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Thomas Reinke Gloatingly Takes First, Won't Stop Telling People About It

1st Thomas Reinke was the only undefeated player in the room, and as such, was awarded first place with a 4-0 +297 finish. He started his run to perfection by defeating Aaron Bader, a player against whom he had a four-game losing streak. The score in that game was relatively low by their standards, 395-367; Aaron played DIGITATE to Thomas' REBURIES and TOADIED. Thomas picked up the scoring pace a little bit with a 439-368 win over Charles Reinke (no relation), but the game was marred by phonies from both sides. Thomas played the real-looking, very high-probability phony INTERLIE (to go with real bingos of LAMPASES and DILIGENT), while Charles' only bingo was a phony GEUMING. GEUM is a flower and is a totally different word from GAUM (which does take the -ING). GEUMING was played by Thomas a year and a half ago, which just goes to show what a disservice it can be to list the phonies that people play. This writer fully expects GEUMING to show up again in the next two years. The winning continued unabated when Thomas defeated Dennis Lloyd in a game that was close up until the very end (although the score doesn't quite bear that out), 412-358. Thomas had CLEANSED in that one, while Dennis found TALENTS. Thomas then cemented his undefeated record with his highest score yet, a 471-372 win against Dave Gilligan.

2nd Aaron Bader went 3-1 +412 (a way bigger spread than the first-place guy, but spread is not the sole determinator of placement in the standings) and had a club-leading eleven bingos. He showed considerable perseverance in getting those three wins after facing defeat in his first-round matchup against Thomas Reinke. He extended his current winning streak against Bryan Benwitz to seven by defeating him 493-371. Aaron bingoed early with SOFTEST, then got drown the dreaded bingo-bango-bongo with LANGUORS, TRIFORIA, and IDONEITY. Bryan had VENTRALS and IDEATING. Three more bingos were played against Charles Reinke in a 461-341 victory, but his extensive Collins knowledge again reared its head, and he played the Collins-only DAEDALIC in addition to the perfectly valid GREENIE and BEGONIA. DAEDAL, DAEDALIAN, and DAEDALEAN are all acceptable. Aaron finished off his comeback from a 0-1 record by defeating Helen Flores by nearly 200 points, 521-324. Helen got down REASONED, but Aaron again had a trio of bingos: ONSTAGE, GRACIOSO, and TAVERNAS. Hopefully Aaron was gracioso in victory.

3rd Mary Becker was the second-best of three players with 3-1 records (sorry Dave), finishing at 3-1 +99. Like Aaron above, Mary got her loss out of the way early, a devastating but not all-that-devastating defeat at the hand of Helen Flores, 481-311. Helen had two bingos (RENTING and UNALLIED), while Mary just had the one (REPUTES). Mary made up most of that lost spread in the very next round, taking out Sue Goldstein by a score of 433-276, aided by a bingo of ROUTERS. Her next two wins featured no bingos from either opponent, proving that a defensive style can pay off when executed correctly. The first such win was against Dave Kinzer, 354-270, putting her current streak against him at six wins. The second was against Dennis Lloyd, 339-311. Those two wins were the two lowest-scoring wins of the evening, but, last time I checked, players don't get extra wins just for scoring more points.

Dave Gilligan went 3-1 -10, and was undefeated going into the last round before he ran headlong into the brick wall that is Thomas Reinke. For his trouble he gets a small mention here.

Bryan's 98-point CHILIAST, played against the returning Richard Lauder as some kind of perverse "welcome back" gift, was chosen as word of the week.

Aaron's Streak Ends at Eleven, But We Finished Before Ten

1st Charles Reinke compiled a perfect 5-0 +587 record to secure undisputed first-place honors. To start things off, he played a two-on-one against Dave Gilligan and the late-arriving Dennis Lloyd (maybe if we shame him enough it will miraculously ease rush-hour traffic!); this opening venture was very successful for Charles, as he won both games: 501-320 against Dave (playing SERIOUS, LEISTERS, and ABUTTED) and 429-360 against Dennis (playing SNAPWEED). Charles then faced off against win-streak-possessor Aaron Bader in a tense battle; the game was symbolically played at one of the more highly-elevated tables in the space to represent how momentous the occasion was. However, the symbolism was wasted as Charles ran away with the win, 502-374. Aaron played DOILIES; Charles had SOVRANS and RECOILED. As a reward for his strong start, he encountered Lynda Finn in the third round and cooled off his scoring a little bit, winning a defensive match 373-331. Both players were held to a lower-than-usual amount of bingos; Lynda had LORINERS to Charles' UNROBES. Understandably annoyed by this perceived lack of bingos, Charles went on to play four of them (RETINOLS, FORCEDLY, SONATINE, EMBROWN) in a 504-337 win over Thomas Reinke that cemented his undefeated night of tile-slinging.

