Stats for December 12, 2018
1st Bryan Benwitz went 4-0 for the second consecutive week, bringing his current winning streak to 10 games. He opened with a 434-364 win against Thomas, playing bingos of GREETED, COULEES, and MIGRATED. Against Lynda in the second round, he deftly navigated a low scoring game, winning 361-308. His bingo of SELTZER for 102 points surely made the difference in that one. He unleashed his full fury (about 3.2 kilofuries according to the sensors) against Charles, scoring 547 against one of the toughest players the club has to offer. His bingos were INFECTED, REZONED, SINECURE (n. an office or position that requires little to no work, an example being the directorship of the Madison Scrabble Club), and TALIPEDS (n. TALIPED, a person afflicted with clubfoot). Against Gail, he won 416-376, a close game aided by his phony-of-the-week play of GERONIMO*. In his defense, he didn't have a real bingo that fit on the board even with his blank; sometimes you have to make your own best play. Now that he's won 10 in a row, whoever beats him next will receive five dollars, and if you think that that provides an incentive for him not to ever come back, remember that he doesn't get paid for the win steak until after he loses.
2nd Thomas Reinke went 4-1 +169, coming in second place for the second consecutive week (don't worry, third place did change from last week). He lost to Bryan in the first game, with only a baby bingo of AERIEST near the end pushing him over the 300-point mark. AERIEST now has a 3-times-played lead over its anagram, SERIATE, in the "most played bingos" category 22 to 19. In the second round, he played two, Helen and Richard. Against Helen he won 391-304 with bingos of ATOMIES and RALLIES. In his game against Richard, he extended his opponents' DICTIONS to BENEDICTIONS for a good amount of points, and ended up winning 448-422. Expert pro tip of the day: if DICTIONS is on the board and there are seven open spaces above it, fish for OVERPREDICTIONS for the entire game so that you can say you played a fifteen-letter word. In the next game, Thomas faced Lynda and won a close one, 399-384. Both sides bingoed once: BINDERS for Lynda which was immediately met with TINGLES for Thomas. He then faced Charles in the final, and came out on top 487-376. He played PAREIRA, TENSIVE, and an appropriate-for-what-his-opponent-was-doing-the-whole-game OUTBITCH (v. to surpass in bitching).
3rd Charles Reinke went 3-2 +227 while played two bingos every game, a model of consistency. He faced both Daves in the first round: against Dave Kinzer, he played two useful-to-know bingos, TENTORIA (n. TENTORIUM, an internal skeletal framework in the head of an insect) and ARENOSE, and won 479-283. In his other game against Dave Gilligan, he won 432-359, despite not challenging off Dave's phony PANELER* (only REPANEL is good). In the next round, he scored 460 against Gail, with double F-U bingos of REFUNDER and BOATFUL. As stated, he faced Bryan's full fury in the third round, as he lost 410-547. He did play FLORUIT (v. used in conjunction with a specified period or set of dates to indicate when a particular historical figure lived, worked, or was most active, Latin for "he/she flourished") and SILOING. He also lost big against Thomas 376-483, but he did get his required two bingos down, TWEENERS and PINOLES.
Dave Gilligan played the word-of-the-week, COTQUEAN. There are two very different definitions for it: 1: a coarse masculine woman. 2: a man who busies himself with women's work or affairs. Everyone should remember this word from when they read Romeo and Juliet in highschool. And remember, if your opponent opens with QUEAN with the Q on the double letter score and the N on the star, you can place COT in front of it for 60 points!
| Avg. Game Score | 380 |
| Avg. Intermediate Score | 0 |
| Avg. Expert Score | 380 |
| Avg. Winning Score | 428 |
| Avg. Losing Score | 333 |
| Avg. Bingo Score | 76 |
