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Charles Reinke Punishes All Who Oppose

1st Charles Reinke didn't dominate in his usual fashion, but an undefeated 4-0 +174 record is something that can't be argued with. Against the wizened Scrabble veteran Richard Lauder, Charles managed to win by a score of 394-374 despite a three-to-one bingo disparity. Richard's three were PREDATES, ETESIAN, and PAGODAS, while Charles only had SLIDDEN, albeit for 91 points. Andy Bohnsack did not fare much better than Richard, allowing Charles to reach his highest score of the night in a 443-386 victory. This time, the bingo distribution was equitable, with Andy playing DISROOT and COENURI to Charles' ALANINE and ELEGIES. Charles wrapped up the perfect club session by downing Thomas Reinke in just the latest chapter of a long-running blood feud. The score of that game was 425-407, and again, both players were gifted two bingos by the tile gods; WINTERED and HALIOTES for Thomas, OUTWARS and MOORING for Charles.

2nd Peter Schmiedicke averaged a hefty 454 points per game, but his single loss relegated him to second place with a 3-1 +404 record. That loss came against Mary Becker and it was not close: 331-429 was the final total. Two RE- words were played: REORDAIN for Peter and RECLASPS for Mary. After that initial disappointment, Peter waltzed comfortably through the remainder of his games, winning each by more than 100. He creamed Susan Vergeront 479-364, propelled forward by his three bingos of PROCAINE, EGESTION, and DETAILER. For her part, Susan was able to play REFRAINS and INDEBTED. But Dave Gilligan received the most punishment out of all Peter's opponents, with their game ending fairly lopsidedly, 535-254. Peter somehow managed to get that huge score with only two bingos: ETESIAN and ALINERS.

3rd Thomas Reinke fell a few spread points short of second place with his 3-1 +369 record. Things started off according to plan as Thomas beat Helen Flores 473-252. It wouldn't be a Reinke win if there weren't bingos involved, and sure enough, Thomas had two: TRINITY and OERSTED (n. a unit of magnetic intensity). The plan continued to be executed successfully with a 506-393 victory against Andy Bohnsack which broke the deadlock in the lifetime series, which had been at 37-37. Andy played NUTRIAS and RUNNIEST, but Thomas one-upped him with LAAGERED, GASTREA, and TAWNIEST, the last of which was 97 points! The third win, and Thomas' closest, was a 53-point win over Mary Becker, 429-376.

Sue Goldstein Triumphs Over Resurrected Intermediate Division

1st Sue Goldstein finished 2-2 -53, as we finally had enough Intermediate players to form a proper division. Sue used up all of her ammo in the first game of the night when she played her only bingo, CRUISING, in a 365-336 defeat of Dave Gilligan. She then went on to beat June Scott 312-277 to get her second win. However, the tides of fate cruelly turned when she was matched up against Steve Busalacchi, to whom she lost 378-321. The turning point of that game was when Steve played the phony triple-triple STONEAGE for 113 points, a phony which Sue allowed to stay on the board.

Aaron played the word of the week with SWITCHEL, a new addition to our dictionary. However, it was played in a Collins-dictionary game with Mark Kenas, so for them, the word has been valid for a while. Apparently switchel is a drink made from water, vinegar, and ginger that became popular in the 17th century. Nowadays we have Monster energy drink and don't have to drink switchel like uncivilized barbarians.

Other new words played were EENSIEST (Gail) and HALIOTES (Thomas). Take careful note that HALIOTES is the plural of HALIOTIS, so don't ever play HALIOTE!

Andy Bohnsack Proves Versatility by Not Bingoing That Much but Still Winning Them All

1st Andy Bohnsack "only" bingoed seven times en route to an undefeated 4-0 +263 performance. He handed Mary Becker her only loss, 445-374 despite only getting one bingo (TOPLINE) to Mary's two (ENLARGE and WRENCHES). A subsequent game against Gail Salm was higher-scoring still, ending at 494-365. Andy got down HEARTILY and SOPRANI to counter Gail's WACKIER and SOOTIER. Then, the bingo drought returned in a compelling matchup between the two remaining 3-0 players. Andy ended up prevailing over Thomas Reinke by a score of 401-382 and made the most out of his singular bingo, a 140-point 3x3 of UPRAISES. Thomas was able to play GOATIEST and SOLATED in his losing effort. After enduring somewhat of a slump recently, Andy has bounced back to win thirteen of his last fifteen games.

2nd Richard Lauder got down an impressive thirteen bingos and averaged 448 points per game (70 points above his yearly mark) to finish 4-1 +467. He did not start off his night quietly, dismantling Leslie Seltzer 463-293 with words like INSPIRED, GLOSSIER, and DREARIER. They weren't many points by themselves, but those bingos will add up fast. Richard got a taste of his own medicine when he was soundly defeated by Thomas Reinke, 332-519. Watching helplessly as his opponent pulled DUOTONE, AEROGELS, CERATINS, VIOLATER, and ANDESITE out of the bag, Richard could only muster SPARKED from his own rack because somebody else was hogging all the bingo tiles. Thankfully, the spread lost in that game was gained back and then some in a last-round matchup between Richard and Dave Gilligan. Richard found TARRIES, RESONATE, BATTLES, and FRIGGED in a 566-223 victory which is his largest this year, both by score and point margin.

