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Aaron Ain't Errin'

1st Aaron Bader had a perfect 4-0 +356 record and reversed his recent trend of disappointing bingo totals by playing nine of them in four games. His bingo woes were still present in his first game, however, as his sole SNARLING was kind of lonely in a 396-297 win over Lynda Finn, who played AEROSAT. Things began to pick up steam when Aaron was tasked with playing two players at once, defeating Mary Becker 412-348 (playing word-of-the-week MOHWAKS and URBANISE) and Betty Hasselkus 440-302 (playing COATEES and REGIONAL). All of these efforts culminated in a thrilling 513-458 win over second-place finisher Charles Reinke, where a late nine-letter bingo of TWITCHING for 98 points (preceded by a 60-some point QUIP) secured the win. Aaron's other bingos in that one were OUTGAVE, AUTACOID, and SNARFLED. Charles had MUSKIER, OVERSEEN, and LEADSMAN; his 458 losing score is not quite the highest this year, but it's close.

2nd Charles Reinke went 3-1 +461, and, excepting his loss against Aaron, had a very successful evening, with each of his wins having a margin of over 100. He had his own four-bingo game against third-placer Bryan Benwitz, unleashing TERRAIN, HEMATITE, FORESKIN, and SMALLEST upon the board to cruise to a 508-352 win (Bryan had HORNITOS and RELOANED). A game against Dave Gilligan didn't quite score as much, but the margin was much larger as Charles took a 489-254 win, playing AVAILED and STRIGILS along the way. Charles' ability to overwhelm his opponents hadn't faded by the fourth game, as he took down club director and grizzled Scrabble veteran Richard Lauder, 399-275. Richard got away with the phony RAGDOLLS (apparently a type of cat, and also a video game term, but still not in the dictionary); Charles didn't have to resort to trickery when he played the perfectly valid LENTISK (a type of shrub, because everything is a shrub).

3rd Bryan Benwitz went 3-1 +203, overcoming a first-round loss to make an appearance in the top three. After starting -156 in the hole, Bryan quickly extricated himself from said hole by beating Lynda Finn by a score of 472-287. Bryan got down NONRATED, LURKING, and the nice find of FUNCTOR (97 points!); the only thing written down for Lynda's bingos was a sad face. Mary Becker was the one to give Bryan his closest game: a 350-380 loss isn't so bad considering the damage that we know Bryan is capable of doing. Mary got down TRUSSING to Bryan's ANECDOTA and NAILERS (the study of high-probability words paying off once again). Bryan returned to form in the final game by winning easily against Gail Salm, 456-312, again out-bingoing his opponent two to one (OVERBITE and NARROWS for the victor, SILVERS for the defeated).

Bryan Benwitz Celebrates End of 2-2 Records

1st Bryan Benwitz romped through all challengers on his way to a 4-0 +556 record and a 455 average, ending a five-week streak of unexciting 2-2 records. He proudly filled the role of the everyman's hero when he defeated evil menace Charles Reinke by a very lopsided score, 469-328, to end Charles' winning streak at thirteen games. Despite the inequity of their scores, each player had exactly one bingo: ORALIST for Bryan, DISSEAT for Charles. Many more bingos than that were found on the board after Bryan beat Richard Lauder in a high-scoring showdown, 493-400. Bryan had IRENICS, SARDINED, and AMENDER to Richard's DIASTOLE and SAFROLES. The perfect night was secured with a merciless 442-245 victory over a 3-1 Dave Gilligan. The bingo count was again not quite up to standard, with Bryan's DEBASING being the only one played, but scoring 442 is always nice, with or without bingos. Counterpoint: bingos are always nice too.

