Blog

1st Thomas Reinke began the process of wearing out his welcome at the top of the weekly standings, this time going 5-0 +338 and single-handedly ushering in the era of steroid testing in Scrabble. His perfect night began with a win (who would have guessed?) over Charles Reinke, although at a slightly lower score than expected, 413-371. In round two, Thomas dropped three bingos (ANCESTOR, BURDENS, RESTYLE) on Ed Nawrocki and successfully repelled Ed's TRANCED for a 439-319 victory. A two-on-one opportunity was foisted upon Thomas for the third game, and all went smoothly for Thomas as he cast down Bryan Benwitz 457-355 and came away with a slightly closer win against James Rollins, 409-380. The "all went smoothly" claim was rendered inaccurate as further review revealed that Thomas needed a phony METTLING* to beat James. METTLED is valid, but it means "having spirit", so no METTLING*. Switching to Collins for the final game, Thomas scored another win over Charles, 461-416, getting REALTIE#, RAVINED, and SPRENTED# to Charles' CLARINET, LEGATOS, and FLANNIES#.

2nd Bryan Benwitz continued his trend of strong-but-not-as-strong-as-Thomas finishes, going 3-1 +297 in the latest installment. After a one-point loss to Steve Hartsman the previous week, Bryan came storming back with a vengeful 436-365 win this week, bingoing with FEMALES and BANDITO vs. Steve's PINTLES. For the next game, Bryan went up against James Rollins for the fourth straight week (although for James it might feel like longer than that), and scored another win, 466-337. A loss to Thomas Reinke, 355-457, prevented Bryan from gaining any ground in the yearly standings, but he recovered quickly, punishing Helen Flores 477-278 with bingo finds of ETESIAN, JESUITS, and EPIMERS ("fun" quiz: find the other six bingos in EEIMPRS).

3rd Charles Reinke went 3-2, or more accurately, "3-and-brother", with a +396 spread. His games against non-Reinkes were all convincing victories. A two-on-one match vs. Dennis Lloyd and Ron Malzer saw Charles come away with a 398-325 win against Dennis and a 454-285 win against Ron. In the latter game, Charles got MOFETTES, ANELING, and AERATES, which was a seven-letter underlap underneath ANELING (some other letters were in play, as GS* is clearly not a word). Upping his bingo output even further, Charles played four of them (HEADIER, PHOEBUS, NAILERS, COXALGIC) when defeating Helen Flores 518-277. COXALGIC was a strong contender for word of the week, had Dennis not found DWARFISM with two blanks in a separate game.

1st Thomas Reinke continued his extended run of dominance by going 4-1 +727, averaging 511 points per game, and getting an unbelievable 18 bingos across five games. His scores of 597 and 590 are the two highest scores at our club this year. He suffered his only loss in round one, when he fell to Charles Reinke, 456-495, despite four bingos: TUNEUPS, COMBINGS, TERRAPIN, and WATERLOG. As that loss was in progress, Thomas defeated Bryan Benwitz 469-380, getting DETRAIN, TOLEWARE, and CANDIES. Thomas' lowest-scoring game came in round two, as he scored a lowly 441 to Richard Lauder's 309, and only bingoed twice: REUSING and INOSITOL. In the third round, Thomas made up for his earlier loss and then some, as he convincingly creamed Charles 590-332, getting ARMIGERO, BOUVIERS, ELUANTS, and a triple-triple STRAWHAT for 167 points (STRAWHAT looks like a noun, but is actually an adjective, and doesn't take an S). Saving this best for last, Thomas came tantalizingly close to a 600-point game as he defeated Andy Bohnsack 597-310. His excessively large bingo list in that game consisted of ASSIGNEE, INDECENT, FROTTEUR, EXCISES, and AERATION.

