1st Charles Reinke went 4-0 +314 to prevail over a smallish field of six players and carry good Scrabble vibes into the holiday week. He started off with a 457-337 win over Lynda Finn where he got down bingos of ORECTIVE, SOLIDAGO, and GROSSER. Lynda had LABIATE to ensure that the final score wasn't too out of hand. Charles then went up against Mary Becker and played a close, high-scoring game which ended with a score of 490-465 in Charles' favor. Mary's losing score of 465 is the fourth highest this club season and also her highest losing score ever! Her bingos of BANANAS and INSURED, plus huge nonbingo plays of ILEX and ZAP, seemed like they would be enough until Charles hit a trio of bingos late: AGONISES, FLAUNTER, and LOITERS. In round three, Charles triumphed over Bryan Benwitz, 442-406, getting bingos of MISGREW and RAVIGOTE (Bryan had RELOADED and INNARDS, and also found out that having a blank on your last rack is only a good thing if you don't have three I's to go with it). Charles wrapped up his perfect night in shiny paper (and put a big red bow on top) by showing no Christmastime cheer in a domination of his brother Thomas, 429-326. An outbingo of PANICLE, to go with TAUTEST, spelled doom for the losing side (who played RAINIEST).

2nd Michael David went 3-1 with an unfortunate -8 spread. His first game was a win against Mary Becker, 398-325, with bingos of SPINNER and DEMOLISH (Mary had MALTIEST). The trend of collecting positive spread totals continued with a 391-355 victory versus Bryan Benwitz where Michael played LUNIEST and AEDILES; those keeping track at home will note that Michael's point spread was well above zero at this point. That pattern of victories ended abruptly and savagely when Michael lost to Thomas Reinke 284-526. Thomas played a foursome of seven-letter bingos: REPINED, RUPTURE, POSITED, and SIMLINS (also spelled CYMLINGS), while Michael was held tragically bingoless. Winning ways were once again established when Michael made easy work of Lynda Finn, 461-336. His three bingos of DEIFYING, TANGLIER, and SAVVILY aided him greatly in his quest for Scrabble glory (joke's on him, though, as there isn't all that much glory to be found in Scrabble).