1st Charles Reinke withstood a first-round defeat to finish at 4-1 +199. That initial setback was courtesy of Lynda Finn, who easily turned him away, 481-377. Charles was left with just one bingo of ROOTLET, while Lynda got DETECTED, STOURIE, and a late 92-point SONGLIKE to put the game away. The agony of defeat (or at least the 'mild displeasure' of defeat) was quickly forgotten as Charles won both games of a two-on-one against Barb Pratzel and Mary Becker. The game against Barb was relatively close at 423-371; Barb played RATINGS to Charles' URANIUMS and ALTERITY. Against Mary, Charles use a trio of bingos (BISTORT, NEUROID, and TAGLESS) to comfortably reach a 488-323 victory (Mary did get CRAVINGS down to avert complete catastrophe). In round three, Charles encountered Thomas Reinke (a suspicious confluence of last names) and came away with a 444-435 win, thanks to bingos of ATHETOID and BARGUEST. A similar fate befell Bryan Benwitz as he faced off against Charles in round four and lost 401-478. Charles' pulverizing double-double of CERVEZAS for 122 may have been the deciding factor. Either that or his icy demeanor which disquiets any who dare to sit across the board from him.

2nd James Frankki also withstood a first-round defeat to place second with a 3-1 +87 record. Barb Pratzel was the one who marred his otherwise perfect record, defeating him 423-362 and outbingoing him two to nothing (with CODINGS and ENQUIRED). In the next game, James barely came away with the victory against Bryan Benwitz, 353-345. He displayed flagrant mercilessness by phonying with RHYMIST* and then challenging off Bryan's attempt to pluralize the word, but sometimes, flagrant mercilessness is what's necessary to win a board game. James continued his merciless ways by shutting down Helen Flores in a low-scoring 359-245 win where James' late REEARNED was just icing in the cake of triumph. A solid night of Scrabble was capped by a 402-376 win against the fearsome Thomas Reinke, who couldn't overcome James' steady scoring output despite surpassing him in the bingo column (James had MASTERS, while Thomas had PERIGEE and TODDLERS).

3rd Thomas Reinke went 3-2 +225, and, contrary to the two players who finished above him, started strong before petering out at the end. His first-round matchup against two players was fruitful; he defeated Helen Flores 452-356 and Dave Gilligan 429-331. In the former game, his play of WATERLO? could have been either WATERLOG or WATERLOO, and the inscrutable scrawlings on his scoresheet do little to illuminate the issue, so it is decreed that he played WATERLOG. Thomas' third and final win of the session was in round two against Lynda Finn, 407-341. In a tale as old as time, two bingos (UPRAISED and SOLVATE) prevailed over a single bingo (CINEMAS). Thomas' fortunes took a downward trend in the next game, as a 435-444 loss was only that close thanks to an out-bingo of CARPETED (in addition to earlier bingos of LITOTES and IRONIST). The aforementioned 376-402 loss to James Frankki in round four was a continuation of that trend, but Thomas still came away with third place, so how downward could it possibly have been anyway?