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1st Charles Reinke went 4-1 +414, leading a sizable pile of fourteen Scrabblers. His first-round matchup against Mark Kenas resulted in a rare sub-300 game from Mark and a 435-289 win for Charles, who played CLEAVES and PRELUDI# (which helpfully extends to PRELUDIO#, not that many would care to learn that hook). Facing a two-on-one in round two, Charles won both but in vastly differing ways: a 357-303 win against James Rollins saw neither player get down a bingo, while each player got down three bingos when he beat Richard Lauder 533-434 (Charles got QUAKIER, OUTLEARN, and PETSAIS; Richard had VIRTUES, RENDING, and ALOETIC). Mark got his revenge in round three, as Charles lost 397-443 (Mark's bingo list was all-Collins and will thus not be reprinted), but he had recovered by the final round and walloped Steve Hartsman, 547-386, thanks to bingos of GNAWERS, SILOXANE, and OUTWEAR.

2nd Bryan Benwitz landed at 3-1 +422, going 3-1 for the sixth time since September. His opening salvo was a big win over Dave Kinzer, 521-248, where he bingoed with WOOLIES, INEPTLY, and the newly-added (as of a few years ago, anyway) DEADASS. He followed that up by defeating Andy Bohnsack 412-352, laying down the high-probability AUDITEE and ARTSIER to Andy's TALCING and TIPCARTS. A 95-point bingo of DERIVATE couldn't save him in round three where he fell to Steve Hartsman 386-421. Thankfully, the bingos flowed with renewed abundance against Lynda Finn, and Bryan played GERONTIC, TEOPANS, and SCOUTERS for a 490-366 win.

3rd Steve Hartsman, still riding high from the Brewers' World Series win, emulated the success of the Milwaukee baseball team with a 3-1 +67 outing (there will be no further attempts to relate Scrabble to baseball as this writer only understands one of those things). Steve picked up an impressive win against club leader Thomas Reinke in the first game of the night, 417-357, thanks to bingo finds of KATSURA and SIGNORAS. He then steamrolled Helen Flores, bingoing a single time with COPASTOR (anagram: ROOTCAPS) for a 394-261 victory. Two more bingos, ALLSEED and INPUTTED, led Steve to a 421-386 win against Bryan Benwitz; Steve has now won four of his last six against Bryan, a rare winning record against a player who could rightfully be called "The Bryaniac". An undefeated record was looking possible, but Steve's hopes in that regard were dashed utterly as he lost big to Charles Reinke in the final game, 386-547.

Notable was Lloyd Stohler's 126-point play of BAROQUE, achieved in a high-scoring 434-442 loss to Helen Flores. Additionally notable was Andy's 149-point TROUBLER against Thomas.

1st Charles Reinke averaged 509 points per game on his way to a 3-1 +276 record. His singular loss arrived quickly in the form of a 460-557 Collins-lexicon match against Thomas Reinke, but in the midst of the beatdown, he found the nine-letter GEOMETRID for 95 points. In round two he took part in another high-scoring shootout, but this time was on the winning side of the equation as he took down Richard Lauder 550-405, bingoing with HRYVNIA, LYDDITES, and REASONED. Against Lynda Finn, Charles won big, 498-348, but was unscrupulously aided by two phony bingos: SEMIGALAS* (SEMIGALA is an adjective) and LEGATIVE* (similar to the real word LIGATIVE, and anagramming to the real word LEVIGATE). Lynda's bingos, meanwhile, were fully above-board: NITRIDE and REPINES. Charles got a chance for revenge in the final round and took advantage, destroying Thomas 528-450 on the back of five bingos: FLAVEDO, PAINTIER, OLOGIST, ESTRIOL, and CHOLINE.

