In The Face of Incredible Adversity (Read: Book Signing), Charles Reinke Perserveres For Perfect 4-0 Record

1st Charles Reinke bought himself a ticket for one (1) ride on the Victory Train, finishing 4-0 +546.  It was a night of pure, uncut dominance, with Charles averaging 512 points per game and playing fourteen bingos along the way.  Against Lynda Finn, Charles prevailed 560-386, owing much of his point total to bingos of GRADIENT, MISFIRED, CORACLES (n. CORACLE, a small boat), and YEARLIES.  Charles had a similar amount of bingos in store for Mary Becker: ORANGIER, ACERATED (adj. needle-shaped), TOWERIER, and a nine-letter SATISFIED propelled him to victory, but Mary got down GREASING as well as some high-scoring power-tile plays to keep the score a respectable 529-401.  Even archfoe Thomas Reinke was rendered powerless by the defeating aura of Charles' might, succumbing 429-456.  Charles could only muster three bingos in that one: OESTRIN, NEUSTIC, and PERIODID.

2nd Bryan Benwitz went 3-1 +216, a solid performance that is quickly becoming the norm for him.  He didn't manage to win any games by 100, but he came close when he beat Susan Vergeront 434-338.  Susan played the only X bingo of the night, UNTAXED, but two bingos is better than one, and Bryan had two of them: PENNERS and a phony EROTISE. He upped that total when he played three bingos (INTENTS, DARIOLE, BUMPIEST) in a high-scoring 500-406 game against Thomas Reinke.  Andy Bohnsack was the man responsible for the detestable checkmark in the "loss" column, scoring a narrow victory 421-406.  Bryan got LAVATION and ANTONYMS, but Andy bested him with OUTSEWED, ITCHIER, and word-of-the-week SEMIMUTE.

3rd Peter Schmiedicke was not his usual high-scoring self, only averaging 378 on the night, but still put together a strong showing with a final record of 3-1 +79.  His high game was a 415-310 bout with Helen Flores which featured bingos of REFUTALS and SANTERA.  Late arrival Michael David got a taste of Peter's medicine when that game ended 400-320 in favor of Peter.  Michael was unable to get a bingo down while Peter played REVISITS and an, um, creative phony of IGLESIA (Spanish for 'church', but English for 'nothing').  In addition to Bryan's EROTISE, Andy's OUTSEWED, and Lynda Finn's BOLITES, IGLESIA joins the list of high-probability phonies that should never have seen the damning light of day.

Thomas Reinke gets a special mention here for piling on a whopping 669 points against Dave Gilligan, who, to his credit, broke the 300-point barrier with a final score of 320.  Thomas had four bingos: PAROLING, STUDYING, a triple-triple SERAGLIO, and an out-play of SUBTONE.  669 is the second-highest score recorded since the institution of this website, losing out to Thomas' own 739.