How Many Times Has Her Name Been Spelled "Linda Fynn"?

1st Lynda Finn smashed the patriarchy, the matriarchy, the hagiarchy, basically all the -archies as she went 4-0 +349. She got her night off to a good start against Gail, winning 453-318, playing BEARISH (with the way the blank was placed, it could have been BEAUISH or BEAMISH) and RELIVES. She followed that up with a semi-decisive victory over Aaron, 418-349. Aaron got down NOISETTE and PENNIES versus Lynda's SEDITION and RANTERS (n. one that rants, DUH). Against Dennis in the third round, she played EASEMENT (replace the first E with a C or a B for CASEMENT or BASEMENT) and BETIDED in a 461-369 win. She saved her best for last against Thomas, bingoing four (the amount of bingos needed to 100% guarantee a win against that dude) times and securing her first undefeated session since September.

2nd Thomas Reinke averaged a pretty-good-but-not-totally-mindblowing 475 on his way to a 3-1 +343 night. He won a close one against Richard in the first game, 405-366, playing HINTERS and TAGINES (also spelled TAJINES). He then won a not-so-close one against Mary, 562-316, opening with SLEEKED for 84 and rolling from there. A similar fate awaited Bryan, as Thomas opened with TZARINA for 102, eventually playing 3 more high-scoring bingos (including ESOTERIC, which was extended to ESOTERICA as he played yet another bingo) and scoring 527. Bryan did play DIAZOLES and OPENERS to score a respectable 416 himself, so it wasn't all sad, just mostly sad. Thomas' hot streak ended abruptly at the hands of Lynda in the final game, probably because he didn't open with a bingo. It's just so much easier to win when you get a head start like that.

3rd Charles Reinke also went 3-1, but came in third solely because of how bad Michael kicked his butt in the first game. Here's all you need to know about that game: Michael played BLOTCHED for 176 points. Charles' vengeance was swift, but misplaced: he beat Dave in the next game by over 200 points, playing ISOLEAD and MISRAISE. Against Andy in the third round, he won 399-318, playing CIBOULE and SURREAL. More bingos would have been played, but a blank was the last tile in the bag, much to Andy's dismay. Bingos were again in short supply in the Bryan-Charles matchup, with each of them playing one apiece. Charles won, 410-374, but I bet if you asked him, he'd say he'd rather bingo five times than win the game.

In other news, the adjacent games of Richard vs. Dennis and Andy vs. Gail in the final round produced a combined 14 bingos, 7 in each game. I know what you're thinking, and yes, I did sneak the lucky folding table where the games occurred out of the church. You can rent it for your next tournament for a small fee, if you want bingos to be in unnatural abundance.