1st Mark Kenas went 3-1 +272, easily beating out the meager spreads of the other three-and-oners to come in first place. His night got off to a great start as he opened with the Collins-only-but-totally-definable UNALIVE* against Aaron. He later added ETESIAN and TARDIES, and won big, 523-396. He beat Aaron again in the second round, 426-401. Aaron bingoed with OUTPLOT (not to be confused with OUTPLOD) and ARAISED*, while Mark played NEUTERED and CALORIC. CALORIC seems like a hard word to fit on a board, given that it starts and ends with a C, but the Collins dictionary has CH*, so maybe that explains it. His only loss of the night came at the hands of his old nemesis, the clock, as he went over by several minutes and ended up losing by 4, 387-391. He did bingo out with BRANSLE*, but it was not quite enough. To add insult to injury, his "high S" play of INSWATHE for 101 was snatched from his grasp by Aaron's ZYDECOS (n. ZYDECO, a music style of southern Louisiana) for 113. In the final game, he faced a new opponent, Thomas, and beat him 533-409. Thomas opened with two bingoes, TANKERS and ADORNED, after which Mark smiled and thought to himself "I've got him right where I want him". Mark bingoed four times after that, with METEORIC, PALEWISE (adj. vertical, also PALEWAYS), VEINLESS, and IODISER* to win.

2nd Bryan Benwitz came in second with a 3-1 +70 record. He got his loss out of the way quickly, setting him up for maximum enjoyment of the rest of the evening, falling 322-461 to Charles. Even his sole bingo was out of a not-so-good rack, as he played AUREOLA. Charles had EVINCES, EARSHOTS, and GAMEPLAY (n. the way a video game is played) as his bingoes. Bryan's fortunes took a pendular swing in the other direction in the next match, where he won 529-344 against Dennis. He bingoed with THORITE, DECIARE, and TOERAGS (n. TOERAG, a contemptible person, and here I was thinking of calling socks "toerags" from now on), while Dennis played EVASION. In the third round, he barely eked out a win against Betty, 394-377. Betty played DEFINES, and Bryan got down GIRDLING, a word that has too many G's and I's and not enough of the good vowels for my liking. He saw a familiar face in the fourth round, facing Charles again and coming out on top this time, 387-380. Charles' vowel-less final rack doomed him, while Bryan had flexibility, playing a late NIQABS while hooking IOTA to make BIOTA.

3rd Thomas Reinke had a negative spread but came in third anyway, going 3-1 -13 (palindrome alert!!!!!!). In the opener, he beat Dennis 434-425, with bingoes of DESPOIL and WEIRDED. Dennis made it close with CLEANEST and STAINED, but late power-tile plays sealed Thomas' win. After that, he had a low-scoring game with Helen, with him coming out ahead 340-318. His big play that game was ESPIEGLE (adj. playful, apparently lifted straight from French), not to be confused with SPIEGEL (n. a type of cast iron). Against Charles in the third round, he opened with AWAITED, and later added DROPHEAD and EPEEIST and won 486-406. Things were looking good for a 4-0 night as he opened with two bingoes against Mark, but things turned south and he lost 409-533. That'll teach him to dip his toes in the Collins ocean!

Experts
Mark Kenas3-1 +272
Bryan Benwitz3-1 +70
Thomas Reinke3-1 -13
Sue Goldstein2-1 -85
Dave Gilligan2-2 +99
Charles Reinke2-2 +86
Aaron Bader1-2 -148
Betty Hasselkus1-3 -20
Helen Flores1-3 -84
Dennis Lloyd1-3 -177
Intermediates

 
NameWin% W   L  T  Avg  Opp Avg Bingos  Avg Phonies % v2
Experts
Charles Reinke74.5792704433792312.1820.97
Thomas Reinke68.6723304313902332.22104.35
Bryan Benwitz64.1593304193781621.7610.60
Aaron Bader57.9332404344361262.212217.51
Richard Lauder5010100394380361.812.81
Dennis Lloyd4518220376403581.45610.33
David Kinzer41.412170352386150.52213.30
Mark Kenas40.8294204344341502.112516.71
Andy Bohnsack4023040038691.8001
Lynda Finn35.7590389398211.5002
Helen Flores34.431590357390780.8722.61
Intermediates

Bingos
Mark Kenas11ETESIAN TARDIES CALORIC NEUTERED INSWATHE METEORIC PALEWISE VEINLESS unalive bransle
iodiser
Thomas Reinke9DESPOIL WEIRDED ESPIEGLE AWAITED DROPHEAD EPEEIST TANKERS ADORNED aedicule
Bryan Benwitz7AUREOLA THORITE TOERAGS DECIARE GIRDLING WEASAND RETILES
Charles Reinke7EVINCES EARSHOTS GAMEPLAY FADEOUT CIRROSE MARTINS ORIFICES
Dennis Lloyd6CLEANEST STAINED EVASION ARISTAE HARRIES corvair
Aaron Bader5RELEASED OUTPLOT RENEGADO ZYDECOS araised
Dave Gilligan4PORTSIDE DECERNS WEAPONS STEERED
Helen Flores3REPOSED RELATES EASIEST
Sue Goldstein2POINTER RUSTIER
Betty Hasselkus2SPLAYED DEFINES
21-May: Scrabble at Misty Mountain Games28-May: Scrabble at Covenant Church4-Jun: Scrabble at Covenant Church11-Jun: Scrabble at Covenant Church