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For April Fools Day, Andy Bohnsack Fools People Into Thinking They Can Beat Him

1st Andy Bohnsack uncorked a masterful 4-1 +649 performance to attain the first spot in the weekly writeup. At the end of the first round, his record sat at 2-0 +567, so while his scores were rather pedestrian the rest of the way, it didn't even matter. Against Barb Besadny, Andy let loose with five bingos: OUTRIVAL, DERATES, LAICISES, ASTONIED, and REFILING. This torrent of bingos led Andy to a 520-276 win. That large margin would be made even greater against Michael Siebers, who lost to andy 215-538. At least in that game, Andy took it easy on the bingoing, only getting STAMPED and ENGAGED. Andy's sole loss of the evening was courtesy of Lynda Finn, whose suffocating defense resulted in a low-scoring 377-311 final.

2nd Richard Lauder also went 4-1, but his impressive spread of +546 was not impressive enough to beat out Andy for first place. Like Andy, Richard found success in playing two players at once, beating June Scott 500-230 and Betty Hasselkus 477-312. A game versus Lynda Finn was more tightly-contested, with Richard barely escaping with his life, 376-375. The two combatants exchanged bingos; INFARES for Lynda, DURATIVE for Richard. Nobody save Charles Reinke had the answer for beating Richard, and Charles isn't telling his secrets; they must be good secrets, though, because Charles won 442-396 despite letting Richard's phony GRINGOES slip by.

3rd Aaron Bader escaped while the going was good, finishing 3-0 +83. He anti-Reinked himself by defeating both Reinke twins, this time in sequence. Three bingos were in order for a 430-407 victory over Thomas: EROTICA, UNHARMED, and ALIENERS. Thomas played BILIOUS and the new word DARNEST (anagram of STANDER). Charles fared even worse, losing 379-427. His ETESIAN and UNEASES were outmuscled by Aaron's FAGOTERS and NONIDEAL. Aaron finished up his abbreviated club session with a high-flying 453-441 triumph over the formidable Bryan Benwitz. Bryan got down TORSADE and the Scrabble-appropriate OUTSPELL, but was outspelled by Aaron's three bingos: BALMIER, DACITES, and ACHIOTE.

Lynda's DEIONISE was chosen as word of the week. It was one of several new words that were played: DARNEST (Thomas), GAITERED (Gail), and TENNESI (Bryan) were the others.

Charles "Winwraith" Reinke Throws All Opponents into Mount Doom

1st Charles Reinke unleashed a devastating scoring assault over the course of his four games, winning them all with a total spread of 565 and averaging 490 per game. This makes him winner of thirteen of his last fifteen contests. Much of his wrath was reserved for Peter Schmiedicke, wrath that was delivered in the form of a 541-369 final score. Peter managed to console himself with a bingo of GARDENER, but that consolation was short-lived as Charles deposited four bingos onto the board: ASTHENIC, COSTLIER, ROBUSTA, and word-of-the-week FAUTEUIL, a type of chair. Somehow dissatisfied with the amount of anger he had unfairly directed towards his opponents, Charles went on to defeat Gail Salm 502-291. Gail struck with STRUDEL and PIERCING, but Charles lashed back with AENEOUS (adj. bronze-colored), SQUANDER, and DELATES. The night came to a close with a closer, but not all that close, 446-343 win over Chris Vergeront.

2nd Aaron Bader also had four wins, but his bonus fifth game turned out to be a loss, resulting in a final record of 4-1 +424. Fittingly, that loss was against first-place finisher Charles Reinke, 392-471. Aaron played SHEBEAN (anagram BANSHEE) but was turned away by Charles' ENGINES and triple-triple RATANIES for 122 points. The rest of Aaron's games went smoothly enough, with the smoothest by far being a 540-282 romp over Mary Becker. Despite playing in a two-on-one, Aaron found bingos of CELESTAS and SPAWNING, the latter for 106 points. That mark of 540 points, while lofty, would eventually be eclipsed when he crushed Andy Bohnsack, 574-410. Andy valiantly tried to stay in the game with his finds of TELECOM and DIAGONAL, but Aaron's quad-bingo assault of CAMELEER, REBODIES, LEDGIER, and FANTOOSH (Collins dictionary only) was just too much to overcome.

3rd Thomas Reinke enjoyed a 3-1 +408 performance, but would have enjoyed it more with just one more victory. He graciously welcomed back club director Richard Lauder, having just returned that day from warmer climes, by losing 366-409. Thomas played CURIOSA, but Richard was not to be denied, doublng Thomas' bingo output with his own plays of DEPRIVE and LISENTE. That was the first game, and Thomas would up his bingo count by one in each game. In the third round, Thomas defeated Peter Schmiedicke 435-393 on the back of this bingo-bango-bongo of EXERTION, AERATION, and GREATEN. Peter got down AREOLAS and SIDEARM to make it close. Betty Hasselkus did not enjoy the luxury of a close game, with her game against Thomas ending 586-266 for the largest single margin of the night. The bingo well flowed without inhibition for Thomas, as he got EXILIAN, HOTELIER, EDITION, and FORMATS to build up his huge score.

Again, only one new bingo was played this week, Gail's OATIEST.

Andy Bohnsack: "If Only Scrabble Could be This Fun All the Time"

1st Andy Bohnsack lengthened his winning streak to seven with a perfect 4-0 +362 outing. The "1000-point combined score" was in reach against Thomas Reinke, but their combined effort fell short in a 539-457 win for Andy. Thomas had the cool find of BIVOUACS (and the less cool TURNINGS), but Andy had four bingos of his own: GOODIES, IRONWARE, AERATION, and the "I can't have made this up so it must be good" GOETHITE (also GOTHITE). The bingo spigot continued to flow unabated as Andy played PAINING, BAILERS, and GENITORS while handing Betty Hasselkus her only loss, 458-351. Betty contributed RESITED to the bingoing effort. Still more bingos were on hand against Barb Besadny: INLAYING, NAUSEATE, and PEATIER. Andy's winning score of 396 was his lowest of the evening.

2nd Charles Reinke continued to gain ground on first place in the club standings, going 3-1 +297. He squeaked out a close, low-scoring win against Aaron Bader, 384-367, a game where each player only got one bingo: LANDAUS (n. LANDAU, a type of carriage) for Charles, CHIRRING for Aaron. Charles' bout against Susan Vergeront was anything but close, with Charles barely missing the 600-point barrier: 599-293 was the final score. Five bingos were on tap for the C-Twin: CATENARY, ETAMINE, DISAGREE, LADDIES, and the word-of-the-week nine-letter ESTUARINE. Andy Bohnsack decided smartly to not allow Charles that amount of bingos, and in doing so, gave Charles his only loss, 358-449. Charles was limited to SEDIMENT (new anagram: DEMENTIS); Andy had OUTLAWED and ENSLAVER.

3rd Peter Schmiedicke missed out on a higher spot by thirty spread points, finishing 3-1 +267. His singular loss was against the very person who beat him in the session standings, Charles Reinke. That game ended at 384-449, with just RESINED going down for Peter (Charles had TILBURY and SAPREMIA). The negative spread resulting from that game was made back, and then some, when Peter defeated Mary Becker 487-273. He found TEATIMES, IGNITERS, and TINEIDS appear on his rack at opportune times. Another three bingos materialized in front of him when he matched up against Gail Salm; AGROUND, EMULATE, and TEARILY led him to a 477-384 victory.

Both Betty Hasselkus and Gail Salm also finished 3-1. Only one new bingo was played this week, Aaron's DEHAIRED against Dave Gilligan.