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While Congresspeople Shut Down Government, Charles Reinke Shuts Down Scrabble Players' Hopes and Dreams

1st Charles Reinke's new goal to average 500 over a club season is proceeding apace, as he averaged 501 points per game while going 5-0 +856.  His "worst" game of the evening was a "mere" 442 points against Richard Lauder's 395.  Richard gets a pass however, as he was mauled by several bears on his way back from a month-long west-coast excursion, and through the haze of a heavy dose of morphine managed to find three bingos: REFUTERS, TANISTS (n. TANIST, the heir to a Celtic chief), and SHALIER.  Charles bingoed with MACULATE (v. to mark with spots) and DELTAIC, but such a paltry amount of bingos did little to warm the burnt heart-husk occupying his chest.  What did warm his heart was his 629-338 victory versus Lynda Finn, wherein he played PTOMAIN, BEGUILED, ABSOLVED, and the nine TITRATING (through the first T and the N).  Lynda put up a good fight by playing CAROTINS and the Word of the Week, JACONETS (n. JACONET, a cotton cloth).

2nd Mary Becker overcame a rough start to the club season and forced her way into the top three, finishing 3-1 +234.  Most of her spread was generously donated by June Scott, who fell to Mary 202-431.  Mary played BOONIES in that one.   Only Betty Hasselkus was able to throw a wrench into the ever-turning cogs of the Mary Machine, defeating her 371-342 with the help of bingos LOUSIER and LITTERS.

3rd Lynda Finn's 3-1 +51 was good for the bronze medal.  She was one agonizing point away from the mystical 600, scoring 599 (to Andy Bohnsack's 391) and getting three bingos: LINTERS, FESTOON, and the 149-point nine-timer COTERIES.  That combined score of 990 is the highest combined score so far this year.  Lynda also squeaked one out against Thomas Reinke, 389-387.  It just goes to show: the player who scores more points will usually win.

4th(?!?!?!?!) Betty Hasselkus missed out on third place by eleven spread points, going 3-1 +40.  For her trouble she gets to be mentioned in the writeup. 

Sue Goldstein on Two-Person Intermediate Group: "If You're Not First, You're Last"

1st Sue Goldstein went 1-2 -97, using the bingo of LETTERS to outscore June Scott 344-272. 

Surmounting Near-Insurmountable Adversity, Thomas Reinke Wins 'Em All

1st Thomas Reinke, befalled by misfortune on his way to club (Acute garage door malfunction), shook off the universe's agenda against him to take first place in the expert division, 4-0 +448.  He and Mary Becker rushed through their first-round game due to their late arrival, and Thomas consequently ended up with a low-scoring win, 346-322.  By the fourth game, however, he was firing on all of his multitude of cylinders, crushing his twin nemesis Charles, 496-316.  Thomas got TENDRILS and SOLUNAR (adj. of or relating to both the sun and the moon, e.g. a solunar calendar), with the lowlier twin finding SWIPLES (n. SWIPLE, a part of a threshing machine, also SWIPPLE).  As an extra bonus, Charles had just reached the ten-wins-in-a-row threshold that made every game against him worth a potential five dollars.

2nd Averaging 415 points per game, Helen Flores finished at 3-1 +139, edging out Gail Salm by seven spread points for second place.  She scored 400 or more in every contest and has now won six of her last seven.  Returning from a long absence, Buffy Hogan was shown no mercy as Helen beat her 416-317; Helen played SENATES and was countered by Buffy's FEASTING.  Helen was also awarded "most creative use of a phony" when she extended Thomas' phony OVERFUN with a D to make OVERFUND, while simultaneously playing her own bingo of GRIEVED.  Unfairly, that game was her only loss, as Thomas bested her 474-400.

3rd Gail Salm went 3-1 +132 and averaged two bingos a game en route to third place.  She capped off her evening with a 448-367 victory against Andy Bohnsack, finding three bingos on the way: CROPPER, RELATION, and SNEAKER.  Andy bingoed with QUOTABLE and ROSETTE, then soothed himself after the game by reminding himself that the NBA season, and thus fantasy basketball, is only a month away.  Not in every game were the tile gods smiling upon Gail; she was defeated by Bryan Benwitz 336-491, with Bryan playing a career-best FOUR bingos: MOISTEN, PREOWNED, REATONE, and LABORING.  Gail played WILIEST, but only rarely will one bingo outdo four of them.

Spread Always Matters, and Sue Goldstein Can Attest to That

1st Sue Goldstein went 1-2 +50.  She nearly cracked the 400-mark with a 395-263 drubbing of June Scott, playing PEALING and STRAINS to take control of that one.

2nd June Scott also had a 1-2 record, but her spread of -198 relegated her to second place in a diminished intermediate group.  She did beat Sue Goldstein 358-318 before calling it a night.

We found out via Mary Becker that Barb Besadny recently broke her hip and will be undergoing surgery soon.  If there's ever an excuse to miss Scrabble club (there isn't), this would be it.  We wish her the best!

A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss, but a Rolling Charles Reinke Gathers Plenty of Wins

1st Charles Reinke reeled off five straight wins en route to a 5-0 +470 performance.  The sound of clinking tiles provided a stark counterpoint to the stunned silence of his opponent as he crushed Helen Flores 611-280.  Helen played the word of the week, ULTIMAS (N. ultima, the last syllable of a word) as her only bingo while Charles played five of them: FAUVISH, UNCASING, INUNDATE, ENAMELED, and NITRIDE.  Three weeks into the season, that score of 611 is the highest yet played.  Mary Becker came closest to stopping the madness, losing by a score of 366-349; Charles' double-double nine-letter PASTORING was the difference-maker there.

2nd Helen Flores had her first top-three placement in a while, finishing 3-1 -182.  That negative spread might seem a little strange until you realize that she was on the receiving end of Charles' 600 game!  Displaying clear thinking in the face of pressure, she found the word DELOUSED at the end of her game against Barb Besadny, erasing Barb's large lead and winning 389-385 in the most closely-contested match of the evening.  Helen had one bingo in each game and is still averaging over one per game this season.

3rd Peter Schmiedicke went 3-and-reinkes with a positive 182 spread.  He started off strong with three wins in a row, including a 488-383 bout with Andy Bohnsack (playing TOADIED, CLEAVES, and REANOINT), then met the dual wrecking crew of Thomas and Charles Reinke.  He fought valiantly the whole way, putting down three bingos in each game, but couldn't quite pull out the desired victories.  On the plus side, his 446-501 loss against Charles is this year's highest loss so far, and he tied Charles for Bingo King honors with thirteen.

Expert Multitasker Sue Goldstein Beats Three Opponents While Reading Newspaper

1st Sue Goldstein went 3-1 +40.  After three games, she was 3-0 246 with a bingo to her name (AVOIDED vs. June Scott), but she found out the hard way that all good things must come to an end; she lost to Betty Hasselkus 266-472.  Thankfully, for the second straight week, there were cookies present to soothe the pain.

2nd Harwinder Dowd ended at 2-1 +30, playing one bingo in each game: SISTERS, CUSSING, and LAMENTS.  Her highest game came against Betty Hasselkus, whom she beat 376-350.