Blog

Andy Bohnsack Will Beat You Up for Your Blanks

1st Andy Bohnsack was the proverbial rolling stone with the proverbial moss being losses, as he went 4-0 +327 and beat both players directly below him in the night's standings. His evening started off well with a 436-259 win over Dave Gilligan wherein bingos of ACTINIAE, STERLING, and REANOINT were played. Peter Schmiedicke was able to wisely rein in Andy's bingo production, but his success on that front proved wasted, as Andy won that game as well, 417-343. It's safe to assume that Andy's sole EUPHORIA for 104 points was a deciding factor in a way that Peter's REALLOTS and STRINGER weren't. In the final game of the night, the two 3-0's butted heads, but Aaron Bader fell just short, losing a high-scoring 459-470 match that ended with five bingos on the board (BILAYER, RIOTERS, and NOTICES for Andy; WATERIER and VERMIAN for Aaron).

2nd Thomas Reinke put together a solid 4-1 +299 record to make some early headway towards the top spot in the yearly standings. His confrontation with Andy Bohnsack was the only one that did not end in Thomas' favor, 359-414. Thomas rebounded nicely against grizzled Scrabble vet Richard Lauder, defeating our club director 518-332. Richard got down FEATHERS and REPLICON (the latter showing off his years of accumulated word knowledge), but Thomas outbingoed his opponent as he so often does, playing TRIMNESS, IGNITORS, and IRATELY (anagrams: REALITY and TEARILY). Peter turned those tables on Thomas in their fourth-round matchup, playing three bingos to Thomas' two, but Thomas prevailed neverthless by a score of 435-415. Maybe this proves that bingoing isn't everything. Gasp.

3rd Aaron Bader finished at 3-1 +168, beating Gail Salm by twenty-some spread points for third place. His raucous final-round scuffle with Andy Bohnsack is chronicled above, but the rest of his games resulted in a more favorable outcome. He unleashed the full power of his bingo knowledge against the similarly-knowledged Charles Reinke, winning by "just" a score of of 430-383 despite outbingoing Charles 4-1. Those bingos were FINAGLES, FAINTER, LAMENTER, and HUISACHE, the last of which being selected as word of the week (it's apparently a type of tree or bush found in Texas). Mary Becker was also able to put up a brave fight in the face of Aaron's bingoeyness, playing two of them herself (SPEARING and INWARDS) in a 372-468 loss. Aaron had EATABLE, INTRIGUE, and EATERIES, making everybody in the vicinity hungry.

Two triple-triples were played: Gail's 149-point RANDIEST and Bryan's 122-point OTALGIES.

Charles Reinke Comes in First and It's too Hard to Come Up With a New Headline Every Week

1st Charles Reinke went 4-1 +252, good enough for first place on a night where nobody went undefeated. His lack of undefeatedness can be attributed to Lynda Finn, who handily crushed him, 516-347, despite Charles' 98-point phony OVERINGS. Lynda played STUIVER, REALISE, and COSTUME (the last of which being an out-bingo making COVERINGS); Charles added the nine-letter ENTREPOTS to the list of bingos. Simultaneously to the administration of that beating, Charles administered a beating of his own, defeating Helen Flores 550-222. Charles shamelessly phonied again with REBELING, and his two valid bingos of CESTODES and THORNIER did little to repair the burnt bridges. In the final game of the night against the undefeated Peter Schmiedicke, playing for not just some of the marbles but ALL of the marbles, Charles emerged victorious, 399-371, neither score being quite up to the usual standards of either player. Peter got down INSTATE and NIDATES, proving the utility of the SATINE stem; Charles had GRAPLINS (n. a small anchor, anagramming to SPRINGAL and SPARLING).

2nd Aaron Bader finished at 3-1 +470, averaging a club-leading 446 per game. Lynda Finn again proved to be an accomplished spoiler of other people's undefeated records, as she provided Aaron his only loss, 388-385. Lynda played SKITTER (66) and ROSARIES (59); Aaron had IODATION (58), proving that you're not going to score over 400 if your bingos are that wimpy. Aaron's bingos against Mary Becker (PUREEING, LOBSTERS, PEDANTS) were anything but wimpy, and the result was naturally a 507-244 victory. Another trio of bingos (UNIONIST, TORMENTS, and BUSTARDS) was utilized to maximum efficiency against Andy Bohnsack, who also was allowed to sample the bitter taste of defeat, 393-425. Andy did get down RATIONED for a decent score, so the bitter taste was cut slightly.

