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1st Thomas Reinke dominated with a 5-0 +487 record and fourteen total bingos. His domination was not quite as all-encompassingly dominant at the start of the night, as he won his first game by just a single point, 422-421 vs. Mark Kenas. The domination switch was conclusively switched to the "on" position for round two, where Thomas played Richard Lauder and Steve Hartsman in a two-on-one, winning both games handily: 466-353 against Richard (with ANURESES, RESIZING, GIROLLES) and 476-374 against Steve (with AEROSATS, TERGITES). He went up against Mark again for the following game, and spewed forth five bingos (TOOTLED, SHIFTILY, RAILHEAD, INOSINES, SAVAGER), and with Mark only getting one (MANRIDER#), it was a hefty win for Thomas, 534-363. In the final round clash of the undefeateds, Thomas defeated Bryan Benwitz by an even 100, 438-338.

2nd Bryan Benwitz enjoyed a 3-1 +416 record, incrementally shifting his yearly winning percentage upward. He trounced Charles Reinke in round one, winning 484-353 on the back of STOOLED, MARSHIER, AUNTIES, and ESTATES (Charles got the not-so-fun FUNICLE as his single bingo). A showdown against James Rollins saw Bryan's bingo output be reduced to one bingo of SIMILAR, but Bryan still came away with the win, 413-293. After taking Richard to the cleaners in the third game, 505-240, Bryan was aiming for an undefeated 4-0 record; sadly, 'twas not to be, as he was sent packing by Thomas Reinke, 338-448.

3rd Dennis Lloyd went 2.5-1.5 (the .5 being a tie), finishing ahead of the other 2.5-1.5 finisher by 46 spread points. The tie occurred in round one, as Dennis and Steve Hartsman fought to a draw, 379-379. Dennis got down AQUATIC while Steve had GROOVILY. Dennis followed that up with a 448-380 win against Andy Bohnsack, getting POINTED and ENDORSES to outscore Andy's high-probability ISOLEAD. Things went south for the third game as Dennis wasn't quite able to take down Dave Kinzer; the final score of their game was 357-364. Not one for winning by unseemly amounts, Dennis notched a 382-363 win against Charles Reinke in the final game, holding his bingo-prone opponent to no bingos while getting down LASSIES and LUNETTE for himself.

1st Lynda Finn went undefeated for the second week in a row, going 4-0 +257 and indisputably reigning over a field of eighteen players. She handily defeated John Bialek in the opening bout, winning by an even 100 points, 440-340, and finding PEERIES, REGLETS, and TANGOES along the way (long-timers will remember the bad old days when TANGOES was phony and few could reliably find its anagram, ONSTAGE). Taking on Thomas Reinke in the next game, Lynda clawed her way to victory, getting TENUOUS and GLADIEST for a 411-398 win. A score of 399 in the third game ended up being Lynda's only score below 400, but everything turned out fine in the end since that 399 was more than Ed Nawrocki's 348. Lynda notably defeated a second Reinke in the final game, clinching a perfect record with a high-flying 484-391 victory over Charles, bingoing with ESERINE, INTUITED, and DUALLIES.

2nd Thomas Reinke averaged 470 per game while finishing 4-1 +391. He was thrown directly into the fire with a two-on-one match against Dennis Lloyd and Bryan Benwitz, but Thomas prevailed in both games, 486-334 against Dennis (including the nice find of ABELMOSK, whose anagram SMOKABLE is considerably more findable) and 413-356 against Bryan. Thomas was slowed down in game two as he was taken down by Lynda Finn, 398-411, but he came back with vengeance in the next game, where he obliterated the returning Mark Kenas 578-396. Mark got down some cool bingos with ANORTHIC and YCLEPED (YCLEPT is also good), but was overwhelmed by Thomas' TOWHEADS, DINTLESS#, AMARONES, and triple-triple REORDAIN. Thomas' final game was a high-scoring shootout with Andy Bohnsack, where Thomas needed every bit of his four bingos (ROULADE, DITCHER, STRAYING, TIDERIP) to win 475-462.

3rd Charles Reinke went 3-2 +194 with the same amount of bingos (13) as his higher-finishing brother. He scored an early win against Mark Kenas, 406-364, getting down STEADING and ENTRAPS. Bingo fiends will be pleased to note that every bingo in AENPRST has been crossed off the list of bingos the club needs to play. Charles rained bingos upon Ron Malzer in round two, playing AROINTED, TINKERER, FRAGMENT, and PIETIES (to Ron's FRIDGES) for a 564-363 win. In round three, Andy Bohnsack perfectly countered Charles' three bingos (RICEBIRD, ETHANAL, EXPIABLE) with three of his own (GOBSHITE, SEVRUGA, PATINAED), but Charles still came out with the win, 453-391. Sitting at 3-0, Charles entered his final-round two-on-one match with plans of going 5-0, but instead dropped both games, 443-461 vs. Mark Kenas and 391-484 vs. Lynda Finn.

Richard's COPYCATS was Word of the Week, chosen from an abundance of strong candidates.

1st Lynda Finn utterly reversed her record from last week, going from 0-4 -286 to 5-0 +186. She got her biggest win of the evening in round one, wiping out Dave Kinzer 403-286, thanks to bingos of EREMITE and DERATION. Held bingoless in the second game against Dennis Lloyd, Lynda still managed to pull out the win, 347-331, proving that bingos are totally optional (but probably still something to strive for). The winning streak continued as she dispatched Ed Nawrocki 396-360, getting down AUDITORS and STATURE to Ed's LATTICE. For the final game, Lynda had two chances to have her perfect night tarnished, but also the chance to achieve a rare 5-0 performance, and she chose the latter option, although it was a close call: she beat Richard Lauder by ten points, 388-378, and John Bialek by just seven points, 372-365.

2nd Bryan Benwitz went 4-0 +298; this trend of undefeated players means we will probably have three such players next week (who wants to volunteer?). Bryan took Richard Lauder to the cleaners in the first game, 462-248, but none of his subsequent games would end up being nearly that comfortable. He managed to squeeze out a win over Charles Reinke, 414-406, thanks to BIRCHEN and ARIOSOS (one of two valid plurals of ARIOSO; ARIOSI is also valid, as well as the adjective form ARIOSE). A 426-392 win over John Bialek hinged on Bryan's phony of NOILIEST*; NOILY is valid, but doesn't compare, because of reasons. Bryan also got down the valid STRIVED, while John had IRONIES and PEWTERS. In the final game, Bryan matched up against the other Reinke, and used bingos of GAVOTTED, INTUBATE, and BALLSIER to take a high-scoring 487-445 victory.

3rd Charles Reinke went 3-1 +155. His recent subpar results vs. his brother were corrected in round one as he held Thomas bingoless en route to a 426-338 win. Charles' sole bingo there was AGELESS, subverting the expectation that Collins-lexicon games between experts will feature a lot of bingos. Charles' loss came in the next game, as he was felled by Bryan Benwitz 406-414, despite CENTALS and THERIANS (Ed also played THERIANS in one of his games, but somebody should have played INEARTHS because that hasn't been played yet). Charles fought off Helen Flores in round three, 456-387, withstanding her DIRTIEST and FLOATED with his own ENTREES and triple-triple GOATIEST (at 113 points, tying the club record for lowest-scoring triple-triple). His night concluded with a close 398-392 win against Steve Hartsman, responding to his nice finds of INTROFY and COSIGNER with his own PARASITE.

Steve's stylish EPISTYLE was word of the week.