1st Dave Kinzer only stayed for three games, but fortune smiled on him, and there were no 4-0 finishers to displace him from the top spot in the nightly standings with his 3-0 +315 record. He started things off with a bingoless 328-187 win over second-timer Cooper. In the next game against Lynda Finn, he withstood Lynda's dubious (and somewhat inappropriate) phony of BONERING* (the only bingo played against Dave the entire night) to win 383-328. His bingo of STAINERS ensured that there was at least one valid play on the board. The upward trend continued as Dave broke through the 400-point barrier with a 404-285 win over Sue Goldstein. Then the wise decision was made to depart after three games, guaranteeing Dave's undefeated record and presciently securing the coveted first paragraph of the writeup.

2nd Thomas Reinke averaged 449 points per game on his way to a 3-1 +369 record. He got his best game out of the way promptly with a convincing 499-267 win against Richard Lauder. Richard's 80-point bingo of USELESS prevented his score from remaining in truly tragic territory, but Thomas outgunned him with LINURON, HARVEST, and LAUWINE. Sadly, Thomas' ever-present hopes of an undefeated evening were quickly stomped out in round two, with a 409-421 loss to Mark Kenas. Thomas got down GREENLIT and GUMLINE to Mark's VANQUISH and FROWNERS. A 430-393 win over Lynda Finn followed, a win snatched from ultimate adversity, that adversity being the fact that Lynda bingoed twice (ENTASIA, ANTIHERO) while Thomas only bingoed once (STARING). To finish the night, Thomas got revenge against Mark Kenas, winning handily by a score of 457-345 thanks to LOADERS and AURELIAN#.

3rd Bryan Benwitz shook off a first-round loss to finish 3-1 +48. That initial loss was to none other than Karl Amstrong in a high-scoring slugfest, 466-469. Bryan had three bbingos of UNDERDOG, HEARINGS, and AMENTIA, while Karl had GELLING and QUIETEST. Karl now owns a 2-0 lifetime record against Bryan, something that Bryan will surely look to rectify in future encounters. He recovered, but just barely, against Charles Reinke, prevailing in a close match 430-423 thanks to TAUTENED, SEDATING, and ROUTEMAN. Bryan's frenzied bingo pace slowed down in the next two games, but they were both wins, which is the stat that truly matters in the end. Bryan vanquished Richard Lauder 434-394 with the help of his three-R TORRIDER, then took another close win, this one against Lynda Finn, 371-367. Both players in that one had a chance to display a small subset of their high-probability sevens knowledge, Bryan playing EUGENIA and Lynda playing ACONITE.

Sara's fancy find of FUTURIST was word of the week.