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Thomas Reinke Ruins More Dreams Than Usual

1st Thomas Reinke cruised to an undefeated night, going 4-0 +477. His first rack of the night, containing two blanks, was a good omen, as he used that early advantage to beat Lynda 481-340. In that game, he played what is seeming to be one of his favorite bingos, GOETHITE (n. an ore of iron, named after noted renaissance man Johann Wolfgang von Goethe), a word he has now played three times. He didn't draw both blanks right away against Bryan, but did draw THERIAC, which he then supplemented with REALIGNS and the phony disconnected-nine GEMCUTTER* (n. one who cuts gems, except apparently not). Bryan got down INTRUDE, but fell 314-495. Gotta play more phony nines if you want to win against a guy who has no shame! Thomas then performed the notable feat of holding Charles bingoless in his 418-376 win. Charles made it close considering his lack of rack-clearers, but this club doesn't keep track of moral victories. In the final game, the decisive contest for ultimate club supremacy, Thomas beat Michael 440-327 despite a missed triple-triple. Passing up triple-triples is usually not the correct strategy, but it seemed to work out for him on this night. These experts just operate on a different level than the rest of us.

2nd Charles Reinke went 3-1 +275, his bingoless game against Thomas denying him his usual undefeated glory. His first rack of the night, containing two blanks, was a good omen (sound familiar?). It took him a while, but after a few turns of awkward racks (including the saddest orphan bingo ever, KOLKHOZ), he got down BLINTZES for 104 on his way to a 455-359 win against Richard. Charles was outbingoed 2-3 against Gail, but still earned the win, 470-387. Gail got down FAULTIER, BLINDERS, and REALISES versus Charles' DAUTIES and SHARPIE. After staring at a whole game's worth of non-bingo racks against Thomas, he turned his attention to Lynda, against whom he resumed his bingoing ways. He played TAILGATE, RATTENED, and CLEANERS in that 495-357 win.

3rd Bryan Benwitz was the second of three players who went three-and-Thomas (the other being Michael), going 3-1 +268. I don't know if he drew both blanks on his first rack, he probably didn't, but he still won 466-301 against Helen, playing FLOWAGES, ROOTAGES, and CARRIONS. His night got off track a little bit in his game against Thomas, but Bryan got it right back on track again against Gail, scoring 509. He got down ERGOTIC, INSOLATE (v. to expose to sunlight), and ORIENTED. In the final game, against Richard, he won 459-341 with the help of SOIGNEE and DARKEST. Richard played FOOTLIKE (n. a monetary unit of... never mind) and SALUTING, but it was not enough. No, not nearly enough.

Dave played the word-of-the-week UNCINATE (adj. bent at the end like a hook). It doesn't take an S or D at the end, but it does take an R at the front, making RUNCINATE (adj. pinnately cut with the lobes pointing downward, apparently how dandelion leaves are shaped).

Charles Reinke Wages Word War

1st Charles Reinke, tired of mundane 4-0 outings, surpassed that drudgery with a stellar 5-0 +669 performance. He built up some momentum in the first round by taking out both Betty Hasselkus (482-290) and Mary Becker (399-381). That momentum was clearly carried over into the next round as he scored a mind-boggling 647 against Gail Salm. Charles had just three bingos in that game (RETAKES, INWEAVES, and VICTORIA), not an unusual total for him, but a bevy of high-scoring power tile plays were what propelled his score to stratospheric heights. Charles ensured that another three bingos (ANTEDATE, STERLING, DELATES) were on order for Bryan Benwitz, but the score of that game was a more reasonable 453-402, as Bryan got down CENTRUMS and VALIANCE (anagram VALENCIA). As so often happens, Charles had to face his undefeated brother in the final round, and, given that Charles got first-paragraph honors here, you know who won. In contradiction of their high per-game averages, the match between brothers ended in a somewhat low 412-395 score, and neither player reached their bingo average either (Charles had PAVISERS and ADRENALS; Thomas had REIGNITE).

