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1st Michael David returned from an extended absence having (presumably, based on his record) studied the entire dictionary three times. It paid off, as he went 4-0 +349 and came in first place. The powers that be didn't let him ease into things, as he faced Charles in the first round, but he won handily, 417-336. His bingos were a double-blank NIMBLEST as well as a bingo somehow containing both a U and a W (new rule: you are entitled to a free exchange if you have both of those letters at once, effective immediately), OUTGREW. In the second game, he went up against another tough opponent, Bryan, and again won handily, 424-305. Bryan's potential high-scoring play making PRESTRUNG* was deemed invalid by the mean challenge arbiter. You know, like a tennis racket is sold prestrung? Or a Christmas tree with lights already on it? Humph. Against James in the third round, he played the very offensive PISSIER (adj. PISSY, soiled with urine). That play was the key to his 385-294 win. In the final round, he beat Dave 422-364. Dave got down RASHEST, while Michael played SANDMAN (n. a mythical person who makes children sleepy by sprinkling sand in their eyes) and INDICTER.

2nd Charles Reinke played 15 bingos over his five games, which resulted in a 4-1 +384 record and a second-place finish. His opener against Michael was his worst game by far, as he only got down GHOULIES. After vowing to do better next game, he played two at once, David and Helen. He had a high-scoring match with David, winning 523-407 with bingos of ALBATAS (n. ALBATA, an alloy of copper, nickel, and zinc, not to be confused with BABBITT, an alloy of tin, copper, and antimony), KATIONS, and RUBEOLA. Dave got down TARGETED and MANDREL for 98, but on the turn after that Charles hooked it with an S for 80 points himself. Against Helen, he won 497-351, a game that would've been a loss had it not been for the 150 points he got as bonuses for playing bingos. In the third round, he had a huge game against his brother, scoring 561. He bingoed early with COLESSEE (n. a joint lessee), and also added HERNIAE, WINTERER, and INDULINE. For the finale, he played Bryan and won 447-317, stymying his opponent at every turn while somehow bingoing four times on a closed board. It's fun when there's one bingo line on the board and you miraculously hit it with your letters; it must be even more fun when that happens four times in a single game.

3rd Mark Kenas went undefeated against his usual Collins-dictionary opponent, and lost to his unusual Collins-dictionary opponent, ending up at 3-1 +121. His big game was in the opening round, as he beat Aaron 532-368. He bingoed with AMORALLY, GROOVIER, and GRANDSON. Aaron struck first in the second game, with WOULDEST, but Mark's triple-triple of TRANSFER for 140 (not the highest-scoring play of the night; James' STARCHES in the first round scored 194) led him to a high-scoring 509-493 win. That 493-point loss for Aaron is the 7th-highest since the club started keeping track. In the third round, he won 440-394, playing EXPLAIN early and GOITRES late. Aaron got down MILIARIA (n. a skin disease) which was chosen as word-of-the-week. In the final game, Mark got to face a new opponent, Thomas, and was so disoriented by the change that he lost 372-477. It also didn't help that he didn't bingo while Thomas got down four prosaic (for him) bingos: OREGANO, ALMONER, BRASSIER (promptly extended by Mark with an E for BRASSIERE) and DENTALS.

As a reminder, next week we will start using the new words from the latest dictionary update. A sheet with all of the new words was emailed out, and hard copies will be available the next few weeks. Hope you guys are all ready to finally play EW!

1st Aaron Bader went undefeated in his games against Mark in their weekly "Collins Goofball Dictionary Featuring Words That Make No Sense" battle, ending up at 3-0 +441. He won the first one 424-354 with totally normal bingos of NANOWATT, TERMINAL, and PEROXID. In the next round, Mark played SERJEANT for 95, but Aaron ended up scoring 546 points anyway. He was helped by two Collins-only comparatives, DOCILEST* and ORNATEST*, as well as "real" bingos of HOBNAILS and IMPAIRED. In the third round, he held AAEEDMT on his first rack. A nice set of letters if you know what to look for, and Mark gave him an O on the center star so he could play OEDEMATA for 92. Things snowballed from there, as he added VIOLONE, REIFYING, RESHONE, and KATSURAS (n. KATSURA, a deciduous tree of China and Japan). The final of that game was 574-442, which is the first game this club season surpassing the 1000-points combined threshold. And before I forget, thanks go out to Aaron for not playing too many Collins-only bingos so that I don't have to risk polluting the minds of our readers with British oddities.

2nd Bryan Benwitz went 3-1 +186, continuing his streak of top-two finishes. He had a very close game again Dave to open the night, winning 386-380 with his sole bingo being BARGUEST (n. a goblin, also BARGHEST). Dave played LATHERS and ANESTRI, the last of which was an out-bingo. There are 9 words in that rack; only one, NASTIER, would have given him the win. Against Thomas in the second game, Bryan won 469-399. Thomas opened with SCARIFY, and later added MEUNIERE (a word which his brother also played in the same round), but Bryan bingoed an extra time for the 70-point victory. He played INCITES (don't forget about the Z-hook for ZINCITES), CHASTEST, and DILUTORS. In the next round, he faced James and won by 200-ish points, playing VEERIES and ESTRONE. He faced a similar situation against Charles that he did against the other Reinke, as Charles started off with an opening AMBOYNA (n. the mottled wood of an Indonesian tree, also AMBOINA) against him. He fought valiantly against the unfairness of an opposing opening-rack bingo, but ended up losing 386-473.

