1st Charles Reinke went 4-1 +414, leading a sizable pile of fourteen Scrabblers. His first-round matchup against Mark Kenas resulted in a rare sub-300 game from Mark and a 435-289 win for Charles, who played CLEAVES and PRELUDI# (which helpfully extends to PRELUDIO#, not that many would care to learn that hook). Facing a two-on-one in round two, Charles won both but in vastly differing ways: a 357-303 win against James Rollins saw neither player get down a bingo, while each player got down three bingos when he beat Richard Lauder 533-434 (Charles got QUAKIER, OUTLEARN, and PETSAIS; Richard had VIRTUES, RENDING, and ALOETIC). Mark got his revenge in round three, as Charles lost 397-443 (Mark's bingo list was all-Collins and will thus not be reprinted), but he had recovered by the final round and walloped Steve Hartsman, 547-386, thanks to bingos of GNAWERS, SILOXANE, and OUTWEAR.

2nd Bryan Benwitz landed at 3-1 +422, going 3-1 for the sixth time since September. His opening salvo was a big win over Dave Kinzer, 521-248, where he bingoed with WOOLIES, INEPTLY, and the newly-added (as of a few years ago, anyway) DEADASS. He followed that up by defeating Andy Bohnsack 412-352, laying down the high-probability AUDITEE and ARTSIER to Andy's TALCING and TIPCARTS. A 95-point bingo of DERIVATE couldn't save him in round three where he fell to Steve Hartsman 386-421. Thankfully, the bingos flowed with renewed abundance against Lynda Finn, and Bryan played GERONTIC, TEOPANS, and SCOUTERS for a 490-366 win.

3rd Steve Hartsman, still riding high from the Brewers' World Series win, emulated the success of the Milwaukee baseball team with a 3-1 +67 outing (there will be no further attempts to relate Scrabble to baseball as this writer only understands one of those things). Steve picked up an impressive win against club leader Thomas Reinke in the first game of the night, 417-357, thanks to bingo finds of KATSURA and SIGNORAS. He then steamrolled Helen Flores, bingoing a single time with COPASTOR (anagram: ROOTCAPS) for a 394-261 victory. Two more bingos, ALLSEED and INPUTTED, led Steve to a 421-386 win against Bryan Benwitz; Steve has now won four of his last six against Bryan, a rare winning record against a player who could rightfully be called "The Bryaniac". An undefeated record was looking possible, but Steve's hopes in that regard were dashed utterly as he lost big to Charles Reinke in the final game, 386-547.

Notable was Lloyd Stohler's 126-point play of BAROQUE, achieved in a high-scoring 434-442 loss to Helen Flores. Additionally notable was Andy's 149-point TROUBLER against Thomas.