3rd Charles Reinke went 3-1 +400, finishing ahead of three players who had identical records but smaller spreads. A large chunk of that spread came against the ever-gracious Sue Goldstein in a contest that ended with a final score of 516-257. Charles cruised with CANTEENS, TREATED, and DREARIER being his bingos for the game. Three more bingos were on tap for a throwdown against Peter Schmiedicke, and the outcome was similarly positive for Charles: 489-349 was what the scoresheets read after the fists stopped flying. EPOXIES was Peter's lone bingo and it was easily surpassed by Charles' CRUNODAL, GREISEN, and TARDIVE. A matchup against Thomas Reinke was as ill-fated as the previous four had been, with Thomas clearly coming out ahead, 432-374. For two players who average over two bingos per game, there weren't many bingos played: Thomas had CLARIES and OUTDRANK while Charles only had FIGTREE.

Mark Kenas, Thomas Reinke, and Mary Becker also had 3-1 records. Mark Kenas should be commended for hitting the 600-point mark in a 617-334 Collins-dictionary win against Aaron Bader. Mark played DATEDLY, STABLES, NONHERO, EROTISE#, and ERINITES#.

Lynda Finn ended up playing the Word of the Week, VLOGGERS, in a loss against Richard. VLOGGERS was only recently added to the dictionary and means "One that blogs video material". The other new words played were GOATIEST (Thomas), FIGTREE (Charles), and COLORISE (Peter).

Charles Reinke Leads Diminished Group of Diehards

1st Charles Reinke, cooped up inside and watching the beautiful day elapse right in front of his eyes, finished 3-1 +374 for first place among a group of just ten players. He scored the only 500-point game of the evening when he stomped Dave Gilligan by a score of 553-266. His three bingos in that game were AMNESIAC (don't remember the definition), FIRELIT, and BOASTER. Dave was unfortunately held bingoless. A contest against Peter Schmiedicke was much closer at 457-395; again, Charles had three bingos: EROTICS, UNIDEAED (adj. lacking ideas), and RINGSTER. This time, however, Charles had to contend with some bingos from his opponent, namely NEATEST and DIATRON. Only Thomas Reinke could muster the firepower to defeat the eventual first-place finisher, winning that game 448-426. In a turning of fate, Thomas was the one to get three bingos: EMULSOID, MEWLING, and PROTEAN. Charles got down PANIERS and TRYSTER. Thomas has now won fifteen of the last twenty contests between these two.

2nd Thomas Reinke went 3-1 +246, easily outdoing the other 3-1 finisher for second place. He played a low-scoring game against Peter Schmiedicke which finally ended in Thomas' favor, 366-319. Peter played INDORSE to Thomas' nice find of SAYONARA. The thirty bonus "style points" really came in handy on that one. Thomas recovered from the sting of that low score by roundly defeating Helen Flores 499-257. ANTHESIS for 94 points inflicted most of the damage, but AINSELL (Scottish dialect for "one's own self") wasn't bad either. Thomas' singular loss came at the ruthless tile-drawing hand of Andy Bohnsack, 387-452. The bingo count was even at two apiece: SNAILED and DIVULSED for Andy, UNDELETE and ELOIGNS for Thomas. With the win, Andy pulled closer to evening up the lifetime series: it stands now at 37 wins for Thomas, 36 for Andy. Of course, by "lifetime", we mean "since 2011". For all we know, Andy won fifty straight before that.

3rd Andy Bohnsack had a self-described "sad" 3-1 performance with only a +57 cumulative. Things started off badly with a 444-377 game against Dave Gilligan, a game only made respectable by Andy's 70-point out-bingo of LEARNER. Dave, meanwhile, bingoed consistently throughout the game with ERASION, WETSUIT, and SADDENS (an appropriate word to describe Andy's mental state at the time the word was played). Things began to look up for Andy in the next game as he defeated Gail Salm 411-353. Gail played DRIVELS and WILIEST; Andy countered with RONDELS and RAINIER. Fingernails everywhere were bitten and bloodied during Andy's next game against Bryan Benwitz, which ended up with just a one-point difference in scores, 422-421. Bryan got down TAGLINE early, but Andy clawed his way back with GRANTORS, POINTES, and DEAMEANS. A win is a win, but it certainly didn't help Andy's spread very much.

Peter Schmiedicke played the nine-letter DEBUTANTE (off of DE on the board) for Word of the Week. Two bingos from the new dictionary were played: Charles' RINGSTER (a member of a price-fixing ring) and Thomas' UNDELETE (v. to cancel the deletion of).