2nd Charles Reinke might have had his winning streak broken by Bryan Benwitz and his notorious Scrabble skills, but he still enjoyed a strong 4-1 +406 performance. In the first round he faced off against the returning Michael David, blessedly freed from parenting duties for one glorious night (we're talking about Michael here), but Charles didn't even have the courtesy to let him win; the final score was 443-385 in Charles' favor. At the same time as that game played out, Charles took down Helen Flores 477-269, playing a 94-point DENSIFY to help his cause. However, these victories paled in comparison to the large amounts of smack that Charles heartlessly applied to his brother Thomas; when all was said and done, Charles had won by a score of 589-400. Thomas did play SHORTIA and DUETTING in an attempt to be competitive, but Charles buried him with SPIRACLE, DONEGAL, PRESTORE, and a trio of 50+ point power tile plays.

3nd Thomas Reinke went 3-1 +464, and one-upped the two finishers above him by averaging 473 per game. In the first round, he crushed fourth-place finisher Dave Gilligan, 478-220, thanks to bingos of LATTERS and a nine-letter OUTGNAWED (also valid: OUTGNAWN). A minor hiccup occurred when he ran into his brother Charles (gory details above), but Thomas recovered quickly from the scoring onslaught levied upon him to levy his own scoring onslaught upon an unwitting Richard Lauder, 527-251. The three bingos on the board were all Thomas': CATERERS, TENDENCY, and RAVINGS. Thomas secured a 3-1 record by beating Lynda Finn 485-366, but the win was tainted by a phony DUNNISH* (played with two blanks, no less). His other bingo, ACONITE, was perfectly valid, as was Lynda's STROLLER.

Lynda's FUTURIST, played against Helen Flores, was word of the week.

Fifteen Bingos in Four Games Sounds Like it Could Be a Record

1st Charles Reinke averaged 511 points and played fifteen bingos; with such outlandish totals, it's no wonder that he compiled a perfect 4-0 record with a +664 spread. Only Bryan Benwitz was able to prevent Charles from getting down four bingos, giving up just three of them, and consequently he was the closest to beating him, losing by a respectable score of 404-431. Charles scored comfortably above 500 in the rest of his games, his highest score being 548 against the newly-returned Richard Lauder, who scored 303 while lamenting the fact that he ever left the warm climes of Arizona. Charles' bingos in that one were TESSERAE (anagram ESTERASE), OPERATE, INVERITY, and ENAMOURS; Richard played ETERNALS and PLAIDED. A final, fraternal matchup that pitted Charles against lifetime archfoe Thomas Reinke saw Charles easily achieve victory, 520-397. The THREE nine-letter bingos on the board might be some kind of record too; Thomas had FLATTENER, while Charles found ARGUFIERS and CHARITIES. Oh yeah, and Charles also got started on another winning streak, with the win over his brother being his tenth in a row.

2nd Lynda Finn didn't quite average 500 or get fifteen bingos, but her 456 per-game average and her eight bingos were still well above her usual numbers, and her 3-1 +274 final record is nothing to sneeze at. The full extent of her Scrabble prowess was on display against Dave Gilligan, whom she beat by a score of 506-349. OUTSWAM for 105 big points was not nearly enough firepower for Dave, who had to contend with Lynda's three bingos of ANDESITE, AERADIO (one of the highest-probability new words) and a nice find of NONENTRY. Lynda showed neither mercy nor pity while dismantling the tough Bryan Benwitz, beating him 463-275 with bingos of TALENTS and GILLIES (Bryan had EDEMATA). The one loss reflected on Lynda's scorecard came in the first round against Thomas Reinke, 364-493, but Lynda at least found ISOCHOR (ISOCHORE is good as well) to somewhat mitigate the damage.

3rd Gail Salm went 3-1 -33, proving that you don't need to have a positive spread to finish in the top three. She played the word of the week BEESWING in a 335-310 win over Helen Flores, a word which almost drew a challenge when it was mentally pronounced as "Bee Swing" rather than "Bee's Wing". The bingo-related accolades were not over for Gail as she scored a cool five bucks for her triple-triple of ROTATING in a 405-371 win againast Aaron Bader. Her other bingos in that one were TZARIST and STONIER; Aaron had PINBONES. However, a 304-461 loss to Bryan Benwitz obliterated the spread points she had been carefully building up, and a 412-347 victory over Richard Lauder (playing ORIENTED and READIEST in her winning effort) wasn't enough to dig herself out of that hole.