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It's Bryan's World, We're Just Living In It

1st Bryan Benwitz went 4-0 +479, going undefeated for the second time in three weeks. He put the clamps on Dave in the first round, winning 409-275 as Dave's late bingo-prone racks had nowhere to go on a dead board. Against Richard in the second round, he only outbingoed him 3-2 but won 527-304. Bryan played INCENSED, STEAMIE (n. a steamed hot dog), and went out with RETILING, leaving Richard's final bingo of TRAILED stranded on his rack. How rude! Bryan's stellar defense continued against Thomas, against whom he was victorious, 370-344. Bryan got down PINEALS (as in the gland), while Thomas played OVERRUNS (RUNOVERS is also good). In the final round, Bryan withstood Charles' feeble attempts at revenge, once again holding his opposition well below their average. 421-325 was the final in that one, leaving his opponents with a meager 312 average on the night.

2nd Lynda Finn overcame a supreme injustice (read on for more!) to go 3-1 +363, easily taking second place. Alright, injustice time: she lost the first game to Charles 352-369 because she got Q-stuck. Can you believe that? I thought QI was supposed to fix this problem, but I guess it didn't, and Lynda paid the price. For her part, Lynda, unlike what the majority of us would have done, didn't run home in tears, but instead won her next three games. She beat Sue 488-327, playing TODDLER, NEUTRINO, and LAYERING. She also played a certain four-letter word that starts with F, which drew a challenge. Who knows, sometimes those naughty words are too naughty even for the dictionary! Against David in the third round, she won 432-266, but the real star in her crown was her 483-430 win against Thomas. She played the double-double WOMBATS for 116, which wasn't quite enough until she went out REVENUES for 86 to secure the win.

3rd Charles Reinke went 3-1 +275, beating out Richard's 3-1 +115 for third place. He stole his first game against Lynda by sticking her with the Q, even though Lynda played the nine-letter REBLENDED. Man, typing that out is making me mad again. So mad I could just... never mind. A kitty just hopped up in my lap. I feel better now. Against David, he won 411-321, playing FILARIAE (n. FILARIA, a parasitic worm), SURPLICE, and REUNITED. Charles then trounced Helen, playing STRETTO and ENOPHILE (n. a wine lover, also OENOPHILE) and scoring 500 points in the process. In the battle of the undefeateds featuring him and Bryan, he came up sort, despite his bingoes of QUEEREST and TRICORNS.

Richard's EMPOISON (v. to fill with venom, or make bitter) was picked to be word of the week. EMPOISONMENT is also a word, if you want to get even weirder.

Charles Reinke Vows to Use His Powers for Good

1st Charles Reinke enjoyed an evening undisturbed by the anguish of loss, going 4-0 +475. In the first round he calmly dismantled Gail Salm 439-312, thanks in part to a low-scoring bingo pair of DIALYSER (66) and word-of-the-week DUCTULES (62); Gail's bingo of RESTAGE proved to be not quite enough. Gail had won the previous two outings in the matchup, so Charles is likely to be pleased that his mini-losing streak has ended. An identical pattern of bingoing played out in the next game against Sue Goldstein: Charles won 475-303 and outbingoed his opposition two-to-one (POTENTLY and INESCURE vs. RETAINED). After a cold-hearted victory over Thomas Reinke, 452-302, where Thomas wasn't even allowed the dignity of playing a single bingo, Charles set his sights on Bryan Benwitz, the one player standing between him and an undefeated night. Their game turned out to be much closer than Charles' other three, but it was still a win for the twin, 445-416. Bryan was happy to get bingos of WARISON and DICTION, but not so happy to see three of them materialize from the rack of his opponent: SPANIEL, VALETING, and BURSEED.

2nd Thomas Reinke also had four wins, but the addition of an extra loss to his scoresheet placed him squarely in second place. His round one matchup saw him doing double duty, facing off against both Bryan Benwitz and Vicki Holmes. The stress of negotiating two games at once failed to daunt Thomas (it helps to draw a lot of bingos), and he won both games comfortably: 471-371 versus Bryan and 496-345 versus Vicki. Neither opponent bingoed, while Thomas amassed seven in the two games: IMAGERS, BOODLES, TYLOSIN, REASONED, RELENTED, ACHIOTES, and THERMION. Another four bingos (REFINES, DARIOLE, AREOLATE, SULFITES) were played by Thomas in a 524-314 win over Dave Gilligan, meaning Thomas had played a total of eleven bingos through the first two rounds. The tables turned when he was held bingoless by his own brother in the subsequent round, but Thomas re-turned the turned tables for round four, beating Gail Salm 482-352 and deploying bingos of EMULATE, DEMOING, and JACALES (n. JACAL, an adobe-style hut). Gail, for her part, got down ORNERIER and DETRAIN.

