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1st Thomas Reinke prevailed over all other SCRABBLE-brand Word Game combatants with a 4-1 +365 record, ending his brother's benevolent, yet still resented, command of the week's top spot. Thomas started out with a two-on-one set, getting a cushy 517-360 win over Mark Kenas (playing INEARTH, WIDEOUT, and CORVEES) while battling to a closer 428-391 win against Helen Flores (playing MIRLITON, MEANEST, and CAULINE). The hot start was short-lived, however, as Thomas' potent scoring power was neutralized in a 331-459 loss to Bryan Benwitz. This misfortune, too, proved to be quite short-lived; round three saw Thomas score an impressive 563 against the visiting Mike Johnson, whose score of 428, while quite good in its own right, was not nearly enough. Thomas played the very-high-probability (and very-Collins-only) ETAERIO# along with DIVERGES and TARTUFO; Mike found TENDRONS#, LOONIER, and PLAINTS. Thomas put the finishing touches on his first-place winish with a 489-325 rematch win against Mark Kenas, this time upping his bingo output to four: ULCERATE, DECROWN, EUGARIES#, and AGATISE#.

2nd Andy Bohnsack enjoyed a 3-1 +252 record, debatably finishing ahead of Charles Reinke's 4-2 record (reigniting the age-old debate of whether total wins or win percentage should be used when determining the week's standings [and also remembering that somebody going 1-0 shouldn't finish ahead of someone going 3-1 (additionally keeping in mind that the true solution is to force everybody to play as many games as the player who played the most games [in this case, six])]). Andy probably wished for a better start as his very first game was a 370-392 loss to Mike Johnson, but that game would prove to be his only loss and the only game where he didn't bingo at least twice. A big 466-308, three-bingo (MONITORS, DEMOING, STARLIKE) win against the returning James Rollins got Andy on the right track, and he continued that momentum with three more bingos (PANDIES, COEDITOR, PASTIER) and a 427-358 win over Bryan Benwitz. A crushing 140-point ZESTERS was quite helpful in delivering Andy a 461-414 win against Charles Reinke in the final game.

3rd Mike Johnson made his long trip from Iowa worthwhile with a 3-1 +83 finish playing against some of the most capable tile-flingers that Madison has to offer (no tiles were actually flung at the Iowan, at least not intentionally). His opening salvo was a 392-370 win against Andy Bohnsack, with bingo finds of RESONATE and VINIEST. Deftly swithing to the international Collins lexicon, Mike proved his mettle with a dominating 484-318 win against veteran Collins player Mark Kenas. Staying in Collins mode, Mike's luck shifted drastically in the wrong direction as he suffered a 428-563 loss to Thomas Reinke. Undaunted by the fearsome Bryan Benwitz (whose notoriety might not extend all the way to the Iowa border...yet...), Mike triumphed in their bout, 448-418, thanks to bingos of WARNERS and UNWASTED.

Of note was Charles' 17-game winning streak coming to an unceremonious conclusion as he was soundly defeated by Bryan Benwitz in round one, the final score being 387-509. Also of note was James Rollins' monster 127-point bingo of REAFFIX, which would be the highest-scoring non-triple-triple bingo of the year, except for Andy's 140-point ZESTERS.

1st Charles Reinke continued to be an unstoppable force not encountering any hypothetical immovable objects, as his 5-0 +684 record propelled him to seventeen straight wins. Two of those victories came against Mark Kenas, who, to his credit, is the only person to beat Charles in this club season. Collins victory #1 was 469-430 in Charles' favor, while victory #2 was a bit more lopsided, 482-332. Showing uncommon consideration for his American-dictionary-playing clubmates, Charles' bingos in those games were all NWL-valid: SALIVATE, READDICT, RINGSTER, SORDINE, and PRAISING. In round two, Charles defeated Bryan Benwitz 462-382, putting more cushion between him and last year's club champion. To wrap things up, Charles played two-on-one games versus Sara McLaughlin and Andy Bohnsack; both wins were quite comfortable, 460-353 against Andy and 572-264 against Sara. The bingos continued to pile on, with Charles adding SPILITE, RETRACT, INEDITA, CANTRIPS, GUERIDON, SHORTIA, and MAFTIRS to his ever-expanding bingo list.

