Blog

What is Beauty?

1st Thomas Reinke took the top spot with his 3-1 +241 record, leaving no doubt as to who was the most attractive and charismatic person in the room. He beat Lynda 445-339 in the first round, probably because Lynda's first rack was IIRRUUW. I mean, how can someone ever recover from such a poor opening draw? It's just not possible. A close game followed against Aaron, with Thomas eventually losing 376-466. At least, it was close until Aaron bingoed out with TARTARIC. Thomas did plop down the nine-letter DITTANIES, but style points count for exactly zero real points. Against Richard, he got down three early bingoes in a row, BURNOUS (n. burnoose, a hooded cloak), OVERLAY, and EPIGENE (adj. occurring near the surface of the earth), allowing him to cruise to a 482-350 win. In the final game against Charles, Charles struck first with CITREOUS for 93 big points, Undaunted, Thomas bided his time until responding with some bingoes of his own: ORACHES, APERTURE, and a bag-emptying FRAILER. Charles had one more chance to bingo out and win, but was stymied by the J on his final two-tile draw.

2nd Aaron Bader went 3-1 +146 good for second place, but came in dead last in the club's secondary competition, "having two fully functioning arms". He got his night off to a good start against Dennis with an opening rack bingo of LECYTHI (n. LECYTHUS, an oil jar, also LEKYTHOS and LEKYTHUS). He later got down PENSILE, overcoming Dennis' bingoes of SEVERING and AIRIEST to win 467-371. You already know about his win against Thomas in the second round, but what you don't know is that in that game Aaron somehow bingoed with both a U and a W on his rack, with OUTWAIT. He also somewhat replicated that feat with a V instead of a W, bingoing with VIGOROUS. Who needs E's to bingo? Not him. Things went south for Aaron in the third game against Charles, where he  lost despite totally making up a word that's not even good in Collins. Charles didn't have the heart to challenge AVERRERS, preferring instead to bingo a bunch of times, with BOOGIES, TRIHEDRA, and FARINOSE. Aaron later tried MESQUINE*, which is good in Collins, but which Charles did have the heart to challenge off. Against Lynda in the last game, he squeaked out a 425-410 win, with both players playing two bingoes. If the bonus points you got for bingoing where the ONLY points in the game, I feel fairly confident in saying that this game would have ended in a tie.

3rd Charles Reinke went 3-0 +212 over the first three games and 0-1 -93 over the final one game, the end result being that he came in third. His demonstrated skill in finding nines paid off in his first-round match against Bryan, where he played CARAGEENS and won by 13 points, 410-397. Versus Helen, he won 461-317 while playing MATIEST and DAILIES. In addition to those bingos, he had two bingo-esque power-tile plays on triple word scores, ROQUES and TROOZ. Don't let his success with the Q trick you into thinking it's a good tile; it remains and will almost surely always remain one of the worst tiles in the game. After dispatching Helen, he beat Aaron as detailed above, and then lost to Thomas, also as detailed above. But let's just remember how unfair it was that he drew the J to go with his AENRST rack.

The Clouds Bring the Rain, Thomas Reinke Brings the Pain

1st Thomas Reinke enjoyed a flawless 4-0 +323 performance to take first place. His opponents, however, may not have enjoyed it so much, as he ruined two other players' perfect nights. His biggest victory came over Gail Salm, a lopsided 513-298 affair which was marred by Thomas' phony of GAWPIER (GAWPY isn't even good by itself, just GAWKY and GAWSY). His two other bingos were TERATOID and LEAGUERS. In a game against his sworn enemy Charles Reinke, the two brothers battled it out until the very end, and the result was Charles notching his highest-scoring loss of the year as Thomas was victorious, 469-466. Thomas got down NOYADES and BORRELIA to Charles' REPINES, ROADKILL, and SCUNGILE (the meat of a conch, plural SCUNGILI). In the final game, Thomas wrapped up his perfect night with another win in which he got outbingoed: Bryan played JETTIED, INFORMER, and STONIER, but was felled by Thomas' superior scoring (as well as his bingos of VAMOOSE and RENAMES), 452-415.

