Thomas Reinke Wins and Stuff

1st Thomas Reinke outlasted some tough opponents to go 4-0 +317. There weren't many bingos to be had in a close 409-385 victory over Lynda Finn (Thomas' GROUNDER vs. Lynda's TONSURE) but the final result was certainly to Thomas' liking. The bingo spigot then got turned on to full blast as Thomas defeated Dave Gilligan in a high-scoring 509-425 game. Dave bingoed on his first two turns with ORBIEST and ENTWINED, but Thomas eventually pulled away thanks to bingo finds of REFENCES, PARDNERS, GOETHITE, and TEXTURED. Thomas then secured his first-place performance with another close victory, this time over Bryan Benwitz, 414-402. Thomas two bingos of WINTLES and FEATLIER only scored eight more points combined than Bryan's pair of bonuses (FOOTAGE and INDENTER), so the missing four spread points must have been acrrued at some other point during the game.

2nd Andy Bohnsack averaged a club-leading 452 per game on his way to a 4-1 +400 performance. With a 460-427 victory against Aaron Bader, he has now won three out of four against that particular opponent, after previously losing twelve in a row to him. Aaron got away with FEATURER (not even good in Collins) but added HURDIES and GAUDIEST as valid bingos; Andy played CLOGGED, ANSERINE, and TIMELINE (anagrams: ILMENITE and MELINITE). As part of a two-on-one game, Andy notched his first 500-point game of the year (????), and did so in most furious fashion, scoring 569 against Helen Flores' 304. Helen did manage to play TORSADE, but Andy was able to get down CAUSING, ANERGIA, and LECTIONS. Andy's sole loss came against Dave Gilligan, 336-421, a game which again proves the old adage: to beat Andy, prevent him from bingoing. Dave monopolized the bingos on the board with AGNIZES and OVERLAIN.

3rd Charles Reinke went 3-1 +152 and somehow was the only person to finish with that record. He was the picture of consistency with two bingos in each of his four games, although that consistency was made to seem a mirage thanks to a 356-434 loss disrupting a scoresheet otherwise decorated with checkmarks in the "win" column. In that game, Bryan got down a 90-point ANETHOL; Charles played TAVERNA and word-of-the-week PEACENIK. Another high-scoring bingo was played against Charles when he faced off against Gail Salm; her 101-point CRINGES, to go along with a later bingo of SPRAINED, pushed her over the 400 mark in a 465-406 win for the Second Twin, who played BULLIONS and the nine-letter BALDPATES. Dave Gilligan again makes an appearance in the writeup for losing to Charles in the final round, 365-472, despite bingos of STATINS and RUMINATE (Charles had VOYAGER and LARDIEST).