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Madison Scrabble Club Lives Up To Its Name, Scrabbles in Madison

1st Charles Reinke, for the second week in a row, made a clean sweep through the ranks of Madison's best Scrabblers (admittedly, perhaps slightly compromised on this night), going 4-0 +402. He made his lone bingo count against Mary in the first round, playing the 9-letter AIRSPACES en route to a 150-point win. The bingos flowed more freely in his 464-378 win against Bryan, where Charles opened with a natural EYEWEAR and later added LIFTERS and JETLAGS. Now is the time to talk about his third game against Aaron, but I won't because they only played one bingo apiece and I think that's really lame by their standards. Charles won, anyway. That's all you need to know. In the final game, Dennis had a chance to overtake Charles for the club crown (the weekly one, not the yearly one), but fell short 359-422. Charles got down MORPHINE for 101 as well as EMANATOR for not 101, against Dennis' DEADENS.

2nd Thomas Reinke went 4-1 +268, good for second place. He perfectly executed the strategy of "lose your first game so you can avoid Charles for as long as possible or maybe entirely", strategically losing to Bryan in his first game, 360-485. Onlookers were in awe of his cunning. Thomas then rattled off 4 straight wins against non-Charles competition, starting with a win against Susan, 434-344, featuring bingos of SHINNIES, MONILIAE, and REUSING. In the third game, Mary kept the game close the entire way, only to lose by 13. Thomas' extension of PITIES to OUTPITIES on a closed board helped seal the deal. Sitting at 2-1 but still with a negative spread, Thomas went out at gained 280 points of it by playing two at once, Helen and Dave.

3rd Peter Schmiedicke came in third with a 3-1 +243 record. He won big against Barb in his opening match, 497-288, playing RENAILS and the somewhat-appropriate-given-current-events-and-that's-all-I'm-going-to-say-about-that phony VOTINGS*. As Aaron would say, "It's good in Collins!". Speaking of Aaron, he defeated Peter in the second game with the aid of the night's highest-scoring bingo, ENQUIRES for 122. The 537-400 end result of that game is the second highest combined point total this year. After an unusually low-scoring 377-334 win against Bryan, he dropped 496 on a unsuspecting (actually with Peter involved she probably was suspecting plenty) Gail, playing RECITED and HATREDS.

Dennis played the word-of-the-week, UNDELETE (v. to undo the deletion of), as well as phony-of-the-week, CRAISIN* (n. a dried cranberry). If you ever find yourself with CRAISIN* on your rack, look for an open M for MINICARS or an open S for NARCISSI. Don't look for a 7-letter word, because you won't find one, or any other 8-letters words because there aren't any others.

ATTENTION: Charles Reinke Let a Phony Two-Letter Word Go By With Nary a "Hold"

1st Charles Reinke showcased the skills that have him ranked as the 24th best Scrabble player in North America, going 5-0 +783 with an average of 481. He also showcased a skill that is not of much use in sanctioned tournament play: the ability to play, and win, two games at once, which he did in the first round against Betty and Sue. He then faced Andy in a game which could be described as a "comedy of errors". Well, one or two errors, anyway. Charles played DOGTAIL with a blank O, which Andy misinterpreted as DIGITAL, leading to a later phony play of XO* by Andy which went unchallenged by Charles. Confused yet? They certainly were! Charles ended up winning 438-417 playing the additional bingos of TAENITE and DEPRIVALS to Andy's WARTIMES and ORALIST. In the third game, he beat Richard, 529-303, playing EXHALES, GIDDIES, and LINNETS. Before you feel too bad for Richard, he ended up getting revenge in his own way. In the final round, the battle for first place, Charles defeate Mary with the double-double FETATION (n. the development of a fetus) and the 9-letter UNREELERS.