3rd Richard Lauder recovered from his recent struggles (induced by golf-related fatigue, surely) to finish 3-1 +160. He also improved greatly on his yearly average by scoring 419 points per game. After arriving too late for the first round (golf-related tardiness, surely), Richard came out strong in the second game, taking down Betty Hasselkus 435-338. His three bingos of REDATED, REPLAYED, and SEASIDE certainly made it difficult for his opponent to mount a comeback. The next game against Bryan Benwitz saw Richard's fortunes take a sharp nosedive: the opposition had four bingos (INTERMIT, SPATIAL, RENEGES, and LIFELINE), and the final score was a lopsided 550-358. Richard recovered from that disappointing outcome by winning both games of a two-on-one versus Dave Gilligan (466-317) and Helen Flores (418-312). He had four bingos combined in the two games: SEDATION, STOMPER, FURORES, and STARRING, while his opponents had just one between them, Dave's PENCILS.

If Wins Were Losses, Bryan Would Have Lost All His Games

1st Bryan Benwitz went undefeated (adj. that means he won all of his games) for the first time in several months, going 4-0 +420. He started off with a 426-293 win against Mary, a win made possible by a rare bingo containing both a W and a U: REWOUND. Personally, I would have angrily played WUD as soon as I saw the rack, so good on Bryan for perservering. If you read the first sentence of this paragraph, you will know what the result of his second-round match with David was: a win! 416-302 to be precise, with Bryan playing the ever-useful ETOILES as well as FERNIER. A slow start for Bryan in the third round eventually ended up as a decisive 470-385 win against Thomas. Thomas got down GITTERNS and BOTTLER, while Bryan played RESITED, ANGIOMAS, and, with a rack of AENRT??, somehow navigated his plethora (194 in this case) of bingo options and settled with CARNETS. The final game was the battle of the three-and-ohs, Bryan vs. Dennis, and Bryan came out on top 421-333. He outbingoed his opposition 3 to 0, with GENESES (the only valid plural of GENESIS, no GENESISES* here), LINTERS, and EQUINES.

2nd Charles Reinke went 3-1 +439, foolishly attempting the "Swiss gambit" (losing the first round in order to avoid the toughest competition in future rounds) and coming up short of first place. He lost his opener against Dennis, 395-422, probably because he only got one bingo, UTENSILS. Dennis played TRAINED and ABALONE early, and was able to keep up the scoring just enough to get the win. Against Sue, Charles faced a tough opening-rack quandary: UPBUILD or BUILDUP? He picked BUILDUP, and apparently that was the right choice, because he ended up scoring 546. His high scoring continued in the third round against Dave, where he won 527-384. He opened with a natural MATCHED and never looked back, also playing NEWTONS (passing up the fancier nine-letter NEWSWOMEN), RETARDED, and ISOGONY. Dave got some small measure of revenge, getting away with the phony QUINELLE* (QUENELLE is the correct spelling), embarrassing Charles in front of everybody. Charles' last game of the night was a 6-bingo affair versus Lynda, with both of them playing 3 apiece. Lynda played BIRTHED, SCATTER, and STUDYING, while Charles played ADAPTION, NEURITIS, and AVOIDABLE. Charles ended up winning 488-426, proving that, uh, actually I don't know what he proved.

3rd Thomas Reinke came in third with his 3-1 +159 record. He won 427-404 against Gail, playing OMNIVORA and the phony LANTERNED*. Gail kept it close with DUALISES, NETTIER making four overlaps, FEARING making five overlaps, but couldn't find enough scoring in the endgame. Against Lynda, Thomas won 472-403 with the aid of UNBRAID, AUREOLED (v. to surround with a halo), and PRISSED (v. to act in a prissy manner, as in "Thomas prissed all over the board"). We already heard the happy (or sad, depending on which side you support, TEAM BRYAN ALL THE WAY!) tale of how Thomas lost to Bryan, so let us now hear the tale of how he beat Mary, 466-314. It's not the greatest tale ever told: he bingoed with OLESTRA, OMERTAS, and PANTIES, hogging all the good tiles and leaving none for Mary. And they lived happily ever after. The end.