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TRY SAYING POLYNYI THREE TIMES FAST

1st Thomas Reinke averaged one win per game, going 4-0 +371. He prevailed in a low-scoring game against Lynda, 353-327, playing FENTHION (per Wikipedia: an organothiophosphate [break out your Super Scrabble boards!] insecticide) against Lynda's FLANNELS. His scoring picked up in the second game, as he dropped 518 on a not-happy Helen, with his bingos being REGRATED, STICKIER, and RAVINING. Thomas' third-round matchup against Bryan was close until the end, when Bryan drew a horrid combination of V's, W's, and Q's and was unable to shed them from his rack in time. I thought QI was supposed to fix this? In the fourth round, against Eternal Foe Charles, he overcame an early 100-point deficit (caused by Charles' CHAINSAW for 110) to win by 100, 517-414. EUROLAND (n. the area formed by countries using the euro, apparently not capitalized?) started the comeback, followed by the phony JESTERED*, ANISOLE, and ATRAZINE.

2nd Bryan Benwitz played a really cool word, which pretty much overshadows his other accomplishments of the night. He went 3-1 +390, but who even cares? He won his first game, against Betty, 446-304 by playing BURNOUT and SAUTEED, then beat Gail 417-318 with the aid of VERITES (n. VERITE, the technique of filming so as to convey candid realism, and here I was thinking it was a chemical compound or something). His late-game clunkers sunk him against Thomas, but he recovered quickly in the fourth round. Very quickly, as his opening play was a natural (as in, no blanks) POLYNYI! POLYNYI is the plural of POLYNYA, a loanword from Russian meaning "an area of open water surrounded by sea ice". Lynda had no choice but to challenge; can't let people play random strings of letters all willy-nilly like that, but it was good, and Bryan rode this advantage to 525-333 win.

3rd Charles Reinke got out-bingoed in every game, but still cruised to a 3-1 +128 record on the back of his 468 average. He beat Helen in the first round 488-410, despite getting outbingoed 3-2. In his next game, he beat Aaron 467-402 despite getting outbingoed 3-2. Against Gail, he won 502-414 despite getting outbinoed 3-1. And, in the final round, his bingo deficit finally caught up with him, as he got outbingoed 4-2 and lost. The above paragraph looks pretty weird until you realize that I'm trying to get Miriam-Webster to put OUTBINGO* in the next dictionary update and they really wanted some citations. Here's your darn citations, you stodgy lexicographers!

Hey, We Didn't Get Snowed Out For Once

1st Aaron Bader, as the only player to average over 400 on the night, accordingly came in first place with his 3-1 +148 record. He dispatched Lynda in the first round, 412-306, playing (for him [tonight]), an incredible TWO bingos, OBTAINED and VENTAIL. After that insane bingo performance, he cooled down a bit, playing one bingo in each of his next three games. His relative lack of bingos cost him against Bryan, as he lost 353-488, but it did not cost him against Thomas, against whom he won 460-339. RESTRIKE (note: PRESTRIKE is also good but does not take an S) was his bingo that game. Things were closer in his final game against Betty, who, despite not bingoing, kept it close until the end, eventually losing 374-430. Aaron's MAYWEED made the difference, as did the board being so closed that Betty's late bingos had to remain orphans.

2nd Bryan Benwitz came up a few spread points short of first, going 3-1 +121. He made short work of Charles in the opener, playing COLLAGED and SEAMERS in a 433-401 win. Charles did get down the nice MISDRIVES through IS, but if we awarded wins based on the stylishness of plays, well, bad stuff would happen. Bryan's three bingos of FAIRIES, MIGRAINE, and LOCATERS propelled him to victory against Aaron. Little did he know, those would be the final bingos of his night! He managed to beat Betty without the aid of any of those valuable rack-clearers, 367-325, a win which gave him 8 in a row, only 2 short of the 10 required for a cash payout. But Helen, kindly thinking of ways to save the club money, put a stop to his streak in the final game.

3rd Speaking of Helen Flores, she came in third place with 3-1 +75 record, making a semi-rare appearance in the top three. For her first act, she narrowly won against Sue, 321-320. Sources tell me that no recount was requested, even though tabulation errors could have made the difference. She gave herself a much larger cushion against Andy, winning 397-392, playing ENATIONS and ANTIQUES while she held Andy bingoless. Her string of close games continued against David, but this time she was on the wrong end, losing 310-329. Against Bryan, she won 376-288, selfishly hogging both V's (and both blanks, but who cares about those?) with her 79-point (and palindromic!) REVIVER.

Dennis played the word-of-the-week, BOUNDEN (adj. under an obligation)

Winter Is A Curse That Shall Never Be Lifted

1st Bryan Benwitz triumphed over a significantly weather-reduced group of Scrabblers, going 3-0 +138. He narrowly defeated Charles in the first game, 404-381, taking advantage of his opponent's late-game consonant-itis. Bryan got down UPRAISE and SAVIORS in that contest, while Charles played STALLED and word-of-the-week WISEACRE. Bingos were harder to come by in his next game, with the sole rack-clearing play being Bryan's REQUINS. Bryan's stifling defense in that game led to a 369-287 win against the normally high-powered Thomas. Major props must be given to Helen who, in the third (and final) round, played one-on-two against Dave and Bryan, winning against Dave and nearly beating Bryan until a late DISINTER foiled her plans. As it stood, Bryan secured his undefeated record with the 399-366 win.

2nd Thomas Reinke went 3-1 +235, good for second place or for the pessimists, fourth-to-last (preantepenultimate) place. He dispatched Helen and Dave both in the first round, 498-289 against Dave and 452-353 against Helen. His scoring dropped off suddenly against Bryan, but it rebounded again in the third round as he defeated Charles, 430-421. Thomas won the bingo battle 3-1, playing OUTGROWN, AIRLINER, and NIGHTIES against Charles' CARRIES, but only won by 9 points? Come on Thomas. Geez.