loss was to Mark Kenas, 414-469; Mark's triple-triple of ESCAPADE for 140 proves once again that playing triple-triples is a Very Good Idea. In round two, Charles crawled to a 328-292 win against Carol Ormand, where he played the game's only bingo, HAULIERS. Finds of ENTICES and YEARLIES (the latter for 95 points) delivered Charles a win over Dave Kinzer, 422-375. Facing off against Mark for a second go-around, Charles prevailed in a high-scoring bout, 502-465, thanks to ISOGRIV, VERATRUM, and DEARIES. A 464-394 victory against Andy Bohnsack in the last game was nice, but Charles would have liked to win by more (like, 160 more) to snag first place.

3rd Thomas Reinke finished 3-2 with a negative spread of -82. He got an early win against Richard Lauder, 386-313, despite allowing Richard's phony DASHOON* (DAHOONS and DASHEEN are both good). A high-powered Collins matchup against Mark Kenas in round two ended 475-466 in Thomas' favor, despite Thomas being outbingoed (ISOLATED and POTHEENS vs. SEELING, DOWNRATE, and REELMAN#). Thomas' point spread was obliterated in round three as he fell to Andy Bohnsack, 367-355. For the final game, Thomas played two at once, and he performed adequately against tough competition, downing Bryan Benwitz 414-272 but losing to Mark 373-491. Mark's bingos in that game (VINOUSLY, SKIORERS, and word-of-the-week CROWFEET) show the benefits of studying deep into the dictionary.

1st Dave Kinzer went 3-0 +248, nailing down his first undefeated record in over two years. He started off nicely with a 420-365 win over Lynda Finn, countering her DENGUES with his own bingo of REFROZE (no word on if it was ever extended to PREFROZE). That was followed up by a big win against Charles Reinke, 462-390; Dave's crafty find of LUMBAGO withstood Charles' bonus plays of PARECISM and TERRIES. Dave's flawless night finished with a 387-266 victory against Lynn McDonald, and with nothing left to prove, Dave wisely departed, guaranteeing that a fourth-round loss could not mar his impeccable scoresheet.

2nd Charles Reinke went 4-1 +165, reversing his 1-4 record from the previous week. He got revenge on Mark Kenas by winning their first match, 449-418; Mark found ELDRITCH (also spelled ELDRICH), but fell to Charles' EQUALIZE and PONTAGE#. Charles was tasked with a two-on-one match in round two, and saw partial success, beating Richard Lauder 414-296 despite playing no bingos, but losing to Dave Kinzer 390-462. Scores went into the stratosphere for round three, where a rematch against Mark ended with a 516-473 win for Charles; Charles bingoed with HOARILY, SEETHING, and ROTATING, while Mark had DEPONENT and TENTWISE# (Players of the American lexicon would need to find TWENTIES there). But those stratospheric scores fell short of the even-more-stratospheric (mesospheric?) scores that resulted from Charles' final game against Steve Hartsman. Steve fought valiantly (playing AGAMIDS and CASETTES) and got the highest loss of the year (so far) with a 477, but Charles (with IRONWOOD, TELEVIEW, and REBOOKED) came in at 522. Their combined 999 points is the second-highest combined total this year.

3rd Thomas Reinke went 3-1 +373. He got the first 600-point game of the year (well, maybe the first; more on that later) when he dropped 657 against John Bialek, bingoing with TENSORS, ARRIVALS, LOADING, and PECTIZE. That was "maybe" the first 600-point game of the year because Steve Hartsman scored 603 in the same round, and we're not sure which player finished their game first. Thomas' luck ran dry in round two, where he was felled by Mark Kenas, 392-484. It's possible that it never occurred to Thomas that scoring 600 points in every game, and not just some games, would be a reliable way to win more often. In the third game, Thomas barely escaped with the win against Andy Bohnsack, 394-384. Andy played BEARPAW for 109, while Thomas had SHARABLE. Thomas returned to his high-scoring ways for the final game, defeating Mark 532-440 thanks to EPINAOI, AUTOGIRO, OARSMEN, and MUTAGENS.