Equality Reigns As No Scrabbler Goes Undefeated

1st Charles Reinke came in first, going undefeated but not with a perfect record, finishing at 3-0-1 +480. He hogged all the good tiles in his first game against Dave, scoring 523 and bingoing with COSTARD (n. a type of apple), SCANDALS, and CONATIVE. Things were a lot closer against Lynda in the second round, as he came out on top 404-386. A late high-scoring J play secured his win in that one, after he played REINSMEN earlier in the game. The trend of things getting closer for him came to its peak against his brother, Thomas, where their match ended in a tie at 398. Charles' bingos of DOVETAIL and LAZINESS were equaled by Thomas' RIGAUDON and MOTTLING, and all the rest of his points were equaled by the rest of Thomas' points. How are we supposed to figure out which one is the better twin after this? We can't. It's impossible. After that disappointing draw, Charles took out his anger on Helen, winning 477-317. He passed up the iffy 9-letter SUPERRACE to play VERRUCAS (n. a wart) instead, as well as PENSIVE.

2nd Gail Salm came in second with a 3-1 +176 record. She played Bryan in the first round and won, 432-390, playing ALIENER, HEAPERS, and TINGLED. That may not sound very exciting, but it is, because it broke a 26-game losing streak that Gail had against that particular meanie opponent. 26 games is a lot to lose to somebody in a row without punching them in the face, in my opinion. Gail is proof that if you try, try, try again x 24, you can find success is anything you try. More success came her way against Sue, against whom she won 419-378. Sue made it close with a bevy of high-scoring power tile plays, but Gail's late find of SUNRISE put her over the top. She took a big loss to Helen in third round, 280-426, setting up a match with newcomer Carl, who she scored 432 against. She played EERIEST and word-of-the-week JOANNES (n. a Portuguese coin, also JOHANNES, and don't play those with out the S on the end or they'll get challenged off!).

3rd Bryan Benwitz earned third place with his 3-1 +116 record. His first round loss to Gail was a  streak-breaker, caused by the fact that his early blank draw only turned into a bingo on the last turn of the game. He responded to this injustice with three straight wins to end the night, starting with a 424-374 win over Aaron. He managed to get down RUDERAL (n. a plant growing on infertile ground) and SANTERA despite the confusion that Aaron's non-bingo APOCOPE caused him. He followed that up with a high-scoring 478-395 victory versus Mary, countering Mary's UNLACES and LEARNING with RIGHTER and AROUSED. An even higher-scoring contest against Thomas finished things up, with the final being 470-445. Bryan's double-double of REMINTED got him off to a good start, and then he added TARSIERS (almost as cute as LORISES) and HOODIES. Thomas' BIGEYE for 50-some points at the end got him a lot closer, but it was too little, too late.