One Can Only Hope Our New Queen is as Benevolent as the Deposed King

1st Mary Becker started off the new club season with determination, going 4-0 +302, her first undefeated performance since 2012. In her usual manner, she didn't rely on bingoes to earn the wins, instead preferring to find other ways to score. After all, two 35-ish point plays are about the same as a fishing play and a bingo. She beat Dave and Gail with the help of one bingo per, PLEASING against Dave and RELEASE against Gail, scoring 390 both times. This led to a matchup with Thomas in the 3rd game, where, despite his bingos of TEGULAR and DOYENNE (n. a female doyen, appropriate in this case), she earned the win 403-363 with the help of a multitude of high-scoring non-bingos. Being lossless going into the final game, it only made sense that she was paired against the other lossless player, John, in what was probably not a very expected matchup of undefeateds. With the help of FESTIVAL, she got the victory, 394-328, and now stands alone at the top of the club standings. How's the weather up there?

2nd Charles Reinke fell drastically off his previous seasons's 75.8 winning percentage pace, going 3-1 +514, .032 wins less than expected. He started off well against Betty, showing no indications of the disappointing night he would have, winning 540-280 while playing TURBOJET (n. probably a really powerful type of jet engine), the always-appropriate VERBOSE, and DIAGNOSE. His bingos of ENTRIES and DOWNTIME were not enough against Thomas, against whom he he lost humiliatingly 386-434. He managed to secure two more big wins against Dave and Bryan, playing the nifty AHIMSAS (n. the concept of nonviolence in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism) against Dave, but it was not enough to salvage the night. Charles' meager 75 percent win rate on this night can never be erased from the club's collective memory.

3rd Andy Bohnsack celebrated the start of a new school year by going 3-1 +178. He started off with a 431-367 win over Aaron, giving him a one-game winning streak over the guy who just got done beating him 12 times in a row. Only 11 more Andy, you can do it! In the second round, he faced club newcomer John, who utilized his prior Scrabble experience to win 387-354, playing RETAINED and ENABLER to Andy's HALIDES. If the loss affected him, he didn't show it with his play the next two games. He first beat Gail 447-320 with the bingos of EDIFYING (anagram DEIFYING) and OVERSTIR (anagram SERVITOR), and then beat Thomas, 422-402, with the help of OUTEARNS, LEVATOR, and SAGUARO.

Dave played the Word of the Week, MYELINES (n. alternate spelling of MYELIN, a fatty substance surrounding the axon of nerve fibers).