Stats for April 30, 2025
1st Thomas Reinke topped a field where nobody went undefeated, but four players went 3-1, with his 3-1 +264 record. That +264 spread put him a whopping nine spread points ahead of second place and nineteen spread points ahead of third. Thomas started strong by beating Helen Flores 472-272, despite "only" bingoing once with VERTISOL. His scoring potency wore off in the next game as he was bested by Andy Bohnsack 347-402; his bingo of INDURATE failed to stand up to Andy's DONATES and POSTMAN. The bingos flowed more freely in a Collins-lexicon matchup against Charles Reinke; Thomas deployed AGOUTIES, PACIFIED, EMBROWN, and AVENIRS# en route to a 558-444 win. Thomas finished with a low-scoring 338-333 win against Steve Hartsman, where Thomas' three-O OVERTOOK was the only bingo played by either player.
2nd Steve Hartsman reversed the previous week's 1-3 record with a 3-1 +255 showing. His first game was a hard-fought 378-336 win over Sara McLaughlin, where Sara's RECRUIT was matched by Steve's INSIDES. Round two saw Steve and his 20+ years of tournament experience go against the upstart James Rollins, and experience prevailed as Steve played PARITIES and CONTORTS on his way to a 431-253 victory. Matching up against Andy Bohnsack in the next game, Steve played two more bingos (ADMIRING, SIRENIAN) for a 442-402 win. Sadly, a potentially perfect night was disrupted by Thomas Reinke, as their fourth-round contest ended with both players well below their yearly averages, 333-338.
3rd Lynda Finn made her third writeup appearance in four attempts with a 3-1 +245 record. A 368-410 loss to Charles Reinke in round one was perhaps not Lynda's preferred way to start a relaxing (?) evening of Scrabble, but things quickly turned around with a big 488-263 win against Sara McLaughlin. Lynda got down STOLLEN, INTONERS, and CAESIUM in that one. Things were a bit closer against James Rollins, but Lynda found the game's only bingo (HETAIRA) and it was her win, 370-334. She finished her relaxing (?) evening of Scrabble with a 434-408 victory versus Andy Bohnsack, playing MISINTER, ENDEMIC, and GEARING to Andy's SHIVERED. That win makes her the winner of six of the last eight games in the Lynda-Andy matchup, although the lifetime series still belongs comfortably to Andy.
4th Helen Flores went 3-1 -35, recovering from a big loss in round one to win her next three. Among those wins was a 384-379 victory against Bryan Benwitz, snapping a 26-game losing streak against Bryan.
Bryan Benwitz got the first 600-point game of the year when he scored exactly 600 against Sara McLaughlin. His 212-point SPEEDWAY accounted for over a third of his final score, and is the highest-scoring bingo so far this year by a significant margin (Mark Kenas' SLABBERY for 176 is the next highest). 212 points is also tied for the fourth-highest scoring bingo since modern statkeeping began in 2011.
| Avg. Game Score | 387 |
| Avg. Intermediate Score | 0 |
| Avg. Expert Score | 387 |
| Avg. Winning Score | 440 |
| Avg. Losing Score | 334 |
| Avg. Bingo Score | 78 |