2nd Andy Bohnsack feasted on cake and the aspirations of fellow Scrabblers as he compiled a 3-1 +229 record. He started off with a bang against Gail, playing 4 bingos, LARDIER, REHEARD, MESSING, and SONATINE (n. plural of SONATINA, a short sonata (n. a type of musical (adj. pertaining to music (n. organized vocal or instrumental sounds)) composition)). After suffering through his loss against Charles, he returned with renewed vigor to narrowly beat Bryan, 424-415. Bryan played ENSERFS and HARDIES against Andy's WARTIMES and NEONATAL. Andy then proved his versatility by not bingoing and still winning, 342-329 against Lynda. Bingos are fun, but winning is funner! Maybe. I guess it depends. Words of wisdom incoming: try to do both.

3rd Richard Lauder did his share of winning and bingoing, ending up at 3-1 +85. His first two games saw him play seven bingos to earn two wins, TINDERS, ELOIGNED, ANNOTATE, and DOCENTS against Lynda, and DESCALE, ROSULATE (new anagram OESTRUAL), and OUTRACE against Barb. He ran into an unstoppable Charles in the third round, but got his revenge against Thomas, winning 395-369. Thomas bingoed late in that game with the word-of-the-week POLYNYAS (n. POLYNYA, an area of open water surrounded by ice, alternate plural POLYNYI), but Richard then went out, finding his only available bingo of OTALGIA (n. pain in the ear) to win.

Andy Bohnsack Continues Winning Ways

1st Andy Bohnsack went 4-0 +176 after going 4-1 and 4-0 in the previous two weeks, launching him into the top spot on the yearly club standings with a 76.7% win rate. If he continues to build on this momentum we can expect maybe one or two more losses for the rest of this calendar year. However, his wins were not by huge margins; his first game against Susan Vergeront could very easily have been a loss, as he needed an out-bingo of LANCERS to secure a 433-418 win. Also played in that game were REBOOTED and STAYING; Susan got down TUNDRAS and GENERIC. Another close game, this time against Mary Becker, ended with the same score for Andy (433) but a slightly lower score for Mary (412). Andy again had three bingos (SNORTERS, CARATES, and GLISTEN) but was unable to turn those plays into a commanding lead. In his other two games, he ruined the undefeated aspirations of two players who went 3-1; their sad stories will be told in the following paragraphs.

2nd Bryan Benwitz finished at 3-1 with a sizable +464 spread total, thanks to his hefty 469 per-game average. He pulled off the always-impressive Anti-Reinke, holding the twins combined to just one bingo while Bryan played eight total in the two games. A win against Thomas was the most impressive, 510-313. Bryan didn't allow Thomas to play any bingos (always a sound strategy), but played five of them himself: TOWLINES, ISOLATE, APHIDES, FUSIONS, and SARDINED. A 463-381 victory over Charles saw the twin at least get down a bingo (the nine-letter PAGINATES), but Bryan's three bingos of SCORNER, TOMENTA, and BUSTLERS made easy work of last year's club champion. Carrying an undefeated record into the final game, Bryan ran into the indomitable Scrabble might of Andy Bohnsack, who easily claimed victory for his own, 443-351.

3rd Aaron Bader also ended up with three wins at 3-1 +174. He encountered the undefeated and undefeatable Andy Bohnsack in the second game of the night and lost 386-434, but did play the word of the week, SOFTCORE, as one of his bingos (the other bingo, GAUDIEST, was not even in contention for word of the week). After that loss, he, like Bryan, executed a flawless Anti-Reinke in his final two games. Rarely do two players beat both Reinkes on the same night! Aaron took down Thomas by a score of 462-386, then achieved a similar result against Charles, 460-397. His bingo list in the two games was not as large as Bryan's, but was still respectable: GRILLED, REDENIES, FARRAGO, CONDEMNS, and STROBILI.

Thomas Reinke got the second 600-point game of this club season when he scored 623 against Richard Lauder. The 248 points Thomas got for his triple-triple of MOBILIZE were almost enough to win the game by themselves.