1st Bryan Benwitz found himself at the top of the Scrabble player heap thanks to a 3-1 +473 record, now the fourth week in a row where he finished with that exact record (well, not that exact spread, but you know what I mean). He walloped fellow 3-1 finisher Richard Lauder by the lopsided score of 527-315 in round one, bingoing with DUALIST, REVELING, and VENALITY. He wasted no time rejoining the "500 club" with a 509-371 win against Thomas Reinke, finding some high-probability sevens in ENTRAIN, VIATORS, and EIDOLON (Thomas found the low-probability TOPCROSS). Bryan, who is apparently cursed to never go 4-0 again, suffered his single loss to the other Reinke, as Charles beat him 376-437. An accurately-spelled find of TROILITE (it's tempting to play TRIOLITE*) helped Bryan out, but not enough. In the fourth and final game, Bryan made quick work of Helen Flores, winning their match 457-274 with bingos of ELONGATE and TONIFIES.

2nd Mark Kenas went 3-1 +103 against a tough lineup of only Reinkes, the expected fate of a staunch Collins-only player. Things started off poorly with a 403-486 defeat at the hands of Thomas, but Mark got him back (plus a little extra) with a later 517-411 victory where a CSW-only DROGHER#, along with ETHICIAN, got Mark to the finish line. Interspersed with those two games, Mark picked up two victories against Charles. The first was a high-scoring 512-474 match with both players plunking down three bingos: COLOGNED, PROVABLE, and SOURDINE for Mark; TOPLINER# (non-Collins players should remember the anagram TERPINOL), BEADSMAN, and WRATHIER for Charles. In the second game of the set, Mark won again, 443-401, playing three more bingos: UNBLAMED, UNROPES, and ECHIDNAE. However, since everything is a bingo in Collins, one wonders why Mark didn't bingo seven or eight times instead of a piddly three.

3rd Richard Lauder returned to winning ways with a 3-1 -13 record. That negative spread can be attributed to his 315-527 loss to Bryan, where his single bingo of RUINATES seemed quite appropriate. Richard came back with a 379-342 victory over second-timer Lloyd Stohler, who played ESCAPED and MEANDER to Richard's ORIENTED and TINDERS. Richard's bingos took a turn for the mythical as he played GNOMISH, FAERIES, and DESCALE (alright, the last one kind of ruins the theme) to take down Helen Flores 467-308. Facing off against Andy Bohnsack in the final round, Richard kept his hot streak going with a hard-fought 391-388 win, racking up big scores with TANGLERS and SULLIED.