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1st Thomas Reinke crushed his opponents in what some might deem an excessive manner, averaging 507 per game while going 5-0 +754. He showed no hospitality to the long-absent (and now maybe even longer-absent) Aaron Bader, sweeping their set of games by scores of 513-369 and 509-460. Eight total bingos, four in each game, did a significant amount of damage: LISSOME, AFFAIRE, ARSENATE, BOWERED, WORRITED, NUTHOUSE, LARGESSE, and CABALLED. Thomas had another four-bingo game in a win over Lynda Finn, 544-332; his bingos there were OVERLAID, RECLINE, AZOTISE, and the phony DIRHEMS* (it's good in Collins; DIRHAMS is the valid spelling in NWL). In the final round, Thomas slowed down his bingoing, but his scoring didn't slow down appreciably as he took advantage of a two-on-one game to pick up two more wins. Late arrival Dennis Lloyd was punished for his tardiness as Thomas won going away, 511-283, finding LUREXES and TARDIES (very appropriate) vs. Dennis' SMARTIE. And the sometimes-unbeatable Bryan Benwitz was felled as well, 338-459, despite a 104-point phony MISSERS* from the losing side (Thomas had RADIATOR and TONSILAR).

2nd Charles Reinke went 4-1 +390 with a 471 per-game average. He started nicely with a 514-408 win against Andy Bohnsack, countering Andy's AEROSOL and RETINAL with BORNITES, TEIGLACH, and AVOWERS. In round two, Charles beat Aaron Bader in a Collins-lexicon match, 432-345, despite Aaron's nifty nine-letter find of ENDOCRINE. A two-on-one bout in round three saw Charles suffer his only loss of the evening, and it was quite a big one as Lynda Finn trounced him, 491-328. Lynda's bingos of DARNEST and BRASSIER were countered by...nothing, revealing that the secret to beating Charles is to somehow stop him from bingoing. At the same time that loss was occurring, Charles defeated Ron Malzer 531-328. Charles finished up with a blowout 550-393 win over Aaron Bader (who was heard muttering "this game sucks"); the star play was Charles' 194-point triple-triple QUINTALS, which is tied for 7th-highest-scoring bingo in our current statkeeping system, the other 194-pointers being Jim Frankki's STARCHES and Dave Gilligan's INVEIGHS. Bryan's ZIPPIEST and Thomas' MOBILIZE, both for 248, are highest, although some old-timers may remember Andy's LALIQUES for 293, which was played several years before the current statkeeping system was introduced.

3rd Lynda Finn went 4-1 with a lesser spread of +186. Displaying remarkable strategic acumen, Lynda picked up two wins in round one, vaulting her ahead of all the simpletons who saw fit to only play a single game in the first round. Lynda's 415-295 win over Sara McLaughlin was bolstered by a 102-point CHERRIES, while her 438-373 victory against Richard Lauder was bolstered by a pair of phonies, ALLEDGE* and NOSERING* (looking for NEGRONIS there). Some sort of karmic justice was meted upon Lynda in the next round as she did not get a bingo in a 332-544 loss to Thomas Reinke, but in round three, she refused to let herself be intimidated by the other Reinke, and the result was a 491-328 win. A 415-365 win versus the returning Karl Armstrong, with bingos of REAPERS and UNITARDS, secured Lynda's spot in the top three.

Richard's find of SCAPULAE was word of the week.

1st Bryan Benwitz finished in first place for the third week in a row with a pristine 4-0 +503 record, ensuring a repeat performance of last year's club championship. He started off with a big 461-331 win over Helen Flores, finding MATELOTE, SIGNIORY, and the phony-but-believable DISHERS* for his bingos. Three more bingos, this time all legit, led Bryan to a no-doubt-about-it 505-300 win against Richard Lauder; Richard got down PURITIES, but Bryan's MANTUAS, SATURATE, and SORICINE were just too mucuh. Bryan played another phony in round three, leading one to speculate whether his nickname should change from Bingowitz to Phonywitz, but the result was still a win as he easily took down Thomas Reinke, 539-391, playing SIERRAN, LEMONISH, and MATTIEST* (MATIEST is good). In round four, Bryan finally ran out of gas, but he still managed to clinch the perfect record by beating Andy Bohnsack 375-356.