2nd Thomas Reinke had a perfect record going into the fourth round and should have stopped there, but he foolishly played his fourth game to wind up with a 3-1 +376 record. He took out Lynda Finn in the first round by callously denying her even a single bingo, despite the UN having declared bingos to be a universal human right. The final score was 461-347, and Thomas had the only two bingos in the game, EROTICS and AIRLIFT. Thomas wasn't quite as callous in the next game against Dave Gilligan, allowing him to play a 90-point POTTIES, but the result was even more lopsided, this time 456-300 in Thomas' favor. Two bingos of TORNADIC and FAIRIEST certainly helped there. A third big win was tallied against the wily Richard Lauder, 389-266, despite a big bingo of HAZINESS from Richard's end. Thomas continued his trend of playing dubious comparatives that started with FAIRIEST by unblinkingly laying down TOWERIER. What's next for this madman? IVORIEST? PARTIEST?

3rd Bryan Benwitz narrowly missed second place, going 3-1 +364 (for the mathematically-impaired, that's 12 fewer spread points Thomas). Just saying, twelve points could easily be made up over four games via "innocent" "scoring errors". Bryan didn't break 400 in either of his first two wins, but managed to average 432 for the session thanks to a big game at the end. He defeated Helen Flores 386-288 with bingos of RESTIVE and TUNDRAS, then played a very similar game against Mary Becker which he won 392-304 (getting down SORTERS and TRIPLING). Neither opponent bingoed, which is always a strategy for success if it can be pulled off and if you don't care about blatantly violating UN resolutions. After a brief hiccup in the form of a loss to first-placer Charles Reinke, Bryan released the full power of his word arsenal upon Gail Salm, and won their match 549-320. In truth, Bryan didn't have to delve that deep into his well of words, as his three bingos were rather pedestrian: DILUTERS, ENTITLE, and SITTERS.

Dave Gilligan is the proud recipient of Word of the Week with his find of HEJIRAS, played against Lynda Finn.

Reignke of Terror

1st Charles Reinke exploited the intricacies of the standings protocol to come in first with a 4-1 +578 record. In the first round, against Helen, he got down AMIDONES, then quickly followed it up with AMIDINE. A third bingo of something like AMIDASE or AMIDOLS would have been cool, but his TONTINE ended up being totally unrelated. Also in the first round, this time against Mary, he played the nice EXORABLE, but was defeated 401-414 by Mary's late SHOCKERS. Charles recovered from this loss with three straight wins against tough competition, the first against returning Iowan Mike Johnson, who he beat handily with the help of TABANIDS and NOOSING. Even more handy was his win against Bryan, 623-278, made possible due to his triple-triple of AVENGERS for 140, as well as some other good fortune. As he said, "It's great when you can draw the remaining esses and bingo with them, killing all the remaining lanes while your opponent is trying to bingo." I think we can all agree with those wise words. Against Thomas, he won 413-390, a somewhat low-scoring affair (for them) that would have been a win for Thomas had he not foolishly missed a bingo late in the game. I guess you could say it was... Tom-foolery! HAHAHA! HA. Ha...

2nd Aaron Bader didn't lose any games, going 3-0 +519, but still came in second because the website's standings programming discriminates against people who only stay for three rounds. Even the perfect computers of the future are not free from bias! Anyway, he won his first game, against Richard, 489-331, playing GRAYISH and LOCUSTAE, while his opponent played PEEWITS and LARIATED. Those two bingos by Richard ended up being the only bingos played against him on the night; neither Sue nor Mary could do anything against his stifling defense, as he won those games by a combined 400 points. After this undefeated night, he is jetting off to Korea for a bit. We have encourage him not to wander too far from his hotel, lest he end up on the wrong side of the DMZ.

3rd Mary Becker edged out Bryan for third place, going 3-1 -2. As already detailed, she had an impressive win against Charles in the first game, playing INDEXES and SHOCKERS. In the second round she encountered Dave and, playing no bingos, won easily 406-294. Dave had a bingo himself, CHAPTER, but Mary's time-tested strategy of "just score points" won out. It's a good strategy! Bingoing is something, but it isn't everything. Or, maybe it is everything, because her lack of bingos resulted in a big loss to Aaron. That loss sent her carefully accumulated spread into the negatives, but she regained most of it against Mike, beating him 400-310, playing ROILIEST and SOUPIER.

Word-of-the-week honors go to Thomas, who played CORNPONE, which, depending on context, means "cornbread" or "something or someone stereotypically southern". He also wins phony-of-the-week with his challenged-off attempt of BIGCOCK* against Bryan. Funny, right? Turns out he was probably thinking of BIBCOCK.