1st Thomas Reinke dominated, as is too often the case, with a 4-0 +341 record. The Andy-Charles-Steve-Bryan lineup that he faced was perhaps the most difficult lineup of opponents possible, making his undefeated effort just that much more impressive. His night started with a 430-328 win against Andy Bohnsack, getting down EVADING and MANNOSE. Troublingly, that total of two bingos would be the lowest of any of Thomas' games. Deftly switching over to the Collins lexicon, Thomas fought off Charles Reinke in a high-scoring affair, 496-455. Thomas enjoyed bingos of SERRANID, ENEMIES, and ADJACENT, while Charles had PLESSORS and OBVIATE. Thomas' winning effort against Steve Hartsman was more convincing, as Steve was limited to a grand total of zero bingos, while Thomas hogged the bag's power with VARIATE, ADJOURNS, and ANIMUSES. The tile-slinging reached a frenzied climax as Thomas felled Bryan Benwitz in the concluding game, 450-385. Both players duked it out to three bingos apiece: DEBTORS, OESTRIOL, and UNFASTEN for Thomas; BIOTITES, COLLIDED, and RESTRING for Bryan.

2nd Charles Reinke averaged 492 points per game while going 3-1 +401. He stormed to a comfortable round-one win against Lynda Finn thanks to GANYMEDE, TELSONS, MISWROTE, and the phony HERLING* (a phony which, in fairness, has all the properties of a word). Lynda got a nice 104 points for PROMPTED, which kept the lopsided scores from becoming even more lopsided. Charles was put in his place in round two, as a Collins game against Thomas Reinke resulted in a 455-496 loss. But Charles quickly found himself back to scoring in the 500+ range with a 516-398 win against Andy Bohnsack; Andy got word of the week for his seven-letter LAITHLY, but was dismayed to find out that the word of the week designation cannot actually be exchanged for points in a game of Scrabble, or for its cash value of $0.02. Charles played WANDEROO, MELODIES, and PINNULAR in the course of his victory. An onslaught of four bingos (VARIATE, OTTOMANS, SEMIOPEN, INSTEAD) ensured Charles' victory against Steve Hartsman in the final game, 489-330. (Update on the ADEINST rack from which INSTEAD was born: SATINED remains, by far, the least frequent ADEINST bingo at our club, so everybody should try to play that one instead of DETAINS or STAINED).

3rd Dennis Lloyd finally finished above .500 after a run of less-than-successful sessions, going 3-1 +192. He obliterated Richard Lauder in the opening bout, scoring 448 to Richard's 265 despite actually finishing behind on the bingo count (Richard had two, UNSWORE and ERODENTS*, while Dennis had just SATIATES). Dennis' win against James Rollins was considerably closer, but still a win, 369-352. Dennis had SERIALLY to James' high-probability ANISOLE in that one. In round three, Dennis got his highest score of the night at 450, but managed to lose the game, as Bryan scored 467, which is a higher number (remember, this isn't golf, and higher numbers are better). Dennis bingoed with SMELTING, ENROOTS, and FINISHED; Bryan had TROOPED and AEROBIA. Dennis ended his night with a nine-point win over Ed Nawrocki, 365-356.