Thomas Reinke Denied Third 700 Game By Selfish Opponent

1st Thomas Reinke went a perfect 4-0 with an even +800 spread, snapping streaks and breaking records along the way. His first two games were victories (as expected given his win-loss record), against Bryan and Betty, but those were unimpressive when compared to his third game of the night: a 695 dropped on Richard, the highest individual game of the year and second highest since the club entered its modern era of record-keeping. Thomas bingoed with FALTERS, RETINUE, ANTINODES, CEMBALO (n. a harpsichord), and the triple-triple IDLENESS. Those, combined with a few high-scoring power tile plays were enough to propel him close to the fabled 700 mark. In his final game, he possibly surpassed even that accomplishment by ending his brother's 13-game winning streak, a streak that was thought by many to have no end, continuing in perpetuity until the sun itself transformed into a blackened husk and fell from the sky.

2nd Charles Reinke, going 4-1 +147, had a pretty good session except for his seemingly interminable streak getting terminated. He made a habit of coming from behind on this night, first overcoming early deficits against Joe and Helen in a 2-on-1 to win both. A victory over Gail was followed by a close contest against Susan, 414-375. Susan bingoed twice, with TOADIES and ARRESTS, before Charles could get one of his own, ATTORNEY, which ended up being enough for the win. His tendency to play from behind backfired in the last game against Thomas, with him watching helplessly as his brother laid down ACHIOTES, SLUTTIER, and VIREMIAS in a 308-440 loss. Here's an expert Scrabble tip from the writer: if you want to win, you have to play some bingos, dummy.

3rd Joe Horowitz made the first of what may be many appearances in the top three, going 3-1 +437. He played a close game with club-leader Charles, coming up short 382-412. Rather than let that loss haunt him for the remainder of the night, he channeled his disappointment into Scrabble dominanace, winning his next 3 games by over a combined 400 points. Joe's devastating bingo of HEIFERS for 111 (that's a lot of points) was they key against Sue. In his next game against Barb, he again won big, 472-254, playing VALUERS and MANHOLE (n. I was going to put a risque joke here but this is a family-friendly blog, sorry. Just forget about it). His last game against Mary was a little closer 404-357, in part due to Mary's plausible phony of ATONALS*. Hopefully Joe can continue this streak of good play in his first tournament this weekend. At the very least, he will not be forced to play either of the Reinkes.

Bonus! 4th Helen Flores had a great night, missing out on the top three because of some arcane rules about "margin of victory". She went 3-1 +40, including wins over the tough-to-beat Bryan and Aaron.

Gail played the word of the week, REQUINTO (n. a type of small guitar).