Blog

1st Charles Reinke got top honors for the second straight week, with his 3-1 +363 record and his rather intimidating per-game average of 496 (he broached the 500-point barrier in every game except the one he lost). Game one saw him take down Andy Bohnsack by a score of 513-417, hitting FOOTNOTE, EMEROID, and RADICATE to Andy's ESQUIRE and LARKING. Charles was brought back down to earth when he was smacked around by Mark Kenas, losing 362-502 despite bingos of RECLINER and LABROID (Mark had PICRATED and WISTERIA). Years of studying obscure bingos paid off handsomely for Charles in the third game, where he played BRUITED, LOCAVORE, THROSTLE, and MANGABEY in a 585-321 victory over Helen Flores. A MANGABEY (also spelled MANGABY) is a type of monkey, while a THROSTLE is a type of bird and a LOCAVORE is, I guess, also a sort of animal. Charles finished his strong performance with another 500 game, this one practically dripping with revenge as he got back at Mark, 522-379.

2nd Bryan Benwitz went 3-1 +222, getting back on track for a run at the club championship after a few weeks of 2-2 performances. His first game was a strong 450-363 triumph over Dennis Lloyd, with bingos of CAJOLED, ABRASION, and STERANE (Dennis supplied STATINS). For the second game, he was outbingoed 3-2 by Richard Lauder (IRONIES, LIAISED, ANTIQUER vs. DETRACTS, EXACTER) but still pulled it out, 452-404. Heartbreak was in store for the next game as Andy Bohnsack's late FACIALS resulted in a 412-422 loss for Bryan; happily, Bryan's shattered heart was partially reassembled with a 433-336 win against Dave Kinzer in the last game of the night.

3rd Richard Lauder finished at 3-1 +157, forty spread points ahead of Andy Bohnsack, who was also 3-1. All four of his games were over 400 points. He got a big win early, defeating the returning James Rollins 434-346 on the back of a 104-point MEMORIZE (James got down SPRINTER and STOUTEN). A 404-452 loss to Bryan was a setback, but it kept the 400-point streak alive, and was followed up by a 429-397 win against Steve Hartsman, where Richard found bingos of CODRIVEN and SETLINE. Victory was especially sweet against Helen Flores, as Richard had lost his previous three against her; this time, it was a 412-327 win for Richard, bolstered by finds of UNFILLED and HOLDERS.

Noteworthy was Mark Kenas' 591-370 win against Thomas Reinke, the ninth-highest-scoring game this year.

1st Charles Reinke notched first place by a margin of just sixteen spread points over a similarly-monikered foe, finishing 4-0 +429. His customary two-game Collins set against Mark Kenas went exactly according to plan (well, maybe not Mark's version of the plan), as Charles won both, 469-417 (playing CHARTERS, FOLATES, and DELETION) and 432-399 (playing CLOUDIER and LAETARES#). Mark did have the nice nine-letter SAGENITES# to ease the suffering in the second game. Charles got down three more bingos (HERNIAE, DERRISES, LAITANCE) while bulldozing Sara McLaughlin, 566-274. The relentless scoring assault slowed down for the final game, as Charles downed Bryan Benwitz in an atypically low-scoring game, 370-318, thus finishing 4-0 for the second time in three outings.

2nd Thomas Reinke fell just short of first place, going 4-0 +413 and averaging 477 points per game. The combined undefeatedness of the Reinkes might seem spectacular, but the feat was also achieved two weeks ago, so it's not spectacular at all, and might even be commonplace now. Thomas was thrown right into the proverbial fire for round one, facing off against Bryan Benwitz, where, despite the unceasing torment of proverbial flame, he prevailed 457-416. Bryan's sole bingo was BEEPING for 106, while Thomas had HEROICS, TANSIES, and DULLARDS. Seamlessly switching to Collins mode, Thomas beat Mark Kenas 453-325 on the back of FORSLOE# and STOVAINE#. Large amount of spread was accumulated in a 498-293 stomping of Andy Bohnsack, where Thomas monopolized the bingo output with OUTRAVES, BALDRICS, FEROCITY, and DEVISEE. Reinke domination was concluded with a high-scoring 498-459 bout against Mark Kenas, where each player had three bingos: ANEURINS, NAMASTE, and STEEVER# for Mark, RETIRAL#, AGATOID, and BACONERS# for Thomas.

