Blog

"It's Christmas Time", says Thomas Reinke, Ominously

1st Thomas Reinke pushed his winning streak to 13 games with a 4-0 +578 performance. He either put on a masterful defense showcase or drew all the good tiles or maybe a bit of both, as only one of his opponents scored above 300. After improbably scoring 444 on a closed board against Bryan, he focused his attention on Charles, against whom he won a high-scoring contest 485-465. Charles got down WINCERS, FIREWALL, EXOSMIC (only after trying the phony COMIXES*, COMIX is an alternate spelling of COMICS), and SARDINE against Thomas' VITRAINS and REBUKED. The bingo deficit was made up by Thomas' 90-point SLEAZE, in case you were wondering how on earth Charles managed to lose. A close game against Lynda in the third round turned into a blowout in Thomas' favor as he bingoed out with CONFIDES, sticking Lynda with 44 points worth of goodies to win 400-290. Similarly, his game against Andy in the final round was close until he started drawing and playing tons of bingos. Thomas played IDOLISER, PIMINETO, VERSANT, and TOXINES in that 300-point victory.

2nd Charles Reinke went undefeated except for a loss against that dude who looks like him, which shouldn't even really count when you think about it, going 4-1 +277. He won both games of a two-on-one, against Sue and Richard, in the first round, earning him the right to play the unbeatable Thomas. We know how that turned out (hint: "unbeatable"). In his next game, he withstood Betty's 108-point double-double HOBBIES, playing EGOTIZED and RADIANS in a 448-382 win. He saved his best for last, beating Bryan in a high-scoring affair, 482-452. Bryan played INCLOSED, FORESAID (don't forget the A front-hook making AFORESAID), and DREAMING, while Charles played POONTANG (the third time he's played that word, insert joke here), BURRITOS, and the invalid SUBOVALS*. SUBOVAL is of course an adjective, so of course doesn't pluralize. Of course.

3rd Richard Lauder brought joyous Christmas tidings in the form of butt-kickings, going 3-1 +134. He recovered well after losing his opener against Charles, the recovery starting with a 437-272 dismantling of Gail, where he played UNCOATED for 90. Things were closer against Dave, where he won 420-378, overcoming Dave's late PHAETON with TINKLERS as an out-bingo. It illustrates a good lesson in expert-level Scrabble play; always, ALWAYS, block the K if it's just hanging out there. An open K is an invitation for your opponent to bingo, if not bingo twice in that spot (I am joking, the K is only dangerous if you think your opponent is going to play KUVASZOK). Richard finished off his night with a 368-328 win against Lynda, playing SERMONS and GLASSIER.

Dave played the word-of-the-week, VENATIC (adj. pertaining to hunting), earning 98 points for his efforts.

Somebody has to Stop Thomas Reinke but Nobody Can

1st Thomas Reinke extended his latest winning streak to nine in a row with another impressive showing, this time going 4-0 +424 and averaging 499 (so close!) per game. His lowest score output of the night came in a 482-389 victory over Andy Bohnsack, which by itself describes what kind of night he was having. That game saw Andy get down two bingos of MISHEARD and STUTTER, but Thomas one-upped him with three bingos of his own: NONCRIME, NUTCASE, and almost-word-of-the-week TALLITIM (n. TALLIT, a Jewish prayer shawl). A game against Charles Reinke (no relation) ended with a slightly larger margin as Thomas took that one 511-405. A 158-point play (in this case, SICKENED) is always tough to claw back from, as Charles found out: his relatively high-scoring bingos of MARCATO and IRONISTS scored a combined 168, but weren't nearly enough. Thomas wrapped up his undefeated record with his highest score of the evening (and his sixth-highest this year), 521 against Dennis Lloyd's resilient 410. Thomas had EARLAPS, HARVESTS, and SEDATED (against Dennis' DECOYING and LOANINGS) to secure the victory for the forces of good.

