"Why are We Inside Playing Scrabble When We Could Be Outside Enjoying the Beautiful Weather?" Asks Thomas Reinke, Never

1st Thomas Reinke switched up his tactics just because he could, holding his opponents to a 327 average (well below their yearly average of 372) while going 4-0 +385. Betty Hasselkus, returning from a few-month hiatus, was not afforded any extra mercy in her first game back, as Thomas beat her 407-342. Betty did win the bingo battle in that one, getting two (DUSTERS and SOLARIUM) to Thomas' one (UPSTATE). Following that up, Thomas continued his strong run of play against his brother Charles, this time winning a closely-contested 357-342 game. Somebody should get those guys checked out; worrisomely, only two bingos were played the entire game: TEAWARES for Thomas, word-of-the-week CYPSELAE for Charles. Equilibrium was restored (at least from Thomas' point of view) when he beat the late-coming Lynda Finn 528-267. Lynda, for her part, was at least able to reach her new-bingo quota for the day by playing BEDLINER. Thomas also reached his own quota when he played the new word GAITERED to supplement his other bingos of ESTRONES and MIDSIZE.

2nd Charles Reinke took the opposite route of his brother, averaging 469 points per game to go 3-1 +439. Helen Flores, in her words, scored a "win" against Charles when she lost 416-371. She had two of her three total bingos in that game, playing LANTERNS (66) and WEENIEST (86) for some timely scoring punches. However, Charles played the 91-point LAYOVER and eventually claimed victory. The bingo tiles would manifest themselves even more abundantly on Charles' rack during a matchup against Gail Salm where he played five such plays: TALIPED, AGNOSIA, ORIGANUM, SHEETER, and OCEANAUT. Gail played INLIERS (anagram: RESILIN) and COASTED, the latter for 94 points, but still fell well short of her stated goal of winning the game; the final score was 598-349. After that triumph, Charles again scored 500, this time against a drowsy and Collins-addled Aaron Bader. One thing's for sure, the deathlike caress of sleep would have been more pleasant than a 518-358 loss. Aaron played RATTLIER for some good points, but Charles' SENTINEL and triple-triple OVERSTAY (at 185 points, tied for highest bingo played at club since we started keeping track) were insurmountable.

3rd Peter Schmiedicke perhaps did not get as many bingos as he would like, but he still finished strongly at 3-1 +152. At the conclusion of his 383-370 victory against Andy Bohnsack, just one bingo could be found on the board, Peter's UNITIES. Andy had won seven out of ten against Peter, so this win was certainly welcome. In the next game, Peter played INSIDES in a losing effort against Richard Lauder, who won 370-363 thanks to his superior bingoage of BESTING and LENGTHS. Peter finally picked up some scoring steam when he cruised by Dave Gilligan by a score of 471-330. Dave got down RIVALED and STEEPEN; Peter had FETERITA and ETHANES, the latter for a game-changing 98 points.

A fair number of new bingos were played: RATTLIER (Aaron), NONANES (Aaron), GAITERED (Thomas), DEIONISE (Richard), and BEDLINER (Lynda).