Blog

Thomas Reinke Fulfills the Prophecy of the Ancients, A Prophecy Which Stated That There Would Come a Man Who Would Win Four Games of Scrabble in One Night

1st Thomas Reinke, AKA "The Anointed One, He Who Is Crowned By The Gods" proved himself to be a one-man demolition crew, going 4-0 +535.  In facing up with veteran tile pusher Richard Lauder, Thomas showed no restraint, walking away from the bout with a 485-332 win in hand.  Richard played OPTIMISE (later phonily extended to OPTIMISER), but Thomas had a pair of 100-point bingos: an opening MESTIZO and, later, a double-double FIDELITY.  The only game where Thomas felt the hot breath of an encroaching opponent happened to be against his brother, Charles.  That game ended with high scores for both sides, but Thomas prevailed in the end, 452-441.  Further confirming their twinness, both had three bingos: GENOISE, ACTRESS, and RAPIDITY for Thomas; OVERTOP, INHOLDER, and MINDSETS for Charles.

2nd Bryan Benwitz's late arrival prevented him from getting a full complement of four games, but he was perfect in the three games he did play, finishing 3-0 +300.  He started off with a close 398-393 victory over regular opponent Peter Schmiedicke, playing UNIFACES and SEDILIA to Peter's HONGIED (v. HONGI, to greet by pressing noses together).  Then, all hell broke loose as Bryan unleashed a whopping 560 points on a hapless Charles Reinke, resulting in Bryan's second-highest game ever.  Bryan played JETTIES, PLINKERS, EUCRITE, and a 158-point trip-trip FASTENED, played through an E that Charles had just opened with his bingo of URALITE.  After that strong showing, Bryan came back down to Earth, at least somewhat, when he defeated Andy Bohnsack 453-370.

3rd Gail "Gailstorm" Salm rounded out the top three with a 3-1 +275 showing.  Her best game came against Aki Miura, the final score being a lopsided 471-244.  Gail's three bingos of SLINKED, DOWNERS, and LIBELER provided a scoring assault that simply could not be countered.  Gail continued a trend of drubbings as she applied a beatdown on Barb Besadny, 431-306.  Barb got MAILERS to stem the tide, but she didn't stem it very much as Gail got COTTONS and HERRINGS.  Gail's spread was sitting at an impressive +509 after three games, but all of that changed when she was finally defeated by Thomas Reinke, 310-544.

Charles Reinke played the Word of the Week, MONOCOTS.  A MONOCOT is any of a group of flowering plants whose seedlings only have one cotyledon.  A DICOT, on the other hand, has two cotyledons.  This begs the question, what the heck is a cotyledon?

It should also be noted that a TRICOT is a type of fabric, not a plant with three of those cotyle-whatevers.

In other news, the club has hit the 14% mark in available bingos played.  At this rate, we might near 100% by the time the universe enters heat death.  High-probablity words that have yet to be played include URANITE, RATINES, TRENAIL, RETINAL, RELIANT, INSOLATE, and ELATIONS.

Charles Reinke "Wins Some", But in Defiance of the Old Adage, Fails to "Lose Some"

1st Charles Reinke's 4-0 +433 performance put him easily atop the expert standings.  This per-game average of 443 was actually lower than his yearly average, but his opponent's average of a lowly 334 is quite a bit lower than their yearly average of 370.  Richard Lauder felt the pain when he fell 298-417 despite his bingo of EARLIER, although he did enjoy a different sort of success: that game was the only one in which Charles was held under two bingos (his only one was MUSICALE).  Charles reversed his bingo fortunes when he played four of them in his game against Barb Besadny, a game which he won 531-264.  The four bingos were REPTILE, MAILMAN, SEAPORT, and NIDIFIES (v. NIDIFY, to make a nest).

2nd Mark Kenas finished 4-1 +515 and averaged 481 points per game, in line with his traditionally high-scoring ways.  The challenges of playing as the "one" in a two-on-one game did not seem to faze him, as he handily turned away the best efforts of both Susan Vergeront (503-295; OVERTRIM, RACIEST, FINNIEST) and Lynda Finn (454-297; MUTTONS, NAUSEAS).  Mark then played a three-game Collins dictionary series against Aaron Bader which ended in Mark's favor, 2-1.  One of these games, a 490-466 barnburner that ended in victory for the Bearded Behemoth, featured several Collins-only bingos: SEARNESS for Mark; TOWNIER and ORLEANS for Aaron.  Unless you are planning on switching over to a new dictionary, it would be wise to banish those words from your mind as soon as you finish reading this sentence.

