Blog

1st Thomas Reinke topped a field of players where nobody went undefeated by going 4-1 +414. That outcome seemed somewhat unlikely after his first game, which was a loss to Bryan Benwitz, 415-443. Thomas did have a triple-triple of PALLIEST for 140, but even that huge play, combined with TANAGERS for 61, was not enough to topple the high-scoring Bryaniac, who had bingos of NIGHTIE and GNASHES. After that initial setback, a streak of four straight wins propelled Thomas back to the top of the weekly standings. In round two, Thomas took down James Frankki in a close game, 410-399, despite getting outbingoed two to one (RIDDLING vs. TANNERS and ENTIRES). Thomas began to pick up steam in round three, playing two players at once and soundly defeating both: 478-361 versus Michael David (playing NOTEDLY, NOVATES, and MARRIAGE) and 480-286 versus Mary Becker (playing power-tile bingos JIVIEST and SURTAXES). In the final round, Thomas found himself sitting across from a mirror image of himself in Charles Reinke, and overcame daunting existential quandaries to prevail, 494-374.

2nd Barb Pratzel made a return to the top three with a 3-1 +278 record. Like Thomas, Barb's only loss came in the first round, 371-378 against Michael David. She went up against Charles Reinke in the next game, and came away with her first-ever (but certainly not last-ever) win against a Reinke, 394-380. Her two bingos of GASEOUS and VESTING, plus an unplayable Q for Charles at the end, ensured her victory. Her biggest win (and, as of now, highest score ever at our club) came against the returning Carl Skalitzky in round three. The final score was 470-238, and her 89-point bingo of GLITTERY definitely helped in achieving that large score. The mini winning streak continued into round four, where Barb took down Bryan Benwitz 378-339. Bryan was held bingoless, while Barb got EXISTED and IRONIES. Moral of the story: stop Bryan from bingoing if you want to beat him.

3rd Charles Reinke lost to the two players who finished above him in the standings, but still snagged third place with a 3-2 +328 record. An opening-round matchup against James Frankki ended strongly in Charles' favor, as he won 503-386. James snagged the high A play with POSTMAN for 91, so the four-dollar prize helped to soothe the sting of having to watch Charles play three bingos: DEPRIVAL, CORONAL, and DETINUE. Round two saw Charles embroiled in a two-on-one match, which he split. The loss was to Barb Pratzel, 380-394 (playing HABITED as his only bingo), and the win was against Helen Flores, 470-319 (playing TANKERS and NETIZENS). Charles came back strong after the less-than-ideal result in the previous round by crushing Bryan Benwitz, 535-341. Bryan had the high-probability STEARINS as his only bingo, while Charles had four of them: FERRIES, SNORTED, CALQUES, and PLIGHTER. The embarrassing overabundance of bingos in that game resulted in a drought of them in the next, as Charles lost to his brother Thomas 374-494 without bingoing a single time.

1st Thomas Reinke went 3-1 +362 a very consistent three-game start to the night with scores of 420, 422, and 421 before ruining the consistency with a 530. His first game was against James, and it was a close one, with Thomas winning 420-397. He let James get away with the phony-but-valid-looking INVESTER*, and in response, played the valid-but-phony-looking CALENDER (v. to smooth by pressing between rollers). He then faced Helen an won 422-358. He got down two quick bingos, URINATOR and FORBEARS. That second one is not to be confused with FOREBEARS, FORBEAR is the verb and FOREBEAR is the noun. Helen was able to keep the game close with some high-scoring power-tile plays, but failed to bingo herself. In the third game, against Charles, he got off to a very slow start. He was helped when his bingo of SPRINGE (leading candidate for "best spring word") got challenged, but his late bingo of TUNELESS (as in "Charles' singing is tuneless") came up just short, with the end result being a 421-434 defeat. Stay tuned for the third paragraph where we reveal what exciting and topical bingo Charles played in that game! Against Dave in the fourth and final game, he had a great first rack with two blanks, and played TEXTILE for 90. The rest of the game proceeded almost as well, as he bingoed twice more with ENIGMAS and LANGRELS and ended with 530 points to his name.

