1st Thomas Reinke ran the table with a 4-0 +359 record. He was thrown straight into the fire in round one, facing Bryan Benwitz, but pulled out the win 407-347 with bingos of ERODENT and a nifty nine-letter ORALITIES (quick quiz - what is the anagram of ORALITIES?). Thomas had a bit more breathing room in the next game as he used four bingos (CLAXONS, ENTITLED, SINUATED, INTERWAR) to take the win against Charles Reinke, 472-377. Against Richard Lauder, Thomas cruised to a comfortable win, 449-259, nullifying Richard's NARDOOS with his own finds of SQUIRED and NOVICES. For the final game, Thomas faced a tough challenge from Steve Hartsman, but secured his undefeated record with a 479-465 victory, finding RETABLO and ANEARING to Steve's EYEHOLE and MEDICINE.
2nd Bryan Benwitz finished 3-1 and averaged a club-leading 460 points per game. Things could have gone better to start the evening, as the aforementioned 347-407 loss to Thomas Reinke put Bryan in an early hole that he would have to climb out of. He wasted no time in his ascent, dispatching Helen Flores 453-282, getting 104 points for NEMESES in addition to another bingo of FISHERS. He then set a scoring record for the 2026 club season by dropping a heavy 581 points directly on Charles Reinke's head, although Charles, in his dazed state, still managed to supply 443, making their matchup the first game of 2026 to reach 1000 combined points. Bryan got ALLUDES, DOOZIES, CINERIN, RECOILER, and DENTURES, while Charles got PREGNANT...and DISABLER, and NIOBATE. That total of eight bingos ties a club record as well. To complete his comeback tour, Bryan fought off James Rollins in a high-scoring (but not as high-scoring as some other games) 460-400 bout. James found INFESTS and EUPHORIA, while Bryan had REACHED and ENCOMIA.
3rd Steve Hartsman beat out four other 2-2 finishers by virtue of his superior spread total, going 2-2 +157. He went up against Richard Lauder in round one and, showing proper courtesy to the club's founder, gracefully lost, 383-403. Less graceful was his 522-354 win over James Rollins, which was marred by phonies of CERUMAN* (CERUMEN is good, but it's the medical term for earwax, and not a man who CERUs) and DURRAHS* (looking for DHURRAS, but who can remember all the alternate spellings of DURRA anyway?). Steve also got the valid ENGROSS, while James found LOOTING. In round three, Steve bested Andy Bohnsack, 387-364, bingoing with SLAVERS (Andy had WASPIER and GALLETED). Steve put up a good fight in the final game against Thomas Reinke, but fell just short in the end, 465-479. That 465 losing score is the highest in his Madison Club career, as well as the highest loss so far this year.
Wednesday, February 18:
Scrabble at Misty Mountain Games
Wednesday, February 25:
Scrabble at Covenant Church
Wednesday, March 4:
Scrabble at Covenant Church
Wednesday, March 11:
Scrabble at Covenant Church
Club Results 2/11
Posted 2/13/2026
Club Results 2/4
Posted 2/6/2026
Club Results 1/28
Posted 1/30/2026
Club Results 1/21
Posted 1/23/2026