3rd James Frannki made a pit stop on his way home from work to play a few games of Scrabble, and finished in third place with a 3-1 +178 record. He had a big game against reigning club champion Charles, winning 446-404. He put on his best poker face while playing the phony GEARLIKE* and managed to get it past his opponent, and also played the very valid THEREON. The rest of his games were blowouts in one direction or another, starting with a 420-266 win over Sue where he got down FORETELL. Against Bryan he seemingly couldn't get his racks to make words (a common problem often rectified by flipping over the table) and lost 234-431. In the final game, he won 429-250 against Helen despite her playing a bingo (AURICLES) while he didn't. He must have been doing some serious scoring with the high-point tiles; in any case, it's the highest no-bingo game of the club season.

Honorable mention to Sue Goldstein, who went 2-1 +23 including a 462-point game against Dave, which is tied for her highest game ever since we started keeping track.

In other club news, the new dictionary is going into affect for tournament play starting in February. We think we will start a few weeks early, so cheat sheets will be provided starting next week that include all the new words up to 8 letters, with the idea of starting to use the new words the week after that. Don't worry, it's only about 250 words. And if we can get it, we will also have the list of words that has been removed. Again, don't worry, most of them were pretty stupid anyway.

If you want to get an early start, the new 2's and 3's are EW, OK, and ZEN. That's it. None of them take an S.

In other other club news, next week we will be trying a new location, First Congregational Church at 1609 University Ave, Madison. An email will be going out containing details, and we will also update the club website with the needed information as well. Hope to see you all there!

1st Charles Reinke had his first undefeated session in over four months, going 5-0 +375. He started off witha two-on-one, playing Mary and Dennis. His game with Dennis was pretty close, 426-386, with Charles playing SANGERS and DASYURE (n. a flesh-eating mammal, so a human?) and Dennis playing OPTIMAL (definitely the optimal play) and TREADING. His game with Mary was a little more lopsided, with Charles bingoing 5 times and notching the highest score of the session with a 578. His bingos were LINECUT, BICKERS, DEAERATE, WEIRDOS, and NOODLED. In the second game, he faced the seemingly unbeatable Bryan, who was on an 11-game winning streak (18 if you count the tournament he went undefeated in over the weekend). I say "seemingly" unbeatable because I'm looking at the scorecards now and they both indicate that he was beaten 357-400. He then faced Thomas, against whom he had only won 2 out of the last 10. He was in a trend-busting mood, I guess, because he won a nailbiter, 403-397. His bingos that game were REDTAIL and a snugly-fitting INCLOSER on a tight board. To cap off his perfect night, he deftly navigated clunky racks to beat Dave, 353-305. Dave's play of VARIATE was the sole bingo on that board.

2nd Thomas Reinke went 4-1 +567, bingoing twice in every game. He faced Lynda in the first round and won 414-344, playing HERIOTS and INVOLUTE (v. to roll or curl up). Neither player thought that INVOLUTE had any extension, so the D and the S hooks that would have provided great riches went unused the entire game. He then faced two in the second round, Dave and Helen. His star play against Dave was the nine-letter EXCELLING, played off of EX which was on the board. There are 274 other seven-letter extensions for EX, including EXTENSION. In his game against Helen, she opened with a bingo-bango of OUT words, OUTLINE and the word-of-the-week WHITEOUT, but he perservered to win 488-384. He played GUILTING and NONCRIME (n. something which is not a crime, like playing Scrabble) to win that one. After a 6-point loss to Charles in the third round, he faced James and won 477-314. James played DELUGING, while Thomas played OUTRAVED and TOONIES.

3rd Lynda Finn went 3-2 +36, edging out a couple 2-2 players for third place. Her opening round match with Thomas was marked with a sad face ":(" in the bingos area on the scorecard, a commentary on how that 344-414 loss went for her. But things improved for her in the second round, as she beat Dennis 438-394. I heard talk of her phonying multiple times in that game, but at least her bingos were fine: GUARDING, SKITTER, and AUSTERE. In the third round, just like the other two people who attempted the same feat, she won both games of a two-on-one, against Helen and James. Her 440-314 victory over Helen was made easier by her 108-point phony of TOXIMES*. TOXINES is a word, and so is TOXEMIA, but there is no provision in the rules for arbitrarily combining two words to make a new won. Against James, she won 395-329, using an out-bingo of SORITES (n. a type of argument used in logic, and it needs the S on the end) to snatch victory from her disbelieving opponent. In the final round, maybe it turned out that Bryan is unbeatable after all, because she lost 301-431, this time indicating extreme distress on her scorecard with TWO sad faces ":( :(".

[Editor's note: after publication, it was revealed that James defeated Lynda instead of the other way around, and that Bryan Benwitz should have been in third place at 2-2 +109. Madisonscrabble.com regrets the error.]