1st Bryan Benwitz was flawless (at least from a wins perspective) with a 4-0 +294 record. Showing remarkable consistency, he bingoed twice and scored over 400 (but less than 500) in all his games. His opening salvo was a 446-401 win against Richard Lauder, who got down SAGIEST and DENTING to Bryan's OUTKILL and PRALINES. Round two saw him win big against Helen Flores, 443-349, bingoing with LINDANES and SEDGIER. With Helen out of the way, Bryan then faced off against his primary rival in the yearly standings list, Charles Reinke, and made some progress towards another club championship with a 428-370 victory. His 102-point DEMOTICS (anagramming to the slightly more common COMEDIST and DOMESTIC) was a much-needed scoring infusion, while UNFEARED for 76 didn't hurt either. As a reward for beating one Reinke, Bryan had to go through Thomas Reinke to secure his undefeated record, and secure it he did, with a no-doubt-about-it 486-389 win. Thomas pulled out some nifty word knowledge with POETLIKE, GUMWOODS, and PALTRIER, while Bryan had STILTING and ENCLAVED.

2nd Dennis Lloyd snagged a coveted spot in the writeup with his 3-1 +243 record, right before his globetrotting ways remove him from Scrabble combat for the next few weeks. Things didn't go Dennis' way in round one, as he was vanquished by Helen Flores, 344-363, despite Dennis playing the only bingo of the game with ARRIVES. The bingos flowed a bit more freely against Sara McLaughlin, as he had three of them (FOUNTAIN, RABBITS, GENDERS) en route to a 508-287 win. That 508 score was also the highest single game score of the night across all players. Dennis' up-and-down night continued with a game against Lynda Finn where both players faced consistently awkward letters and only Lynda managed to bingo (GARAGES); nevertheless, Dennis took the win, 329-314. Dennis wrapped up his strong performance with two bingos (ENTAILER, ENDEARS) and a 394-368 defeat of Richard Lauder.

3rd Charles Reinke snuck by his brother to grab third place with a 3-1 +144 record and an anomalously low total of five bingos. He was held bingoless in a matchup versus Sara McLaughlin, but prevailed regardless, 403-341. Sara played LORRIES to help keep the score close. Charles' other two wins were both against Mark Kenas, 433-399. Charles upped his bingo output in those Collins-lexicon games, playing ENTRAIN and DERISORY in the first win and COALIZES# and UNHORSE in the second. Sadly, a previously-chronicled 370-428 loss to Bryan Benwitz set Charles back not only in the nightly standings but the yearly standings as well.

Helen's SICKOUTS was bingof of the week.