Charles Reinke Vows to Use His Powers for Good

1st Charles Reinke enjoyed an evening undisturbed by the anguish of loss, going 4-0 +475. In the first round he calmly dismantled Gail Salm 439-312, thanks in part to a low-scoring bingo pair of DIALYSER (66) and word-of-the-week DUCTULES (62); Gail's bingo of RESTAGE proved to be not quite enough. Gail had won the previous two outings in the matchup, so Charles is likely to be pleased that his mini-losing streak has ended. An identical pattern of bingoing played out in the next game against Sue Goldstein: Charles won 475-303 and outbingoed his opposition two-to-one (POTENTLY and INESCURE vs. RETAINED). After a cold-hearted victory over Thomas Reinke, 452-302, where Thomas wasn't even allowed the dignity of playing a single bingo, Charles set his sights on Bryan Benwitz, the one player standing between him and an undefeated night. Their game turned out to be much closer than Charles' other three, but it was still a win for the twin, 445-416. Bryan was happy to get bingos of WARISON and DICTION, but not so happy to see three of them materialize from the rack of his opponent: SPANIEL, VALETING, and BURSEED.

2nd Thomas Reinke also had four wins, but the addition of an extra loss to his scoresheet placed him squarely in second place. His round one matchup saw him doing double duty, facing off against both Bryan Benwitz and Vicki Holmes. The stress of negotiating two games at once failed to daunt Thomas (it helps to draw a lot of bingos), and he won both games comfortably: 471-371 versus Bryan and 496-345 versus Vicki. Neither opponent bingoed, while Thomas amassed seven in the two games: IMAGERS, BOODLES, TYLOSIN, REASONED, RELENTED, ACHIOTES, and THERMION. Another four bingos (REFINES, DARIOLE, AREOLATE, SULFITES) were played by Thomas in a 524-314 win over Dave Gilligan, meaning Thomas had played a total of eleven bingos through the first two rounds. The tables turned when he was held bingoless by his own brother in the subsequent round, but Thomas re-turned the turned tables for round four, beating Gail Salm 482-352 and deploying bingos of EMULATE, DEMOING, and JACALES (n. JACAL, an adobe-style hut). Gail, for her part, got down ORNERIER and DETRAIN.

3rd Richard Lauder recovered from his recent struggles (induced by golf-related fatigue, surely) to finish 3-1 +160. He also improved greatly on his yearly average by scoring 419 points per game. After arriving too late for the first round (golf-related tardiness, surely), Richard came out strong in the second game, taking down Betty Hasselkus 435-338. His three bingos of REDATED, REPLAYED, and SEASIDE certainly made it difficult for his opponent to mount a comeback. The next game against Bryan Benwitz saw Richard's fortunes take a sharp nosedive: the opposition had four bingos (INTERMIT, SPATIAL, RENEGES, and LIFELINE), and the final score was a lopsided 550-358. Richard recovered from that disappointing outcome by winning both games of a two-on-one versus Dave Gilligan (466-317) and Helen Flores (418-312). He had four bingos combined in the two games: SEDATION, STOMPER, FURORES, and STARRING, while his opponents had just one between them, Dave's PENCILS.