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1st Bryan Benwitz came very close to averaging 500 for the session, his 498 per-game average propelling him to a clean sweep, 4-0 +515. In a first-round battle between club nos. 1 and 2, Bryan vanquished Charles Reinke, 442-429, with bingo finds of QUAVERS and CENTROID. Immediately thrust into a game against the other Reinke, Bryan again got the win, playing GARNERED, RATIFIES, and STRIVEN for a 475-422 final score (Thomas had SHENDING and UNAFRAID). Bryan continued to pile on the bingos in roundthree as he played four of them (GARROTED, OVERSTEP, NOTIFIED, PTOMAINS) to take down Lynda Finn in a high-scoring 541-422 contest. The worrying trend of Bryan showing absolutely no mercy whatsoever towards his Scrabble opponents showed no signs of abating in the final round; in fact, Bryan's ruthless tendencies only seemed to grow in intensity as he smashed Richard Lauder 534-204 to take undisputed first place in the weekly standings. OVERLAIN, BEHEADS, and AIRFARES were his bingos there.

2nd Charles Reinke averaged a nice 491 points per game, finishing 4-1 +423. He got his singular loss out of the way early in the night when he was defeated by Bryan Benwitz 429-442; luckily, this loss was, via the unexplained magic of two-on-one games, balanced out by a 459-364 win vs. Helen Flores where Charles had LOONIER, RETAINER, and SINUSOID. Charles' regularly-scheduled two-game match against Mark Kenas was an unqualified success as Charles ran away with both games, 544-331 and 540-371. Six bingos were played by Charles in those two games: SEDATELY, DUELIST, MISDOING, DUALISE, SNIFTER, and the rarely-seen VOCALIC. The fourth win on Charles' scorecard was a 481-422 bout against Andy Bohnsack, where Charles prevailed despite being outbingoed two (WISPIER, SANDBURR) to three (COMMUNE, NATURISM, ATAVIST).

3rd Thomas Reinke came back from an atypical 1-4 performance last week to go 3-2 +321. A 445-355 win against Mark Kenas started him off right, with Thomas finding REORIENT and RAMRODS to Mark's ENSEALS#. Sadly, losing to Bryan Benwitz 422-475 in round two put to rest Thomas' aspirations for an undefeated night. In round three, Thomas played a two-on-one and split the pair, doing well against Sara McLaughlin, 475-301, but losing a close one to Mark, 454-461. Mark played some relatively normal words (at least by his standards) with TRIBADE, TENABLE, and DOSSIER, while Thomas found PEONAGE and CLICHED, to add to the bingos of INDAMINE, HORRIDLY, and GOOSIER that he had against Sara. Thomas ended with a 459-342 win against late arrival Dennis Lloyd.

1st The long-suffering Mark Kenas, cursed for eternity to only play games in the international Collins lexicon, finally broke through the barrier that his twin tormentors present him on a weekly basis, finishing 4-0 +267. His perfect record stands in stark opposition to his 0-4 effort the week before. Mark started off strong with a 486-399 win against Charles Reinke, getting SERAPHIN and DISMALER to Charles' heavy-hitting IMBIBERS for 106 (a word which would have been more relevant last week, when we played at a bar). Mark followed that up with his big win of the night, a 510-406 slugfest against Thomas Reinke where, again, Mark was able to turn away a high-scoring opponent bingo (this time, EFTSOON for 106) with some of his own (SPEARMEN, OUTTRICK, INOSITE). Another big win against Charles followed, 488-441, this time with Mark finding DENOTING, MOSSING, and UNHIVED#. Perfection was attained when Mark downed Thomas in the final round, 423-394, appending three more bingos to his sizable list of bonus plays: TRIMERIC, ANALECTS, and AUNTLIKE.