2nd Andy Bohnsack had a huge night of his own, finishing 4-1 +484, getting fifteen bingos, and averaging 527 points in his wins (his single loss dragged his overall average to "just" 484). He began with a 533-403 win against Steve Hartsman, playing four bingos (TITRABLE, SOURNESS, HEAVIEST, TAVERNER) to Steve's two (REFUTING, LEWISON* [LEWISSON and LEWISITE are valid]). Even more bingos were flaunted in game two, as Andy was outbingoed by Charles Reinke 3-4, but still won, 494-475. Andy had MOTTLING, TRUEING, and CAPONIER, while Charles had COENURI, JARVEYS, FLOATERS, and INERTIA. Playing two at once in the next round, Andy prevailed conclusively in both, beating Dave Kinzer 531-301 (BIGHEADS, NEURONES, AREOLAE) and Richard Lauder 550-335 (BEROBED, TREACLES, NARDOOS, EGLOMIZE*). EGLOMISE is valid, but is an adjective describing glass, not a verb. Andy's run of 500-point games (and the attendant runaway ego inflation) came to a screeching halt in the final game, as he barely cracked 300 in a 310-597 loss to Thomas Reinke.

3rd Bryan Benwitz snuck into third place with a 2-2 +175 record. Things didn't start off well as he lost to Thomas Reinke 380-469 in the opening game. Squaring off against Steve Hartsman in the next game, Bryan suffered a heartbreaking one-point loss, 417-418, countering Steve's SCANNING and REGULAR with his own TIERCELS and MEDIATOR. A well-timed scoring error could easily have swung the game in the other direction (just kidding, don't do that). Bryan's match against Carol Ormand concluded with no bingos on the board, but still Bryan's win, 341-247. In round four, Bryan somewhat got back to his "normal" self, and easily took down James Rollins, 447-286, thanks to DELTOID and EGESTION.

1st Steve Hartsman ran roughshod over the field with a flawless 5-0 +594 record. He set a personal record for largest margin of victory (+385) when he flattened Richard Lauder, 578-193, getting down SOLARIA, TENURIAL, SHEGETZ, and the phony CONGERED*. Subsequent games weren't quite as eye-popping as that one; round two saw Steve win by a relatively staid 62 points against Charles Reinke, 433-371. For round three, Steve was granted the opportunity to inflate his win totals even further with a two-on-one match, and he rose to the occasion, felling Dave Kinzer 444-308 (with a second phony, ANEURINE* [only ANEURIN]) and needing a recount to beat Dennis Lloyd 425-416 (getting TWINGED and IRRIGATE). No recount was requested in the final game of the evening as Steve barely scraped by with a win over Thomas Reinke, 390-388. Thomas got down a single bingo of SOLARIA (Steve, having played that exact bingo in his first game, likely had no doubt of its validity), while Steve had FEDORAS and RELISHES.

2nd Bryan Benwitz went 3-1 +358. He got his loss out of the way early when he was defeated by Thomas Reinke, 378-431, despite the nice find of ESPIEGLE (never extended to ESPIEGLERIE). A bounce-back win over John Bialek, 419-355, marked the starts of his comeback. In round three, he fought off Andy Bohnsack, 473-402, getting down REBEGUN and RELEASED against Andy's BATISTE and plausible-but-invalid UNCLEVER*. Saving his best for last, Bryan wiped the floor with James Rollins in the final game, winning 538-262 and selfishly monopolizing the bingo tiles with IDEATING, PLEIADES, GUESTING, and ANCHORS. Careful observers will note that Bryan's scores displayed a clear upwards trend from game one to game four, a trend that one can only assume will continue indefinitely.

3rd Thomas Reinke finished 3-1 +249 to remain at the top of the yearly standings. Immediately engaging in some bingoey proclivities, he found ARROGATE, RARITIES, and SCANDENT to beat Bryan Benwitz, 431-378. Bingos were flying everywhere in round two as Thomas' 457-368 win against James Rollins featured six bingos, three from each side (DERACINE, COMPUTER, and OUTASKED for Thomas; ORIENTS, GEARINGS, and TONSURE for James). Encountering familiar foe Charles Reinke in the third game, Thomas won again, 492-383, thanks to ANNEALER, PREMIERE, and OUTSAID. Just two spread points stood between Thomas and an undefeated night (well, I guess three spread points), as his bingo output dwindled in a 388-390 loss to Steve Hartsman.

James' MONOTONY was word of the week, narrowly beating out Steve's SHEGETZ in the voting (a vote of one).