Blog

1st Thomas Reinke was top dog for the second straight week, going 4-0 +569 and averaging 503 points per game. A 548-271 win against Carol Ormand got him off to a good start; her NOTATES was dwarfed by his TEMPING, GORILLAS, and nine-letter DEIONIZED. Thomas continued to pummel his opponents, showing few (if any) outward signs of remorse as he thrashed Mark Kenas 495-368 (playing ANTIRAPE and GLORIFY) and Andy Bohnsack 476-350 (playing SPORULE and ENURETIC). It wasn't until the final round where Thomas was substantially challenged, but he was still able to get another win off Mark, 494-455, bingoing with ANTARAS#, ACINOSE, and UTILISER, while Mark had TOUKING#, FORELIE#, and MANLIEST.

2nd Richard Lauder also went 4-0 but with a more staid spread total of +113. Game one against Steve Hartsman was a subdued affair, as neither player bingoed; in the end, Richard pulled out a 351-327 win. The action picked up a bit as Richard was able to fend off Andy Bohnsack in round two, 387-380. Richard got OUTRANGE and PUNKIEST, while Andy had ENTRANTS and ZLOTIES (one of many plurals of the Polish currency ZLOTY - the others are ZLOTE, ZLOTYS, and ZLOTYCH). The trend of too-close-to-be-comfortable wins continued as Richard felled Bryan Benwitz 389-374, outbingoing Bryan two to one (MANLIER, URINATED vs. STROBES). Showing remarkable consistency, Richard again score in the 380 range as he put the finishing touch on his perfect evening by defeating Sara McLaughlin 386-319.

3rd Bryan Benwitz went 3-1 +283, but with only four bingos (well below his yearly average of 2.07 per game), one feels that he could have done much more damage than he actually did. Bryan did not bingo in a 406-319 win against Helen Flores, while Helen was able to get down TAGLINE (but not before an appropriate amount of mourning for an unplayable GELATIN). In round two, Bryan overcame Dave Kinzer's 88-point PLAYABLE with his own 76-point EMPTIED to win 408-352. A 374-389 loss to Richard Lauder was a temporary setback, but Bryan made up that lost ground (and then some) by taking Andy Bohnsack to school, 487-332. Bryan found DISOMIC and COOKERS to Andy's LABIATE and ANTIRED.

We welcomed newcomer Ed Nawrocki to our ranks. He scored his first-ever club win with a nice 429-215 win over Kelsey Stanczak, thanks to bingos of AIRTIME and SANDERS. We were also happy to have seasoned tournament player Mary Parrish join us from out west.

1st Thomas Reinke came in first place yet again, going 4-1 +202 and strengthening his first-place spot in the yearly standings with roughly two months to go in the year. He took on two at once in the first round and collected two victories, creaming Steve Hartsman 458-278 and fighting off Helen Flores, 423-385. Thomas then went up against Mark Kenas, and, typically for their Collins-lexicon matchups, it was a high-scoring affair; sadly, it was a loss for Thomas, 400-520, despite some neat bingo finds of MYOSOTE and BESPRENT (Mark had INACTIVE, INTERIOR, and PERIDOT). Staying true to his club-leading 2.36 bingos per game, Thomas piled on the bingos in his round-three match against Bryan Benwitz, slapping down PARADES, SILICATES, LEGATINE, and NOCTULE on his way to a 479-443 win. For the final game, Thomas got revenge against Mark, winning 477-409 with bingos of FUNKIER, ANCONAL, and OREADES#.

2nd Bryan Benwitz went 3-1 +327, nicely making up for the previous week's 1-3 record. A week's worth of pent-up craving for Scrabble domination was unleashed fully in round one, as Bryan bulldozed Richard Lauder by a score of 516-263, bingoing with MATINEE, TURNABLE, and MANGONEL. Bryan got down three more bingos (MAENADS, ALEURONS, GRIMNESS) while defeating Charles Reinke 447-391. Immediately faced with the other Reinke, Bryan suffered his only loss against Thomas, 443-479, while only bingoing once with ICINESS. Bryan got back to his bingoing ways for round four, getting LYDDITES, TALCIER, and RESTING in a 437-383 win against Steve Hartsman, who had CLARINET and OPSONISE.

3rd Dave Kinzer went 2-1 +24, prevailing in the standings over a large contingent of players who had 2-2 records. In round one, he squared off against Andy Bohnsack, and while he did not bingo himself, he also prevented Andy from bingoing; the result was a completely bingoless 363-346 win for Dave. Future Andy opponents, take note. Dave suffered a setback in the second game, losing handily to Lynda Finn, 313-461; again, Dave didn't bingo, and his strategy from the first game failed as Lynda got down HANDSET and VIRGATE. Dave's night ended with a 392-237 win against newcomer Kelsey Stanczak, 392-237, thanks to his find of INDOLES. (Kelsey's other game worked out better for her, as she beat Carol Ormand 326-253 and had the nice find of POINTES).

Steve's TURBOCAR was word of the week.

1st Thomas Reinke overcame an emergency relocation of club operations to go 4-1 +370. He quickly hopped into to the loser's bracket with a first-round loss to Charles Reinke, 439-448, despite flexing his Collins knowledge as a form of intimidation (BANDELET#, PAGODITE#, and EARWIGS). Thomas then ran off four straight victories, starting with comfortable wins over Richard Lauder (532-286) and Bryan Benwitz (469-367). A 118-point double-double of STERILIZE against Richard was word of the week. In the final round, Thomas had to utilize all of his available brainpower to prevail in both games of a two-on-one match: he got a revenge win against Charles, 472-445, playing PIGOUTS, CERRADO#, and SEXTAINS to Charles' OLDSTER, TARTANES#, and TEGUMINA, as well as securing a hotly-contested 419-415 victory over Steve Hartsman, playing BEDEWING and PHENETOL to Steve's high-prob TRAINEE.

2nd Charles Reinke went 3-1 +355 with a per-game average of 480. He used -ED bingos to great effect in the first game, playing RESINED and FRESCOED to defeat his brother 448-439. This was followed up with a dominating 611-310 victory over Andy Bohnsack; 611 is the third-highest score this season and the fifth 600+ game overall. Charles reached such scoring heights with relatively high-probability seven-letter words as his bingos: GRADATE, BOLETES, SARDINE, and KATIONS. Charles' bingo output slowed down in the third game, but his singular LENTOIDS was enough to beat Steve Hartsman 417-345. Sadly, a 445-472 rematch loss to Thomas in the last game put a cruel end to Charles' desires for an undefeated evening.

3rd Sara McLaughlin bounced back from a recent 0-4 outing to go 3-1 +182. Her first game saw her get a 107-point bingo of FRESHING, but the outcome of the match probably wasn't to her liking, as she was felled by Steve Hartsman, 355-458. That game would prove to be her only loss of the night. In the second game, Sara made quick work of Dave Kinzer, winning 431-302 thanks to a find of AGOUTIES. She also got a big win against Andy Bohnsack, 393-278, finding TOASTED to Andy's AERIEST (delayed payback for Andy's 616-point game against her in the not-too-distant past). A 414-373 victory against Richard Lauder, bingoing with GRANTERS and REISSUES, capped Sara's valiant comeback effort after starting the night with a loss.