1st Bryan Benwitz rose to the top of the weekly standings with a 3-1 +497 record and a stingy 339 per-game average for his opponents. A 504-368 win over Helen Flores was a nice way to start the evening, and his bingo list had a bit of flair to it with a nine-letter NEMATODES (to go with the more mundane METERING and LEAFIEST). Sadly, in the next game, Bryan would run into the commonly-encountered obstacle named Andy Bohnsack, and that was where Bryan picked up his only loss of the evening, 396-419. It was a totally different story against Richard Lauder, as Bryan got his second exactly-600-points game of the year, winning 600-239 thanks to bingos of EXPIRING, PYRITISE, and FLINTED. Strangely, that 600-pointer wasn't even the highest game of the night, as Andy had a 616 in a separate game (buoyed by AGONISED for 149), good for highest score this year. Bryan concluded his evening with a less bombastic 354-331 victory against Dave Kinzer.
2nd Thomas Reinke went 3-1 +326 with a sizzling 475 per-game average. He scored very close to that average with a 474-362 win against Steve Hartsman in round one, finding TRUEBRED and DANCIEST to Steve's DATELESS. Thomas was (deservedly, some might argue) smothered by bingos in round two as he lost 437-461 to Charles Reinke; his valiant NOVATING was no match for ISOGONY, RECOILER, UNITEDLY, and AVIATES from his opponent. A later rematch saw the tables turned, as Thomas had five fully vengeful bingos (EXHORTED, TAPIOCA, FOOTLES, SNOUTING, RESILES) to Charles' meager REBELLED in a 532-430 win. Thomas also beat Dave Kinzer 457-321 to add to his win total.
3rd Steve Hartsman overcame early adversity to finish 3-1 +95 and snag third place by forty spread points. That alluded-to adversity was a 362-474 loss to Thomas Reinke which put Steve in a sizable hole early. However, he climbed right out of that hole with a 451-324 triumph over Helen Flores, with a 104-point PESKIER being his single, albeit potent, bingo (Helen had TANGIEST). Steve's success continued as he found PINNULA and DEMOTES while beating Sara McLaughlin 409-346. Squaring off against Andy Bohnsack in round four, with a middling-to-moderate amount of glory at stake for both sides, Steve managed to seize the means of bingo production, holding Andy to zero bingos (a rarity) while getting three himself: ARIETTES, HEEDING, and TEASING. The result was a closer-than-perhaps-expected 423-406 win.
Dave's 101-point LEATHERY, which also won him some prize money, was word of the week.
1st Thomas Reinke flat-out dominated the competition with a 5-0 +474 record. He was thrown into the fire early with a two-on-one set against Dave Kinzer and Bryan Benwitz, but rose to the occasion, scoring 500 points and getting four bingos in each of the games. He beat Dave Kinzer 542-339 (IMPALES, BOODLING, MENHADEN, ENTITLED) and Bryan Benwitz 515-408 (AUTOGENY, BIRDSHOT, SAINTLY, SURFSIDE). That uncommon bingo frequency proved not to be sustainable as he had just one (GOURDES) while defeating Steve Hartsman 419-315. Thomas would come very close to a loss in round three, as he beat Lynda Finn by one point (the smallest margin possible until somebody contrives a way to score fractions of a point), 462-461. The perfect record was finalized with a 433-391 win against Mark Kenas, where Thomas got KINDEST and ISOLEADS to Mark's ENABLER and CENTAGES#.
2nd Charles Reinke finished 4-1 +78, finding himself well behind his brother in both the wins column and in point spread. Unlike Thomas, who was 2-0 +threehundredwhatever after round one, Charles was 0-1 -99 after losing to Mark Kenas 396-499. Mark's four-bingo assault, which included valid plays of NUCLEON, DAIRYMEN, and DELISTS, was marred by a phony MEGATRON*, an unholy combination of MEGARON, MEGATON, NEGATRON, MAGNETRON, and some vague knowledge of the Transformers movies. Charles recovered quickly with a 446-387 win against Bryan Benwitz, turning away Bryan's nice finds of FUSTIANS and PLUMERIA with his more pedestrian IDONEOUS, BARITONE, and ESTRONE. A two-on-one match against Mark Kenas and Buffy Hogan (blessedly both Collins games) resulted in two wins for Charles, 431-429 against Mark and 400-372 against Buffy. Charles wrapped things up by taking down Steve Hartsman by a score of 467-379, getting a singular BALLSIER against Steve's SERRANO and BASINET.
