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Thomas Reinke Dominates Diminished Field

1st Thomas Reinke averaged 477 points per game (including two 500 games) on his way to a perfect 4-0 +516 finish. In his first 500 game, he managed to suppress the potent scoring powers of Bryan Benwitz, holding Bryan to just 308 with no bingos while scoring 502 himself (playing SEROTINE, OSTEOMA, and ENCORED). The second 500 game was somehow even more devastating, a 553-349 against the club's top scoring threat Charles Reinke. Charles avoided Bryan's unfortunate fate by playing two bingos (PALTRIER and PROUDER), but again, Thomas used a triplet of bingos (GOONIEST, RIVAGES, RETSINAS) to secure the win. Three more bingos would be played by Thomas in a closer 435-346 victory over Peter Shmiedicke: TORTURES, BUNTERS, and OWNABLE.

2nd Lynda Finn went 2-1 +240 before bowing out for the fourth game, no doubt to begin preparation of untold culinary delights for the impending holiday. She lost in the first round against (who else) Thomas Reinke despite outbingoing him two to one (CATENAS and SEEDIER for Lynda, NEUSTIC for Thomas). Fortunes turned significantly in Lynda's favor after that point; this was most apparent in a 495-333 triumph over Helen Flores. All bingos played in that game were Lynda's: TENDERS, GAFFERS, and TANNERY. Gail Salm fared slightly better but not much, with her game against Lynda also ending in a lopsided score, 330-437. Lynda had a nice find of WOODPILE in that game, while Gail fell back on some reliable high-probability words, DETAINEE and EARNERS.

3rd Aaron Bader went 2-2 +360, not often a good enough performance to make the top three. He suffered through two losses early versus Bryan Benwitz and Charles Reinke, the latter of which saw him attempt GERONIMO, which falls squarely into the "should really be acceptable" category. After those losses, he took down Sue Goldstein 452-241, thanks mostly to a huge 114-point INDEXERS. In the last game of the evening he faced off against newcomer Charles Marvin (generating pairings-related name confusion for the first time in a while) and won 520-212. Charles did not win a game on his first outing thanks to an unusually strong group of players that showed up, but we hope he will return!

Helen's PANTHEON was chosen as word of the week.

Bryan Plays a Very Special Word

1st Bryan Benwitz went 4-0 +327, defeating both Reinkes and playing the word REINKED in one of them. This is not the first time the word has been played (Lynda played it in the distant, fog-shrouded past of 2013) but it is definitely one of the more appropriate bingos in recent memory. The game in question was a 431-430 squeaker over Thomas; Bryan also had STRIVEN and CENTAVOS in that game to counteract Thomas' three bingos of CROONERS, CUSHIEST, and an out-bingo RENAILED  that wasn't quite enough. Bryan received significantly less opposition from Charles, who fell 325-471, ending the C-Twin's winning streak at twelve. In that game, Bryan upped his bingo production from three to four: SEDATIVE, CHEESING, DEMETONS, and BOLOGNAS. Another large win was had against Andy Bohnsack, 448-335. Andy got down the low-probability CASHLESS (adj. the state of the club after paying out so many prizes), but Bryan again went overboard with the bingoing, playing ELATIVE, NEGROID, and AMORETTI (which does NOT take an S, as Andy found out).

2nd Thomas Reinke's 4-1 +537 output put him in sole second place. He enjoyed much success in his two-on-one game against Helen Flores and Barb Besadny, tacking on nearly three hundred points of spread to his cume in that round alone. He beat Barb 489-297 thanks to bingos of SANTOLS, BROILER, and ANDIRONS; bingoing thricely became somewhat of a theme for Thomas, as all of his games save one featured exactly that many bingos. The "one" was a 417-334 win over Helen Flores where he only got down LARIATED; Helen had PIETIES to counter. Some more high scores were found in the Thomas-Andy matchup that ended 463-439 in Thomas' favor. Andy got down ROSELIKE and ZEBRANOS, the latter for 110 points, but Thomas bingo assaulted continued unabated with ROTUNDLY (now hook-able to OROTUNDLY), ALCAIDES, and POMATUMS.

3rd Charles Reinke went 3-1 +427, successfully extending his nine-game streak going into the night to a twelve-game streak before losing to Bryan in the final round, thus awarding Bryan five dollars. Charles received seven dollars for his efforts, which, when added to a five-dollar triple-triple and a four-dollar high O play, resulted in sixteen dollars of revenue, perhaps a club record! The triple-triple of READOPTS for 149 was played against Aaron Bader in a lopsided 541-370 victory for Charles. CELLIST and SENSORS were Charles' other bingos in that one. That scoring outburst then seamlessly translated into the next game, which was a 592-275 win for Charles against Lynda Finn. There were no triple-triples in that one, but Charles did add four bingos to his final list: STUDIOS, BROTHELS, CATNAPER, and TRUSTILY.

Madison Scrabble Club Lives Up To Its Name, Scrabbles in Madison

1st Charles Reinke, for the second week in a row, made a clean sweep through the ranks of Madison's best Scrabblers (admittedly, perhaps slightly compromised on this night), going 4-0 +402. He made his lone bingo count against Mary in the first round, playing the 9-letter AIRSPACES en route to a 150-point win. The bingos flowed more freely in his 464-378 win against Bryan, where Charles opened with a natural EYEWEAR and later added LIFTERS and JETLAGS. Now is the time to talk about his third game against Aaron, but I won't because they only played one bingo apiece and I think that's really lame by their standards. Charles won, anyway. That's all you need to know. In the final game, Dennis had a chance to overtake Charles for the club crown (the weekly one, not the yearly one), but fell short 359-422. Charles got down MORPHINE for 101 as well as EMANATOR for not 101, against Dennis' DEADENS.

2nd Thomas Reinke went 4-1 +268, good for second place. He perfectly executed the strategy of "lose your first game so you can avoid Charles for as long as possible or maybe entirely", strategically losing to Bryan in his first game, 360-485. Onlookers were in awe of his cunning. Thomas then rattled off 4 straight wins against non-Charles competition, starting with a win against Susan, 434-344, featuring bingos of SHINNIES, MONILIAE, and REUSING. In the third game, Mary kept the game close the entire way, only to lose by 13. Thomas' extension of PITIES to OUTPITIES on a closed board helped seal the deal. Sitting at 2-1 but still with a negative spread, Thomas went out at gained 280 points of it by playing two at once, Helen and Dave.

3rd Peter Schmiedicke came in third with a 3-1 +243 record. He won big against Barb in his opening match, 497-288, playing RENAILS and the somewhat-appropriate-given-current-events-and-that's-all-I'm-going-to-say-about-that phony VOTINGS*. As Aaron would say, "It's good in Collins!". Speaking of Aaron, he defeated Peter in the second game with the aid of the night's highest-scoring bingo, ENQUIRES for 122. The 537-400 end result of that game is the second highest combined point total this year. After an unusually low-scoring 377-334 win against Bryan, he dropped 496 on a unsuspecting (actually with Peter involved she probably was suspecting plenty) Gail, playing RECITED and HATREDS.

Dennis played the word-of-the-week, UNDELETE (v. to undo the deletion of), as well as phony-of-the-week, CRAISIN* (n. a dried cranberry). If you ever find yourself with CRAISIN* on your rack, look for an open M for MINICARS or an open S for NARCISSI. Don't look for a 7-letter word, because you won't find one, or any other 8-letters words because there aren't any others.