Thomas Reinke Bids Farewell To Old Dictionary with A Loss-Free Excursion

1st Thomas Reinke went 5-0 +402, although his average of 442 points per game actually brought his yearly average DOWN. He won big against Mary Becker, who had defeated him last week, scoring 471 to Mary's 302. Thomas was able to get BALNEAL, PENISES, and ETAGERES for fifty bonus points each. A much closer contest was fought against against fraternal nemesis Charles Reinke, with Thomas squeaking out a 410-403 victory. He played JOUSTED and NEEDIER; Charles responded with AIRINGS and HURDLING. But the most valiant challenge to Thomas' insurmountable might was fought by Bryan Benwitz, who nearly toppled the un-topplable one 467-472. This high-scoring shootout featured three bingos from each side: BARONET, OVATIONS, and POTLINE for Bryan; INERTIAS, MOLDIER, and VETERANS for Thomas.

2nd Aaron Bader ended his night at 4-1 +212, discovering that not having to play Mark Kenas all the time can have a benificial effect on winning percentage. His big win came against Gail Salm, 458-341, a game where the bingo tallies did not tell the whole story, as both players played two: CREATION and SAINTED for Gail, BASSIST and DIRECTS for Aaron. Simultaneous to that game, Aaron suffered his only loss, a 420-345 defeat at the hand of Andy Bohnsack despite bingos of BORROWED and DEVISES. This latest loss puts Aaron's record against Andy at 1-6; to ensure total fairness (because, as we all know, Scrabble is all about fairness), Andy will be playing a two-on-one next time they meet.

3rd Andy Bohnsack finished at 3-1 +259, a good first step towards crawling back into the top three in the yearly standings. In a manner befitting a schoolteacher, Andy took Helen to school, delivering a textbook 525-317 whomping that contained four bingos: OUTRIVAL, SAVOURER, DIETERS, and TOLUINES (valid anagrams: OUTLINES and ELUTIONS. Also related: TOLUENE and TOLUIDE). That huge win came immediately after a devastating loss against club leader Thomas Reinke, 305-439. Unusually for both players, each only got one bingo, with Thomas playing SNOOKERS to Andy's SNEAKIER.

For Michael Siebers, Second Time's the Charm

1st Michael Siebers, after going winless his first outing at our club, returned to go 2-2 -353. He defeated Sue Goldstein 324-278 for win number one and later took down June Scott 312-292 for win number two. In the latter victory, he got down his first bingo, BOOTIES for 64 points.

Aaron's POMFRETS was chosen for word of the week amid a dearth of deserving candidates. Andy played his fourth triple-triple this year with a 131-point IDEALIST.

New Words Go Into Effect Next Week

After getting the go-ahead from director in absentia Richard Laduer, our club will switch to the new Scrabble dictionary next week. A cheat sheet containing some important new words was available this week and will be available at future sessions. Players are welcome to reference the sheets during games for a few weeks as we get used to playing words like PO, TIZ, AIYEE, and ANODISE.