2nd Thomas Reinke went an identical 3-1, with a spread of +102. The clear high point of his night came in the first game, where he beat Charles Reinke 557-460, thanks to ERASION, LUTANIST, YODELING, and ACATERS# (NWL players should play CARATES out of those letters). The second round saw Thomas face off against Helen Flores and come out of the fracas with a lower-scoring 509-354 victory, turning away Helen's STORIES with his own bingos of OMITTED and DOVENING. Things got even closer as he fought off Andy Bohnsack, 444-416, getting ROADSTER and ROMAUNTS to Andy's TILAPIAS and SEATRAIN. Thomas was finally handed a loss (just his second in a 23-game span) when Charles beat him 450-528 in the final game; Charles' bingo list is too long to reprint here, but is listed above; Thomas had DADAIST and AVENTRES# (RAVENEST, VETERANS).

3rd Richard Lauder played three games before escaping to watch the Brewers win the World Series, and went 2-1 +60. He pulled off a come-from-behind win in round one, where he bingoed late with SNAKIER to get a 423-395 win vs. Lynda Finn. Richard pulled more bingos out of his hat in round two, getting down SAURIAN, RENDING, and the nice MUSKRATS against Charles Reinke, but those three bingos barely put a dent in Charles' armor, and it was Charles' win, 405-550. Facing a large spread deficit, Richard clawed it all back by taking out his frustrations on Helen Flores in the form of a 430-253 victory. The useful ANESTRI, in addition to HAUNTER, were Richard's bingos there.

1st Thomas Reinke saw his 14-game winning streak come to an end, but he still reigned supreme with a 4-1 +459 record. That streak-busting loss arrived quickly in the form of a 362-426 match against Dennis Lloyd in round one, where Dennis was outbingoed (OVERALL vs. REORIENT, ALINERS) but stood steadfastly upright in the face of the behemoth in front of him (who turns out to be mortal after all). Thomas was allowed the opportunity to beat Steve Hartsman at the same time as the Dennis loss (thank you odd numbers); that game ended 464-429 in Thomas' favor, despite Steve's SEMILOGS* (SEMILOG is an adjective). Things went smoothly for Thomas after that, with his three remaining games all being over 500 points. Richard Lauder got the worst of it with a 302-537 loss. He also defeated Mark Kenas twice, 567-371 and 508-451, bingoing six times total: OVERRUDE, CONTROLE#, DELAINES, ASCENTS, FORBIDS, and NITINOL.

2nd Charles Reinke also went 4-1, with a smaller spread total of +249. Like his brother, he had two 500-point Collins games against Mark Kenas (who, somehow, never complains about this particular situation). The first was a 503-382 win with Charles getting down CHARRING, SIGNORE, VENATORS#, and BETREAD#; the second ended at 566-441, much of that total attributable to Charles' 3x3 of BREGMATE for 185. Mark did find the inexplicable BEAUTIED# in that second game. Charles picked up another 500-pointer when he defeated Andy Bohnsack 505-401, matching Andy's ROOTIER, OUTPLACE, and TSARINAS with HAREEMS (apparently the same as a harem), OUTRANGE, and DEALATE. Against Lynda Finn, Charles was defeated handily, 354-458, finding a sole ISATINE (currently the eighth-most common bingo at our club) to Lynda's SPLINES. To wrap up the evening, Charles barely escaped with a win against Richard Lauder, 428-425, somehow withstanding Richard's tri-pronged bingo assault of SOUNDER, STONIER, and OPERANDS. (STONIER is the sixth-most common bingo at our club)

3rd Bryan Benwitz was perfect in his abbreviated schedule of three games, going 3-0 +404 and, in the process, resurrecting the question of whether a 3-0 performance should be considered better than a 4-1 performance in the weekly stats (it depends on how much you want to bribe the webmaster). After missing round one, Bryan was well-rested for round two, and clobbered Steve Hartsman 519-284, bingoing with AEROSAT, ANESTRI, and BRIGANDS; Steve got down PRACTISE while existing in a general state of distraction, thinking about the Brewers going to the World Series. Bryan didn't have it so easy against Andy Bohnsack, coming away with a lower-scoring win, 396-362; the normally bingo-happy Andy was limited to just SADIRONS, while Bryan got down SEIZURE and ENRAGES. Bryan finished the night by defeating Lynda Finn 431-296, thanks to a bingo of BAIRNISH. BRAINISH is also a word, but for some reason, BRYANISH is not.