3rd Andy Bohnsack finished 3-1 -56, proving that he can still win games even if he doesn't bingo a bazillion times (he only got four bingos total across his four games). He got a revenge win against Steve Hartsman after a loss the previous week, scoring 438 to Steve's 399 and getting down DISROOT (Steve had RINGTOSS). His game against David Kinzer was quite close, but Andy prevailed 375-366 despite Dave's word-of-the-week find of BUSHMEN. Words won't be wasted on Andy's spread-obliterating loss to Thomas Reinke, 293-498; instead, those words will be spent describing Andy's fourth-round 414-313 win over Helen Flores. Andy provided a lesson in the utility of high-probability seven-letter words, deploying AERIEST (probably 57) and ANEROID (probability 1), and also provided a lesson in the utility of reviewing high-probability eight-letter words, as he challenged Helen's valid SHOUTIER.

1st Bryan Benwitz averaged 470 points per game on his way to a slightly abbreviated, but still flawless, 3-0 +336 record. He barely got past Steve Hartsman in round one, winning their match 377-360. Only one bingo was played between the two players, Bryan's DISTRICT. Things heated up in round two as Bryan got a big win against Richard Lauder, 470-406; this time around, both players bingoed three times: IMAGOES, TUITION, and RELIERS were Bryan's, while Richard got LADRONES, SOOTIER, and CODDLER. Bryan's third and final game was a dominating performance against Andy Bohnsack: Bryan found TINWARE, GREMIAL, HOVERERS, and ANTLIKE to snag a 563-308 win.

2nd Thomas Reinke crammed in six games of Scrabble in a single session, a rarity, and while he missed out on a 6-0 record, his performance wasn't too much worse than that at 5-1 +184. The first of two two-on-one encounters resulted in Thomas' only loss, as he was smashed flat by Andy Bohnsack, 332-517. A win against Richard Lauder in the other half of the two-on-one, 391-337, helped ease the pain. In round two, Thomas went up against Mark Kenas and in the process set a new record for the year's highest combined score, their combined total of 1048 being one point higher than the previous record of 1047. The final score was 596-452, with Thomas providing six bingos (SARKIER, RATABLY, GATCHING, RADIALS, DUODENA, and POLONIE#) and Mark providing two (BIOTITE, HEADIEST). That combined total of eight bingos also ties a yearly record. Thomas went on to pick up wins against Carol (380-239), Charles Reinke (468-458) and Mark for the second time (420-400) to pad out his substantive collection of wins.

3rd Steve Hartsman overcame two early losses to finish 3-2 +305. He was held bingoless in a round-one loss to Bryan Benwitz, 360-377, and achieved that unfortunate distinction again in round two where he lost to Charles Reinke 272-485. But Steve came roaring back with a vengeance in the third round, playing a total of seven bingos in a two-on-one match that resulted in two huge wins, 492-303 against Sara McLaughlin and 553-251 against Richard Lauder. Against Sara, Steve got SWEETIE, VALERIAN, and TOMBACS, while his bingos against Richard were ENTWINED, FRESCOS, RETAINS, and COTTONED. Steve carried that momentum into the final game as he felled Andy Bohnsack 406-362, getting INDORSE and FABRICS to Andy's ATRESIA.

We welcomed new player Randall and welcomed back Jess to our ranks. Hopefully they found the competition invigorating and the raucous Yu-Gi-Oh! players not too distracting.

Carol's SNOOTFUL was word of the week.