Charles Reinke Pummels and Punishes

1st Charles Reinke switched up his tactics and played defensively the whole night, going 4-0 +336 mostly thanks to his opponents' average score of 327. Against Bryan Benwitz, Charles pulled out a 370-330 victory despite Bryan's bingo (TARGETS for 83) scoring more than Charles' LEAFMOLD for 72. In the next game, Richard Lauder's score of 335 would end up being the highest of any of Charles' foes, but it was not enough; Charles scored 394, playing CHLORINS and ELONGATE on his way to the win. He would temporarily suspend his low-scoring ways for his game against Susan Vergeront, bypassing 400 and going straight to 500 with a 529-315 victory. Despite the large gulf in scores, both players had two bingos: LONELIER and SPACING for Susan, CASEINS and SCUTTER for Charles.

2nd Lynda Finn went 4-1 +152 with a better-than-average average of 416 per game. She emerged victorious from a high-powered shootout against second-time player Dennis Lloyd, with the final score being 483-452. Dennis played DIARISTS and the triple-triple VEXINGLY for 185 (it would have been more had the X not been a blank), but it was sadly not enough. Lynda had RENVOIS and TAUNTERS as her own bingos, although neither was a triple-triple. She then upped her bingo output to three against Helen Flores, playing IRONERS, ENTRANTS, and DIVAGATE on her way to a 472-376 win. That game must have depleted her bingo reserves, as she only got the low-scoring ROTENONE for 58 points in her 347-394 loss against Aaron Bader. Aaron, meanwhile, had IMITATES for 90.

3rd Aaron Bader, in the absence of Mark, finished 3-1 +266. He averaged 473 in his first three games (all wins) before suffering a bingoless 329-352 loss against first-place finisher Charles Reinke, who played STRINES. The first of those wins was a 518-323 win against Helen Flores. Aaron had three bingos in that one: UNTRENDY, BODEGAS, and INTIMAE, while Helen was held bingoless. An additional trio of bingos was deployed against Thomas Reinke (LIBIDOS, GERONTIC, and AMIDONE), which resulted in a 508-461 victory despite Thomas' own collection of bingos (ANGSTROM, ROTTENLY, and TRENDIES).

Dave Gilligan also went 3-1. He defeated Thomas Reinke in a 449-446 contest which was the most closely-contest game of the night. While we're on the subject of Thomas, he had a staggering 640-point game against Barb Besadny which saw him play five bingos: RENEGUES (60), STANHOPE (101), PEAFOWLS (110), WOMANISE (90), and ERGASTIC (80).

A few bingos from the new dictionary were played: SWIPERS (Susan), RENEGUES (Thomas), SHIRTED (Gail), STRINES (Charles), and LEAFMOLD (Charles again).