2nd Bryan Benwitz ensured that this week's writeup is eerily similar in format to last week's writeup, with a 3-1 +123 record. Facing off against Thomas Reinke in round one, Bryan overcame Thomas' UNITIES, RADIOMEN, and AERATOR with his own SEQUOIA and EARNINGS (the latter a triple-triple for 131 points), and got a high-scoring 497-445 win. In the category of "good deeds not going unpunished", Bryan was immediately paired with the other Reinke, with not quite as much success, the final result being a 382-462 loss for Bryan. Things turned around in the third game of the night, as Bryan countered Dave Kinzer's AIRFOIL with his own ORIENTS and won, 403-407. As freezing rain turned the church parking lot into a sheet of glare ice, Bryan bravely entered a round-four fracas against Dennis Lloyd and again emerged victorious, 453-398. Dennis did play the word of the week, GRAPPAS, in his losing effort.

3rd Andy Bohnsack went 3-2 +251 and averaged 427 points per game, bringing his yearly average above the expected 400-point threshold. Playing two games in round one afforded Andy the chance to get off to a good start, and he capitalized, beating Dennis Lloyd 388-340 and Sara McLaughlin 474-320, despite playing fewer bingos than his norm (GRIPERS against Dennis, URINALS and ENDORSEE against Sara). The good fortune continued as Andy cruised past Dave Kinzer to the tune of 509-323, finding SOLVENTS, NAUSEATE, and CANDORS. Sadly, Andy's 3-0 record at that point doomed him, and he faced off against both Reinkes in rapid succession, dropping both games and slipping to a still-respectable third place in the night's standings.

1st Charles Reinke extended his current winning streak to twelve games thanks to a 4-0 +481 record. His 16-2 record in the first month of the club season has him comfortably atop the yearly standings, haughtily staring down upon the groveling hordes clamoring at the feet of his throne. He wasted no time getting down to business as he trounced Mark Kenas in round one, 548-366, playing bingos of REGULATE, FELUCCAS (word of the week), and a nine-letter RADIATION. The next round saw Charles score a big win against Dave Kinzer, 445-302, despite Dave's hefty bingo of GOOFIER (Charles got down DONATIVE and ONEIRIC). A rematch against Mark Kenas was a bit closer than the first game, but Charles was able to add another checkmark to the "win" column of his scoresheet, 485-441. A 149-point triple-triple of TUMEFIED from Charles did significant damage there. At this point, a fourth and final Charles victory seemed almost inevitable, but Bryan Benwitz stood poised to halt Charles' progress; sadly, Bryan's efforts fell somewhat short, and Charles won his fourth game, 498-385. Bryan found FAITOURS and ZINGARA, but was overwhelmed by Charles' LAPIDES (plural of LAPIS, don't play LAPIDE*), IGNITES, WEEVILY, and MELINITE.

2nd Bryan Benwitz went 3-1 with a less-voluminous-than-usual spread of +83. It was a slow start for him as he was held bingoless against Dennis Lloyd (who played SLEEKLY), but Bryan managed to squeeze enough value out of his non-bingo plays to grab a 391-346 win. The bingo struggles persisted in the second round as Bryan was outbingoed by Helen Flores two to one (ALLUDING vs STUDIER and BERLINE), but again, Bryan eked it out, 426-396. Bryan finally got into more comfortable territory as he overpowered Dave Kinzer 494-373, although a phony RESWORN* added a dash of intrigue to the proceedings (his other bingo, UNMITERS, was perfectly cromulent, as were Dave's DREAMED and ELECTION). Bryan's own designs of a flawless 4-0 performance were scuttled by Charles Reinke in the final round, 385-498. Perhaps things would have been different if Bryan realized that Charles now has a five-dollar bounty on his head, given the newly-minted ten-game winning streak...