Blog

Lynda Finn Lays Waste

1st Lynda Finn finished in first for the second time in the past month, handing in an unblemished scorecard that read "4-0 +256". She started off strong with a high-scoring 456-417 win over Gail Salm, highlighted by bingos of RELATOR, DOGEARED, and GENITORS. A bingo deficit against Richard Lauder (SERIALS and NETTERS vs. UNCALLED) didn't faze the Finninator, and she won that game as well, 417-345. Her three wins in a row against our club director have given her a cushy two-game lead in the lifetime series, 28 wins against 26 losses. "Lifetime" of course meaning since 2011. But her wins in the first three rounds were overshadowed by a dominant 468-334 drubbing of Thomas Reinke, a win which has extended her winning streak against this particular opponent to four. Thomas played the lone PREAUDIT, then challenged PREAUDITS as Lynda got down FAERIES, COATERS, and TURNING.

2nd Aaron Bader went 4-1 +177, a somewhat diminutive spread total for the number of games played, but still good enough for second place. Half of his ten bingos were played in the first round, but they were split between two games: DREAMER and CONGERS against Susan Vergeront (a 406-357 win); AFFAIRES, MOTTLING, CASTERED against Dennis Lloyd (a 431-319 win). Aaron also continued to reverse his generally poor fortune against Charles Reinke with a 425-366 victory, holding the normally high-scoring twin to a lone ANEMONES for a paltry 60 points (Aaron himself got down PORTALED and WAVELIKE [new anagram: LAKEVIEW]). A match against the other Reinke did not go as well; the gory details will be explicitly exposited in the next paragraph.

3rd Thomas Reinke compiled a 3-1 +217 record while averaging a club-best 441 per game. He significantly helped his average by beating Barb Besadny 500-275; each player had exactly one valid bingo (STEERER for Barb, ERASERS for Thomas), but Thomas benefited by getting away with the phony GEUMING, the only phony bingo played the entire night. A 448-395 victory against Aaron Bader was not so marred, and further details are not even that gory; in fact, they are not gory at all. The bingos they played could be considered underwhelming if anything; INSULARS and ROOTAGE for Thomas, RETRACES and ELATIONS for Aaron. Thomas then got his third (and unbeknownst to him, final) victory of the night by defeating his OWN BROTHER by a heinous score of 483-410.

Bryan Benwitz Leaves Opponents Cryan' (I Think That Joke has been Made Before)

1st Bryan Benwitz cruised to his first undefeated performance in several months, going 4-0 with a sizable but not utterly outrageous spread of +460 and a mildly outrageous average of 459 per game. His scoring engines were fully revved up by the second game as he supplied some serious Scrabble-style schooling to Dennis Lloyd, 473-315. Dennis played the super-high-probability TRAINEE (anagrams: RETINAE and ARENITE), but Bryan responded with a high-probability bingo assault of POGONIAS, SANTERA, and DETINUES. His next opponent, Thomas Reinke, had marginally more success in the bingo department (OARLIKE, NUTSEDGE), but Bryan still won in a landslide, 524-361. His scorecard alleges that he only played three bingos in that game: GALOSHES, SMEARED, and MARLITE. Flush with confidence after that convincing victory, Bryan then went on to secure his lossless night with a more closely-contested 460-416 win over Charles Reinke. Surprise of surprises, Bryan again played three bingos (OUTLINE, GASSIER, TATTIES), but Charles did find the word-of-the-week BIOETHIC (pertaining to BIOETHICS, ethics in biology) as well as RELUCTS.

2nd Charles Reinke went 4-1 +435, and while he didn't quite maintain his yearly average of 478, he didn't lower it too much by averaging 441 over his five games. His most convincing win came against the previous week's 4-0 finisher, Mary Becker; Charles dashed her dreams of a repeat performance with a 427-277 win. Later, he would further pad his spread totals with a two-on-one series against Susan Vergeront and Helen Flores. Both games were 100+ point victories (491-366 against Susan, 451-328 againast Helen) despite just three bingos total for Charles in the two games: SORDINI, GOWANED, and METEORIC. The total for his opponents was identical: Susan played PASTRIES and SLANTED, while Helen got down DISTORT.

3rd Thomas Reinke went 3-1 +205 and was co-bingo king with Richard Lauder, both players having eleven bingos. Other than the unfortunate loss against the guy in the first paragraph, all of Thomas' scores were in the mid-to-high 400's. Against Andy Bohnsack in the first round, Thomas did not delay in throwing down bingos, getting RAVINES, PALETTES, and UNBITTER in a 471-360 victory. Semi-newcomer Cal Wiederholdt got his first taste of the terrible twins' bingoing prowess, witnessing Thomas play OWLIEST, ENTRAPS, and AMNESIA, plays that turned a close game into a 467-305 win for the bingoer. Thomas' final win was also his closest, 470-375 versus Dennis Lloyd. Dennis collected a nice 99 points for his play of DESCENT, but Thomas used raw word power to prevail, playing WHINIEST, MAINTOPS, and VENETIAN.

One Can Only Hope Our New Queen is as Benevolent as the Deposed King

1st Mary Becker started off the new club season with determination, going 4-0 +302, her first undefeated performance since 2012. In her usual manner, she didn't rely on bingoes to earn the wins, instead preferring to find other ways to score. After all, two 35-ish point plays are about the same as a fishing play and a bingo. She beat Dave and Gail with the help of one bingo per, PLEASING against Dave and RELEASE against Gail, scoring 390 both times. This led to a matchup with Thomas in the 3rd game, where, despite his bingos of TEGULAR and DOYENNE (n. a female doyen, appropriate in this case), she earned the win 403-363 with the help of a multitude of high-scoring non-bingos. Being lossless going into the final game, it only made sense that she was paired against the other lossless player, John, in what was probably not a very expected matchup of undefeateds. With the help of FESTIVAL, she got the victory, 394-328, and now stands alone at the top of the club standings. How's the weather up there?

2nd Charles Reinke fell drastically off his previous seasons's 75.8 winning percentage pace, going 3-1 +514, .032 wins less than expected. He started off well against Betty, showing no indications of the disappointing night he would have, winning 540-280 while playing TURBOJET (n. probably a really powerful type of jet engine), the always-appropriate VERBOSE, and DIAGNOSE. His bingos of ENTRIES and DOWNTIME were not enough against Thomas, against whom he he lost humiliatingly 386-434. He managed to secure two more big wins against Dave and Bryan, playing the nifty AHIMSAS (n. the concept of nonviolence in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism) against Dave, but it was not enough to salvage the night. Charles' meager 75 percent win rate on this night can never be erased from the club's collective memory.

3rd Andy Bohnsack celebrated the start of a new school year by going 3-1 +178. He started off with a 431-367 win over Aaron, giving him a one-game winning streak over the guy who just got done beating him 12 times in a row. Only 11 more Andy, you can do it! In the second round, he faced club newcomer John, who utilized his prior Scrabble experience to win 387-354, playing RETAINED and ENABLER to Andy's HALIDES. If the loss affected him, he didn't show it with his play the next two games. He first beat Gail 447-320 with the bingos of EDIFYING (anagram DEIFYING) and OVERSTIR (anagram SERVITOR), and then beat Thomas, 422-402, with the help of OUTEARNS, LEVATOR, and SAGUARO.

Dave played the Word of the Week, MYELINES (n. alternate spelling of MYELIN, a fatty substance surrounding the axon of nerve fibers).