3rd Peter Schmiedicke ended up at 3-1 +407.  He slapped around Thomas Reinke to the tune of 472-328, thanks in part to three bingos of IODINATE, IRONIST (n. one who uses irony), and OVERSTEP.  However, he was not so lucky against the other twin, and lost by a mere four points, 389-385 - the closest game of the evening.  Peter played GREASIER, but was countered by TRIOLETS and OTITIDES (plural of OTITIS, inflammation of the ear).  That was the low point - now let's talk about the high point, which was Peter's merciless pummeling of Helen Flores, 490-263.  Somewhat surprisingly, Peter had "only" two bingos in that one: OVERNICE and RESTERS.

Of note was a game between Andy Bohnsack and Bryan Benwitz.  The game ended 505-477 in Bryan's favor, with each player playing four bingos!  Even more impressive, Andy's four came in his first four turns of the game, but Bryan never gave up and managed to run off four of his own before the game ended.  Andy's did not use a blank or an S: CARDIAE, OUTFIRED, OTALGIA, and ARPEGGIO.  Bryan's did: VERNIXES, ASTONIED, RESLATED, and a phony OUTSURF.

Sharlie Miura Also Fails to "Lose Some"

1st Sharlie Miura has now one six of her last eight after going 2-0 +124.  She narrowly defeated Sue Goldstein 327-310 thanks to a timely bingo of COINING.  Building on that success, she not-so-narrowly defeated June Scott 340-233.

2nd Sue Goldstein went 2-2 -158.  Things were looking good for her after wins over Aki Miura and June Scott, but then Betty Hasselkus had to come in and ruin everything, winning 443-255 with the assitance of her bingo, DOILIES.

Michael David Back in Fighting Form

1st Michael David had his way with the expert division, finishing 4-0 +314 and not scoring under 400 the whole way.  Displaying a peculiar lack of empathy for his fellow man, he took down Jordan Parker 490-299, unrepentantly slapping down bingos of DOCENTS and FLUSTERS in the process.  That bingo count would be further inflated by a pair of three-bingo games to close out the night: 412-341 versus Lynda Finn (playing GAROTES, RESONATE, and the creepily prophetic phony OUTWINS) and 424-405 versus Andy Bohnsack (playing AMOEBIC, BLUNTED, and UNMATTED).  However, ten bingos in four games was not enough to achieve "bingo king" honors: Andy had twelve in the five games he played.

2nd Thomas Reinke went 3-1 +293, his sole loss attributable to the aforementioned Michael David, 409-442.  He did get two bingos down, HANDLES and UNLIVES (v. UNLIVE, to live so as to atone for past events), but Michael's counterbingos of TWIRLER and OUTFIRE eventually led him to victory.  Peter Schmiedicke did not fare as well; he mostly spectated as Thomas unleashed a quadrumvirate of bingos: SCOOPED, ANERGIA, FLOUTING, and SHITAKE.  That's bullshitake!  For a change of pace, Thomas defeated Barb Besadny 355-249 with no bingos on either side.  Where there are feasts of bingos, there must also be famines of the same.

3rd Charles Reinke's 3-1 +204 record placed him 40 spread points over the other 3-1 finisher, Lynda Finn.  His highest-scoring contest was a 490-350 game against Gail Salm.  RINGERS and ENTWINE were Gail's attempts to stay in the game, but they were outdone by Charles' REMELTED, DESCRIES (v. DESCRY, to discern), and FELLIES.   Another bingo-heavy game was played against Bryan Benwitz, resulting in a high-scoring loss for Bryan, 421-445.  All bingos involved were eight letters long: GRANDSIR, EARSTONE, and CADASTER for Charles; FLOTAGES and GASOLIER for Bryan.  Charles can thank Andy Bohnsack for his one loss, a game that ended 411-428.

Betty Hasselkus got Word of the Week when she played the odd-looking SCEPTRED.  To SCEPTRE means "to invest with royal authority."

Sue Goldstein Reigns in Small Intermediate Group

1st Sue Goldstein finished 2-1 +56.  She took down TWO experts, Betty Hasselkus and Barb Besadny, before dropping a game to June Scott.  Her two bingos in three games (RETRAIN and RELINES) should boost her bingo-per-game average.