3rd Thomas Reinke ended his night with a 3-1 +137 record, edging out Peter Schmiedicke by six spread points for third place. He started off on the right foot with a 391-296 win over Gail Salm, but played just one bingo, GOOLIES, perfectly balancing Gail's sole RESENTS. He would up his bingo production significantly against Lynda Finn, winning a high-scoring 463-431 contest thanks to finds of REDEYES, GIRASOLE, and the odd-looking MACABRER. His opponent supplied DRASTIC and ORNITHES (the difficult anagram of HORNIEST). A 391-431 defeat against his stunt double ensured that no player would go undefeated. Thomas got down WIDOWED in that one after his two-tile fishing play led to a WW draw; Charles found MISTIER and TAURINES after his attempts to cultivate bingo racks worked to perfection.

Peter's CERVEZA was word of the week.

Charles Reinke Bingos Fifteen Times; Wins Follow Naturally. Also Bryan Scored 664 so Who Even Cares What Charles Did

1st Charles Reinke averaged 498 points per game and bingoed fifteen times, so, as would be expected with those totals, went 4-and-ought +679. The first of his 500 games was a 523-237 drubbing of the stoic Dave Gilligan (playing BAREFIT, FROSTILY, and AMIDONE). The second of his 500 games, played against Aaron Bader was somehow even more devastating, so devastating, in fact, that no more rounds were played after its conclusion. The 598-293 final score could mostly be attributed to the wide bingo achievement gap between Charles and Aaron: Aaron did not bingo, but did get to watch as Charles played five of them: REGRANTS, FABRICS, EXAMINED (for 113), NITINOLS, and NEGROIDS. Charles displayed a fractionally larger amount of mercy against family member Thomas Reinke, playing just four bingos (PANORAMA, GERMINAL, ISLETED, and FACTOIDS) in a 454-376 victory.

2nd Aaron Bader went 3-1 -175, not having amassed enough spread points in his first three wins to keep his cume in the positives after a spread-obliterating loss in the final round. He also damaged his yearly bingo average by only playing four of them through four games, but three wins is three wins no matter how many bingos you play. Aaron's highest game was a 450-398 win over Richard Lauder. He got plenty of mileage out of his sole bingo (SECTION for 94), enough to trump Richard's three bingos (OPENEST, SOLERET, and EGOCIDAL [ECOCIDAL is good]). He then played another low scoring game against Bryan Benwitz (pro tip: open boards are more fun than closed boards) and won, 362-311. Many style points were acquired when Bryan played the three-P bingo POPPIES, but the style points were unable to be cashed in for real points. Aaron also came into some style points with his nine-letter METALISED, but was forced to relinquish those style points with his high-probability RANDIES.

3rd Peter Schmiedicke returned to the Scrabble ring after a month-ish hiatus and took very little time shaking off the rust, going 3-2 +15. His first game back saw him play three bingos (RESTATE, TALIONS, and CATENOID, all useful words to know) and score 404, but he wasn't able to take down Aaron Bader and his 431, a score which, according to the precepts of integer arithmetic, is larger than 404. Later, he snagged a close victory against Richard Lauder, 428-422, thanks to another trio of bingos: TENTORIA (phonily extended to TENTORIAS; TENTORIAL is the real extension there), PETITION, and AREOLES. He then notched a more comfortable win margin-wise versus Thomas Reinke, playing LEARNED and GLORIAS to Thomas' OVARIOLE and ANODISE. Lesson learned: high-probability bingos are good to know.

Bryan Benwitz gets special mention for scoring 664 against Lynda Finn, whose score is not relevant here. Bryan played bingos of SPINDLE, BINARIES, NITTIER, and EMBAYING, the last of which was a triple-triple for 176 points! 664 is Bryan's personal best, and is also the fourth highest score on the website. Way to go Bryan! Please don't do it again.