2nd Thomas Reinke grabbed second place by going 3-1 with a smaller than usual point spread of +97. Game one saw Thomas get brotherly vengeance against Charles Reinke, 422-388, an act which is basically equivalent to punching a mirror. Thomas had ASSUMED and WINNERS (appropriate word) vs. Charles' BOEHMITE and OVERWET. Thomas then picked up a low-scoring 348-311 win versus Lynda Finn, finding RENOWNS to Lynda's DECANTED. Facing off against Bryan Benwitz turned out to be a significant impediment to winning Scrabble games (as it so often is), as Thomas suffered his only loss, 391-539, but redemption was soon achieved when Thomas finished his night with a 450-276 win against Richard Lauder.

3rd Andy Bohnsack crept into third place, going 3-2 +375. A two-on-one game in round one was a mixed bag, with a 466-315 win against Sara McLaughlin being offset by a 334-375 loss to Lynda Finn. Lynda managed to get that win despite not getting down a bingo; Andy had one bingo of CRIMPLED for all the good that did him. A strong 458-411 win over Charles Reinke followed, with Andy finding SNORTER and MILTIER to Charles' INDIGENE, ROUSTED, and LATICES (three cheers for high-probability bingos). The highlight of Andy's evening was a 524-287 win against Helen Flores, but that triumph was short lived as Andy's lofty dreams of a first-place finished were flattened by a 356-375 loss to Bryan Benwitz in the final round.  Bingo finds of ELECTRIC and NEONATAL reportedly did little to ease the pain.

We welcomed new player Melody Brown into our ranks, and while she didn't win a game (a tragically common fate for first-time clubgoers), she did well and we hope she returns!

1st Bryan Benwitz reprised his first-place effort from last week, although this time he was slowed down a little bit with a 3-1 +225 record. A commanding win against Helen Flores in round one, 482-309, set him up nicely for future success. Helen's bingo of PLATTERS was bested by Bryan's BLOUSED, SATINIER, and EARSHOTS. Bryan continued to pile on bingos to his already sizeable pile of them with a 459-375 victory over Charles Reinke, getting down LEALTIES, DISTRAIN, and LOUNGIER to Charles' sole STEERAGE. A match against the other Reinke did not go as smoothly; Bryan's single bingo of PALATES represented a considerable reduction of his potent powers of bingoage, while Thomas had AUTISTIC and STRIDDEN to take the 444-367 win. The final game of the night saw Bryan fight Richard Lauder to a high-scoring 466-421 final total. This time, the bingos were evenly split, with Bryan getting CENTARES and BITTERS to Richard's NEAREST and BLOOMER.

2nd Thomas Reinke went 3-1 +162 to complete a top-two identical to last week's top two. Always eager to get some Collins games in, Thomas played a set of games against familiar opponent Charles Reinke (no relation), and split them, 440-500 in round one and 516-445 in round four. That round-one game saw Charles severely outbingo his brother (ORGEATS, PROTEANS, ODORISE#, SHETLAND vs. a lonely RESITING), but fortunes were swapped in the rematch and Thomas found it was his turn to bingo four times (NUGGETS, NAILSET, DEWATER, FINALIZE vs. KERATIN and TREATING). In between those games, Thomas picked up two additional wins with spookily similar scores, 441-367 against Sara McLaughlin and 444-367 against Bryan Benwitz.

Helen Flores received "Thanksgiving Word of the Week" with PLATTERS, which might be a stretch, but not as much of a stretch as the other candidates: Sara's HEARTILY and Bryan's PALATES. A $500 gift card for Yankee Candle, to be spent exclusively on pumpkin-spice-scented candles, is currently en route to Helen via carrier pigeon.