1st Thomas Reinke dropped thirteen bingos upon his opponents en route to a 4-1 +301 record. Being that Thomas' primary motivation is regaining and keeping the top spot in the yearly standings, he defeated both of his closest competitors, Bryan Benwitz and Charles Reinke. His game against Bryan was quite lopsided at 488-379. The bingo situation was also quite lopsided with Bryan playing MOUSIER vs. Thomas' AMPERAGE, FUTURIST, and ONLIEST. His game against his brother was a bit closer, but still a convincing win, 500-456. In that one, both belligerents had three bingos: SURFIEST, CITATOR, and TENSIBLE for Thomas, READIEST, ANTIMERE, and the unlikely ANYBODY for Charles. Sadly, a 366-407 loss to Richard Lauder in the second round quickly snuffed out Thomas' dreams of a perfect record. And for the second straight week, Thomas' scorecard was marred by a phony; last week it was BOARLIKE* played against Lynda Finn, this week it was TANTRAL* played against...Lynda Finn. All would do well to be more suspicious of Thomas' bingos going forward.

2nd Richard Lauder rebounded from a tough outing last week to go 3-1 +178 this week. His 424 per-game average is over 100 points higher than his average from last week. His best game by far was a 508-339 drubbing of Dennis Lloyd, thanks to four bingos, of which only 50% were phony: BORACITE, FORECAST, PLENTUM*, and EXSPIRE*. EXSPIRE* may have just been a brain fart given the availability of EXPIRES, while PLENTUM may have been a creative re-imagining of PLENUM. Nevertheless, the phony words stayed on the board, and contributed significantly to Richard's impressive final score. His phonying tendencies were successfully kept in check when he defeated Sara Mclaughlin 399-365, playing two perfectly valid bingos, CANDIES and RATIONAL (Sara found LEGATOS). The only stumbling block Richard faced was the worrisome word knowledge of Charles Reinke: their game ended 448-382 in Charles' favor.

Dennis' PEMMICAN, played in a victory over Bryan Benwitz, was chosen as word of the week from many worthy candidates. Among the other bingos under consideration were Dennis' NONHARDY, Helen's VLOGGER, Thomas' QUORUMS and FUTURIST (both with multiple U's!), and Charles' ANYBODY (one wonders if he had a D available to play the even lower-probability BAYNODDY).

Experts
Thomas Reinke4-1 +301
Richard Lauder3-1 +178
Charles Reinke3-2 +143
Dennis Lloyd3-2 +21
Lynda Finn2-2 -27
David Kinzer1-2 -21
Helen Flores1-3 -145
Bryan Benwitz1-3 -185
Sara McLaughlin1-3 -265
Intermediates

 
NameWin% W   L  T  Avg  Opp Avg Bingos  Avg Phonies % v2
Experts
Bryan Benwitz74.81133804383662981.9751.70
Thomas Reinke73.41746304513965622.377212.837
Charles Reinke65.81568104443945072.14387.537
Beth Amos58.314100382381351.4625.70
Lynda Finn53.7655613903851781.4673.915
Dennis Lloyd50.8646203813871841.46105.411
Karl Armstrong5011041338921000
Ron Malzer502424035837648136.30
Richard Lauder47.39710803803883221.57206.210
Sara McLaughlin45.1657903563791160.8165.22
David Kinzer38.724380356372380.6137.90
Renato Umali37.5350374417101.251100
John Bialek36.126460347385420.5812.40
Mark Kenas35.85710204254543292.076018.20
Helen Flores35.8509013543961200.8597.50
Wendy Bialek16.712600314390290.4000
Sue Goldstein12.98540296371120.193250
Intermediates
Francesca Lazio12.517029042850.63000

Bingos
Thomas Reinke13NEBULAS PASQUIL QUORUMS REDBAIT ECLOSES ACINOSE SURFIEST CITATOR TENSIBLE AMPERAGE
FUTURIST ONLIEST tantral
Richard Lauder10CANDIES RATIONAL POWDERED INJURED AROUSED ELOIGNS BORACITE FORECAST plentum exspire
Charles Reinke9ZEALOTS IDONEOUS AERATING READIEST ANTIMERE ANYBODY CAGIEST MATERIELS TOPCOATS
Dennis Lloyd8STAPLED NONHARDY PARROTS LOONIER STEADIER PEMMICAN HAIRNET SHEETING
Bryan Benwitz5HEIRLESS POSTEENS FADDISTS EBONITES MOUSIER
Lynda Finn4SENTENCE OVARIES EINSTEIN CARATES
Helen Flores4VLOGGER PARASOL LIMITING DERBIES
Sara McLaughlin3LEGATOS TAWNIES ARENOSE
David Kinzer2QUACKED FOLIAGE
8-Jan: Scrabble at Covenant Church15-Jan: Scrabble at Misty Mountain Games22-Jan: Scrabble at Covenant Church29-Jan: Scrabble at Covenant Church