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1st Andy Bohnsack squeaked into first place with a 3-1 +230 record. Round one saw him get a convincing win over Helen Flores, 452-304, bingoing with RESORTED. His bingo output went up threefold for the next game (ALARMING, RENVOIS, OUTSAIL), but it was actually the only game he lost, as Charles Reinke also got three bingos (TEACAKES, COMETARY, INUTILE) for a 438-480 final score. Against John Bialek, Andy recovered to take a 433-313 victory, responding to John's ROADIES with his own INULASES. In round four, Andy prevailed in a high-scoring bout against Thomas Reinke, 470-466, finding ENSNARED and SONGFUL - Thomas got down RATLINS, DAINTIES, and VOTARIES. Reminder for anybody who might need it: you can add a T to DAINTIES to make DAINTIEST.

2nd Charles Reinke went 3-1 +228. For the second straight week, Charles' first opponent was his brother. Also for the second straight week, Charles won their match. Also for the second straight week, Charles got five bingos; this time, it was ECHOISED#, IRENICAL, LAUWINES, SKITTLED#, and EDITION (fun note about IRENICAL: it's been played four times at club, all by Charles. It also takes an E in front for EIRENICAL). Charles continued stacking up bingos with three more (enumerated earlier in the writeup) for a 580-438 win against Andy Bohnsack. Against Dave Kinzer, Charles suffered his only defeat, falling to Dave's finds of ABLUTION and OUTLETS for a 391-411 final. Dave now has a winning record against Charles this year, something that very few players can claim. Charles wrapped things up with a 451-377 win over Helen Flores, thanks to OLDWIFE and ZEOLITE.

3rd Dave Kinzer won his first three before sadly losing the final game, leaving him at 3-1 +219. He fought out a bingoless win against Lynn McDonald, 332-247, to get his first win of the evening. Deciding that bingoing is more fun than not bingoing, Dave then dropped three bingos on Ed Nawrocki (BANDAGES, REVOTING, TITRATES) for a mammoth 426-257 win. The strong play continued as Dave took out heavy-hitter Charles Reinke 411-391, thanks to ABLUTION and OUTLETS. 4-0 was in reach, but Dave was stymied by the late-arriving Dennis Lloyd, who won their fourth round match 421-366. Dennis got down the stylish FABULIST in the course of his win, while Dave had SLATHER. Demonstrating how the cruelty of fate is unbounded, Dennis was actually the one finishing with an undefeated record, going 1-0.

1st Steve Hartsman unambiguously dominated a smaller-than-usual crowd of seven Scrabblers, finishing 4-0 +310 with a 452 average. His first game was also his best, as he took down Andy Bohnsack in a slugfest, 498-421. A wide selection of high-probability bingos was on display: Andy found EROSIONS and BERATING, but was overwhelmed by Steve's finds of OESTRIN, REVOTED, HIRSUTE, and GIRASOLE. Steve then went on to achieve the rare feat of beating both Reinke twins back-to-back, 426-398 vs. Charles and 409-377 vs. Thomas. The third Reinke twin was too busy playing Yu-Gi-Oh! to get in on the action. Undefeated going into the final game, Steve kept the bingos flowing with a 473-300 win against Dennis Lloyd, slapping down BOLETES, GRANOLAS, and WASTERS to take home a shiny trophy all the way back to Milwaukee. (Just kidding. The budget doesn't allow for weekly trophies.)

2nd Thomas went 3-2 +295, playing thirteen bingos, which is honestly a kind of normal number for him these days. A first-round Collins-lexicon brawl with Charles Reinke ended badly for Thomas; his brother bingoed the first five turns of the game (COURAGE, LOCAVORE, ENDORSE, FREEING, RETINAE) to take a lead that no amount of counter-bingos (EULOGIST, PATINED, RAILROAD) could hope to overcome. Thomas stormed back with a pair of wins in round two, felling Dennis Lloyd 494-308 and Andy Bohnsack 453-437 in a two-on-one. Of note was Thomas' bingo of SIXTEEN, which scored 100 points and was ripe for all kinds of jokes about the score of the play. After dropping a game to Steve Hartsman, 377-409, Thomas ended his night with a convincing win against Richard Lauder, playing JAROSITE, ORIOLES, and AROINTS for a 546-254 win.

1st Andy Bohnsack went 4-1 for the second time in three weeks (ignore the intervening 1-3 record), this time with a +418 spread, good for first place. He waltzed through a two-one-one match in the opening round, downing Helen Flores 466-305 (with APPENDS, GOATIER, and ARCSINE) while simultaneously defeating Dave Kinzer 416-303 (GAOLERS, STRIDERS). This success was rewarded with a chance at Thomas Reinke, but things didn't go according to plan (unless the plan was to lose, which would be a nonsensical plan), and Andy suffered his only loss, 424-504. Andy was back to his old self in short order, proved out by a strong 508-398 win against Richard Lauder where he managed MANAGED, BREAKOUT, SEAPIECE, and ENATIONS. The bingoing continued unabated with YOUNGEST, ORIENTAL, and RETRIALS in a 469-355 victory over John Bialek.

2nd Thomas Reinke finished at 4-1 +315, continuing his streak of .500-or-better club sessions that extends all the way back to October of last year. In round one, he defeated Ed Nawrocki 435-321, despite Ed's tricky find of SORORATE (Thomas had RATANIES, which has four anagrams if you feel like tormenting your brain rather than continuing to read this writeup). For round two, Thomas played Mark Kenas and Andy Bohnsack at the same time; undaunted by the challenge, he won both, 388-384 vs. Mark and 504-424 vs. Andy. Sparks flew in a clash of twins in round three, but Charles was able to hold on and give Thomas his only loss, 452-529. Typical for their Collins-lexicon punchouts, both players bingoed frequently: REPANDLY, LISTENER, and MULTIAGE for Thomas, while Charles had EPISTLER, REINSURE, and STOLONIC. The ten-letter REEDIFYING also hit the board. Thomas recovered nicely from that loss by wiping the floor with Mark in a rematch, 538-344, getting SLIOTAR#, DESERTIC, PHAETON, and SEVENTY (the latter for 85, not 70 points).

3rd Charles Reinke used the unholy power of odd numbers to get two separate two-on-one matches, thus finishing with six total games and a 4-2 +155 record. Both losses were to Mark Kenas, and both of them were quite lopsided, 308-474 and 365-481. The latter loss could almost be considered "worth it" given that Charles got down word of the week with VAGOTOMY (a word that perhaps doesn't have the definition one would assume - it means "surgical division of the vagus nerve"). Charles did well to recover lost spread by beating John Bialek 462-282, bingoing with ROTATES, HEALINGS, and ARMONICA (apparently the same thing as a HARMONICA). The aforementioned 529-452 victory against Thomas Reinke also helped. For the final game (actually final games, plural), Charles felled Helen Flores 553-401 and Richard Lauder 433-405. A 158-point ROAMINGS was key against Helen, while the uncommon VASEFULS did some damage to Richard.