2nd Charles Reinke finished at 4-1 +293. The single loss against his brother is described above; the rest of his games had a much happier outcome (for him, anyway). Charles opened up with a 399-322 win over the temporarily-returned Joe Horowitz (don't get too excited; he has to go back to Philadelphia soon!). The two bingos on the board at the end of that game were both Charles': DASHING and DOBLONES (plural of DOBLON - don't play DOBLONE!). Simultaneously with that game, Charles took on Dave Gilligan as part of a two-on-one, and won that game as well, 481-332. Charles' fine outing culminated with a 502-376 match versus Lynda Finn; a single bingo of COURTIER by Lynda could not hold up to Charles' three bingos of SWANNED, SEPTICAL, and word of the week MOVIEDOM.

3rd Andy Bohnsack went 3-2 +131, but averaged just 384 points per game, well below his average of 427 on the year. His average score took the biggest hit when he lost 313-416 against Dennis Lloyd. In the course of his win, Dennis discovered the second most important secret to beating Andy (the first being to place tiles on the board for lots of points): try to bingo more often than he does. It worked: Andy managed a lowly ETALONS, while Dennis got down SCRUMMED and SNITCHED. Andy redeemed his record in the fourth round when he was the "one" in a two-on-one matchup against Helen Flores and Dave Gilligan. Neither opponent of Andy's managed to get a bingo down or score over 300 as he won both, 412-275 against Dave and 385-293 against Helen. Andy showed off his high-probability bingo knowledge with finds of TAENIAE, PTERINS, VARIATE, and RANGERS in the two games.

Is Winter Over Yet?

1st Thomas Reinke overcame the coldness of the night to go undeafeated, 4-0 +251. Against Andy in the first round, the game hinged on the validity of Andy's BARGERS*. If it was good, it would be a 50-point win for Andy, if not, a 100-point win for Thomas. Given Thomas' final record and the little asterisk next to the word, you can figure out how that one turned out. Defense was the name of the game against Gail in round two, with Thomas getting down a pair of bingos but doing little else, while Gail managed to get DEVOICES as an outplay to cut the spread a bit, the final result being 366-330. Thomas then tried out both ends of the bingo-score continuum against Aaron, playing TERATOMA for 57 and the triple-triple CASEATES for 140 in his 433-350 win. While facing eternal foe Charles in the battle for first place, they started out the game with three straight bingos, then failed to bingo again for the rest of the game. Talk about disappointment! I'm pretty sure they were thinking they were going to bingo every turn until the tiles ran out. Thomas won that game, 389-359.

2nd Bryan Benwitz went 3-1 +246, averaging a session-high 445 points. His AGONIZES and WANDERED again Charles in the first match were met with ORDINAL, CANITIES (n. the greying of the hair, singular and plural, so no CANITY*), and an un-overcome-able QUAERES, and Bryan came up short 407-446. His fortunes changed somewhat against Andy, as he won 473-369. Sadly, his fancy play of BEKNIGHT through an E was blocked, but, to his credit, he showed admirable restraint by not immediately punching Andy in the face, instead waiting until after the game to dole out the required physical punishment. Physical punishment was not needed in his game against Dennis, where he won 415-357 using only Scrabble-based punishment. He saved his best for last against Lynda, winning 483-360, playing ENEMIES and PEONIES.

3rd Charles Reinke avoided second place by a mere 6 spread points, going 3-1 +240. Remember to recount your plays! Every point counts! After beating Bryan in the opener, he turned his attention towards Helen, winning 414-310. Helen erred by challenging the odd-looking DUGS (n. DUG, a teat or udder), but who can blame her? Charles pushed his winning-streak to 3 against Lynda, where he won 467-340, playing LABIATES and WACKIEST, before falling to his brother. The club will, sadly, have to wait another three weeks before paying out his next 10-game streak.

Andy played the word-of-the-week, DRUNKARD, a common term that is very uncommon on a Scrabble board.