Charles Reinke Punishes All Who Oppose

1st Charles Reinke didn't dominate in his usual fashion, but an undefeated 4-0 +174 record is something that can't be argued with. Against the wizened Scrabble veteran Richard Lauder, Charles managed to win by a score of 394-374 despite a three-to-one bingo disparity. Richard's three were PREDATES, ETESIAN, and PAGODAS, while Charles only had SLIDDEN, albeit for 91 points. Andy Bohnsack did not fare much better than Richard, allowing Charles to reach his highest score of the night in a 443-386 victory. This time, the bingo distribution was equitable, with Andy playing DISROOT and COENURI to Charles' ALANINE and ELEGIES. Charles wrapped up the perfect club session by downing Thomas Reinke in just the latest chapter of a long-running blood feud. The score of that game was 425-407, and again, both players were gifted two bingos by the tile gods; WINTERED and HALIOTES for Thomas, OUTWARS and MOORING for Charles.

2nd Peter Schmiedicke averaged a hefty 454 points per game, but his single loss relegated him to second place with a 3-1 +404 record. That loss came against Mary Becker and it was not close: 331-429 was the final total. Two RE- words were played: REORDAIN for Peter and RECLASPS for Mary. After that initial disappointment, Peter waltzed comfortably through the remainder of his games, winning each by more than 100. He creamed Susan Vergeront 479-364, propelled forward by his three bingos of PROCAINE, EGESTION, and DETAILER. For her part, Susan was able to play REFRAINS and INDEBTED. But Dave Gilligan received the most punishment out of all Peter's opponents, with their game ending fairly lopsidedly, 535-254. Peter somehow managed to get that huge score with only two bingos: ETESIAN and ALINERS.

3rd Thomas Reinke fell a few spread points short of second place with his 3-1 +369 record. Things started off according to plan as Thomas beat Helen Flores 473-252. It wouldn't be a Reinke win if there weren't bingos involved, and sure enough, Thomas had two: TRINITY and OERSTED (n. a unit of magnetic intensity). The plan continued to be executed successfully with a 506-393 victory against Andy Bohnsack which broke the deadlock in the lifetime series, which had been at 37-37. Andy played NUTRIAS and RUNNIEST, but Thomas one-upped him with LAAGERED, GASTREA, and TAWNIEST, the last of which was 97 points! The third win, and Thomas' closest, was a 53-point win over Mary Becker, 429-376.

Sue Goldstein Triumphs Over Resurrected Intermediate Division

1st Sue Goldstein finished 2-2 -53, as we finally had enough Intermediate players to form a proper division. Sue used up all of her ammo in the first game of the night when she played her only bingo, CRUISING, in a 365-336 defeat of Dave Gilligan. She then went on to beat June Scott 312-277 to get her second win. However, the tides of fate cruelly turned when she was matched up against Steve Busalacchi, to whom she lost 378-321. The turning point of that game was when Steve played the phony triple-triple STONEAGE for 113 points, a phony which Sue allowed to stay on the board.

Aaron played the word of the week with SWITCHEL, a new addition to our dictionary. However, it was played in a Collins-dictionary game with Mark Kenas, so for them, the word has been valid for a while. Apparently switchel is a drink made from water, vinegar, and ginger that became popular in the 17th century. Nowadays we have Monster energy drink and don't have to drink switchel like uncivilized barbarians.

Other new words played were EENSIEST (Gail) and HALIOTES (Thomas). Take careful note that HALIOTES is the plural of HALIOTIS, so don't ever play HALIOTE!