1st Charles Reinke obliterated the competition (reduced in number, as we were unsuccessful in recruiting any Magic the Gathering players) by going 4-0 +461 and averaging 483 points per game. His first game, against Bryan Benwitz, was also his most closely-fought, as he came out ahead in a high-scoring bout, 476-432. The final board configuration was a stark testament to the power of high-probability bingos: Charles played FRAGILE, MORALISE, and IODATES, while Bryan played SARODES and GESTATE. Charles followed that up with his highest-scoring game of the year, a relentless 588-point flood of scoring in which his opponent, Thomas Reinke, could do nothing but drown (but not before scoring 373 of his own points). Charles played WONTONS and TAVERNA, both for a moderate amount of points, before unleashing a 167-point triple-triple of PRECHILL. Thomas had won six of the seven previous contests between these brothers, so the final result of this game was judged to be completely fair and just. Charles wouldn't again reach such dazzling scoring heights, but he did soundly beat Gail Salm 492-398 in the next round despite Gail's tri-pronged bingo assault of WAIVERS, TAENIAS, and STUDDIES. Before you complain about typos, a STUDDIE is an anvil, so STUDDIES is not just an ignorant misspelling of STUDIES. Charles had INCURVE and TRENDIER in his winning effort. The undefeated night was completed with a 377-269 victory over Dave Gilligan which saw the victor get down bingos of PASTRAMI and INFERIOR.

2nd Bryan Benwitz went 3-1 +112, showing remarkable grit and perseverance in overcoming a first-round loss to come in second in the standings. He took down Gail Salm in the second round, 394-315, partially thanks to an opening bingo of FLOATER; Gail's SHIRKED later in the game proved to be too little, too late (reminder: to comfortably beat Bryan, aim for four or five bingos plus some 50-point power tile plays). In the next game, Helen Flores applied another piece of Bryan advice (don't let him bingo) by playing the only bingo in their game (AIRHEAD), but the advice proved to be shoddy in quality as she still lost the game, 305-360. Bryan then went into the last game eager to reverse his bingo fortunes, and somewhat succeeded, playing two of them (BALDIES and PROVERS) in a 432-410 win against Thomas Reinke, who played REMOTELY and TIMELINE. Bryan has now won four straight against Thomas and inches ever closer to him on the yearly standings, now just a percentage point behind.