Thomas Reinke Unfazed by Room Change, Dim Lights, or Opponents' Desperate Attempts to Prevent Him From Winning

1st Thomas Reinke acclimated quickly to playing in the lobby of the church and overcame the somewhat dim lighting to go 4-0 +441. He established his dominance early by taking out Dave Gilligan 440-275, getting ESTROUS and REFRAINS from his rack to the board for some coveted 50-point bonuses. Meanwhile, Dave did eventually find the bingo in EENORST, a rack which might have more phonies played out of it than any other. A later game against Aaron Bader saw Thomas improve on that 440 score with a 497, while Aaron had just 344. The margin of 153 would stick Aaron's spread total permanently in the negatives. Thomas enjoyed four bingos in that one, two containing a K and two containing a V, but none of them being AKVAVIT: instead, he played KURGANS, ALKALIES (a strange-looking plural of ALKALI), DATIVES, and SLOVENLY. In weak response, Aaron got down ERIGERON for just 59 points. Thomas finished up his evening by outdueling Richard Lauder in a high-scoring game which is also Richard's highest losing score this year, 471-401. Both players had two bingos: OUTWIND and MATINEES for the losing party, SAMPLER and DIALLAGE for the winner.

2nd Bryan Benwitz kept his yearly winning percentage at an even 75% with a (you guessed it) 3-1 record and +143 spread. Like Thomas, he got off to a great start by defeating Gail Salm 482-378, playing a trio of common seven-letter bingos (TAUNTER, MARTINS, and ARSENIC). However, his great start meant he had to face Thomas in the second round. While he managed to hold Thomas to a relatively low score (371), his own score (319) was also quite low by Bryan standards, and since it was a lower total than Thomas', he regrettably had to mark a loss on his scoresheet. Bryan's scoresheet entry for that game was sadly bingoless, but Thomas enjoyed his bingos of AQUAFITS and PALADINS. Bryan got back on track in the third round with a revenge victory over Charles Reinke, 448-408. The bingo mojo returned with plays of WORRIES, OVERTART, and SCUTAGE; Charles' mojo was slightly weaker, playing just PROBATES and SLOGANED. To wrap things up, Bryan got a tough win over Helen Flores, 403-351, which saw some I-heavy bingos get played: Bryan's LIAISES and Helen's IODISING out of an ugly three-I rack.

3rd Aaron Bader returned from his adventure abroad and displayed little to no rust, going 3-1 -20. As with Bryan, Aaron's 3-1 record keeps him at an even 75% winning percentage for the year. His first round matchup against the ever-formidable Richard Lauder saw Aaron come away with a 413-360 victory, thanks in part to bingo plays of SPARGES and MICELLES. In the next round, he extended his active winning streak against Charles Reinke to three games, this time by a score of 379-341. Charles bingoed with the unlikely HURTFUL, but Aaron's 98-point SHARING sealed the win for him. After the previously mentioned game against Thomas Reinke which sent Aaron's spread plummeting into sub-zero territory, Aaron was paired against Betty Hasselkus in the fourth round and took the well-fought victory, 383-349. Betty had one bingo of DEFUSED, while Aaron showed off his prodigious knowledge of stem bingos by setting down DETAINS and TREASON.