1st Bryan Benwitz wandered over to the west side to check out the flooding (none to be seen in our particular basement abode) and also happened to play some Scrabble. The Scrabble part went really well, as he went 3-1 +212 and came in first place. He started off with a 394-344 win against Thomas, featuring ARMORERS and a game-winning out-bingo of THIOUREA. Those five-vowel eights sure do come in handy! He had a much higher-scoring game against the other Reinke in roudn two, coming out ahead again 478-409. He played DRILLING, ADENITIS, and LEGATOR. Charles struggled with a final rack containing a blank, but couldn't find a bingo (probably because there weren't any) and had to take the loss. Versus Richard, he played SEEDLIKE (adj. resembling a seed, I'm assuming) and RECITES, but lost by one measly point, 386-387. Richard's final two-tile draw of a Q and a blank, while a mixed bag, probably had something to do with things. In the final game, Bryan faced Helen and won 404-310. He won a second time, in a way, by deftly avoiding getting called "a dirty rat" by Helen, which seemed to be her favorite expression for the night.

2nd Thomas Reinke went 3-2 +135, a middling record that was somehow good for second place. He lost to Bryan 344-394 in the first game, and was rewarded with an opportunity to play two in the next round. His 396-279 game against Lynda was marked by the nine-letter double-blank RECOVERER, while his game against Helen was won with his out-bingo of RATAFEES (n. RATAFIA, an almond-flavored liqueur) for 92 points. That would've been enough to win by itself, but to add insult to injury he caught Helen with the Q, making the final 426-388. No miracle wins were happening for him against Charles, as he lost 414-542, playing PANFORTE (n. a sweet cake) and SCANTIER. He let Charles bingo four times, with BOATLESS* (strangely plausible but also pretty stupid-looking), STRATEGY, GREASIER, and NOTARIAL. Thomas avoided another under .500 performance by beating Richard 491-333 in the final game. His best (in the opinion of this writer) bingo was PULICENE (adj. pertaining to fleas) but he also played SNIDELY and GLITTERS.

3rd Dave Gilligan went 2-0 +202, coming in third place as the night's sole undefeated player. He beat Lynda 406-338 in the first round, playing ROWBOAT and going out with BARNIEST for 70. Those 70 points were nearly matched by the Q and J and other unplayed goodies on Lynda's rack, as he turned a big deficit into a big win. In the second game, he beat Sue 371-273, but I can't really say any more because no bingos were played and I know no details. Let's just assume that Sue drew some bad stuff and Dave drew some good stuff. And then that was it for his night! There's something to be said for preserving a perfect record.

Helen played the word of the week, NARWALS, which is a non-standard spelling of NARWHAL or NARWHALE. A NARWHAL is an aquatic mammal that is basically a sea unicorn.