2nd Bryan Benwitz averaged 455 points per game on his way to a 3-1 +259 record, but he didn't even have a 600-point game like he did last week, so who cares? His first game was against the formidable Lynda Finn, defeater of world champions, but Bryan was unfazed by her newfound clout as he defeated her 430-395 thanks to bingos of FORELAND and CONSUMES. Bryan then had another relatively close game, this one against Dennis "Mr. Bowtie" Lloyd. Bryan prevailed by a score of 449-378, utilizing some high-probability "A" bingos to great advantage: ANEROID, ARSENATE, and AIGLETS. Dennis had SQUARED and a late ANORAKS to make the game competetive. Tired of this middling margins, Bryan then took on Richard Lauder, and the end result was a 526-328 drubbing. Six total bingos were played; the losing side had INSIDER and TACTION, but the winning side had TIDELINE, TOUPIES, GOATIER, and ESTRONE, the first three of which are new to the dictionary as of 2014. Unfortunately for Bryan, being 3-0 after three games usually means a tough match in the final round, and he wasn't able to attain the perfect 4-0.

3rd Gail Salm went 3-1 -67, a swift turnaround from her winless excursion the week before. Her loss to Thomas negated the spread she accumulated in her wins, but she scored well and bingoed often in all of them. Gail needed three bingos (MOUSING, INLIERS, and SLIDERS) to come away with a 393-350 win over Mary Becker (bingoless), but it took just two to beat Lynda "The Nigel Neutralizer" Finn. The score in that game was 418-349; Lynda had WARIEST, but Gail countered with SMIRKIER and AIGLETS (where have we seen that one before?). In the final game, surely fighting off fatigue, Gail matched up against club leader Charles Reinke and came away from the fracas with a strong win, 448-412. Bingos of WHEREBY, ENTAILED, and OVERSALT netted enough points to overcome Charles' UNRAVEL and SALTIER.

Charles' FEDAYEE, played against Sue Goldstein, was picked as word of the week. A FEDAYEE is a Middle-Eastern fighter or commando, and it only pluralizes to FEDAYEEN.

Charles Reinke Wields Tiles as Deadly Weapons

1st Charles Reinke tightened his stranglehold on the club's top spot by recording a 4-0 +565 outing while averaging 479 per game. He began his undefeated night with a big 508-291 win over the (grievously injured) Aaron Bader, getting down PICOTEE, TONGERS, and HEMATINE to Aaron's sole REDROOTS. A subsequent bout with Thomas Reinke saw Charles' potent scoring ability diminished, but he still came away with the win over his brother and eternal foe, 391-345, thus nudging their lifetime series closer to .500. Charles' next two games were both against undefeated opponents, and in both cases he happened to spoil their dreams of a 4-0 record, so I hope he feels bad. He took down Bryan Benwitz 432-392 (playing EAGERLY and HEADWIND to Bryan's MOTIONER and AIRLINES), then, with the undefeated record in sight, the floodgates opened against Helen Flores, and he won their matchup 583-321. In that last game, Charles monopolized the bingo output with DAUNTER, REDIRECT, and ANNOYER.

2nd Bryan Benwitz went 3-1 with a massive spread of 649. With such a large point advantage over his opponents, there will no be surprise when it is revealed that he averaged 491 points per game, this third-highest ever session average. Each of his wins was a major blowout, and it only proves that Bryan does not have a merciful bone in his body. His first game was a 454-266 win over Betty Hasselkus which saw Bryan play a trio of common seven-letter bingos (TALLIES, NARDINE, and COARSER). Next, he clobbered Richard Lauder 474-245 despite Richard's singular bingo of LURCHERS (80 points) scoring more than Bryan's singular bingo of FLOUTER (74 points). A loss to Charles Reinke followed, and that loss filled Bryan with a rage so furious that Aaron Bader (remember, the grievously injured one) stood no chance in the final game. The final score was 645-373, with that 645 being Bryan's third-highest score ever. He played an astounding five bingos: ECTOPIA, ENACTING, GYRATION, HOSTAGE, and ILMENITE. Aaron's bingo list was significantly shorter: he played FIGURES. Reports that he later used his cast as a weapon against Bryan are unconfirmed at this time.

3rd Helen Flores also went 3-1, but her spread total of -55 fell some 700 points short of Bryan, so she was relegated to third place. She took a close one over Sue Goldstein, 345-324, thanks in part to an 81-point PANNERS, but really got rolling in the second game, defeating the returning (and soon departing) Darcy Davis 425-253. In that one, Helen played PAINFUL, BROADEST, and MANGOES, while Darcy was sadly prevented from playing even one bingo. Helen then, for the second time this year, picked up a rare win over Thomas Reinke, defeating the mighty twin in a closely-fought contest, 435-421. Thomas outbingoed her two to one (TRAMELED and SENOPIA vs. LAUNDERS), but couldn't withstand her scoring onslaught. Reports that Helen's scoresheet currently adorns her refrigerator are unconfirmed at this time.

Thomas' AESTHETE was chosen as word of the week. In other bingo news, nobody played any phony bingos! Way to go team!