2nd Lynda Finn replicated her 4-1 finish of a few weeks ago with a 4-1 +242 record. She finished second in the standings, but tied for first in number of bingos, playing eleven of them through her five games. Her first game was a high-flying match against Bryan Benwitz which ended with a heady 517-425 result. Bryan got down ENAMORED and SKIPPED, but Lynda Finn had four bingos of her own, one of them being a money-earning triple-triple: REFIGURE, TENDRILS, ENROOTS, and 3x3 LUSTIEST. She then, due to our odd nature, took part in a two-on-one against Helen Flores and Mary Becker; she won both of them, spookily with the same winning score (423-355 against Mary; 423-347 against Helen) and played five total bingos: ISOLATE, PETERING, ERASABLE, STAMPED, and NEARING. A loss to Charles Reinke dashed her hopes of an undefeated record, but, free from the pressure of aiming for a perfect night, she took down Aaron Bader in the final game, 420-373. Aaron out-bingoed her (his TOKENING and PRESTER vs her STOOLIES) but failed to benefit from the imagined rule that says that the player who bingoes more is awarded the win.

3rd Helen Flores boldly entered the triumvirate of place-winners with her 3-1 +179 record. She averaged an astounding 428 per game, nearly 70 points above her average score for the year. Her first game, against Gail Salm, was a comfortable 408-338 win, due in part to a 70-point DIGESTED (Gail played LANKIER to even up the bingo tally). A loss to Lynda Finn followed, but Helen transformed the agony of that defeat into all-out rage against her next opponent, Mary Becker, and the result of that rage was a decisive 509-354 win for Helen. Mary played STASHED, but Helen's OUTLIES and VITAMIN (the latter for 92 points), plus a bevy of other high-scoring plays, resulted in an easy win for her. The high-scoring trend continued for her going into the final game as she notched a rare win against expert Bryan Benwitz, her first against that particular opponent in over a year. The final score was 451-417, and Helen flexed her newfound clout with three bingos (LAUWINE, RELAXED, and SLICERS) against Bryan's sole ORCEINS. Rumors circulating in Scrabble circles indicate that the scoresheet of this game may be affixed via magnet to Helen's fridge.

Bryan's VELVETY was chosen as word of the week.

Someone Other Than The Usual Suspects Has a 10-Game Win Streak

1st Aaron Bader played 16 bingos (is that a club record? must be close at least) on his way to a 5-0 +573 record, his strong performance putting him at 10-game winning streak. He got off to a quick start in his opening two-on-one, beating Gail and Betty by a combined 300 points and playing 7 bingos. Gail's early word-of-the-week QUIXOTES (the first bingo played at this club with both a Q and an X, quick, someone work on QUINCUNX) helped her early, but Aaron's DELUGED, ERICOID, and LINOTYPE led to a big win for him. In the second round, he faced Lynda and won, 464-432. He started with bingos of SLEIGHT and DARINGLY, and later added RENNASE, while Lynda played ROUTEMAN and OUTVIES (and I thought I saw SIGNEES on the board but it wasn't written on the scorecard) but it wasn't quite enough. His 400-368 win against Bryan in the third round was marked by the 5-vowel-8 OOGAMETE (n. a female gamete of certain protozoa, and it takes a Z on the front for ZOOGAMETE). His most impressive win he saved for last, a 478-278 drubbing of club champion Charles. Aaron played ERIGERON, EPICENE, ONAGERS (n. ONAGER, a wild ass of central Asia, the other plural ONAGRI is a little less useful), and PLATFORM. Here's the list of bingos Charles played in that game:

2nd Thomas Reinke went 3-1 +193, tactfully avoiding the unstoppable Aaron to come in second place. In the opener, he beat Charles 397-390, a low winning total for someone with 3 bingos. He played OTALGIA (n. pain in the ear), CASKETED, and UNSHAPED. That last one was the game-winning play, scoring 86 and going out on a closed board to win by 7. Against Bryan, he lost 301-394, only squeaking above the desired 300 mark by playing SNARLIER. Bryan played ACHIOTE and BURRITOS,  that last one invoking the little-known club bylaw B.IV.4 that states in part "any time a player bingos with a food item, they must bring that food item to the next club session for everyone to enjoy, unless that food item is LENTILS". Thanks for the future burritos! Thomas recovered from that low-scoring loss with a 491-310 win against Dennis, playing GENUINE (which doesn't take any hooks in case you were wondering) and RENDZINA (n. a type of soil) as well as a bevy of other high-scoring plays. In the final game, he got outbingoed 2-1 by Dave, REALISE and PROSIEST to his RACIEST, but won anyway, 432-334.

3rd Bryan Benwitz came in third with a 3-1 +172 record, missing out on second by only a few spread points. He won a close-ish 387-346 game versus Helen to start his night, aided by his successful challenge of BONZERS*. BONZER is an adjective meaning "very good", not to be confused with BONZE, which is a Buddhist monk. In the second round he ended a 5-game losing streak he had against Thomas with a 394-301 win. He played VIRUSES and ROSINED against Aaron but lost 368-400, which doesn't seem fair since one of his bingos had both a V and a U in it. In his last win, a 416-346 win against Mary, he responded to her SCATTER with PRINTERS, then added TEENIEST later to seal the win.

Aside from Gail's QUIXOTES, other bingo news includes Mary's triple-triple of RESPITES against Helen, and Dennis and Lynda's matchup which featured three phony bingos and no valid ones. If they were just going to let each other play fakes, they should've went all out and phony-bingoed every turn. That would definitely set some records!