Charles Reinke: "4-0 isn't Good Enough"

1st Charles Reinke one-upped the theoretical "perfect" 4-0 record by going 5-0 +531. He also average 460 points per game, which somehow is not that much higher than his overall average this year. During a two-on-one matchup with him as the one, Charles paradoxically unleashed his two largest wins, 438-288 over Joe Horowitz and 552-355 over Gail Salm. He had five bingos across those two games: TEARILY, DEAFENS, RELAPSED, RANTINGS, and URANIDE. Perhaps the adversity of playing two games at once gave Charles anagramming powers beyond what his brain is normally capable of. In any case, Charles was enough on his game to resist a strong challenge from Andy Bohnsack, whom he defeated 474-411. Both players were able to play nine-letter bingos (RESTRAINS for Andy, VALERATES for Charles), a very rare occurrence considering how infrequently nine-letter bingos get played in the first place.

2nd Thomas Reinke failed to improve on his 4-0 record going into the "stoppage time" fifth round, finishing at 4-1 +298. His opponent in that final round? None other than his own brother. Their matchup progressed not in their usual high-scoring fashion, but instead, in a more somber way; Thomas was held bingoless in a 356-366 defeat. Charles, meanwhile, got down two high-probability bingos, ROSEATE and ANTLERED. Excluding that game, Thomas had a very productive night, including his own two-on-one against Dennis Lloyd and Helen Flores. Dennis fared quite well, losing 432-460 despite getting outbingoed four to one (the one being FINDINGS, the four being TWANGLE, LAVATION, REGRINDS, and RADULAS). Helen did not fare quite so well, but put up a fight in her 349-453 loss, playing REMOUNTS. Meanwhile, Thomas added three more bingos to his substantial collection: UNAKITE, ROBORANT, and CLAUSIVE (PLAUSIVE is valid).

3rd Aaron Bader scanned the horizon for any sign of Mark Kenas' return; finding nothing but blowing tumbleweeds, he reluctantly turned back to the playing room to play four games using the neutered dictionary. Despite his disappointment, he put together a solid 3-1 +273 record. Aaron started off strong, beating Barb Besadny 426-294. However, his win was tainted by a phony of EUPHROS, played in addition to the perfectly valid RUSTLED. UPHROES and EUPHROES are both acceptable spellings of that word, which is a part of a boat. Only valid bingos were played in the course of a 503-357 drubbing of Lynda Finn: CHORINE, PLACATER, FORESTS, and MODERNLY. The single blemish on Aaron's scoresheet (other than the miscalculated spreads [just kidding, Aaron didn't do that this week]) was a loss to Thomas Reinke, 349-423. Aaron got down the strange-looking EOBIONTS, but received no extra points for playing an uncommon word. In the same vein, Thomas was not deducted any points for his prosaic finds of REWAXES and DRIVELS. New rule proposal: if nobody in the room knows the definition of the word you just played, you get ten extra points.

New bingos played this week were RANTINGS (Charles), EENSIER (Gail), and DANCIER (Joe). Barb Besadny only played one bingo, but made it count, with a 122-point triple-triple of RETIREES against Susan Vergeront.