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1st Andy Bohnsack crushed most (but not all) of his opponents with a 4-1 +449 record. His two-on-one set in round one was an unqualified success, as he vanquished both Lynda Finn (436-364) and Dennis Lloyd (516-324). The only blemish was a phony of RONDEAUS* against Dennis - RONDEAU only pluralizes to RONDEAUX (meanwhile, a word like TONNEAU pluralizes both ways). Phonies struck again when Andy beat Bryan Benwitz 404-337 with TRIGONAL and ALENCONE* (ALENCON is valid). All eyes will be on Andy's scoresheet in future weeks as we try to figure out if he has become a serial phonier or if this is a one-off anomaly. Andy dominated Thomas Reinke in the next game, getting down BRASSED and FUSIONAL for a 555-367 win. Sadly, success against Reinkes was fleeting as a loss to Charles Reinke in the final round, 394-464, ended Andy's hopes of remaining undefeated.

2nd Charles Reinke went 4-1 +135, losing his first game before reeling off four straight. That first-round loss was to Mark Kenas, 414-469; Mark's triple-triple of ESCAPADE for 140 proves once again that playing triple-triples is a Very Good Idea. In round two, Charles crawled to a 328-292 win against Carol Ormand, where he played the game's only bingo, HAULIERS. Finds of ENTICES and YEARLIES (the latter for 95 points) delivered Charles a win over Dave Kinzer, 422-375. Facing off against Mark for a second go-around, Charles prevailed in a high-scoring bout, 502-465, thanks to ISOGRIV, VERATRUM, and DEARIES. A 464-394 victory against Andy Bohnsack in the last game was nice, but Charles would have liked to win by more (like, 160 more) to snag first place.

3rd Thomas Reinke finished 3-2 with a negative spread of -82. He got an early win against Richard Lauder, 386-313, despite allowing Richard's phony DASHOON* (DAHOONS and DASHEEN are both good). A high-powered Collins matchup against Mark Kenas in round two ended 475-466 in Thomas' favor, despite Thomas being outbingoed (ISOLATED and POTHEENS vs. SEELING, DOWNRATE, and REELMAN#). Thomas' point spread was obliterated in round three as he fell to Andy Bohnsack, 367-355. For the final game, Thomas played two at once, and he performed adequately against tough competition, downing Bryan Benwitz 414-272 but losing to Mark 373-491. Mark's bingos in that game (VINOUSLY, SKIORERS, and word-of-the-week CROWFEET) show the benefits of studying deep into the dictionary.

1st Dave Kinzer went 3-0 +248, nailing down his first undefeated record in over two years. He started off nicely with a 420-365 win over Lynda Finn, countering her DENGUES with his own bingo of REFROZE (no word on if it was ever extended to PREFROZE). That was followed up by a big win against Charles Reinke, 462-390; Dave's crafty find of LUMBAGO withstood Charles' bonus plays of PARECISM and TERRIES. Dave's flawless night finished with a 387-266 victory against Lynn McDonald, and with nothing left to prove, Dave wisely departed, guaranteeing that a fourth-round loss could not mar his impeccable scoresheet.

2nd Charles Reinke went 4-1 +165, reversing his 1-4 record from the previous week. He got revenge on Mark Kenas by winning their first match, 449-418; Mark found ELDRITCH (also spelled ELDRICH), but fell to Charles' EQUALIZE and PONTAGE#. Charles was tasked with a two-on-one match in round two, and saw partial success, beating Richard Lauder 414-296 despite playing no bingos, but losing to Dave Kinzer 390-462. Scores went into the stratosphere for round three, where a rematch against Mark ended with a 516-473 win for Charles; Charles bingoed with HOARILY, SEETHING, and ROTATING, while Mark had DEPONENT and TENTWISE# (Players of the American lexicon would need to find TWENTIES there). But those stratospheric scores fell short of the even-more-stratospheric (mesospheric?) scores that resulted from Charles' final game against Steve Hartsman. Steve fought valiantly (playing AGAMIDS and CASETTES) and got the highest loss of the year (so far) with a 477, but Charles (with IRONWOOD, TELEVIEW, and REBOOKED) came in at 522. Their combined 999 points is the second-highest combined total this year.

3rd Thomas Reinke went 3-1 +373. He got the first 600-point game of the year (well, maybe the first; more on that later) when he dropped 657 against John Bialek, bingoing with TENSORS, ARRIVALS, LOADING, and PECTIZE. That was "maybe" the first 600-point game of the year because Steve Hartsman scored 603 in the same round, and we're not sure which player finished their game first. Thomas' luck ran dry in round two, where he was felled by Mark Kenas, 392-484. It's possible that it never occurred to Thomas that scoring 600 points in every game, and not just some games, would be a reliable way to win more often. In the third game, Thomas barely escaped with the win against Andy Bohnsack, 394-384. Andy played BEARPAW for 109, while Thomas had SHARABLE. Thomas returned to his high-scoring ways for the final game, defeating Mark 532-440 thanks to EPINAOI, AUTOGIRO, OARSMEN, and MUTAGENS.

1st Thomas Reinke dominated with a 5-0 +487 record and fourteen total bingos. His domination was not quite as all-encompassingly dominant at the start of the night, as he won his first game by just a single point, 422-421 vs. Mark Kenas. The domination switch was conclusively switched to the "on" position for round two, where Thomas played Richard Lauder and Steve Hartsman in a two-on-one, winning both games handily: 466-353 against Richard (with ANURESES, RESIZING, GIROLLES) and 476-374 against Steve (with AEROSATS, TERGITES). He went up against Mark again for the following game, and spewed forth five bingos (TOOTLED, SHIFTILY, RAILHEAD, INOSINES, SAVAGER), and with Mark only getting one (MANRIDER#), it was a hefty win for Thomas, 534-363. In the final round clash of the undefeateds, Thomas defeated Bryan Benwitz by an even 100, 438-338.

2nd Bryan Benwitz enjoyed a 3-1 +416 record, incrementally shifting his yearly winning percentage upward. He trounced Charles Reinke in round one, winning 484-353 on the back of STOOLED, MARSHIER, AUNTIES, and ESTATES (Charles got the not-so-fun FUNICLE as his single bingo). A showdown against James Rollins saw Bryan's bingo output be reduced to one bingo of SIMILAR, but Bryan still came away with the win, 413-293. After taking Richard to the cleaners in the third game, 505-240, Bryan was aiming for an undefeated 4-0 record; sadly, 'twas not to be, as he was sent packing by Thomas Reinke, 338-448.

3rd Dennis Lloyd went 2.5-1.5 (the .5 being a tie), finishing ahead of the other 2.5-1.5 finisher by 46 spread points. The tie occurred in round one, as Dennis and Steve Hartsman fought to a draw, 379-379. Dennis got down AQUATIC while Steve had GROOVILY. Dennis followed that up with a 448-380 win against Andy Bohnsack, getting POINTED and ENDORSES to outscore Andy's high-probability ISOLEAD. Things went south for the third game as Dennis wasn't quite able to take down Dave Kinzer; the final score of their game was 357-364. Not one for winning by unseemly amounts, Dennis notched a 382-363 win against Charles Reinke in the final game, holding his bingo-prone opponent to no bingos while getting down LASSIES and LUNETTE for himself.