2nd Helen Flores got in some good practice for the upcoming Greeneye tournament in Minneapolis this weekend, coming in second with a 3-1 +92 record against tough competition. In the opener, she went up against Sue, who got the bingoing going first with FRAILER. Helen responded late with CONTOURS and won a close one, 392-361. She suffered her only loss of the night in the next game against Thomas, but came back strong against Michael, winning 384-353. Michael may be slightly rusty after an extended absence, but Helen has had to deal with similar effects after returning from Phoenix to find a still-frozen wasteland in Madison (though the editor notes that at the time of this writing, it does feel like spring a little bit), so it evened out. Michael got TOTALISE in that game, while Helen played COASTED. Her most impressive win was a 459-365 win over reigning club champion Charles in the final game. She played DEVOURS for 82 and followed it up with a devastating SHAWLED for 100 to put the game out of reach. A third bingo for her was almost available right at the end, which would have placed the contest squarely into the "thorough butt-kicking" category.

3rd Charles Reinke was edged out for second place by Helen on spread, finishing with a 3-1 +47 record. He beat Michael 441-329 in the first game, playing bingos of OUTBOARD (n. a type of motor, the opposite of INBOARD) and AUTOMATE. His game with Bryan in second round was a strangely low-scoring affair, with Charles winning in the end 361-345. Bryan played the nice BESOTTED, while Charles got down OUTLAND and VESTIGIA. The rest of the game, presumably, was spent with them playing one tile at a time for three points apiece. Against Thomas, he started off with a rack of REINKE and a blank. He has no choice but to play REINKED, passing up KERNITE and REEKING in order to get a perfect photo-op for the club Facebook group. Oh, and he also won the game, 434-421. His chance at yet another perfect night was foiled by Helen, but don't call her a FOILER* because that's not a word. Well, call her that if you must, just don't put it on the board.

1st Charles Reinke reeled off four straight victories to end up at 4-0 +602. His first game was his lowest-scoring of the night, but it was still a sizable win for him as he took down Dave Gilligan 425-330, playing EGLATERE and NEITHER in the process. In the next round, he faced off against Dennis Lloyd and again won comfortably, 434-308. Dennis got down a bingo of ACUTEST (anagram SCUTATE), but Charles had NEEDIEST, BOTCHIER, and NOSEDIVE. Those first two rounds saw much good fortune for Charles, but his fortunes saw a large uptick in round three, where he crushed Aaron Bader, 564-368. Aaron's single bingo of ASTEROID was no match for Charles' trio of bingos: SEVERED, GENITURE, and NAPOLEON. Charles completed the perfect night with yet another large margin of victory, this time triumphing over Betty Hasselkus, 494-309. Three bingos (SUTURED, CLUMPED, and FRONTAL) sealed the deal for him.

2nd Thomas Reinke finished with a 3-1 record and a +82 point spread which was just barely enough to edge out Betty Hasselkus for second place. His first two games were a pair of Collins-dictionary games against resident Collins enthusiast Aaron Bader. The first one was his only loss of the evening, but it was quite a close game, 426-437. Thomas had bingos of RECLINES and PARADES; Aaron got TERMINAL, PLECTRON, and POTHEADS. The second game of the series saw Thomas get his revenge and prevail, 461-420. Bingo equality was achieved as both players had two such plays: UNARMING and FORGETS for Thomas, WRITEOFF and DECALOGS for Aaron. The Collins experiment having conluded, Thomas then played James Frankki in the next round, and won a tough one, 418-393. His out-bingo of CLERKED for 97, plus some junk off James' final rack, was enough to secure the win. Thomas completed the comeback from a first-round loss by beating Bryan Benwitz 443-415. Again, he needed an out-bingo (this time HEMATIN) to snatch victory out of Bryan's greedy grasp.

3rd Betty Hasselkus bounced back from a winless outing last week to go 3-1 +72 this week, snagging a coveted spot in the top three. Her first game was against newcomer Wade Neitzel, a game which she won 341-244 (largely due in part to her bingo of STRAFED for 77 points). Round two provided a more tightly-contested game as Betty squared off against Dave Kinzer and prevailed 346-341, playing AGONIES herself while not allowing her opponent to bingo. Having decided that it's more fun to win big than to win small, Betty unleashed her fury in round three, demolishing Sue Goldstein by a score of 424-269. This time, Betty had two bingos, BAITERS and ENSNARE. All good things must come to an end however; Betty found this out when good things were decidedly not present during a 309-494 loss to an undefeated Charles Reinke in the fourth round.