1st Bryan Benwitz averaged 470 points per game on his way to a slightly abbreviated, but still flawless, 3-0 +336 record. He barely got past Steve Hartsman in round one, winning their match 377-360. Only one bingo was played between the two players, Bryan's DISTRICT. Things heated up in round two as Bryan got a big win against Richard Lauder, 470-406; this time around, both players bingoed three times: IMAGOES, TUITION, and RELIERS were Bryan's, while Richard got LADRONES, SOOTIER, and CODDLER. Bryan's third and final game was a dominating performance against Andy Bohnsack: Bryan found TINWARE, GREMIAL, HOVERERS, and ANTLIKE to snag a 563-308 win.

2nd Thomas Reinke crammed in six games of Scrabble in a single session, a rarity, and while he missed out on a 6-0 record, his performance wasn't too much worse than that at 5-1 +184. The first of two two-on-one encounters resulted in Thomas' only loss, as he was smashed flat by Andy Bohnsack, 332-517. A win against Richard Lauder in the other half of the two-on-one, 391-337, helped ease the pain. In round two, Thomas went up against Mark Kenas and in the process set a new record for the year's highest combined score, their combined total of 1048 being one point higher than the previous record of 1047. The final score was 596-452, with Thomas providing six bingos (SARKIER, RATABLY, GATCHING, RADIALS, DUODENA, and POLONIE#) and Mark providing two (BIOTITE, HEADIEST). That combined total of eight bingos also ties a yearly record. Thomas went on to pick up wins against Carol (380-239), Charles Reinke (468-458) and Mark for the second time (420-400) to pad out his substantive collection of wins.

3rd Steve Hartsman overcame two early losses to finish 3-2 +305. He was held bingoless in a round-one loss to Bryan Benwitz, 360-377, and achieved that unfortunate distinction again in round two where he lost to Charles Reinke 272-485. But Steve came roaring back with a vengeance in the third round, playing a total of seven bingos in a two-on-one match that resulted in two huge wins, 492-303 against Sara McLaughlin and 553-251 against Richard Lauder. Against Sara, Steve got SWEETIE, VALERIAN, and TOMBACS, while his bingos against Richard were ENTWINED, FRESCOS, RETAINS, and COTTONED. Steve carried that momentum into the final game as he felled Andy Bohnsack 406-362, getting INDORSE and FABRICS to Andy's ATRESIA.

We welcomed new player Randall and welcomed back Jess to our ranks. Hopefully they found the competition invigorating and the raucous Yu-Gi-Oh! players not too distracting.

Carol's SNOOTFUL was word of the week.