Aaron Wins Without the Benefit of All Those Extra Words He Knows

1st Aaron Bader left no doubt as to who was the best Scrabble player on this night, going 4-0 +241. He opened with a close win against Thomas, 409-376, where he played the common-but-low-probability CHUCKLES as well as the uncommon-but-high-probability ISOMERS. As a reward for his efforts, he got to play Charles in the next game. Charles' had an 11-game winning streak coming into the contest, but came to an end at Aaron's hands, 417-395. Aaron earned 5 dollars for his feat, but the real value was in... actually the 5 dollars was probably the best part. After dispatching two tough foes, he was tasked with dispatching two foes at the same time, Gail and Helen. His game against Gail was close at the beginning due to her LAIRIEST, but Aaron eventually prevailed with NEATHERD (n. a cowherd, NEAT is another term for cow), PAVANES, and CONTORTS. Against Helen, he won 403-324, playing SCAREDER (anagram SACREDER) and VELOUTE (anagram EVOLUTE).

2nd Charles Reinke went 3-1 +538, losing a game for the first time in 11 tries. He busted out the fancy words against Helen in the first round, playing SYNDETIC (adj. serving to connect) and FIGEATER (n. if I had to guess, one who eats figs, nope, "a large beetle", well, I bet they eat figs so I'm still right). As mentioned, his money-earning winning-streak ended against Aaron, so he got right to work on another one, dropping 560 on Dave. Charles opened with QUADRIC for 110, then played MARINES for 88, followed by AQUATONE for 80. That's a lot of points! His new winning streak continue against Thomas, against whom he won 478-415. Thomas held the blank at the end, but was stymied, ending the game with it remaining sadly on his rack. Charles got down the nice REDWATER (n. another name for BABESIOSIS, because everyone knows what that is) to help secure that victory.

3rd Andy Bohnsack went 3-1 -47, his negative spread somehow not disqualifying him from third place. Arriving in time for the second round, he played two as punishment. Against Lynda, he won by one, 377-376. On the other board, he incurred all his negative spread from Dave, losing 318-399. Andy found QUINTARS, but it was not enough to overcome Dave's TOILETTE. Tragedy struck early in his game against Bryan, when he gave him the H needed for WHEEZIER. Andy perservered, however, and ended up winning a close one 414-398, thanks to his bingos of ORDINALS and UTERINE. He increased his winning margin against Gail, but only slightly, 410-393, not enough to drag himself into the positives on the night. A bonus fifth round was proposed for his benefit, but ultimately rejected.

Thomas played the word-of-the-week, ZIRCALOY (n. a zirconium alloy), but Lynda had the last laugh, hooking it for 112 points with her own bingo!