3rd Lynda Finn went 3-2 +73, winning her first three before running out of steam at the end of the night. She started with a 406-331 win against the rarely-seen Buffy Hogan, who was bravely switching between NWL and Collins; Lynda's high-probability bingo find of ALIENEE was the difference-maker in that one. Lynda followed that up with a strong showing in a two-on-one against Sara McLaughlin and visiting Ohioer Ryan Adams. Against Sara, bingos of ORIENTAL and PINTOES paved the way to a 428-340 win; the game against Ryan was somewhat lower scoring, as Lynda played TRIUNES for a 362-315 victory. Round three saw her lose a heartbreaker to Thomas Reinke, 461-462; as expected with such a close score, the bingo situation was roughly equivalent, as Thomas had ORANGES and NATATION against Lynda's HISTORY and SCANNER. Lynda fell to Bryan Benwitz 347-483 in the last game of the night, but with five players bunched up at 2-2 unable to pick up a third win, Lynda escaped with the grand honor of a writeup paragraph.
Mark's WOODLORE was word of the week.
1st Steve Hartsman averaged a whopping 471 points per game and played fifteen bingos en route to a 4-1 +430 record. His first game against Charles Reinke was one for the record books, as their eight total bingos tied a club record (and set a new record for this year). Steve won handily, 584-429, despite the bingos being evenly distributed at four apiece (Steve: CELLMATE, EQUINELY, ATONIAS, CERITES; Charles: FRAGMENT, TRIPODAL, SOURDINE, PROFOUND). Steve slowed down a bit in round two, getting "only" three bingos (LABIATES, YPERITE, INANEST) in a 442-326 win against Dennis Lloyd. Round three was a mixed bag, as Steve played as the "one" in a two-on-one match against Lynda Finn and Richard Lauder. The game against Lynda was a comfortable 500-306 win, with bingos of CODEINES, SUITABLE, BEGUINES, and BOISERIE, but against Richard, Steve was held to just a single bingo (DUALIST) and lost 362-438 for his only loss of the night. Steve concluded with a win over the other member of the fearsome Reinke tandem, defeating Thomas 467-426 with the aid of a phony YEANINGS* (YEANLINGS is good), in addition to THEREAT and the new word YEETING.
2nd Mark Kenas played his usual compliment of Collins-lexicon games against fellow Collinsophiles Reinke 1 and Reinke 2, generally prevailing with a 3-1 +148 record. He scored a pair of wins against Thomas Reinke, 465-393 and 469-406. The word of the week, ATAMASCO (a flower of the southeastern US), was played by Mark in this second game, as well as the scarily appropriate bingo of REDEFEAT. Mark also enjoyed a 452-331 win over Charles Reinke, limiting Charles to zero bingos (rare in Collins) and playing three of his own (ATTAINED, EMIRATES, NAIADES). Sadly, Mark's 3-0 record didn't make it to 4-0 as Mark lost to Charles in the final game of the night, 400-508.
3rd Richard Lauder went 3-1 -6, a rare instance of a writeup paragraph featuring a negative spread. He started with a well-fought 385-366 win against Helen Flores, finding HEADMAN while allowing Helen to get away with DISTOLE* (DIASTOLE is likely the word she was thinking of, possibly combined with PISTOLE). Things took a turn for the worse in the next game as Richard was defeated handily by Sara McLaughlin, 289-414, despite Richard's bingo of DODGERS. Richard whipped himself back into form with a 438-362 win against Steve Hartsman, finding that the seemingly unstoppable force of Steve could, in fact, be (temporarily) slowed down; bingos of ARENOSE and WENDING definitely helped in that regard. In the final game, Richard took down Dennis Lloyd, 380-356, getting REDOWAS and DRAGGIER to Dennis' FORFEIT.
Sara McLaughlin played the year's 14th triple-triple with STARLIKE for 113.
Wednesday, August 5:
Scrabble at Covenant Church
Wednesday, August 12:
Scrabble at Covenant Church
Wednesday, August 19:
Scrabble at Misty Mountain Games
Wednesday, August 26:
Scrabble at Covenant Church
Club Results 7/29
Posted 7/31/2026
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Posted 7/24/2026
Club Results 7/15
Posted 7/17/2026
Club Results 7/8
Posted 7/10/2026