1st Charles Reinke showed no love for any of his opponents in a pre-Valentine's Day Scrabble onslaught, going 4-0 +403. Neither did he offer any of his opponents a box of chocolates. In fact, all he did to celebrate the occasion was to gorge on heart-shaped cookies that were kindly provided by a fellow Scrabbler. In the first round, he made easy work of Gail Salm, winning 427-288 with the aid of his two bingos, BLONDINE and BESTOWAL. Another big win subsequently came against Helen Flores, 468-317, despite perfect parity in terms of bingos (CONSIST for Charles, TEASING for Helen). Charles' closest bout was in round three when he faced off against the suspiciously similar-looking Thomas Reinke and came away with just a three-point win, 430-427. His three bingos (TOLEWARE, ROSINOL, YEASTIER) were apparently much-needed in securing victory. The final jewel in Charles' crown of undefeatedness (a sapphire, in case you were wondering) was received from Bryan Benwitz, who fell to Charles by a score of 362-472. Bryan had bingos of UNIFIERS and the rarely-played BAILIFF, while Charles had the more pedestrian NITROUS and TAWPIES.

2nd Thomas Reinke averaged a club-best 454 points per game en route to a 3-1 +251 record. His first-round matchup turned out to be a high-scoring contest against Michael David, a contest which Thomas won, 458-432. Michael played just one bingo, APRICOT, but made it close in the face of Thomas' trio of bingos: AGONISTS, HASTIER, and FREEDMAN. The same bingo discrepancy was once again apprent against Bryan Benwitz, against whom Thomas won 457-361 (getting down bonus plays of DECEASE, LOONIEST, and the non-self-descriptive PHONIES while Bryan got SERFAGE). A three-point loss to Charles Reinke followed where Thomas bingoed just once (GASALIER), but order was restored to Thomas' universe in round four when he got a big win against Helen Flores, 473-341. The axiom "two bingos are better than one" had its truth affirmed as Thomas got two bingos (IRONWARE, AUBADES) to Helen's one (COURTING). It's science.

3rd Aaron Bader got his revenge after two losing sessions against fellow Collins expert Mark Kenas by going 3-1 +160. Round one was the most lopsided of the four games they played, with Aaron winning 476-344. TATTLING, NETHEADS#, and MISTERY# (which anagrams to SMYTRIE# in case you want to punish yourself by learning words that aren't in the American dictionary) were Aaron's bingos. Their round two game was a bit closer, but still a convincing win for Aaron, 435-369. It shouldn't be possible for a Collins game to end with just two bingos on the board, but Aaron (OUTROWS) and Mark (PARADISE) managed it against all odds. Their next game saw Mark narrow the gap even further, but it was still Aaron's win, 432-414, thanks to RABATOES#, DECILES, and ULEXITE. Mark finally got a win in the fourth round, 480-424, and this time he was the one who got three bingos: NIDUSES, FETERITA, and SNARERS.

Second-time player Steve Buechner played the word of the week, MAJORITY for 110 points!