2nd Bryan Benwitz topped 400 in all his games as he went 3-1 +304, nudging up his yearly win percentage by just a little bit as we head into the last few months of the club season. Bryan's first round match against Ron Malzer went exactly to plan with a big 452-367 victory, supplemented by bingos of NUTRIAS and ATTENDS. Another solid win followed as Bryan felled Sara McLaughlin 414-319, getting SLINGER to her CAMERAS. Bryan kicked into high gear in round three with his highest score of the night, a 467-324 win against Lynda Finn. Bryan got TAMEINS, SLANDER, and the crafty OOMIAKS (an alternate spelling of our beloved UMIAQ) as his bingos. A 4-0 outing was in grasp heading into the last round, but Bryan fell just a bit short of Andy Bohnsack, playing one bingo (DIALIST) in a 401-420 defeat.

 3rd Charles Reinke went 3-2 (or "three and Mark") with a +356 spread total. A 399-486 loss to Mark at the outset was a bad omen, but a good omen quickly arrived to supplant the bad one as Charles proceeded to defeat Richard Lauder 458-330. Charles found ICICLES and INFORMER in that one, while Richard had SULTANA. In round three, Charles played a two-on-one and split the pair, losing to Mark 441-488 but winning against Andy Bohnsack, 469-356 (Charles had the straightforward GIRASOL and AUDITED, while Andy had the flashier HETAERIC). The best was saved for last as Charles romped in round four, defeating Lynda Finn 508-259 on the back of INKPOTS and BESTIAL.

1st Charles Reinke convincingly took the top podium spot with an unblemished 4-0 +725 record and a quite obscene 528 per-game average, his highest ever session average (topping a 524 back in 2015). Drawing off the frenzied energy of the gathered patrons of the bar next to our temporary playing area, Charles' Scrabble dominance could only have been stopped by a well-aimed barstool to the head, which (un?)fortunately did not happen. His only game below 500 was a 478-422 win over Mark Kenas in his first game - a 122-point 3x3 of SONICATE was helpful there.  Playing two-on-one against Lynda Finn and Richard Lauder in the next round, Charles won both games by substantial margins, 537-313 against Lynda (bingos: LEGATEES, CODRIVER, DUSTMAN) and 586-312 against Richard (NONGLARE, PLAUSIVE, COPEMATE, SNAKEPIT, LARDIEST). Charles got a repeat win against Mark Kenas at the end of the night, 511-340, a score that should not be taken as any kind of indicator of Mark's inebriation (or sobriety) at that late stage of the evening.

2nd Thomas Reinke went 3-1 +389 with a hefty, but ultimately unimpressive when compared with his brother's, average of 479 per game. He got an early Collins-lexicon win against Mark Kenas, 418-395, despite just one bingo of VEXATION (Mark found DITTIES, SINGING, and word-of-the-week PHORONID). After taking a break to eat some food (verdict on Hank's Italian Beef Burger: good, but too much mayo [who puts mayo on Italian beef?]), Thomas returned to notch another win against Mark, this time a bit more convincingly, 452-340. His bingos were AIRSOME and TEARGAS, showing he is not above playing common, high-probability bingos when the situation calls for it. Thomas ended his abbreviated session with a ruthless 566-312 beatdown of Andy Bohnsack, bingoing with the fearsome foursome of OUTSAID, ANALYZED, TOASTIER, and VANITIED.

3rd Andy Bohnsack returned from a somewhat lengthy absence to go 3-1 +19. Things started off nicely with a win against the current top dog of the club, 436-411 vs. Bryan Benwitz. Andy immediately found his bingo mojo (bojo?) with COARSER, NEGATORS, and ADOPTING; Bryan had VERNIXES and FORENAME. A lower-scoring 377-358 win over Richard Lauder followed, but it was just the calm before the storm as Andy then went ham on Sara McLaughlin, prevailing in their encounter 551-322. Sara did get down EARLIER in the midst of the drubbing, while Andy got EIDOLON, CURTAILS, and TONIEST. Andy's 3-0 record was looking pretty good at that point, but it all came crashing down in a spread-obliterating 312-566 match against Thomas Reinke, a loss that even a basket of chicken tenders couldn't assuage.